The Last of Us – Feel Her Love

We’re on day two in Seattle with Ellie and Dina as they continue their search for Abby and her pack of wolves—the group responsible for Joel’s death. Last week’s episode saw the two young women connecting on a romantic level while getting their bearings in the West Coast city, all while trying to figure out how to launch a stealth attack on a group of highly trained soldiers who seem to have eyes on every corner of the streets..

This week, the story slows down a bit, as we get a deeper look into the brewing civil war between the Seraphites and the W.L.F.. While we still don’t know exactly what or who leads the cult-like group, clues are beginning to emerge that suggest either side of this fight is entirely innocent.

Airborne Spores and Evolving Threats

We open with a cold flashback in Seattle, set after Isaac (Jeffrey Wright) turned on FEDRA and joined the W.L.F., but before the war between the group and the Seraphites escalated to its current state. We’re introduced to W.L.F. leader Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach), who is interviewing Sergeant Park (Hettienne Park) about a disturbing incident involving her unit. It turns out Park killed all of her own people—and Hanrahan wants to know why. The explanation is nothing short of terrifying.

Park recounts how her squad was clearing the basement level of a hospital in search of supplies when they stumbled upon something that could change everything survivors know about this world. In that hospital, Park discovered a horrifying truth: environmental conditions can determine how the Cordyceps fungus spreads. Like all fungi, Cordyceps spores thrive in dark, damp environments—meaning that, under the right conditions, the virus can become airborne.

A bite is no longer the only threat. Simply breathing in the spores is enough to become infected.

When Park’s team entered a room filled with airborne spores, her people began to turn. Faced with an impossible choice, she sealed the building—trapping her entire squad inside, including her own son, Leon—to prevent the spread of the infection. Like Ellie (Bella Ramsey) discovered years later at the start of the season, the fungus is evolving, It’s learning. It’s as much a survivor as the humans running from it. When Ellie reported to Tony (Gabriel Luna) and Maria (Rutina Wesley) that she’d encountered Smart Clickers—ones that hunted her instead of blindly charging—we got our first real clue that there’s more to the infected than anyone previously understood and that evolution has been happening for longer than anyone in Jackson knows. This revelation changes everything for survivors who thought they knew how to stay alive. When every breath could be deadly, the only one who’s truly safe now is Ellie.

Revenge is Worth the Reckless Risk

Speaking of, in an old theater they’ve been hiding out in, Ellie finds a guitar that reminds her of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and a generator that turns on the lights. This helps Dina (Isabela Merced) get to work on their next move, as she has been listening to the W.L.F. radio chatter all morning. By using the math skills she learned in school and her history on religion and cults, she manages to plot the coordinates of Nora—one of Abby’s companions who held her down while Joel was beaten to death. It seems the group is holed up in the same spore-filled hospital from Park’s story, with the infected airborne rooms sealed off. When Ellie questions why they would radio from their locations in the middle of a war, Dina points out the fact that their enemies, these “Scars”– she calls them, are a religious cult who face heavy artillery with bows and arrows. She believes that much like religious sects of the old world–like the Amish, these Serphites are Luddites, and wouldn’t be using modern technology. The W..L.F. can chat away on their walkie talkies knowing the Serphites won’t hear them.

As they set out towards the hospital, we get more insight into Dina’s past and how she ended up parentless and longing for a parent like Joel. While we’re not sure how long these two have been best friends, and what exactly they’ve shared about each other to earn that status, this is the first time they’ve talked about Dina’s first kill. It comes on the heels of discovering another mass killing of the Serphites. Heaps of bloody bodies lie propped up against a wall graffitied with the words of their prophet, “Feel Her Love.” It is a sight that sends Dina running to vomit and remembering the first time she killed someone. That first kill shaped who she is now and why she’s so determined to help find Abby.

At just eight years old, she was living in a secluded cabin with her mother and sister, hidden away from the virus and the world beyond their locked doors. Like any child, she longed to experience more and even have a bit of fun. One day, ignoring her mother’s warnings, Dina snuck outside to play, and when she returned, she found a raider had broken into their cabin and was murdering her family. Before he could turn on her, Dina grabbed a gun and made him her first kill—but it was too late. She stopped him from hurting anyone else, but she couldn’t save her mother and sister–they were already gone.

We get the sense that Dina never experienced real parental guidance again until she met Joel and saw hints of this in the season’s opening episode, when she questioned why Ellie was so angry with him. In Dina’s eyes, no matter what Joel had done, he was a good father. She never understood why Ellie stayed mad or seemed to take his care for granted.

Now, with her past laid bare, Dina confesses that if the man who murdered her family had survived, she would have spent her life hunting him down. That’s why she’s willing to risk everything—including her own life and the life growing inside her—to help Ellie get the justice Joel deserves. Whatever Ellie decides, Dina says she’ll be by her side, adding: “If I die, it’ll be on me. It won’t be your fault.” Then she leaves the choice to Ellie.

Last Resort

Of course, Ellie—still haunted by Joel’s death—chooses to keep going. As day turns to night, the two make their way toward the spore-filled hospital, hiding in the shadows of the W.L.F.’s security searchlights. As it sweeps the streets from the hospital’s rooftop, it forces them to take cover in an abandoned warehouse next door.

Inside, Dina assesses their surroundings. Assuming there can’t be a horde—if there were, they would’ve heard them breaking in—but knowing the warehouse is too massive to be entirely empty of threats, she assumes they’ll run into a few infected. She insists it wouldn’t be enough to threaten the hospital as the  W.L.F. would’ve kept the area around their base clear.

After dropping a casual “I love you” that leaves Ellie stunned and smitten, Dina makes her promise not to use their guns if they get into trouble. The sound would bring the W.L.F. down on them instantly. If things go sideways, they run. Ellie reluctantly agrees, though her worry is plain—she’s haunted by the idea that Dina, and their future child’s lives, are on the line.

Since she’s immune, Ellie leads the way, but the warehouse is far from empty. What they find is horrifying: pools of blood, torn limbs, and dismembered bodies litter the floor. That’s when Dina spots it—an infected perched high on a pallet, hiding–watching them.

It’s one of those Smart Clickers Ellie ran into earlier in the season. This is a new kind of threat—organized, patient, predatory, and can’t be taken down the typical way. Ellie proposes a divide-and-conquer strategy: she’ll draw the infected out while Dina picks them off from behind. It’s a good plan… until they realize the Smart Clickers have already outmaneuvered and outnumber them.

As the circle tightens, Ellie snaps into protection mode. She orders Dina to run behind a fenced-in electrical panel and lock it behind her. Ellie, gun in hand, will hold them off, testing her immunity if she has to.

After a kiss—one neither of them wants to be a goodbye—Dina runs, and just as she slams the gate shut behind her, the infected crash into it. Outside the protective fencing, Ellie opens fire, mowing down the advancing threats. As Dina runs out of ammo and the Clickers start bending the metal fence, Ellie gets distracted. That moment of hesitation costs her; as a smart Clicker tackles Ellie to the ground, teeth tearing, through flesh. She fights back viciously, rolling around the floor, but the attacks keep coming.

It looks like the end—until gunfire explodes through the air.

Through blurred vision, Ellie looks up, half expecting to see Joel, the man she’s still chasing through every loss and nightmare. But it’s not him, it’s Jesse (Young Mazino)—and just in time. He didn’t see Ellie get bit, but Dina makes sure to back Ellie up as Jesse would kill her before they could ever explain her immunity. He also reveals he’s not alone. Tommy is also in Seattle, and the two split up after finding Dina’s map back at the theater.

As the three flee the warehouse—firing back at both the infected and W.L.F. soldiers now in pursuit—tension builds between Jesse and Ellie. Beyond the obvious strain (one is Dina’s ex, the other her current romantic partner), Jesse still doesn’t know Dina is pregnant… or that she wants to raise the baby with Ellie. We can also sense his frustration over the fact Ellie didn’t just leave Jackson—she took Dina with her. That reckless choice forced Jesse and Tommy to risk their lives trying to find them.

While searching for a place to hide, Jesse suggests they lie low in an overgrown park until it’s safe to meet up with Tommy back at the theater. In the distance, flashlights flicker and the voices of searching soldiers echo through the city. Thankfully, they don’t seem to patrol beyond the park’s perimeter.

“May She Guide Us”

Crouched behind a bush, Ellie and Jesse clash again when he says the plan is to find Tommy and go home. Ellie is not going anywhere until she gets her revenge, and even Dina looks shocked at how far she is willing to go. They’ve nearly died—twice—and we can assume Dina is thinking not only about Ellie’s safety, but their baby’s as well.

Their argument is suddenly interrupted by eerie whistling and flickering torches moving through the brush.

The Seraphites have arrived, and they’ve captured a W.L.F. soldier (Mathew Yanagiya). Terrified,  their captive instantly offers them the location of his comrades, as he pleads for his life. But the scarred, robe-clad zealots aren’t interested in bargaining. One of them ties a noose around his neck, hoisting him up from a tree and tossing a wobbly bucket beneath his feet in what seems like mercy. It is anything but. The Seraphite Priest (Maurice Dean Wint) pulls out a scythe from his robes, and with a slow, ceremonial gesture, he disembowels the soldier as an offering to their Prophet. The torchbearers begin chanting and surrounding the body, as the man’s entrails dangle and drop to the ground.

Dina turns away. She can’t watch, but Ellie can’t look away. These people are just as brutal as the ones who smashed Joel’s skull in.

Suddenly, a sharp whistle cuts through the night—then an arrow flies from the trees and strikes Dina in the leg. She collapses into Jesse’s arms as Ellie springs into action. She orders Jesse to take Dina back to the theater and get the arrow out while she draws the Seraphites towards her. Before he can protest, Ellie fires a shot into the air and takes off running with the attackers right behind her. Jesse carries Dina the other way, free from the arrows aimed at Ellie. As Seraphites chase her, chanting “May she guide us,” Ellie dives into a hollow tree trunk, waiting for the perfect moment to escape. Once it’s clear, she spots the gate to the hospital and she is faced with a choice: turn back to find Jesse and Dina… or run headlong toward the gates of revenge.

She chooses Joel.

A Cycle of Violence

Ellie slips through the dark toward the hospital, crawling through tall grass with barking dogs close behind. She moves with stealth—ducking under fences, weaving between shadows, evading the guards—until she finds a crack in the hospital’s foundation and slides inside. The soldiers and dogs lose her trail, dismissing the noise as just another stray animal.

The element of surprise is hers now, and she uses it the moment she comes face-to-face with Nora (Tati Gabrielle).

The second Nora realizes who Ellie is—and why she’s there—a chase breaks out. They tear through endless dark hallways and rooms, with Ellie firing off rounds as Nora runs not only from the bullets but from the deeper threat: the hospital’s quarantined lower levels..

When Nora leaps into an elevator shaft to escape, Ellie fires again. The blast causes the rusted elevator to collapse a few floors. Desperate and out of options, Nora chooses what she hopes is her only way out: she disappears into the quarantine zone.

Ellie follows—unaware of the airborne spores saturating the air. Nora isn’t so lucky. Inside, she finds Nora already coughing, showing early signs of infection, but she can still find humor in irony.“You’re so stupid,” she gasps. “We’re both dead now.”

But Ellie isn’t coughing; she isn’t even sweating.

That’s when the horror in Nora’s eyes shifts to realization.

Through the haze of infection, it finally clicks—this is her. The girl the Fireflies called “the cure.” The one they believed could save the world. The future Joel stole from them.

“You’re the reason,” Nora says, her voice hollow. “He killed all of them… because of you,” and while that reveal should sting, Ellie already knows what Joel did to save her. It’s not news—but it is a wound that never fully healed and was more than likely what fractured her relationship with Joel. Nora’s words change nothing, as Ellie demands to know where is Abby. Nora refuses to tell her so, Ellie picks up a rusted pipe from the floor and, with a scream soaked in grief and fury, beats Nora with it—demanding Abby’s location.”Tell Me!” she screams, but even as Nora coughs blood and succumbs to the spreading infection, she refuses to talk.

Ellie doesn’t stop. Blow after blow, her scream echoes through the crumbling hospital—a sound not just of vengeance, but of something breaking inside her.

Seattle is soaked in cycles of violence and revenge: Seraphites gutting W.L.F. soldiers, W.L.F. soldiers executing enemies in the street—and now Ellie, beating a dying woman for answers that will only lead to more violence. She doesn’t see it yet, but her innocence died with Joel. What’s left behind is a girl led by impulse, passion, and pain, convinced that justice will come if she just hits hard enough. This is a new Ellie and the world can hear her roar.