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Season / Episode: The Last of Us Season 2, Episodes 4 & 5

Runtime: Episode 4 – approx. 54 min, Episode 5 – approx. 57 min

Written by: Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann

Starring: Bella Ramsey, Isabela Merced, Kaitlyn Dever, Young Mazino, Jeffrey Wright, Pedro Pascal (flashbacks)

Genre(s): Drama, Post-Apocalyptic, Thriller

Production Companies: HBO, Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, Naughty Dog

Streaming On: HBO / Max

The Last of Us: Day One (2025)

Directed by: Kate Herron

“Day One” dives headfirst into the emotional wreckage following Joel’s death, exploring the fragile, blooming connection between Ellie and Dina while juxtaposing it against the brutal world around them. From intimate guitar ballads to scenes of violence and betrayal, the episode threads the needle between tenderness and terror — asking, again, what humanity looks like when it’s under siege.

Grieving yet driven, Ellie and Dina set out on their mission, the urgency of revenge fueling them forward. As they navigate their trauma, we’re treated to one of the most affecting scenes in the series yet: a dilapidated music store, a quiet moment, and a cover of A-ha’s “Take On Me” performed by Ellie. It’s a direct pull from the game and executed with restraint and beauty. Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced’s chemistry shines here, elevating the emotional weight. Their shared vulnerability crystallizes a connection built not just on shared loss, but on hope — even if fleeting — for something more.

Meanwhile, we’re introduced to Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright), a FEDRA sergeant turned WLF commander. His methods are ruthless, his presence commanding, but the power dynamics within the WLF begin to splinter. Why are some members fleeing to the Seraphites — or “Scars” — a cult-like religious group who claim to offer salvation from the chaos? This subplot raises provocative questions about loyalty, control, and what true leadership looks like in a world with no rules.

But the Seraphites, initially framed as spiritual outliers or even victims of the WLF, reveal a brutal edge of their own. The episode plants seeds of their violent ideology and ritualistic behavior — hinting at the dark turn that awaits.

By the climax, the stakes explode. Ellie throws herself between Dina and an attacking infected, revealing her immunity — and triggering a cascade of emotional fallout. Dina’s reaction is complicated by her own revelation: she’s pregnant. The tension peaks not with conflict, but connection, as Ellie and Dina share a moment of physical and emotional intimacy that cements their bond beyond survival.

Thematically, “Day One” is about duality: brutality vs. softness, revenge vs. healing, control vs. chaos. It leans heavily on the performances of Ramsey and Merced, whose grounded portrayals make every quiet moment land. Isaac’s introduction teases moral complexity — what happens when those wielding power genuinely believe they’re the good guys? With religion, cultism, love, and war all beginning to converge, The Last of Us sets its pieces with precision.

And just as the episode ends, Ellie’s thirst for vengeance sharpens its aim — toward Nora.

The Last of Us: Feel Her Love (2025)

Directed by: Stephen Williams

Episode 5 wastes no time. We’re thrown into a WLF facility where Sergeant Elise Park (Hettienne Park) is questioned about her son’s death. In a haunting prologue, she reveals that after discovering airborne cordyceps spores in the hospital basement, she made the impossible decision to seal it off—sacrificing her own son and his team for the greater good.

It’s a quiet but radical shift in perspective. The WLF, previously seen as little more than ruthless aggressors, are granted dimension. Park’s actions draw a direct contrast to Joel’s in Season 1. Where Joel selfishly saved Ellie by dooming a potential cure, Park sacrifices her own child for humanity’s survival. The moral waters get murkier: perhaps the WLF aren’t entirely villainous, and perhaps Joel, for all his love, wasn’t entirely right.

From there, the episode descends into Ellie’s inner world—a mind consumed by revenge.

Ellie and Dina set their sights on Nora, the WLF member who held Ellie down as Joel was murdered. Their plan leads them through a dilapidated building rumored to be full of infected. Ellie, typically impulsive and emotionally reactive, shows surprising tactical clarity: she locks Dina away for safety and draws the stalkers (a smarter, faster infected type) away on her own.

Just as things spiral, Jesse appears—initially mistaken for Joel in the foggy chaos—and rescues them. His arrival isn’t just timely; it reintroduces complex emotional dynamics. Jesse and Ellie clash over leadership, safety, and their shared connection to Dina, whose injury forces a detour.

Fleeing the WLF, the trio stumbles into a forest—a momentary haven that quickly turns sinister. The Seraphites, once ambiguous figures, reveal their true brutality. A WLF soldier is ritualistically executed: hanged and gutted in a horrific ceremony. It’s a defining moment that solidifies the Seraphites not as passive victims but as zealots with their own terrifying ideology. Their eerie whistles echo through the forest, and a well-placed arrow in Dina’s leg signals the group’s discovery.

Ellie demands Jesse escape with Dina while she lures the attackers away, eventually spotting the hospital in the distance—her revenge on Nora now unavoidable.

When Ellie finally confronts Nora, we expect pleading or manipulation. Instead, Nora doubles down. “Joel got what he deserved,” she tells Ellie. That defiance ignites a feral response in Ellie, initiating a frenzied chase through crumbling hallways and toward a red-lit hell: the basement.

This climax is among the most intense of the season. The red lighting sets a nightmarish tone as Nora struggles to breathe—having inhaled the airborne cordyceps spores. Ellie now stands in the same ethical crucible as Joel once did. Will she act with restraint, as she did for Dina, or fall fully into vengeance? She chooses the latter.

It’s not just a revenge killing. It’s the first time we see Ellie truly becoming what the world has demanded of her: cold, reactive, vengeful. In the darkness, she starts to resemble the very people she’s fighting against—and maybe even Joel himself.

Together, “Day One” and “Feel Her Love” function as a powerful two-part arc. We watch Ellie and Dina’s bond form under pressure, Jesse’s reintroduction complicate the dynamic, and the show expand its moral palette to explore themes of vengeance, power, sacrifice, and legacy. The Seraphites emerge as a credible threat, while the WLF gain new layers. Most notably, Ellie shifts from being a symbol of hope to a product of her environment—less driven by justice, more consumed by pain.

The show continues to ask difficult questions: In a broken world, who decides what’s right? What does survival cost? And at what point does love become indistinguishable from obsession?