The Last Of Us Season 2 Brings A Video Game Easter Egg To Beautiful Life

This post contains spoilers for "The Last of Us" season 2, episode 4.

On the newest episode of "The Last of Us," Ellie (Bella Ramsey) took a brief pit stop on her mission of vengeance to enjoy a little sing-along with the woman she's falling for. It was a genuinely gorgeous scene, with Ellie picking up a guitar as another way to maintain an unspoken connection to the father figure she lost, Joel (Pedro Pascal). Dina (Isabela Merced) watched the intimate performance, even becoming emotional at the song's end, resulting in what may be one of the season's standout scenes so far. It's also impressive that Ramsey appears to perform the song without any digital trickery. It's another brilliant beat among many that's lifted directly from "The Last of Us Part II." But even for some people who played the game, this might be the first time witnessing this interaction, given that it's a hidden moment to discover in the 2020 survival game.

In the original iteration, during Ellie's exploration of Seattle on Day 1, the guitar can be found in the music shop just like it's discovered here, leading to Ashley Johnson, who performed the closing song of this season's gut-wrenching episode 2 and who played Ellie in the games, having a seat and singing the stunning iteration of "Take On Me" by A-ha, just like Ramsey did in this week's episode. However, while both nail the soothing version that Ellie serenades Dina with, it's worth noting that the storylines developing around their solo session are slightly different, therefore providing a totally impact.

While it's clear that feelings are present between these two travelers in the show, the timeline for their inevitable get-together doesn't quite line up with the way that relationship develops in the game. Deviation is not a brand new move for a series that's been bold enough to head off the beaten path, having made major differences to the game and promising to expand on unexpected characters like Joe Pantoliano's Eugene. In the case of Ellie and Dina, however, the video game duo is further along in their relationship in the original telling of the story than the live-action pair when they arrive at this scene.

By this point in "The Last of Us Part II," Ellie and Dina are besotted with one another, so our heroic avenger is singing a song to her truly smitten girlfriend, who is falling even deeper for her partner. In the show, though, it's applied at a crucial time, with the two so far having only shared that drunken kiss back home. Ellie opening this softer and peaceful side is enough to hopefully win Dina over totally and see that there's more to this troubled, vengeful soul that everyone should be "terrified" of. It's another peaceful breather amidst the chaos, and we expect moments like these will be fewer and farther between as "The Last of Us" continues and the sounds of silence are switched to heart-wrenching violence as Ellie's mission continues. 

See where Ellie ends up next as "The Last of Us" continues next Sunday night on HBO and Max.