‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 4 Recap: Love in the Time of Cordyceps
On “Day One,” it’s time for a fresh start, in both the best and worst of ways
The fourth episode of The Last of Us Season 2 begins with a flashback that transports the audience to Seattle’s quarantine zone in 2018, 11 years before the show’s present timeline. In an armored van full of FEDRA soldiers, one soldier (played by Josh Peck of Drake & Josh fame) tells a story about one of their notorious colleagues assaulting a number of citizens, whom he refers to as “voters.” Although the use of that term is hardly the point of his colorful anecdote, another soldier—who appears to be new to the job—waits for the laughs to die down before asking him why he’s calling the citizens by that name.
“I don’t know,” the crude storyteller replies. “Because that’s what we fucking call them. Who cares?”
“’Cause we took away their rights,” a new voice interjects from the end of the van, before the camera swivels to reveal the Oscar-nominated Jeffrey Wright, wearing a FEDRA uniform himself. “We took away their right to vote, and somebody started calling them ‘voters’ to mock them. So now you know.”
The unnamed sergeant is clearly different from his subordinates, who have no regard for the citizens they should be serving instead of oppressing. When the driver is forced to stop because a school bus is obstructing the road, a group of “voters,” who may be members of the Washington Liberation Front, surrounds the van. The FEDRA sergeant, revealed to be Isaac, brings the curious soldier with him to meet with one of the citizens before turning back to the van to toss in a couple of grenades, killing everyone inside. Isaac finishes off the driver with his rifle, receives his welcome from the onlookers to the fight against FEDRA, and returns his attention to the lone soldier he spared. “Now make your choice,” Isaac says.
“Day One,” directed by Kate Herron (Loki), leaves Jackson behind to properly introduce the show’s new primary setting of Seattle. That includes the city’s two warring factions—the WLF and the Seraphites—and the WLF’s ruthless leader, Isaac. But Episode 4 also makes strides in developing Ellie and Dina’s relationship, which blossoms into a full-fledged romance during their eventful first day in Seattle.
Following the cold open, Ellie and Dina resume their tour through Seattle. They stop by a pharmacy to search for medical supplies, with Dina sneaking herself a pregnancy test (or four, just to be sure), and ride through a neighborhood that once celebrated LGBTQ pride, though the symbolism of its rainbow adornments is lost on them. Eventually, they spot a news station in the distance that’s been marked by the WLF, and they decide to hole up in an abandoned music store until they can reach it under the cover of night.
Up until this episode, Ellie and Dina’s relationship has been decidedly complicated. The two are best friends, but a kiss on New Year’s Eve opened a new realm of possibilities. In the three months since Joel’s death, Dina got back together with Jesse (and they seemingly already broke up again). But on last week’s episode, Dina playfully asked Ellie about that kiss, flirting with her while simultaneously creating distance from a potential romance.
In the music store, Ellie serenades Dina with a guitar she finds, tilting their dynamic once again as Dina seems to fall for her. It’s a beautiful scene, as Bella Ramsey wonderfully croons a somber rendition of “Take On Me.” A-ha’s 1985 hit is a pop classic, but stripped of its synth and performed in this postapocalyptic setting, by Ellie for Dina, the song’s lyrics take on new meaning.
“Shyin’ away / Oh, I’ll be comin’ for your love, OK / Take on me / Take me on / I’ll be gone / In a day or two,” Ellie sings and strums, as tears swell in Dina’s eyes.
“Take On Me” is a plea for love, and through song, Ellie confesses her feelings for Dina, which she’s been too shy to express through speech. In a world where one can die at any moment, whether by the bite of an infected or at the hands of a WLF soldier, all Ellie is asking for is to be loved.
“All those lessons from Joel,” Ellie explains to Dina after Dina commends her performance.
“He taught you well,” Dina replies, wiping away her tears.
With a tinge of sadness, Ellie says, “He did.”
The scene is a faithful re-creation of one of the most impactful moments of The Last of Us Part II, even improving upon it in some respects considering the new context of Ellie and Dina’s relationship, Dina’s heightened emotional response, and this touching final exchange about Joel, which reinforces their shared love for the man they’ve traveled to Seattle to avenge. (It also helps to have the show’s stunning production design, which features overgrown ferns and moss creeping into an opening in the store, and natural light shining on the area.) And with The Last of Us having previously used “Take On Me” during Ellie’s fateful mall date with Riley in Season 1, the song has also become something of a remembrance of her first love.
“Day One” contrasts this brief, serene reprieve from the show’s unending violence with a brutal interrogation scene, as Isaac tortures a captured Seraphite to extract information on where his group will attack next. The Last of Us cleverly transitions to our first glimpse of present-day Isaac, who’s become the leader of the WLF, as he describes how he used to try to impress women in the old world. Before we see the person Isaac is speaking to, we can hear the subtle sounds of the Seraphite’s metal chains clinking as he shifts his tethered body off-screen. The camera eventually pans to reveal the naked—like, very naked—Seraphite, already bruised and beaten, tied to the floor of the kitchen. Isaac’s brutality and willingness to produce results at any cost are on full display. But so are his captive’s resolve and unwavering belief in their cause.
A ton of insight into Isaac’s character and the Seraphites can be gleaned from this encounter, which includes references to a broken pact between the WLF and the Seraphites and repeated mentions of the latter group’s prophet. Even after Isaac burns his captive’s hand with a scalding copper-coated pan, the Seraphite reveals nothing.
“You’re gonna lose,” he tells Isaac.
“Are we?” Isaac asks as he bends down toward him. “Son, we have automatic weapons and hospitals, and you lunatics have bolt-action rifles, bows and arrows, and superstition. So tell me, how are we going to lose?”
“Every day, one of your Wolves comes to see the truth and takes Her into their heart,” he replies, referring to his prophet. “Every day. Every day, a Wolf leaves you to take the holy mortification to become a Seraphite. And none of us ever leave to become a Wolf.”
Isaac walks away to retrieve the pan to deliver another burn, but he turns back to see the Seraphite already holding out his hand. And so Isaac concedes defeat and shoots his defiant victim in the head.
The interrogation scene is among the best of the season, outside of the magnificent second episode. It’s a strong reintroduction to Isaac—along with the lone FEDRA soldier he spared in the opening, now stationed outside of the kitchen as part of the WLF. In the decade since Isaac turned against FEDRA for losing sight of its perceived enemies’ humanity, he’s done the same, and Wright, who’s reprising his role from the video game, is at once captivating and menacing. The scene also further establishes the Seraphites, with the cultlike group now given a name after first appearing in the woods in Episode 3.
In last week’s installment, Ellie and Dina stumbled across the slain caravan of Seraphites as they approached Seattle and were horrified by the Wolves’ actions when they found the body of a child among the corpses. But what they discover in the news station is arguably worse: WLF soldiers hanging from the rafters, their intestines spilling out of their bodies and across the room like streamers. Just as Ellie and Dina continue to perpetuate the cycle of violence—and vengeance—that Abby reignited after killing Joel to avenge her father, these two groups are in a constant cycle of retaliation for each other’s merciless deeds.
Ellie and Dina retrieve a functional walkie-talkie from a dead WLF soldier, but they’re quickly forced to flee the scene when more Wolves return to find their fallen comrades and search for their killers. They manage to escape to a nearby underground subway tunnel, and although they’re followed by a number of Wolves, they’re met by an even greater threat: another infected horde. Through sheer will and Ellie’s presence of mind, Ellie and Dina race through an upended train, hop over a fence, and attempt to exit the station through a rusted turnstile—except Dina can’t make it through. As a runner lurches forward to bite Dina, Ellie sticks out her arm to shield her, affording Dina enough time to shoot it and break free.
The duo finds refuge in an abandoned theater across the street, and Ellie has already forgotten about the bite by the time they arrive. But Dina hasn’t. With tears in her eyes, she prepares to shoot Ellie before the infection takes control of her, forcing Ellie to plead for her life—and finally confess her secret.
“Please, listen to me,” Ellie says, raising her arms in defense as Dina points her pistol at her. “I would die for you, I would. But that is not what just happened. Fuck—I’m immune. I can’t get infected.”
Although it takes some time, Ellie convinces Dina of her immunity. And in turn, Dina confesses her pregnancy, which prompts them to start having sex on the floor of the theater. It’s a bit of a silly and abrupt transition to such a romantic breakthrough, especially when the two of them should have a lot of questions for each other. But as Dina later explains, she thought Ellie was gone—along with the future that Dina had begun fantasizing about having with her—and then suddenly she wasn’t.
Those questions (and Dina’s explanation) follow the morning after, as the new couple discusses everything from the self-inflicted chemical burn on Ellie’s arm to hide her first infected bite to Dina’s struggle to embrace her bisexuality (thanks to her mother) to the fact that they’re going to be parents—along with Jesse. However, their revelatory conversation gets interrupted by the sound of explosions in the distance and the mention of the name and location of Nora—a member of Abby’s Salt Lake Crew— over the WLF walkie-talkie. As they sprint to the roof to get a better vantage point, they see the war zone where Nora must be stationed—and they know what their next destination should be. Even though Ellie asks Dina to reconsider joining her now that they know she’s pregnant, Dina refuses to let her venture out on her own, reinforcing that they’ll do this “together.”
In some ways, “Day One” is a soft reboot for The Last of Us, with only three episodes left in the season. Jackson has been supplanted by Seattle, and in addition to showing glimpses of how the city’s quarantine zone was dismantled, Episode 4 firmly establishes the emerging conflict between the WLF and the Seraphites. Ellie and Dina’s quest to kill Abby continues, but with Dina carrying a new life in her belly, new stakes have been set for the characters who have fully taken over as the leading duo of the series. The stage has been set for them to insert themselves into the war being waged in Seattle, even though their own lives are no longer the only ones they have to worry about.
