Day 2 of Ellie’s journey in Seattle is as momentous as it’s within the online game as she tracks down Nora within the hospital and tortures her for info. I admire how unafraid the present and its actors are to go to the darkest locations. Bella Ramsey’s portrayal of this important scene is lots colder and extra ruthless feeling than within the recreation, including new layers to her grief and simply how far she is prepared to go.
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| “Really feel Her Love” – THE LAST OF US. Pictured: Tati Gabrielle as Nora. Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO ©2025 HBO |
I feel one in all my favorite issues about this present is the way it appears like a love letter to the sport and to followers of the sport whereas nonetheless being open and uncooked for newcomers to benefit from the story. There’s a sure reverence within the quieter, extra peaceable moments of the episode. The scene the place Ellie seems to be across the theatre stands out to me as she connects with this reminiscence of a bygone age and takes some moments away from the horrors of the surface world.
It permits her to settle into her grief with a quick rendition of Pearl Jam’s ‘Future Days’. It’s an anachronistic track given the present modified the outbreak from 2013 to 2003, however I’m grateful it was saved within the story for its thematic significance to each Ellie, Joel, and their relationship as an entire.
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| “Really feel Her Love” – THE LAST OF US. Pictured: Isabela Merced as Dina. Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO ©2025 HBO |
The quieter moments like this are additionally what make the extra horrifying parts of the present sing. Sure, we acquired out first introduction to stalkers method again within the premiere however that by no means ready me for the way insanely horrifying they’d be in bigger numbers. I assumed as somebody who’s performed the sport numerous occasions that I’d be ready for these encounters, however the recreation’s stalkers are positively pleasant in comparison with these monsters.
The stalker design was an effective way of including rigidity to the encounter to offset the truth that it was fairly apparent that Ellie and Dina have been by no means actually in any hazard by advantage of being the principle characters. This present is admittedly placing the actors and their characters by means of their paces and it is a testomony to their performing that they’ll make fights like these really feel tense even with out the stakes of not realizing whether or not they’ll survive or not.
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| “Really feel Her Love” – THE LAST OF US. Pictured: Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO ©2025 HBO |
We additionally get our first introduction to spores on this episode, which is well timed because the spores are a key a part of the confrontation with Nora within the recreation and I do not suppose the scene would have performed out as nicely with out them. The imagery of the folks trapped within the fungus, nonetheless alive, the spores misting out on their breaths was impressed and haunting. It’s this type of unsettling ambiance that makes me such an enormous fan of horror within the first place and I like that the present retains discovering new methods to impress me.
We even have Jesse re-introduced to the story this episode, having arrived in Seattle with Tommy to seek out Ellie and Dina. We don’t see Tommy nevertheless which is just a little disappointing as I’d had excessive hopes that the scope of the tv present would have been in a position to give us extra time to see his aspect of the story in Seattle. But it surely’s good to have Jesse there as Younger Mazino has nice chemistry with each Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced and I’ve been trying ahead to seeing their dynamics develop, notably within the wake of Dina’s being pregnant.
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