There’s more conflict in the landscape of The Last of Us right now than there’s ever been. But Craig Mazin’s show has this curious way of not making you pick a side in any of the ongoing wars. But that’s a complicated thing when it comes to the protagonists of season 2, Ellie and Dina. You root for them, get frustrated seeing just how reckless they are with their lives, and hope that whatever danger comes their way doesn’t kill them, but makes them wiser. But even then, you aren’t necessarily unsympathetic to the people they’re about to go up against. If there’s one thing that the concept of revenge can’t avoid, it’s the justification one has for putting everything they have on the line to scratch that itch.
Spoiler Alert
Let’s go be reckless
We’re supposed to understand only half of what’s happening in the opening sequence of the 5th episode of The Last of Us Season 2. We don’t exactly know when we are, but there’s a time jump that’s taken us back to W.L.F’s headquarters. Hanrahan can’t seem to wrap her head around the fact that Elise, that is Sergeant Elise Park, has killed some of their best soldiers, and that too at a time when they’re about to go up against the Seraphites. Elise doesn’t find it easy to break the awful news. But only the truth can explain why she did what she did. Elise sent a group of their best to clear out the lower levels of a hospital they’d acquired. What the group found in the basements is another way the Cordyceps kill. They’d already inhaled enough spores before they realized that there was a reason they hadn’t found anything living or dead around there. The Cordyceps were airborne. Knowing how hard it would be for his mom to make the necessary decision, Elise’s son Leon took it upon himself to lock himself in with the rest of his group. Elise is just back from watching her son die in a way that she needs to hide from most of the people around her. That’s how Hanrahan means to handle it, by keeping the terrifying new discovery from igniting chaos. The tragedy that has struck Elise and changed her life forever is another reminder that no one in this godforsaken world is untouched by loss. Even then, even when they have a very formidable common enemy to fight, people are helpless against their instinct to band into separate, warring factions. The fact that there once was a peace treaty between the Wolves and the Seraphites is proof that someone attempted to make things better. But I guess it’s inevitable for people to be wrapped up in the differences that don’t quite matter in the bigger picture. Ellie and Dina plan to sneak into that same hospital in the present.
The Pinnacle theatre has given them a bittersweet welcome into its barren halls. The good thing is, the Wolves have wiped the place clean of clickers. The sad thing is, this beautiful place will never reach its full potential. And that’s just like Ellie, really. However much she may like singing, the way her life has treated her doesn’t make it easy for her to feel joy. Her light’s been buried under layers of pain. Why else would she leave the safety of her community and come all this way, risk her life? And for what? Both Dina and Ellie know just how badly they’re testing their fate by doing this. I mean, it helps that Dina’s a pro when it comes to deciphering the Wolves’ radio transmissions and “triangulating” their position on the map. But the truth is, even the maximum amount of caution they can afford doesn’t change how stacked the odds are against them. They may not know a whole lot about the Scars, but they do know that the Wolves are fighting an active war against them. And if they can take a bite out of the Wolves, they’re no less scary. So it makes sense that Ellie doesn’t understand why Dina’s taking this big a risk. But then again, she doesn’t know everything about the girl she loves. In a lot of unfortunate ways, they’re a little too alike. Ellie isn’t the only one who was exposed to violence and altered by it at a very young age. And Dina isn’t doing this only for her love for Ellie. At the tender age of eight, Dina lost her mother and sister to the brutality of a raider. Now that she knows what Ellie’s been through, she’s grateful for having been spared the sight of her family’s agony. But that didn’t change much back then. As a little girl, Dina felt the same rage that has taken control of Ellie’s senses now. Dina shot the raider dead. And even now, she’s aware that she would’ve hunted him down if he’d gotten away. So she doesn’t just understand where Ellie is coming from. She actually believes that this is something that Ellie needs to do. She would’ve done the same thing. So now, even though they have a lot to lose, they are going to go ahead with their plan.
Jesse Saves The Day
Dina and Ellie actually have a substantial amount of intel about their surroundings at this point. They’ve noticed that the W.L.F don’t lose any sleep over who hears them on the radio. That can only mean that the people Dina and Ellie now know as Scars are averse to technology. Unlike the gun-wielding Wolves, the Scars like to get their hands dirty. It bodes well for Dina and Ellie that the Wolves don’t expect any challenges outside of the ones they’re familiar with. They’ve gotten too comfortable in their territory. So that only helps Dina and Ellie stay invisible for longer. Dina’s found a strange gap in the map, a patch of the land that the Wolves don’t patrol. Their plan’s to take shelter in the large building that falls in that area, and then, when the time is right, they’ll make their way to the hospital. They expect to have to deal with a handful of clickers in the building. And since that’s a problem they’re more than capable of handling with knives, they can avoid using guns and altering the Wolves to their presence. But that plan turns out to be a bust when they’re actually faced with the problem they now have to tackle. Even a relatively small horde would’ve been easier to manage. But what’s down here at the building they’ve come to are stalkers. Dina hasn’t had to deal with one yet. But from what Ellie has learned from her brush with one of these smart variants, even someone immune isn’t really safe from them. But even then, it makes more sense for Ellie to be the bait in the current situation. She could endure a bite or two. So, Dina should be the one to get to safety. But the fence Dina is surrounded by proves to be too weak against the stalkers. What adds to the odds stacked against them is the fact that they’ve had to use guns. The Wolves are coming for them. Just when it looks like Ellie and Dina are about to find it nearly impossible (if not totally) to escape in one piece, Jesse shows up out of nowhere and saves his friends. It turns out, Jesse and Tommy followed their track the night after the girls left Jackson. And boy are we glad that they did. Jesse and Tommy parted ways to cover more area. And luckily, Jesse found the map Dina left at the theatre. I don’t think they realize that they don’t have the time to argue about whether to stay or go back to Jackson. Jesse isn’t wrong to expect it. And Ellie and Dina have come too far to turn back. But one thing’s for certain. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
Is Nora dead?
There had to be something that kept the Wolves out of the building Ellie and Dina were trapped in. And even when Jesse got them out and they came into the park, the Wolves stood by. It’s not stalkers they’re trying to steer clear of. They have enough ammo to take care of those. So who are they trying to avoid? The answer’s in the freaky whistles that you hear. That’s the Seraphites’ unique language. They’ve seen Ellie, Dina, and Jesse. And they’re whistling to gather other Seraphites so they can take care of the intruders together. In the horrifying slaughter of a Wolf, carried out by a group of Seraphites praying to their dead prophet, Dina and Ellie see how the Scars take care of intruders. It’s really too bad that they don’t get the time to make a run for it. Dina is shot by one of the Seraphite’s arrows. The circumstances are bad enough for Ellie to separate from her friends, leaving Dina in the safe arms of Jesse. She’s got a goal to achieve. The chaos somewhat works in her favor as she runs into the darkness and finds her way into the hospital. That’s where Nora is.
There was very little chance that Abby’s friends didn’t know the full extent of what drove her murderous rage. They knew about Joel, what he’d done to their friends and family, and after killing Joel, they knew about Ellie. But even then, I don’t think Nora expected to be held at gunpoint by Ellie in her own territory. For most people, W.L.F’s buildings would prove to be rather impenetrable. But Ellie’s not most people. It looks like Nora’s on Abby’s side about what went down. She’s not one of those Wolves who recognized that Joel’s murder was cruel and unnecessary. So Ellie’s not gonna find it easy to get the answer out of Nora when she asks her about Abby’s whereabouts. Nora has a bit too much faith in the Wolves guarding the hospital when she runs. She thought they’d take care of Ellie before she got to her. But the chase sends Nora down the forbidden path.
The Last of Us episode 5’s ending is a morbid return to what we found out in the opening sequence. The W.L.F soldiers there to help out Nora back away when she takes the elevator down to hell, or as they know it, the basement engulfed by Cordyceps. Even if Ellie knew what she was walking into when she followed Nora in, she wasn’t in danger. Nora savors the fact that Ellie has driven them both into the maw of death a bit too much before she figures out the bitter truth. Nora didn’t even fully believe in her before she met her, the girl who’s immune. It must be an odd sensation for Ellie to be surrounded by so much death knowing she’s the only one death cannot touch. Nora’s about to meet the same fate as Leon. On the brink of death, she’s still reluctant to give away Abby’s whereabouts. Nora’s already pretty dead. But her reluctance to give her what she wants makes space for Ellie to cross a pretty huge moral line. The way she bashes a dying Nora is an accurate translation of her pain having watched Joel die a similar death. But there’s more to it than that. This is the point where Ellie starts to inflict the pain that she feels on other people. Whether they deserve it or not is a whole other story altogether. But Ellie’s just done something terrible solely because she felt like doing it. Just like it was justified to Joel, and even Abby, it is justified to Ellie. Nora wholeheartedly believed that Abby was right in killing Joel because he had butchered an entire building full of people. She believed it so much that she thought that if Ellie knew it, she’d agree too. But Ellie did know what Joel did, and why he did it. It’s foolish to expect that the people you’re hurting will understand where you’re coming from. There really is not much difference between Ellie, Abby, and Joel. What’s different in this gnarly game of revenge is the loss that dragged each of them into it. It’s changed Ellie. That’s why it feels like such a mean shock when the ending scene cuts back to a younger Ellie smiling at Joel. She was still a child, they were still okay. There’s no telling if this scene was just a thematic motif bringing our attention to Ellie’s transformation. But if we do go back, it will probably be to see what went down between Ellie and Joel and pushed them apart.
