From hidden game references to subtle character details, dive deep into the haunting fifth episode of The Last of Us Season 2. We're breaking down everything from the terrifying spores making their TV debut to musical Easter eggs, and that spine-chilling Rat King tease that had game fans on edge!
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00:00You figured out yet?
00:01Getting there.
00:02You'll find a safe way to get us to the hospital though, right?
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at various easter eggs and details that you may have missed from Season 2, Episode 5 of The Last of Us, Feel Her Love.
00:14We will be discussing plot elements from the game, so a spoiler warning is in effect.
00:18Don't you know what he did?
00:22I don't care.
00:24Number 10. Spores.
00:26I thought maybe he had been dead.
00:30I said, Leon, were you dead? He said...
00:34He said it's Amir.
00:37It's kind of hard to miss this one, but the spores are still interesting to talk about considering their relation to the game.
00:43In this episode, we learn that the fungus is progressing and is now emitting spores.
00:48These spores become airborne and have the power to infect anyone who breathes them in.
00:53Hence, Nora accepting her fate in front of Ellie.
00:56Spores!
00:58We're breathing.
01:00Spores.
01:03We're infected.
01:05You killed us both.
01:07Did I?
01:08This is a huge development for the series, but it's not new to players of the game.
01:13You see, spores have been in the games from the very beginning.
01:16In fact, it's one of the very first things you're introduced to in post-apocalyptic Boston.
01:21It's nice to see they're finally making the transition to the screen.
01:24Well, speaking of merchandise, when's that next shipment due?
01:27Well, we're meeting Bill next month. More pills, lots of ammo. Supposedly. Hold up. Spores.
01:33Number 9. The Anti-Joel.
01:42I'm sorry about your son.
01:44The new episode begins with a cold open of sorts, with Hanrahan confronting a soldier named Elise Park.
01:55This is an original character, and she's here to establish the new threat of the spores.
02:00There's one very important detail to consider.
02:03As Hanrahan is leaving, she says that she's sorry about Park's son, meaning that the soldier Park sacrificed was her own child.
02:10So I scrambled my other team, and we locked the only door to be two, and we locked the only door to be one.
02:17And we did what Leon said.
02:22We sealed the men.
02:23This is meant to be an emotional gut punch, but it's also meant to mirror Joel's anti-sacrifice in the Season 1 finale.
02:29This also gives greater depth to Abby.
02:32The wolf clearly values the collective over the individual, and Abby would have little patience for Joel choosing the opposite.
02:38You're tough.
02:42I guess you probably have to be killing all those people.
02:46Do you know how many you killed that day?
02:49Did you count as you went, or...
02:52I guess maybe it just didn't matter.
02:54Number 8. Park's son.
02:57Nothing else has gotten out.
02:59No one else has gotten sick.
03:03Okay.
03:04This episode has a brilliant bookend, and it's very easy to miss.
03:08We actually see Park's son in the climax of the episode, after Ellie chases Nora into the basement.
03:14As she's exploring the spore-filled area, she comes across a man who's been absorbed into the wall via the fungus.
03:20If you look closely, his uniform reads L. Park, meaning this is the son that Elise left behind.
03:26We wonder how she'd feel seeing him in this state.
03:29The name tag is a great connective tissue that links the scene to the cold open.
03:33Although, we wouldn't blame you if you missed it.
03:35That makeup is just too stellar to ignore.
03:45Number 7. Sick Habit.
03:48They got a bunch of records here.
03:50The sleek habit.
03:52The sick habit.
03:53At the beginning of the episode, we get an establishing shot of the theater that Ellie and Dina are using as a makeshift headquarters.
04:00The sign reads, Sick Ha.
04:01And we can see the outlines of a B, I, and T, so it once read out sick habit.
04:07This is a fun little easter egg for fans of the game, as Sick Habit is a band that played in the Pinnacle Theater.
04:12While you obviously don't get to enjoy the band's music, you can find their flyer advertising a show for September 14th, 2013.
04:19The band is also mentioned while Ellie and Dina are exploring the record store, with Ellie claiming that they listened to their music back in Jackson.
04:26Uh, okay. We only listened to it like a hundred times together.
04:30I was only listening to it because I thought you were cute.
04:33Number 6. Future Days.
04:35If I ever watch a third year.
04:39While exploring the theater, Ellie stumbles across a huge stage littered with musical instruments.
04:45Maybe they belong to Sick Habit.
04:47She picks up a guitar and plays the beginning of a song before stopping and talking to Dina.
04:52This song is Pearl Jam's Future Days, which is also the song that Joel sings to Ellie in the video game.
04:58If I ever were to lose you, I'd surely lose myself.
05:05This is probably why Ellie becomes upset after playing it, lost in a sad moment of reflection over her now-gone father.
05:12Funnily enough, this song shouldn't exist in the show's universe, as Outbreak Day was September 26th, 2003,
05:19and Future Days was on the band's 2013 album Lightning Bolt.
05:23Whatever. It's an iconic piece of the game, so it stays.
05:26It's of you and me.
05:31You and me.
05:34It's just you and me.
05:40Number 5. Weezer.
05:42We've seen throughout the show that Ellie is a big fan of 90s rock, specifically grunge and alternative.
05:48This trend continues in the show's adorable little epilogue, which shows a flashback of Joel and Ellie together in Jackson.
05:54Hey, kiddo.
05:55On Ellie's bedroom wall is a poster for Weezer's album Pinkerton, which was released in 1996.
06:01This lines up with her taste in music.
06:03Whereas Weezer's debut was a fun bit of power pop with catchy singles,
06:07Pinkerton featured more alternative music with much darker and more introspective lyrics.
06:11This change in style alienated a good chunk of their fanbase at the time,
06:15but that's exactly the style that Ellie enjoys.
06:18Number 4. Jesse and Abby Find the Map
06:31Jesse.
06:32What?
06:33How did you find us?
06:34The map you left in the theater.
06:37Impressive triangulation, by the way.
06:39When things seem dire for Ellie and Dina, Jesse arrives to save the day.
06:43He explains that both he and Tommy followed them to Seattle,
06:46thinking that they would need their help in their quest for revenge.
06:49He also explains that they found their map inside the theater,
06:52which allowed them to track Ellie and Dina to the warehouse.
06:55I can't believe they sent you after us.
06:57They didn't, but you two were gonna die out here, so we snuck out the next night.
07:01That's a good thing we did.
07:02Funnily enough, this is the same way that Abby finds Ellie in the video game.
07:07Ellie accidentally drops her map in the aquarium,
07:09and it's found by Lev, who in turn gives it to Abby.
07:12Ellie really has to stop leaving her maps behind for people to find.
07:27Number 3. Ellie Knows the Truth
07:29That was Abby's father.
07:33And Joel.
07:34Joel shot him in the head.
07:39This episode introduced one major deviation from the video game.
07:43As Ellie is confronting Nora,
07:45Nora tells her exactly why Abby hunted down Joel and killed him.
07:48Ellie doesn't seem to care,
07:50which mirrors her state of mind in the video game.
07:52In the game, Ellie never explicitly learns the truth about Abby.
07:56She knows that Abby is a firefly,
07:58so it's possible that she put two and two together,
08:00but she is never explicitly told that Joel killed Abby's father.
08:03Think about what he did.
08:06How many people are dead because of him?
08:12Last chance.
08:13She just doesn't care.
08:14Abby killed Joel, so Abby has to go.
08:17Dina also tells Ellie a story that carries a very similar message.
08:21It doesn't matter why the act was done,
08:23only that it was done.
08:24Would it make a difference if my family had heard his people first?
08:29No.
08:32No.
08:33Number 2.
08:34Dina Can't Hear the Stalkers
08:36We know that Dina is very proficient in listening to the infected,
08:47often telling Ellie exactly how many are in a room.
08:50But she has a problem with the stalkers in the warehouse.
08:53Not only does she not know what they are,
08:55but she also can't seem to hear them,
08:57even expressing shock when more emerge from the darkness.
09:00You see that fencing over there?
09:01I'm going to lure as many as I can.
09:03You're going to run in there, secure the gate,
09:04secure however you can and stay in there.
09:06Dina, I can get bit a lot.
09:08You can't.
09:09Do as I say.
09:09This is a great reference to the video game.
09:12By their nature,
09:13stalkers are exceptionally quiet,
09:15and therefore almost impossible to detect while in listening mode.
09:19Dina is clearly playing in listening mode most of the time,
09:22so it makes complete sense that she isn't able to detect them.
09:25I think it's a smart one.
09:27Like the one that stalked me at the supermarket.
09:29Okay, but you can kill that one,
09:31so we can kill this one too, right?
09:32Before we continue,
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09:48Number 1.
09:49The Rat King
09:50All that was left was the basement.
09:52B1, B2, B3.
09:53We were expecting the worst,
09:55the kind of environment they like.
09:57Plus, the old-timers said
09:58down there was where they brought
09:59the first cordyceps patients in O3.
10:01During the opening sequence,
10:03Elise Park mentions going into the hospital basement.
10:05They were expecting something bad,
10:07but they found the place completely abandoned.
10:10She even says that there were, quote,
10:12not even rats inside,
10:13which seems to elicit a subtle reaction of anxiety from Hanrahan.
10:17So yesterday, that's where I sent a squad down to B1.
10:21And nothing.
10:22The whole floor was empty,
10:24not even rats.
10:25It also elicited a huge reaction from fans of the game,
10:29whose ears pricked up at the mention of hospital rats.
10:32The Rat King is a famous type of infected from the game,
10:35found in the basement of the Seattle Hospital.
10:37It's a disgusting creature,
10:39consisting of numerous types of infected
10:41phased into each other
10:42and forming a giant mass of limbs,
10:44mouths, and fungal growths.
10:45We still have nightmares about it.
10:53Did you spot anything else from the episode?
10:55Let us know in the comments below.
10:57Where is she?
10:58Where is she?