Summary
The Last of UsSeason 2, Episode 5 tells the events of Ellie’s Day 2 in Seattle. Much like the previous episode, this installment covered a lot of ground and was very action-oriented, setting up nicely for Ellie’s day 3, presumably in the next episode. Episode 5 makes a lot of deviations from the source material, having both Dina and Jesse accompany Ellie on her journey to the hospital to find Nora. The final scene of the episode, in which Ellie confronts Nora, was very accurate to the events of the game, but now with an even darker retelling of events.
The Last of Usuniverse is full of morally gray actions. The Earth descended into violence and chaos. The governments and laws mostly fell apart after the Cordyceps outbreak, and while there are still governing forces like FEDRA, even they chose violence as a first resort over peace and order. Actions like murder are part of everyday life — Episode 3 sees Ellie and Dina discussing their first kill as people ask about someone’s first kiss. Because of the world they live in, fans aren’t as quick to judge Joel or Ellie for killing to survive. They understand that the characters do it out of necessity, even though that necessity can be disturbing. Yet,The Last of Us Part 2was the first entry in the series to really make audiences question Ellie’s morality. The game did this gradually the more the story progressed. However, the ending scene of Episode 5 has a much more direct way of confronting the audience with this question.
How Ellie Confronts Nora In The Game
In the video gameThe Last Of Us Part 2,after sneaking her way into the hospital, Ellie catches Nora in an empty room with a gun to her back and demands to know Abby’s whereabouts. After stalling for a bit, Nora taunts Ellie by referring to Joel as a “little b*tch” and tells Ellie that he got what he deserved. This angers Ellie, and she goes to strike Nora, but before she can do so, Nora throws a medical tray at Ellie and runs out of the room. A short chase scene through the hospital eventually finds its way to the basement level, which is covered in spores. This stops Nora’s escape, as like anyone other than Ellie inThe Last of Usuniverse, she cannot breathe in spores andwill soon succumb to the Cordyceps infectionafter inhaling them.
After cornering a dying Nora, Ellie once again demands to know Abby’s location. Nora, knowing her fate is already sealed, feels even less compelled to now tell Ellie. Realizing this, Ellie picks up a metal pipe and starts beating Nora with it, hoping that Nora will give up the information in exchange fora quick end to her suffering. What’s most disturbing about this scene is that the player has to actively beat Nora via button prompts to progress the cutscene. During this process, the camera is locked on Ellie’s face the entire time. The player doesn’t see Nora, only hears her screams while looking at Ellie’s rage-fueled eyes.
The Confrontation In The TV Show
The TV show follows the same events as the game, portraying the aforementioned chase scene, until Nora can no longer run as a result of breathing in spores. However, the way Ellie tortures Nora for information is arguably more disturbing. Ellie has a cold emptiness behind her eyes when she is talking to Nora, barely blinking the entire time. Ellie even reveals to Nora that she knew aboutJoel’s actions at the Firefly hospital, and not even admitting that hard truth shows a crack in her cold, frightening demeanor. Also, unlike the game, the audience actually witnesses Ellie’s hits landing on Nora. Not only do they hear her cries, but also have to witness Nora’s body reacting to the hits.
The scene is very difficult to watch, but what makes it crucially different from the game is the audience’s involvement. In the game, the player has to press a button to beat Nora themselves. Most players would likely have been uncomfortable and reluctant, but eventually did so to progress the scene. Even if the player disagrees with Ellie’s choice, they are aligned with her and her actions. However, as is the nature of television, the audience are passive spectators. They have no say or action in the narrative of the stories they are consuming, meaningfresh spectators of the TV showcould lose affection for Ellie faster than players of the game did.
Perhaps in the next episode, audiences will seeEllie return to the theater in shock, like she did in the game. This scene from the game showed the emotional toll it took on her, which restored a sense of humanity to her. Players were not completely disillusioned with the character at this point. But either way, HBO has not shied away from asking whether Ellie is the villain of this chapter ofThe Last of Us.It will be interesting to see how they further explore this question in the rest of the season.
