This might feel weird, but I think the proper way to discuss “Feel Her Love” at first is with song choice – particularly during the end credits. Pearl Jam’s 1996 song “Present Tense” is the last of two of their songs featured in the episode (we’ll reevaluate to “Future Days” in a minute). As the sixth episode signs off, it plays the song’s first verse (feel it’s very intentional), “Do you see the way that tree bends / Does it inspire? / Leanin’ out to catch the sun’s rays / A lesson to be applied / Are you gettin’ something out of this / All-encompassing trip?” As the season goes on, “The Last Of Us” asks the audience and characters if this is all worth it. As we saw in “The Path,” Ellie is tunnel-visioned on the end goal of killing Abby. She packed a gun, didn’t intend to pack supplies, and didn’t know the direct way to the specific point in Seattle. Ellie was fueled by rage and revenge. It was Dina who came up with the game plan.
“Feel Her Love” shows them more so than any other episode that the road is perilous (much to their own doing). Ellie and Dina have to worry about heavily armed WFT, the Serpaphites (who we get to see a bit more of), infected/stalkers, the fact that infection has mutated into spores, and Dina’s pregnancy. But then there’s the thirst for vengeance – once you have given in to it, there’s no going back. Yes, Ellie might get something out of this “all-encompassing trip,” but what will it cost to get it? It might cost her everything. In Seattle, Ellie and Dina are surrounded by war and death – a small amalgamation of what the world is – and that changes you. The banter scenes where Ellie and Dina are flirting with one another aren’t as jarring as you think, considering they are teenagers in love.
The Last of Us / Photo Credit: Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO
It starts with Ellie alone in the auditorium, attempting to play “Future Days” and fixating on the first line, “if I ever was to lose you.” She doesn’t sing the following line, “I’d truly lose myself,” instead, she stares off into space. She’s already lost a big part of herself, and you could argue, losing a grip on her humanity with what goes down with Nora. Dina has been forever changed by how dark the world is as well. Ellie lost her mother due to the infection, whereas Dina lost her mother and sister to a random raider she had to kill at the age of eight. They and probably many others lost the ability to have a relatively carefree childhood. Ellie was in a FEDRA camp. We aren’t sure how Dina got to Jackson, but it probably wasn’t great. They don’t recognize the pride flag and know people on a bigger scale identify with it. Hell, Ellie didn’t know who the Amish were. The world changed and left so many people behind; it’s tragic in its own right.
Dina doesn’t know what Joel did for Abby to kill him in that way. (Maybe Ellie tells her down the line.) She says, “Joel didn’t deserve that.” That depends on where you stand. Did Abby’s father deserve to be murdered by Joel simply for being a doctor? By the end of “Feel Her Love,” Ellie doesn’t care. It’s a revelation that she knows what Joel did. This will most likely be central to next week’s flashback episode. Dina tells Ellie, “It doesn’t matter who strikes first; if the raider lived, I would have followed them to the ends of the earth.” Perhaps Nora’s pleas may have worked on Ellie long ago, but they sure didn’t on the B2 floor. Not to mention, she taunted Ellie with Joel’s death before they went to the basement.
The Last of Us / Photo Credit: Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO
In “The Path, ” Gail tells Tommy that some people can’t be saved from themselves and their actions. The scene with Nora echoes when Joel tortures David’s men to find Ellie in “When We Are In Need” during the first season, and when Abby kills Joel, they are all mirrors in a cycle of violence. But let’s not forget Joel probably wouldn’t have wanted this life for Ellie. The most effective and conflicting part of “Feel Her Love” comes at the end, where Ellie’s face is bathed in red and consumed by anger. It’s chilling, but we haven’t spent much time with her character to fully endorse this jump. The show is presenting Ellie as a more conflicted character. When they see the dead Seraphites, Ellie immediately questions what she is doing. With escaping the Seraphites, she’s about the mission and not necessarily the well-being of Dina and Jesse. Ellie has always acted impulsively (hence Dina’s warning with the gun rather than running away). That has been turned up to a thousand—and is even more haunting considering “this” Ellie comes out when she’s not around those she loves the most. It’s not only bad that she’s going down this road, but she’s taken Dina, Jesse, and Tommy with her.
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“Feel Her Love” is the shortest episode of the season, relying on exposition to push us forward. One observation is that Ellie and Dina go into situations with reckless abandon. We know they are skilled, but we haven’t seen enough scenarios to feel battle-tested. Maybe that’s the point, but I would be hard-pressed to leave a map of your destination where potential Wolves could find you.
The penultimate episode is shaping up to be a heavy one. The juxtaposition between Ellie’s last moments of anger, cutting to the warmth of Joel’s “Hey kiddo,” will most likely tear our hearts in two.
Main Photo Credit: Liane Hentscher/HBO
