The Season 2 Finale Of “The Last Of Us” Included Some Brilliant (And Devastating) Details You Might’ve Missed
Dina giving Ellie the bracelet in “The Last of Us” Season 2 finale is such an iconic moment from the game.
1. First, when Dina (Isabela Merced) is freaking out about the arrow in her leg, Jesse (Young Mazino) yells at her while trying to calm her down, and it doesn’t work. This is a great juxtaposition to when Dina and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are trapped among the stalkers in Episode 5, and Ellie clearly speaks to Dina, who is getting nervous, instead of yelling at her.
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2. Also, when Jesse is prepping to push the arrow through Dina’s leg, he puts his hand on her face to try and calm her. Ellie consistently does the same thing when Dina is stressed, except Dina leans into Ellie’s hand.
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I also love how Jesse and Ellie put their hands on the opposite dies of Dina’s face.
3. Ellie pushing Dina’s hair behind her ears and watching her sleep is another small moment that also happens in the game. However, in the game, it comes after Ellie returns from the aquarium.
4. Dina noticing Ellie’s bleeding through her shirt and asking her to take her shirt off so she can see is a scene directly from The Last of Us Part II.
5. Dina carefully cleaning Ellie’s scrapes on her back is also a moment directly from the game, and honestly, one of the most beloved Ellie and Dina moments.
6. And, Ellie telling Dina that she made Nora (Tati Gabrielle) talk is also a line directly from The Last of Us Part II, but the conversation continuing as Ellie goes into more detail is new to the series. In the game, we never explicitly hear Ellie tell Dina about the Firefly base in Salt Lake City, the potential for a cure, or Abby’s (Kaitlyn Dever) dad.
7. Dina giving Ellie her bracelet before she and Jesse leave to go search for Tommy (Gabriel Luna) is scene directly from the video game.
8. Also, in the game, Dina stays behind in the theater a bunch because she’s not feeling well due to her pregnancy, so it happens in the show, but this time the reasoning is because of her getting shot in the leg.
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9. Similar to their conversation in the show, in the game, Ellie is also the one to confirm to Jesse that Dina is pregnant. In the game, Jesse suspects she’s pregnant after Dina is extremely sick one night, while in the show Jesse suspects after Dina tells him she “can’t die” and refuses his whiskey.
10. When Jesse and Dina are walking through the streets of Seattle, you can spot a building where it looks like a crane rig has fallen into another building. It looks similar to a location that’ll likely be featured in Season 3, aka Abby’s story.
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I won’t do the comparisson photo so that TV-only viewers aren’t super spoiled, but if you played the game, you probably know what I’m talking about.
11. In the show, Jesse and Ellie go to the bookstore because that’s where Tommy was supposed to meet Jesse. However, in the game, it’s simply a store Jesse and Ellie pass through while trying to get to the aquarium and find Tommy and Abby. Just like in the game, the mural in the kid’s books section is also Alice in Wonderland.
12. When Jesse and Ellie hear over the radio that the W.L.F. has encountered a sniper at the marina. In the game, Tommy is referred to as the sniper while Ellie tracks him through Seattle, and Jesse and Ellie also hear the W.L.F. talking about a sniper in the marina, too. Also, the marina is an important location in Abby’s part of the game.
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I’ll stay pretty vague for the TV-only viewers, but “sniper” and “marina” in the same sentence made me gasp. HERE WE GO.
13. When Jesse and Ellie are up in the office building, where Ellie spots the ferris wheel and the aquarium, it looks identical to where Jesse and Ellie end up in the game during this moment, too.
HBO / Naughty Dog
14. Jesse and Ellie parting ways because she wants to go after Abby, while Jesse wants to keep pursuing Tommy, is a scene pulled directly from The Last of Us Part II. The only thing the show adds is Ellie yelling at Jesse about how he’s a hypocrite and how she watched her community get beaten to death.
15. In the game, Ellie also steals a boat from the W.L.F. and uses it to try and get to the aquarium in order to confront Abby.
16. Also in the game, Ellie does encounter rough seas because of the storm and ends up falling overboard while in her boat. However, in the game, you swim to the boardwalk near the ferris wheel/aquarium, while in the show, Ellie washes up on the shore of where the Serpahites live and is taken by them.
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17. While Ellie getting away from the Seraphites is new for the show, the moment hints at a larger scene from Abby’s part of the game, especially when Ellie sees the explosions on the island.
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18. Just like in the game, when Ellie sneaks her way through the aquarium, she stumbles upon a bunch of medical equipment and bloody rags. You learn more about what happened here during Abby’s portion of The Last of Us Part II.
19. Ellie confronting Mel (Ariela Barer) and Owen (Spencer Lord) inside the aquarium happens exactly like it goes in the game, with Ellie wanting Mel to point at the map and show where Abby is, and then Owen confirms it.
20. Also, the map trick is something Ellie learned from Joel (Pedro Pascal), with Joel notably using this technique in Season 1, Episode 8 when he’s trying to find out where Ellie is after she’s taken by David.
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21. In the game, Ellie shoots Owen after he rushes at her, and then she kills Mel after Mel attacks her with a knife. Wheras in the show, Ellie shoots after Owen reaches for a gun.
22. While Ellie kills Mel while she’s pregnant, both in the game and the show, Mel asking Ellie to save her baby is new for the show. Also in the game, players already know Mel is pregnant because Owen tells Abby while they are in Jackson.
23. Tommy and Jesse finding Ellie after she’s killed Owen and Mel is a moment directly from the game, too. In the game, Ellie actually hears Joel’s voice, but it’s actually Tommy.
24. Jesse’s shocking death is exactly what happens in The Last of Us Part II, with him being shot right in front of Ellie by Abby as he runs out of the auditorium.
25. Abby and Ellie’s confrontation in the theater, where Ellie tells Abby she knows why she killed Joel, is almost word-for-word the scene from the video game.
26. Abby living at a W.L.F. outpost in a stadium is exactly what happens in the game as well, and players get to see just how big the W.L.F.’s operation out of the stadium truly is. Also, Manny waking up Abby while she’s reading is also a moment right from the game.
27. And finally, the show going back in time to Seattle Day One, but from Abby’s perspective, is exactly what happens in the game as well. In The Last of Us Part II, players now play through the three days in Seattle but from Abby’s perspective, which is likely how Season 3 will be structured.
