I’m not complaining. It’s good to know there is so much fertile ground left to be harvested in “The Last of Us,” either this season or the next. Besides, it makes sense to spend so much time developing the chemistry between Ellie and Dina, now that Dina has taken Joel’s place as the person who cares about her the most. They are a winning pair. Outwardly, they present as so young and so insufficiently serious. Inside, they are made of steel.
This brings me back to why Ellie has to reveal her immunity. Dina and Ellie are finally able to escape the transit tunnel by forcing their way through a rusty turnstile gate — though not before Ellie sticks her arm out as bait, letting herself get bit to stop a zombie from chomping on Dina. After they find refuge in an old theater lobby, Dina reluctantly raises a pistol to shoot Ellie, certain she is now infected. Ellie urges Dina to watch over her while she sleeps, promising she will wake up the same.
“I would die for you, I would,” Ellie says. “But that is not what just happened.”
It is after Ellie is proven right that the two snuggle up together and make their remaining confessions, beginning with Dina admitting, “I know how you feel about me,” and Ellie responding — with genuine, adorable surprise — “How? I was hiding it really well.” when Dina tells her about the pregnancy, Ellie says, “So we’re having a baby. I mean we and also, I guess, Jesse.” In an awed tone she adds, “I’m going to be a dad.”
As the episode ends, Dina and Ellie hear chatter on the radio, and they recognize the name of one of the Wolves who was in Jackson. They look out across the horizon to Lake Hill, where the radio message originated, and they see explosions and hear gunfire. “Together,” Dina says, taking Ellie’s hand as they head into the next phase of their adventure, nervous but determined. The stakes are higher now. Dina’s killing for two.
Side Quests
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It’s wild what pieces of cultural memory have and have not survived the apocalypse. For example: When Dina and Ellie see rainbow flags and Pride graffiti around Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, they have no idea what it all means.
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Ellie’s fascination with NASA comes back again when she and Dina come across three burned skeletons, prompting a perhaps-too-excited Ellie to say, “Like Apollo 1!”
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The marquee at the theater where Ellie and Dina take shelter reads “SICK HA,” with the faint outline of a missing “BIT.” This is apparently a reference to a fictional band in “The Last of Us” video games.
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In the music store, Ellie looks at a couple of vinyl records. Which do you think would she enjoy more? Bob Marley’s greatest hits collection “Legend” is pretty timeless, and perennially popular. But Tears for Fears’s “The Hurting” is an angsty classic, perfect for any teen who is shouldering a lot of guilt and regret.
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In 2018, Isaac is offended at FEDRA for sneeringly calling ordinary people “Voters.” Eleven years later, he derisively calls his enemy “Scars.” Power corrupts.
