Latest news with #Scars'
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Last of Us' Reveals a New Traumatizing Way to Die
(Warning: Spoilers ahead.) Being immune doesn't mean Ellie (Bella Ramsey) can't die in one of the innumerable other ways humans can inflict pain—like bullets and arrows, or being hanged and disemboweled. But her unique medical condition does come in handy when yet another cordyceps danger presents itself on The Last of Us. Seattle continues to throw up dangerous obstacles that emphasize how this virus adapts over time, such as the intelligent infected like the one Ellie encountered in the Season 2 premiere, and airborne spores that are a new addition to the menu. You don't need to get bitten to succumb to the parasitic fungus. Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) started this quest to find and kill Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) by slipping out of Jackson at night. Yes, they are experienced and skilled fighters, but woefully unprepared against an army of the living and undead. It is another outing with tense standoffs and seemingly impossible odds. But Ellie and Dina aren't alone, and the arrival of Jesse (Young Mazino) is welcome, as it was impossible to imagine how the pair would escape the 'big f---ing something' without him. I don't always love the 'guy comes in to save the day' narrative, but Ellie's immunity does make her cavalier when coming up against the impossible. Dina admits that Ellie being a little crazy is one of the reasons she loves her, even if it almost gets her killed. Of course, this isn't to say that Ellie isn't thinking about Dina or Dina's pregnancy. Yet agreeing to use only knives or run away (because bullets will attract both human and infected attention) never felt like a real option. Sure enough, they have to shoot their guns. It is immediately concerning that the Wolves don't follow the fleeing trio into a park. More infected? Nope, this is where the Scars are spilling literal blood and guts in their ongoing conflict against the Wolves. The Jackson trio becomes the Scars' new targets after witnessing a live-action version of the dead Wolves that Ellie and Dina saw with their intestines on display last week. In the melee, an arrow hits Dina in the thigh, and Jesse carries his ex-girlfriend, hopefully, to safety, and to rendezvous with Tommy (Gabriel Luna), who also came on this unsanctioned rescue attempt. Ellie ends up alone in Wolf territory, and her petite stature allows her to slip into another small hole. It hasn't gone according to plan (does it ever?), but Ellie has found her way into the hospital. Perhaps luck is on Ellie's side because she locates Nora (Tati Gabrielle), who was part of Abby's Joel (Pedro Pascal) hunting crew, and Ellie's ticket to revenge. Okay, it isn't as easy as that, as Nora isn't going to give up her friend in the blink of an eye. Joel's screams still haunt Nora, but she doesn't regret that he is dead, using this moment to throw chemicals at Ellie and sound the intruder alarm. Ellie gives chase, dodging the bullets and objects thrown her way. Nora knows the layout, which should put her at an advantage. However, she ends up in a ward that has been blocked with Ellie close behind. Nora has minimal options, prying open the elevator door as her only means of escape. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Nora falls to the floor marked B2. The level would look innocuous enough if it hadn't been for the opening scene. Episode 5 opens with a Wolf superior, Haneraton (Alanna Ubach), checking in with Elsie Park (Hettienne Park) about the recent deaths of a patrol unit sent to clear the basement levels. The patrol expected the worst because it is a ripe environment for a cluster or horde. Instead, B1 was empty. A different squad went to B2, where they found cordyceps on the walls and floors. Squadron leader Leon struggled to breathe when he radioed with a status report. However, it wasn't a typical case of getting bitten. Elsie determined the spores were in the basement air but not the vents because no one else was sick. To protect the rest of the population, Elsie made an impossible decision to lock the doors to B1 and B2, with Leon telling her to seal the patrol in, including him. It is even more devastating to learn that Leon is Elsie's son. In this case, a parent was part of a decision to sacrifice their child to preserve a valuable medical resource (in this case, the hospital), which is something Joel could not do. It all comes full circle because Ellie follows Nora down to B2 and encounters a thriving mushroom landscape unlike she (or we) have previously seen. It is stunning in that 'nature that can also kill you' way, and the mushrooms are growing out of the still-breathing men and women. It is a beautiful nightmare reminiscent of Hannibal, which did have a mushroom episode (and Last of Us guest star Park had an equally memorable death on the Bryan Fuller adaptation). Spores shimmer in the air, which would be pretty if it weren't so perilous. Well, perilous to everyone but Ellie. The teenager cranks up the drama by turning on the emergency lights that bathe the whole place in red. If anyone was unclear about what emotion Ellie is feeling, then this color scheme underscores the rage. 'You stupid b---h,' Nora says, thinking that they are both damned. Ellie revels in her gift with zero fear that someone else will find out. Nora realizes the 'immune girl' isn't just a story or a myth. However, Ellie doesn't want to chit-chat and instead asks where Abby is. Ellie emphasizes that she doesn't care what Joel did, so Nora reveals the ugly truth. 'I know,' says Ellie. These two words will always make me think of Harrison Ford in The Empire Strikes Back; in this case, it is Ellie saying she still loves Joel. It is confirmation (not a surprise) that Ellie found out Joel's deep, dark secret at some point in the five-year time jump, and in his death, she has forgiven him. What Ellie does next is take a page from the Abby torture handbook, picking up a pipe and using it to break Nora's leg. When Nora refuses to spill Abby's location, Ellie hits her again. Earlier, Dina revealed who her first kill was to highlight that she understands why Ellie needs to avenge Joel. It is this thread that ties Ellie to Abby, with both women seeking to spill blood for a dead father. To cut from Ellie bathed in red light enacting violence to a sun-dappled bedroom in the past is like whiplash. When Joel says, 'Hey, kiddo,' it feels like we have seen a ghost. Seeing delight on Ellie's face at Joel's presence is equally odd. Buckle up: it looks like that flashback episode is coming!
The Review Geek
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
The Last of Us – Season 2 Episode 4 'Day One' Recap & Review
Day One Episode 4 of The Last of Us season 2 begins in 2018, at the Seattle Quarantine Zone. A whole bunch of Fedra soldiers are heading out, calling civilians 'voters' as a way of mocking them, given they took away their rights to do just that. The leader of this lot happens to be Isaac, and he oversees a tense meeting on the road when a whole rabble of people show up. It would appear that these are the WLF rebels, led by a woman called Hanrahan. After exchanging who they are, Isaac suddenly theows a bunch of grenades inside the police van and shuts the doors. The one soldier he saves, a man who questions the morality around authoritarian rule, is spared. He stands alongside Isaac as they both join the rebel cause. Back in our present timeline, Dina and Ellie scavenge for resources. Dina finds something but she doesn't tell Ellie, which we later find out are actually pregnancy tests. Together, they head deeper into Seattle, questioning the rainbow flags and the Pride mural up on the wall in the process. The pair find a satellite at the top of one of the buildings with graffiti reading WLF. Ellie wants to go in all guns blazing, but Dina talks her down. After all, charging in like that is absolutely suicide. Instead, they decide to wait it out in a record store until dark, then pick their way inside. Whilst there, Ellie finds a guitar and decides to sing 'Take On Me', reducing Dina to tears. This whole sequence feels like the calm before the storm, because as they head inside the building, they find a whole bunch of people dead, with blood scrawled up on the wall reading 'Feel her love'. This is, of course, the Scars' doing. As WLF guards show up, they fan the room, unaware that Ellie and Dina are there. Ellie heads up to the second floor while Dina waits behind cover, as she chokes a guy out. Dina catches up and the pair flee, straight into the transit tunnels after killing another soldier, squeezing through a small gap to evade being caught. Meanwhile, Isaac starts interrogating one of the cultists from last episode, presumably the only remaining guy from the forest massacre. The man is naked, chained to the wall and tortured with a hot frying pan, as Isaac is determined to find out where the Scars are heading next. The hostilities between these two groups come from their tenuous truce being broken. We don't see exactly how this has happened, but with the discussion turning to the taboo topic of both sides killing kids, it's basically destroyed any possibility of the two groups working together. Back with Dina and Ellie though, they're stalked by the soldiers who head into the subway tunnels. The guys make lots of noise and throw flares, prompting the infected to attack en-masse, buying the pair precious time to escape out the tunnels and into an abandoned hotel. However, Dina is shocked when she finds out Ellie has been bitten. She thinks it's over but Ellie reveals that she's immune. After trusting Ellie and allowing her to sleep it off, Dina reveals that she's pregnant. With secrets unveiled, the pair suddenly throw themselves at each other and start kissing, eventually making love before falling asleep right there on the floor. Dina discusses her feelings for Ellie in the middle of this and settles on the fact that she's bisexual. Dina does like Jesse but knows he's not the one for her, so Ellie steps up and decides to co-parent instead. In the middle of talking, they get a ping on their walkie and realize the WLF are nearby. An explosion and gunfire in the distance shows exactly where Abby's group are, but Dina is determined to stick by Ellie as they march into this together. The Episode Review So The Last of Us returns and the best part of this show is ironically the moments that don't involve Ellie and Dina. The gravitas shown from Isaac is enough to elevate this episode, as we learn more about the WLF and their ongoing feud with the Scars. This part of the show works really well and is fleshed out nicely to add more nuance to the world. Unfortunately, when we cycle back to Ellie and Dina, there's this weird tonal clash where the show can't quite decide whether to constantly throw comedic quips out or go full-on with the melodrama. Seeing Bella Ramsay's Ellie all smiles and care-free, happy about being a parent before switching over to revenge mode at the end feels jarring. In the game, for all its flaws, we see Ellie as an angry, bitter person who's determined to get revenge no matter what and then realizing the cost of her actions afterwards because she's the villain and Abby is just the misunderstood hero. There's also A sheer lack of situational awareness in this episode too. Dina and Ellie just fall asleep right there on the floor together and while yes, this is a tender moment, it also comes 10 minutes after realizing that they're not safe, they're surrounded by Infected and brutal soldiers, and they're exposed in a hotel where anyone or anything could break in at any moment. So while this episode is an improvement over last week's chapter, it's also a far cry from the heights of season 1 too. Previous Episode Next Episode Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
Forbes
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Who Are The Wolves And Seraphites In ‘The Last Of Us'? Here's What ‘WLF' Means
Michael Abbott Jr. in "The Last of Us" Season 2, Episode 3. Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 3. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is ready to seek revenge on Joel (Pedro Pascal)'s killer in the latest episode of HBO's drama series The Last of Us. In 'The Path,' we learn the real identity of Abby's group and the cult they're at war with. Keep reading to find out who the Wolves (WLF) and Seraphites are and why they're fighting with each other. The next episode picks up three months after Joel's death and the infected's rampage on the Jackson settlement. As the survivors work to rebuild the town, Ellie struggles with losing her father figure. She's pushed to meet with Gail (Catherine O'Hara), the town's therapist, to open up about her final moments with Joel and how she's been coping since. Ellie returns to their house for the first time since Joel's death and heads into his bedroom, where she finds a shoebox on his bed with his gun inside. Dina (Isabela Merced) arrives and admits that she lied when Ellie asked her at the hospital what she knew about that day. In reality, Dina knows most of Abby's group's names and where they're from, but the doctors had kept it from Ellie to avoid upsetting her. Kaitlyn Dever, Spencer Lord in "The Last of Us" Season 2. The WLF, or Washington Liberation Front, is a militant paramilitary organization that refers to themselves as wolves. Dina reveals this to Ellie while explaining that the people involved in Joel's death are named Manny, Owen, Nora, and Abby (Kaitlyn Dever). She says she noticed a patch on one of their backpacks featuring a yellow triangle, a wolf's head, and the letters 'WLF.' Dina then recalls a story Eugene told her about when he was a Firefly. 'He said that there were these small regional groups in the West all trying to fight FEDRA, and how stupid it was that they didn't just join together,' Dina says. She eventually pieced together that one of those groups was the Washington Liberation Front, based out of Seattle — also known as the WLF, or "wolf." Because no one's mentioned WLF before, Dina and Ellie theorize that the group's probably small enough for them to handle. They share what they know with Joel's younger brother, Tommy, but he insists on not rushing it and putting together a plan to do it right (which means letting Maria and the council know). The issue was brought to the town hall for a vote, and despite an emotional speech by Ellie, it was rejected 8–3 by Jackson's council. (This is a deviation from the video game, according to which noted that there was no town hall vote in the original story.) Ellie and Dina, with the help of their unlikely new ally Seth, set out to find the Wolves and kill Abby on their own. Makena Whitlock, Michael Abbott Jr. in "The Last of Us" Season 2. The Seraphites in The Last of Us, also known as 'Scars' due to the scars on their faces, are a religious cult that emerged in the aftermath of the Cordyceps outbreak. They believe the infection was divine punishment for humanity's over reliance on technology and the excesses of what they call the 'Old World.' Without revealing spoilers from the video game, the group is following the teachings of a deceased woman who has been dead for 10 years and who is now known as the Prophet. Viewers are introduced to the group in Season 2, Episode 3, as its followers make their way through the forest toward Seattle. A young girl questions a man about where they're going and whether they still have the Prophet's protection. He explains to her that although the Prophet is no longer alive, they honor her by adhering to her teachings and uncovering truths hidden by others. Their conversation is interrupted by a whistle, signaling an attack by the 'Wolves.' Later in the episode, Ellie and Dina discover their dead bodies while traveling to Seattle. After the WLF overthrew FEDRA and took control of Seattle, the Seraphites—who were once a peaceful group—began to adopt increasingly brutal and questionable practices. Tensions between the two factions escalated as they battled for control of the city. As Season 3 progresses, we will likely learn more about the conflict between the WLF and the Seraphites. The Last of Us Season 3, Episode 3 is now streaming on Max. New episodes premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
