Ryan Kirksey
The following recap contains spoilers for The Last of Us, S2E4, “Day One” (written by Craig Mazin and directed by Kate Herron)
There’s a case to be made that The Last of Us Season 2 really started on Sunday night with Episode 4, “Day One.” Last week’s interlude after the devastating second episode really served as a long exhale as the show literally and figuratively gets back on the horse to start the new journey that features Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced). The story of Ellie and Joel (Pedro Pascal) has come to an end (although I imagine we still have plenty of flashbacks in store), and the second part of this show begins with the first day in Seattle.
Episode 4 is perhaps one of the most visually stunning and cinematic of the entire run of the series thus far. Tremendous amounts of credit go to the production designers and cinematographers of this series, but they also were gifted with unbelievable source material.
Much of Episode 4 features shot-for-shot recreations of some of the most emotional, intense, stressful, and beautiful scenes of The Last of Us Part 2 video game. As discussed many times in this space during the run of this television show, the video games are some of the most striking and beautiful in all of gaming, and the Seattle section from which this episode is adapted might be at the top of the list.
Being able to position the warmth and emotion of Ellie and Dina in the music shop, the fear and dread that follows the red glow underground when an infected horde comes, and the anxiety and uncertainty when Ellie pleads with Dina to not end her life is something that both the show and the game do better than perhaps anyone else.
It truly says something about the quality of this show that I can be on the edge of my seat during Ellie’s acoustic version of a-ha’s “Take On Me” just as much as I was when Ellie and Dina try to escape the horde in the underground tunnels.
But before we can get to the present day (actually 2029 in the show), we are treated to a flashback from 2018 that shows perhaps the moments when Fedra in Seattle started to fall. Jeffrey Wright is introduced as Isaac, a former Fedra officer who is disenfranchised with their methods and plots with the burgeoning WLF in Seattle to murder his Fedra comrades and join in their fight. Isaac, it will become clear soon, rises to become the leader of the WLF in their battle against the Seraphites.
Combining culinary lessons with graphic torture of a weak Seraphite member, one could argue that Isaac in 2029 is no better than Fedra was in 2018. His methods are ultimately unfruitful, and he is forced to shoot his captive when it’s clear he will not betray his cause. What Ellie and Dina don’t know is that they are not just walking into Seattle and hoping to stumble upon five WLF members. They are walking into a full-blown war between WLF and the Seraphites, with an every-once-in-a-while horde of infected thrown in just for fun.
Dina and Ellie happen to stumble into a room that was just used as a violent display of the hatred the Seraphites have for the WLF. They see several WLF members strung up from the ceiling with their intestines hanging out in something that resembles what Hannibal Lecter did when he escaped from prison. They leave a message on the wall for the WLF, which includes the symbol we saw them wearing last week and the words “Feel Her Love,” referencing The Prophet in whom they proclaim their faith.
Backup for the WLF arrives and begins a hunt for Ellie and Dina after they are spotted trying to escape. If not for an unexpected border of infected underground that overruns the WLF, it’s very likely that Dina and Ellie would have been captured then and there.
On their way to Seattle, and before the trauma of the WLF discovery and the horde, Ellie and Dina make camp at an old music store where Ellie thumbs through Tears for Fears records and discovers all their old guitars. Her lessons from Joel really paid off, Dina remarks, as Ellie plays “Take On Me,” which carries new meaning in an apocalypse, especially considering their blossoming relationship.
We’re talking away
I don’t know what I’m to say
I’ll say it anyway
Today is another day to find you
Shyin’ away
Oh, I’ll be comin’ for your love, okay
Ellie and Dina’s romantic relationship is an integral part of the video game, which evolves before Dina reveals the same news she does in this episode: she is pregnant with Jesse’s (Young Mazino) baby. Dina only reveals this after they escaped the WLF, a horde of infected, and slipped away from the Seraphites. But this news is bound to make Ellie think twice about dragging Dina along for her entire mission of seeking out Abby and killing her.
But Dina isn’t the only one with groundbreaking news to share. Ellie is forced to reveal her immunity. There is much speculation this season (surely to be shown later in flashbacks) about what Joel eventually told Ellie about Salt Lake City and who else knows about her immunity. At least based on Dina’s reaction, the news about Ellie’s immunity is not widely known. After Ellie sacrifices herself and lets an infected bite her arm so Dina can have time to escape the subway tunnels, Dina is ready to turn her gun on Ellie.
Perhaps because of their new relationship, and maybe also because Dina just can’t bring herself to kill her best friend, she agrees to trust Ellie for one night. Ellie does not, in fact, change or become infected, much to Dina’s delight. These two are creating a bond that is quite strong, and it will be extremely interesting to see what happens in days two, three, four, etc., in Seattle when it’s not just Ellie’s and Dina’s lives that are at stake anymore.
Considering that most of Episodes 3 and 4 have focused on the dynamic between Ellie and Dina, it’s clear these two are the emotional heartbeat of the show going forward. They have a job to do in hunting Abby, that much is certain. But don’t they now both know something about the other that makes it more important that they ensure the survival of each other?
Dina will soon give birth if she can make it back to Jackson and the comfort of their hospital. Ellie (whether Dina knows it or not) carries the power to heal an entire world. In a world where the stakes always seem high and there are no easy answers, it’s possible all of that just got raised to another level after Dina and Ellie’s confessions to one another.
