The Last Of Us Recap: Daddy's Home
This week's Last of Us gives and it takes.
The latter, first: Nora's speech at the end of the our takes away any doubt Ellie had about what Joel did at the Fireflies' hospital last season. It's one thing to know, but it's another to know, you know?
The former, next: The episode gives us our first glimpse of Pedro Pascal since Joel's death, and what a balm for tortured souls it is!
Read on for the highlights of Episode 5.
I CAN FEEL IT COMING IN THE AIR TONIGHT | As the episode opens, Hanrahan is with a bunch of other Wolves in a hospital. She's questioning a woman named Elise (hi, Hannibal's Hetienne Park!) who apparently killed some of her own men "including Leon;" the fact that she took him, in particular, out seems to be a big deal. We learn that Elise's unit was in charge of securing the building, and everything was fine until they got to the subbasement. Leon was in charge "because he's my best," and when he radioed to report that they'd found Cordyceps flourishing on the floors and walls, she told him to keep going.
The next time he radioed, not long after, he was struggling to breathe as the fungus took over. "He said it's in the air," she reports, clearly upset. She locked the only doors to the building's subterranean levels and "we sealed them in." No one else in the building has gotten sick.
Hanrahan thanks Elise for doing what she had to do, "permanently and heroically. We owe you a debt." She mentions that only those who need to know about the basements will be informed. And as she goes to leave, she adds, "I'm sorry about your son." OOF. Poor Leon!
What we're meant to take away from the exchange: Cordyceps is now airborne, and therefore even more communicable than it was before.
ONWARD! | On Ellie and Dina's Day 2 in Seattle, Ellie gets the generator at the theater working, so they have light. Dina uses intel from the radio and a map to try to plot a safe path to the hospital; Ellie tries to help but is rubbish at it, so she leaves the task to Dina who is "smart as f—k." They're so cute and schmoopy.
While Ellie is noodling around on an acoustic guitar she finds on the theater's stage, Dina arrives to say she thinks she's figured out what's up. She posits that the Wolves are overly confident and the Seraphites are anti-technology, and the ladies should head for a "big f—king something" that looks like a warehouse on the map. They head out and come across a bunch of Seraphites, dead, under a mural of the prophet that says "FEEL HER LOVE." Someone's spray-painted "FEEL THIS BITCH" underneath. The whole thing would make anyone queasy, and Dina is definitely green, causing Ellie to freak and say that she shouldn't have brought her on the mission.
Dina deflects by bringing up that Ellie never asked her about the first person she killed. So she tells the (very awful) story of how a raider attacked her home when she was 8 and murdered her mother and sister before Dina shot and killed him. Similarly, Joel didn't deserve what was coming to him, she reasons; if the raider had gotten away, "I promise you, I would've hunted him down forever. FOREVER."
The monologue touches Ellie, who caresses her girlfriend's face. Dina says she'll do whatever Ellie wants, but she wants her to know: "There's no right answer. If I die, it's on me. It won't be your fault." Then she asks Ellie how she wants to proceed.
"Keep going," Ellie whispers.
JESSE TO THE RESCUE | After dark, they break into the big effing something, aka a building with the name Membronics on its side. Dina reminds Ellie that shooting people should be a last resort. When Ellie is slightly offended, Dina softens her rebuke by saying she's crazy, but that's what she loves about her. "You love me?" Ellie asks. The teen-love cuteness of these two is really quite adorable, guys. Ellie goes to respond in kind, but Dina interrupts with "I know." See? THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT, HAN.
Inside the building, the pair runs into an intelligent infected like the one in the supermarket, and when Dina learns that Ellie got bit back then, too, she's not psyched. Soon, more of these sneaky clickers are circling, so Ellie makes Dina go and hide. Ellie's fighting her heart out but definitely outmatched, but then someone shoots the infected away from her: It's Jesse.
Ellie and Dina run, with Jesse providing cover, as they're chased by Wolves who've arrived on the scene. The teens race into a nearby park, stymied when the realize that the soldiers haven't followed them in. As they follow the sound of voices, Jesse informs them that he's in Seattle with Tommy, and they found the map the girls left in the theater. But then they all stop talking, because they've come across a scene in which Seraphites are hanging a Wolf and disemboweling him with a scimitar.
There's chanting and torches, and then there's some high-pitched whistling — the kind Seraphites use to warn of danger — right before Dina takes an arrow to the thigh. Jesse quickly scoops her up and follows Ellie's instructions to get her out. Ellie hides and manages to elude the bald baddies, and she eventually makes her way to the hospital.
ELLIE'S WORST FEARS CONFIRMED | Nora, Abby's friend, is cleaning up after stitching a wound at the hospital when she realizes Ellie is behind her with a gun. Nora recognizes her but claims not to know where Abby is when Ellie demands the information. At first, she pretends to be sympathetic about Joel's death. But then she pivots to say "the little bitch got what he deserved," and throws a tub full of bleach and rags at Ellie's face before she runs.
Ellie pursues her, shooting away, and Nora's only escape option is the elevator hatch. Both women wind up in the aforementioned subbasement, which — remember — Nora doesn't know is a Very Bad Place to Be.
Leve B2 is wallpapered and carpeted with Cordyceps, and the spores floating in the air would be beautiful if they weren't also going to turn everyone into disgruntled mushrooms. Ellie sees some victims fused to the wall like Flying Dutchmen crew members; they're exhaling clouds of the deadly little particles like they're at a hookah bar.
She hears coughing and follows the noise to find Nora slowly succumbing to the spores. "You stupid bitch, you killed us both," Nora wheezes. "Did I?" Ellie muses, causing Nora to realize: "You're her, the immune girl. You're real."
Nora wonders if Ellie knows what Joel did, and though Ellie says she doesn't care, the other woman tells her anyway: Joel killed everyone at the hospital in Salt Lake City, including the only man who could make a cure for the infection. "That was Abby's father, and Joel shot him in the head," she says, fading but fighting. "That's what he did."
Ellie regards her. "I know," she says.
'HEY KIDDO' | And now we arrive at the worst, and then the best, moments of the episode. Ellie puts away her gun and asks again: "Where's Abby?" Nora keels over but still won't give up her friend's location. So Ellie grabs a piece of pipe from the ground nearby. "Where is she?" Nora still won't say. So Ellie starts to hit her, continuing to ask, and Nora keeps refusing to answer. "WHERE IS SHE?!" Ellie yells, in an uncontrolled rage as she whales on the dying woman like she's a cut of particularly tough beef.
In an abrupt pivot, we end the episode with Ellie waking up in her bed. She's still in her old room, from before she moved to the garage, so this is either a dream or a flashback. Then Joel (!) opens the door and says, "Hey kiddo."
Ellie rolls over, sleepy but smiley, and responds, "Hi."
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!