The Last of Us recap: season two, episode 4 – now that’s what you name romance

This article comprises spoilers for the The Last of Us season two. Please don’t learn until you’ve got observed episodes one to 4.

It’s herbal to consider Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as essentially the most direct persona in The Last of Us. Her immunity to the an infection that has everybody else on edge blended with the inherent rebelliousness of a 19-year-old method she is never essentially the most tactful of audio system. But every so often it’s Ellie’s incorrigible weigh down Dina (Isabela Merced) who will get immediately to the purpose. As the pair gaze up on the grisly sight of our bodies strung up with their intestines ripped out, Dina makes an overly salient statement: “What the fuck is wrong with Seattle?”

It’s by no means been an overly enjoyable town smash. At the tip of closing week’s instalment, Ellie and Dina (and Shimmer the pony) had been moseying into Seattle anticipating minimum resistance as they endured to seek down Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her Washington Liberation Front (WLF) cohort. By the tip of episode 4, the pair have gatecrashed an escalating battle between the WLF and the mysterious Seraphites cult, brought on a horde of inflamed in a claustrophobic rail tunnel and – most likely scariest of all – spilled their guts to one another. At least there used to be day trip for a Radio 1 Live Lounge-style acoustic quilt. But all of it begins with a flashback.

Enter Isaac

We start within the Seattle Quarantine Zone in 2018, trapped at the back of an armoured truck stuffed with Fedra infantrymen in revolt tools. One is telling a long-winded anecdote full of off-colour jokes a couple of group policing incident that led to brutal violence (from season one, we all know that Fedra spearheaded the reliable reaction to the outbreak however quickly turned into a self-serving authoritarian power). The squad’s imposingly bearded sergeant Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright) does now not appear to peer the humorous facet.

When the Fedra car is surrounded by means of unarmed locals, Isaac opts to visit communicate to them on my own, best taking a unmarried uncooked recruit for backup. But this appears to be a prearranged assembly with a lady named Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach). Isaac is obviously having a look to modify allegiances, and he underlines his level by means of tossing a few grenades into the again of the truck, killing his complete troop except for for the panicked rookie. “Now make your choice,” Isaac growls at him.

Cut again to the present-day – 11 years later – and after a fruitless seek for provides in a pharmacy, Ellie and Dina are clopping thru Seattle’s Capitol Hill district, looking to intuit what the entire pale rainbow flags symbolise. When they spot WLF graffiti on most sensible of a TV station, Ellie’s first intuition is to price in all weapons blazing. But the extra strategic Dina suggests ready till darkish, and the pair (and Shimmer) hollow up in a dusty document retailer. It’s there that Ellie discovers a moderately pristine acoustic guitar and begins taking part in a-ha’s Take on Me, a heartfelt rendition that strikes Dina to tears. “All those lessons from Joel,” muses Ellie. He could have prioritised educating her survival talents, however passing on a love of tune is a sweeter manner to bear in mind him.

Kitchen confidential

We minimize to Isaac, nonetheless bearded however by hook or by crook having a look much more confused than within the opening flashback, as he potters at a fuel range. He rhapsodises in regards to the top quality Mauviel copper pans he has gathered (“The strange benefits of the apocalypse”) however this isn’t a cooking demonstration. Isaac has a unadorned, maimed guy shackled to the wall and is within the technique of interrogating him with a skin-searingly sizzling pan. We be told the identify of the shaven-headed, whistling cult we first noticed in episode 3: the Seraphites, nicknamed “Scars” by means of the WLF. The two factions had been at conflict for the reason that fracturing of a prior truce and whilst Isaac’s facet has the technological higher hand, apparently the Scars are profitable the mental fight, attracting disappointed WLF infantrymen to their purpose. Despite being horribly tortured, the Seraphite does now not surrender any intel. Isaac concludes the interrogation with a unmarried gunshot. It’s now not essentially the most sympathetic of portrayals, even if it does paint Isaac as a weary pragmatist slightly than a sadist.

Night strikes

Under quilt of darkness, Ellie and Dina infiltrate the TV station and uncover that the WLF troops there were killed, their mutilated our bodies on planned show in the principle studio. While Dina is throwing up, Ellie follows a blood path and discovers the Seraphites have signed their paintings with an all-caps exhortation to “feel her love”, possibly a connection with their overdue prophet. Dina scoops up a WLF radio but it surely’s now not lengthy ahead of a backup squad of infantrymen arrives.

Outnumbered and outgunned, our heroes try to slip away however finally end up attractive (we get to peer Ellie do one of the most martial-arts strikes she used to be honing in episode one). The best viable break out path is into a dark transit tunnel that appears like territory claimed by means of the inflamed. What follows is any other headlong motion collection, atmospherically lit by means of the WLF’s fizzling purple emergency flares. As an agitated horde bashes on the home windows of a tilted teach carriage, Ellie and Dina hustle throughout the inner, clambering up thru an emergency hatch within the nick of time. But a rusty go out turnstile looks as if it’ll be Dina’s downfall as a rabid clicker catches as much as her. To Dina’s horror, Ellie jams her arm throughout the turnstile and takes the chew as a substitute.

No extra secrets and techniques

They have escaped the WLF and the inflamed however at what value? As they safe haven in a close-by theatre, Dina assists in keeping her gun mounted on Ellie, anticipating her to show at any second. That’s when Ellie finds her immunity, explaining that she has been bitten ahead of and has been superb. Dina is understandably sceptical however after a couple of nerve-racking hours have handed and Ellie nonetheless appears to be Ellie, she stocks a secret of her personal: “I’m pregnant.” Perhaps on account of those heightened feelings – or their fresh near-death stories – Ellie and Dina after all make a non-drunken bodily connection, making out passionately at the flooring.

The subsequent morning the younger couple open up about the entirety over some breakfast red meat jerky. Ellie displays Dina the former chew on her arm, due to this fact disguised by means of a burn scar after which a tattoo. Dina guidelines out the more than one being pregnant checks she lifted from the drugstore on the opening of the episode: each and every one has a favorable consequence. Her stoic ex Jesse (Young Mazino) is the daddy however as Ellie places it, best part jokingly: “I’m gonna be a dad.”

During this intimate dialog, their unique challenge to get payback for Joel’s homicide feels 1,000,000 miles away. But that’s when the WLF radio crackles into lifestyles, and so they listen point out of Nora, one in all Abby’s allies, being directed to a clinic in the midst of a conflict zone. Ellie snaps again into revenge mode. It appears like a pivotal second, particularly when Dina takes Ellie’s hand and says they’ll do it in combination. Season two is best seven episodes lengthy so we’ve got simply handed the midway level. But is it additionally going to be the purpose of no go back?

Notes and observations

• The soldier telling the long-winded tale within the opening flashback used to be performed by means of Josh Peck, acquainted to US audiences as one of the vital youngster stars of 00s Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh. He additionally popped up in Oppenheimer in 2023.

• If the hacked-open WLF our bodies striking from the roof gave the impression horribly lifelike, it’s almost certainly as a result of they had been exact stuntmen in harnesses slightly than dummies. That’s only one intriguing revelation on this behind-the-scenes featurette.

• A shoutout to Ryan Masson, the younger actor who performed the bare prisoner tortured by means of Isaac. He made an enormous affect in one scene; his bloodied however unbowed devotion made the Seraphites cult appear in truth terrifying.

What did you suppose? What are your hopes for the remainder of season two? Will Shimmer the pony be OK in that document store? Have your say underneath, however please steer clear of spoilers from the sport …