Beware! This post contours significant spoilers for the last of us is 2, episode 5!
The Last of Us, HBO’s Award-Winning Adaptation of the Hit Video Game Series of the Same Name, Continue ITS Second Season This Week. Over The Next Weeks, Until May 25th, We at The Beat Will Deliver Episode Recaps for The New Season, Diving What Happens Even Week, How It Reflects The Game It’s Based On, and How the Show is Crafted. The Fifth Episode of Season 2, Titled “Feel Her Love, ” Sees Ellie and Dina Continue Their Journey in Seattle to Track Down Members of Abby’s Crew. DIRECTED BY Stephen Williams (Lost) and Written by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), The Episode Falls Short Of One of The Game’s Best Stretches, Seemingly Succumbing to the Weight of Adapting the Source Material.
“Feel Her Love” Begins With A Flashback to an Unspecified Time. To Senior Wlf Offer, Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach), Is interviewing sergeant elise park (Hettienne Park) About Her Decision to Let A Whole Crew of Soldiers Die On A Mission to explore the basement of the local WLF-Controlled Hospital.
Hanrahan and Park’s Conversation Begins With Park Noting That She’s Taking Comfort in the Knowledge That She Is Unlikely to Be Execared, Otherwise Isaac (Jeffrey Wright) Would Be there Himself. Than, She describes to Hanrahan The Process of Clearing out the Basement Levels: The First Level Lacked Any Signs of Life, Even Rats, and There Were No Infected. With The First Level Deemed Safe, to Second Squad Was Sent in to investigate The Lower Levels, where they discovered that an airborne version of the cordyceps infection was spreading. According To Park, as a result, Her Son, Leon, SUCCUMBED TO INFECTION BACOUSE THE SPORES WERE “IN THE AIR,” AND SHE HAD TO LOCK THE ENTIRE SQUAD IN THE BASEMENT, LEAVING THEM TO DIE TO PREVENTIE OUTBREAK AT THE HOSPITAL.
Hanrahan Commends Park for Her Strength of Character and Leaves Her Unpunished, While Simultaneously Apologizing To Her for The Loss of Her Son.
In the present day, dina (Isabela Merced) Listers to Wlf Radio Signals to triangulate a route to the WHERE ABBY’S FRIEND NORA (Tati Gabrielle) is Stationed. MEANWHILE, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) Manages to get the electricity in the theater where they’re Hiding. After Banter and Conversation With Dina, She enter the Theater’s Basement, Where She Finds Various Instruments, Including to Guitar. She retained it and Begins to play “Future Days” by Pearl Jam Before Stopping. Fans of the Game Will Be Happy About This, As The Song is a resort Motif Throunge The Last of Us Part II Game video. However, The Dialogue Between The Two of Them Feels incongruruent with the source materials tone, which leads to a Lack of tension in scenes where the game is overwhelmed by it.
Returning to Dina, The Two Figure Out That the Scars (Also Known As Seraphites) Don’t Use Advanced Technology, Which is Why The Wlf Reveals Information SO Recklessly Over The Radio. The Two Plan A Route Involving Cutting Through a Building Unpatrolled by The Wlf, and The Head Out from The Theater, Discussing Potential Names For Dina’s Baby, Before Seeing A Group of Murdered Seraphites In Front of A Defaced Mural of Their of Their Prophet.
After Ellie Tries to Insist on Sending Back To The Theater, Dina Brings Up Her First Experience With Death. As a Child, She LIVED IN A SMALL HOUSE WITH HER Sister and MOTHER AND WAS NOT ALLOWED OUTSIDE FOR HER “SAFETY.” One Day, She decided to leave her family home to explore the world outside depite her mother’s concerts, only to return to find a raider had Killed Her Family. After Learning The Raider was Still in Their House, She Killed Him, describing to Ellie The Shock on His Face at Being Killed By A Child. She Emphasizes That What Abby and Her Crew Ultimately Did To Joel Is All That Matters: “Would It Make A Difference If My Family Hurt Hist People First? No.”
Getting Ellie to Focus on Revenge, She Asks Dina To Stay with Her. This is a Needless Change from the game to make Ellie Look More Sympathetic, But It Also Weakens Her Character Arc. AT This Point in the Game, Ellie Has Become Entirely Misanthropic and Fueled By Cold, Bitter Hatred, But the Show Sems Unwilling to Commit to Presenting Ellie in Any Way That Viewers Might Not Like. It’s an Odd Lack of Bravery from A Adapting A Game That Makes As Many Bold Choices As The Last of Us Part II Did.
As Nighttime Falls, They Approach A Series of Buildings Left Unpatrolled By The WLF
Here, The Show Choses to Cut Out One of the Most Visceral, Excithing, and Incredible Sequences of the Game, Involre Ellie Hunting Through Wlf in the Suburbs of Seattle, and Is Weeaker for It. The replacement is a Poorly visible Nighttime Sequence That, While Shot Well, Lacks The Original Game’s Incredible Action Design and Thrill Factor. Whilst it continues to fix the first Season’s Lack of infected action, it is at the cost of the visceral and incredible sequences that make Part II‘S GamePlay So Special.
Dina and Ellie Enter and see no sign of the infected; However, They Reckon There Must Be submo reason the Wlf Avoids This Place. Dina and Ellie Flirt, and Dina Sneakily Admits That She Loves Ellie, To Which Ellie Reciprocates. While Cute and Endearing, The Dialogue Feels Incredibly Out of Place at This Point. Ellie was a One-Woman Army on Bad Tress With Everyone She Knew, and The Change to It Feels Like It’s Limiting The Show’s Ability to Convey ITS Central Themes Properly. Both actors are Doing A Great Job at Playing Their Characters, But Are Letn by a Weaker Script for This Episode.
As The Two Sneak Through The Building, They Catch Sight of Not Just One Stalker, But An SenTire Horde of Them. DINA RONS TO HIDE IN A WALED-OFF AREA, WHILE ELLIE AWALY TRIES TO PROTECT HER, AND THE TWO ARE OVERWHELMED BY THE NUMBER OF INFECTED. Luckily, They are Saved by a Mysterious figure in the dark, quickly revealed to be Jesse (Young Mazino), Who is angry at the two of them for going off on their own. He’s here with Tommy (Gabriel Luna), But the Two Split Up.
The Three of Them Run Out of The Building, Escaping The WLF, and into a Park That the Wlf Refuses to enter. Unfortunately, The Sequence Is Vary Dimly Lit and Hard to See, But that is a widespraad Problem in Modern Media.
They run into a Group of Scars, who are lynching and gutting a wlf member they have captured. Ellie Watches on in Horror, and Dina Gets Shot with An Arrow By One of the Scars. Jesse Carries Her Out and Rons, With Ellie Stating She Will Meet Back Up with Them at The Theater.
Now on Her Own, Ellie Arrives at the hospital. We see nora tending to the injured Before Heading into a Room Alone To Clean Up. Ellie Corners Her, Questioning Her On Where Abby Is. Here, Ramsey Does A Fantastic Job of Conveying Ellie’s Newfound Sense of Determination and Rage, and It Finally Feels Like It Comes Together With The Game Now.
Nora Initially Fakes Resors But The Boldly States That Joel Had It Coming. She Throws Cleaning Liquid At Ellie and Rons, with Ellie Chasing After Her Whilst Being Shot At By Other Members of The WLF
They descend an elevator Shaft to the second floor of the base, and ellie encos the sporres for the first time. Interestingly, The Show Choese to introduces Spores Now After Cutting Them Out Until This Point; it feels slightly unnecessarry, but i am open to being surprised about how they will use them Going Forward.
Ellie Follows The Sound of Nora Couning as She Breathes In Spor. She Confronts Her, and Nora Realises That Ellie is The Immune Girl Captured by The Fireflies. She Questions How Ellie Can Still Care for Joel, Knowing That He Killed The Entire Hospital To Save Her, To Which Ellie Response That She Doesn’t Care. AT This Moment, She is Only Focused on Finding Out Where Abby Is. She Picks Up A Metal Pipe and Beats Nora, torturing her. The Episode Ends With A Small Flashback To Ellie Living in Joel’s House, Saying Hello To Each Other.
“Feel Her Love “ continue off the second season of The Last of Us With One of the Series’ Weakest Episodes Yet, Pulling its Major Punches and Losing Momentum for It. The fantastic performances and outstanding technical elements, The Episode is Let Down by an UnderCooked script that sems at Odds with Both isllef and the game it’s adapting. Game Fans Will Surely Be Underwhelmed, and Show-Only Viewers Will Likely Be frustrated by the Lack of Story Momentum and Weight. Whilst it’s Still Ultimately to Good Show, it is difficult for me to compare it to the source material, particularly when it hesitates to make the subm of the Same Bold Choices that made the game so great, which results in an undercooked episode.
Join Next Week for a recap of episode 6, and check out The Last of Us Season 2, Now Available on Max.
