While The Last of Us Season 1 was so faithful an adaptation that it often felt like you were watching a playthrough, Season 2 is taking things a bit slower. It’s a wise choice, especially considering the source material, The Last of Us Part II, is being stretched out into multiple seasons.
But even with the slower pace, Season 2 is totally unafraid to start seeding major plot points early. For example, in Season 2, Episode 3, we got our first glimpse of the Seraphites, the ultra-religious cult fighting with Abby and the WLF for control of Seattle, even though the player doesn’t encounter them until well past the halfway point of the game.
That’s not the only foreshadowing moment in the episode, however. There’s a huge plot reveal hiding in plain sight, but it may only be obvious to those who have played the game.
Warning! Spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 3 follow.
In Season 2, Episode 3, we see Ellie and Dina as they trek west from Jackson to Seattle. They debate music tastes, discuss their kiss from New Year’s, and look out for Infected. Finally, in the last stretch of their journey, they encounter a strange symbol they haven’t seen before. While Dina investigates, Ellie wonders if it’s related to the cannibals from Season 1.
As it turns out, the symbol is related to another religious sect altogether: the Seraphites. When Dina sees the bodies of the cult members we saw earlier, she runs back to the trail, vomiting. “That’s never happened before,” she said. “I think it was the smell.” Ellie understands, replying, “It wasn’t easy to look at, either.”
But why would Dina, a hardened soldier who was slaying Infected just a few weeks ago, get randomly sick by the smell of dead bodies? It’s an old TV trope that if a female character vomits or faints out of nowhere, it’s usually caused by one thing: pregnancy. The trope can be seen in everything from Desperate Housewives to Doctor Who, and (spoiler alert!) fans of the game do, in fact, find out that Dina is pregnant at this point in the game, the result of her relationship with Jesse.
In fact, this is also hinted at when Ellie and Dina discuss their kiss in the tent. “You can go back to Jesse,” Ellie says playfully at one point. Dina simply replies, “I already did,” implying that the two were together while Ellie was recovering.
Just like the reveal of the Seraphites, this is a plot twist that won’t be fully addressed until much further in the story. But it’s a prime example of how the story of The Last of Us is enhanced by the TV adaptation. Foreshadowing in the game isn’t as impactful as foreshadowing on TV, because in the game, the big reveal could be only a matter of hours away. But in a series, we may not learn this secret for weeks — if we do even learn about it this season.
There’s plenty more ahead in The Last of Us Season 2, but now we know what’s ahead for Ellie and Dina, even if they won’t learn themselves for a while.
