The Last of Us 2×05 Review: “Feel Her Love”

The Last of Us season 2 episode 5, titled ‘Feel Her Love’, continued Ellie’s journey into darkness due to her thirst for revenge. It also featured a major development from the video game.

One of the complaints some fans had back when the first season of The Last of Us premiered was about how the show wouldn’t have the Cordyceps spores swirling around in the air. Essentially, lowering the threat level fans experienced in the video game and making the show’s universe feel similar to generic zombie fare due to the infection only being transmitted via bites. However, the second season of The Last of Us changed that. 

‘Feel Her Love’ opened with a conversation between Hanrahan and a high-ranking WLF leader about why said leader killed members of her team during a mission. It’s revealed she had no choice but to make the tough call because her son informed her that the infection had gone airborne. The hospital floors the team was sweeping for any signs of the infected had to be closed off before the spores spread to the other areas. WLF couldn’t afford to lose such a resourceful hospital. So, the team members had to be sacrificed.

I’m looking forward to seeing how having the spores travel through the air will impact storytelling going forward. I think fans will be okay with the characters, including the leads, wearing masks during certain scenes to protect against the spores.

As for Hanrahan, I had assumed she was the Prophet the Scars believed in. However, it turns out, she wasn’t. Hanrahan had continued to work with Isaac after rebelling against FEDRA. As a show-only character, I’m intrigued about what the writers have planned for her.

Cutting to Dina and Ellie, they’re being all lovey-dovey as Dina spent her time triangulating the WLF members. Due to the Scars not using technology, the WLF members weren’t hesitant about sharing information over walkie-talkies. According to Dina, they didn’t shut up, providing her with a whole lot of information about their whereabouts and patrol schedules.

I still don’t know why Dina hasn’t asked Ellie more questions about her immunity, but oh well. I guess the writers were more focused on discussing other matters, namely Dina’s past. I liked the conversation between Ellie and Dina as Dina shared the story about the first person she had to kill. She was only eight years old when she shot the Raider who had beaten her mother and sister to death. Dina’s past helped provide context for why she felt so strongly about assisting Ellie’s need to avenge Joel’s murder. Dina had a point when she said that if she hadn’t killed the Raider back then, she would have spent her entire life tracking him down just to take his life.

‘Feel Her Love’ featured an action sequence with Dina and Ellie trying to survive an attack from a bunch of Stalkers aka the type of Infected capable of coordinating their attacks. Even though we’re aware Ellie is the lead, kudos to the writing team for still coming up with scenarios where you can’t help but worry about Ellie’s fate.

The young women were rescued by Jesse, who came in guns blazing and helped the duo run away from WLF into the overgrown garden. It made sense for Jesse and Tommy to go after Ellie and Dina after realizing they had left Jackson. And it’s a good thing they did. There was no way Dina and Ellie were surviving a bunch of Stalkers on their own.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Jesse, Dina, and Ellie stumbled upon a bunch of Scars sacrificing a WLF guard. Leave it to the post-apocalyptic genre to drive home the message that when it comes to cruelty, humans will always find a way to go farther than any monster, zombie, or the like. Maurice Dean Wint from SurrealEstate being a Scar was a pleasant surprise. I hope to see more of him.

With an injured Dina being taken by Jesse to meet up with Tommy so everyone could return to Jackson, of course, Ellie decided to head back to her initial mission of infiltrating the hospital. In a way, Ellie operated better solo. She’s quite reckless. Her tactics (and plot armor) help her survive. Having someone else to look out for kind of messes up her game.

Ellie managed to sneak into the hospital and confronted Nora. Even though Ellie said she would let Nora go after she revealed Abby’s whereabouts, I think it was clear Ellie wasn’t going to. Nora was dying, whether she answered Ellie or not. Due to the episode opening with a scene about the infected hospital levels, it was obvious Ellie was going to enter said levels. And she did while chasing after Nora.

Kudos to Nora for being loyal to Abby as well as WLF. Realizing she couldn’t beat Ellie, Nora decided to enter the infected levels to kill both of them. I liked how the art department visualized the Cordyceps growing on the walls and the Infected releasing spores from their mouths. 

Upon seeing that Ellie wasn’t infected, Nora identified her as the girl Abby’s father was supposed to make a cure from. Nora revealed that Joel killed Abby’s father along with the rest of the people in the hospital and that’s why Abby and her crew went looking for Joel. Apparently, Ellie already knew about what Joel had done.

Next week’s penultimate episode seems to be flashback-heavy, focusing on scenes between Ellie and Joel. So, I think we get to see Ellie learning the truth about what Joel did and how it caused Ellie to grow distant from Joel. Ellie’s rightfully going to be angry about Joel lying to her and, in a way, taking away a huge part of her identity. Season one Ellie was very aware (and proud) of being a walking-talking cure to save humanity.

As for Ellie’s current descent into darkness, with Nora not revealing Abby’s location, Ellie decided to pick up a metal pipe and start beating Nora up. I understand wanting revenge and offing people on your hit list, but torturing your targets before killing them is a step too far. Abby did that with Joel, and now Ellie did the same with an already dying Nora. It was a tough sight to watch. With Dina not being there to serve as a human connection to hold Ellie back, I think Ellie is going to continue growing darker.

What did you think of The Last of Us season 2 episode 5, ‘Feel Her Love’?

Let us know. 

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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