ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 3 BREAKDOWN - Easter Eggs You Missed!

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

Dive deep into The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 3 with our breakdown! We uncover all the Easter eggs, hidden details, and game changes in this pivotal episode. Explore Tommy's new role, Ellie's emotional recovery, and the evolving relationships in Jackson. We analyze the differences from The Last of Us game, including changes to Joel's death and Ellie's trauma. Plus, discover insights into the Seraphites and WLF. Perfect for fans looking for in-depth The Last of Us analysis and lore discussions. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If she's on a path, it's not one that Joel put her on. Hey, welcome back Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Erie, and this is all of the Easter eggs references and little things you might have missed in Season 2, Episode 3 of The Last of Us. Now, episode 2 was full of fast-paced action and heartbreak, but episode 3 slows things down a bit and rewrites aspects of the game to fit HBO's new pace. Now, by doing this, they're giving us a closer look at some of the key characters of the story and the impact of the massive invasion on Jackson. And before we get started, don't forget to check out our Last of Us parody merch at our merch at our merch store.

We have The Outbreak Day and Fireflies look for the light. Or you can become a member of the Alpine Clicker Patrol. Links for all of these are below, and now you can become a store member to earn rewards and get free stuff. Now, the episode starts off looking up from the aftermath of the massive battle, which is our only shot of the infected in the entire episode. The remaining fires give the scene a red hue as Tommy discovers Joel's body amongst the casualties. The same red hue that we see repeated later when, Ellie visits Joel's grave. Now, HBO's version of Tommy is very different than the hot-headed hillbilly one-man show that we see in the games. And we get a small taste of that here.

That's kind of mean person. He just saved the whole darn town. Well, yeah, Doug, but that's the exact opposite of who he is in the game. In the game, Tommy runs off after his brother's killer's solo after lying to Ellie, convincing her to stay for one more night and keep the town safe. Not only is he much more arrogant in the game, but he's manipulative and more than willing to risk the safety of the town for his revenge. But the Tommy in the show is much, more reserved and pragmatic. He is a leader who is willing to do what's best for the town. As he's cleaning his brother's body, he notices Joel's broken watch, which is a heartbreaking reminder of why he wore it in the first place. This prompts Tommy to say, Give share of my love. I'm on you side. Now, as we pull away from the shot, we see how different Joel's death is in this new context. He's just one of many casualties in the wake of the invasion,

which makes his death much less impactful in the grand scheme of the story. The same could, be said for Ellie's trauma as we see in the hospital. She's one of many patients in an overcrowded hospital. Now, the chaos following the invasion creates a scene that visually echoes the early days of the initial outbreak, highlighting how much the attack on Jackson has undone the progress they had made. Ellie is struggling to breathe with chest tubes on her side, indicating that she likely had a collapsed lung, which would explain her heavy breathing last episode when she was lying on top of Joel's body. Speaking of which, one thing that we missed in our last video that many of you guys pointed out in the comments

is that when Jesse, Dina, and Ellie returned to Jackson at the end, they do so on two horses instead of the four they brought up there. So evidently, they had to abandon two horses in the cold. Now, when the nurse asks Ellie if she's in pain, it triggers a full-on PTSD episode recalling Joel's final moments, forcing them to knock her out.

Or physical injuries alongside her trauma sent her into a three-month recovery while the rest of Jackson rebuilds. Right, are you telling me the game forces you to play through like months and months of manual labor and physical therapy? That sounds kind of boring. Well, I mean, that's the thing. HBO really expanded on or even added in their own version of the glossed over moments from this part of the game, with Ellie's recovery time being the most significant change.

In the games, Ellie immediately heads out to Seattle the day after Joel's death. Now, while some gamers thought she waited a few months, like the show does, she's still clearly rocking the bruises under her eyes when she heads out. However, because she rushes off so quickly in the game, we never really see her emotionally digest Joel's death in the way the show does. And this brings us to the intro, which remains mostly the same outside a small, sad update in the final shot. What used to feature two silhouettes, presumably Joel and Ellie walking together,

now only features one, showing us how Ellie truly is the last of us. There it is. After the intro, we pick up with the town of Jackson still in the process of rebuilding three months later. Here we see Tommy and Jesse rebuilding the same area that we saw them fighting in in the previous episode. You can tell by the Ace Hardware store in the background. Jesse, assisting Tommy here, is symbolic of how the burden of the town's recovery will eventually pass on to the next generation. Back at the hospital, Ellie is looking to get out when her doctors give her a PFT or pulmonary function test to ensure that her lungs have

fully healed. Well, she passes that one with flying collars, but she still has to get a psych evaluation from Gail. Now, it's clear throughout the entire conversation that Ellie is simply telling Gail the right answers so she can get out of there as quick as possible, but Gail's not fine. She knows that Ellie is lying and she makes that very clear later in the episode. What, you didn't believe her speech? Did you? Of course not. She's a liar. Regardless, she still pokes around trying to figure out what Joel was hiding from her in their last session. When Gail asks Ellie what happened right after their fight on New Year's Day, Ellie tells her, I got home, he was on the porch, and I should have talk to him, but I didn't.

Which is exactly what we saw them do in episode one. However, I'm not convinced that that's the last time they saw each other that night, and neither is Gail, but more on that a bit later. Gail sarcastically jokes about how she'd be unemployed if everyone were as mentally stable as Ellie, and Ellie responds with... I wouldn't

worry, Gail, there's still a lot of people in this town. Yeah, but not you, though. Which repositions Gail's role as a reality check for the audience. Now, while the game doesn't really give you enough time to really question Ellie's headspace as she heads into Seattle, the show uses Gail as a way to question these characters. Her sarcastic joke here holds up a mirror to Ellie's mental state in a way the game

never could, especially for a character that you are currently playing as. She did this in episode one with Joel when she refused to validate his feelings and forced him to come closer to telling the truth than anyone we've seen thus far. And you want me to validate that? No. She's more or less the show's Gemini Cricket or Kyle from South Park, meant to spoon feed important takeaways to the audience. You see, I learned something today. Now, even though she knows Ellie is lying, she clears her anyways. As Ellie returns home, we see it littered with flowers and memorials all along the picket fence. Now, in the game, we saw this shortly after visiting Joel's grave. But the time that Ellie spent in the hospital has moved this scene into the

spring, rather than in the cold winter from the game. It also goes to show just how beloved Joel is, since there's a mix of both wilted flowers and fresh ones too, meaning that people have continued to stop by and pay their respects even months later. When we see Ellie standing in front of the house, she's standing at the same spot in the driveway where we saw her give Joel the evil lie in episode one after their fight. She enters Joel's house and explores it, just like in the game,

although this time she's alone, at least initially. The house is decorated, much like in the game, with Western landscape paintings and cowboy themes. We even see when Ellie smells Joel's jacket in the closet, which is one of the optional interactions from the game. We get a glimpse into her old room where we see a few band posters, one for Nirvana and the other for Edda James. Now, the inclusion of a Nirvana poster,

like we said last episode, is important because they are a Seattle-based band, and she heads for Seattle in this episode. There's also a few pictures of moths hanging on the wall, just like the one tattooed on her arm, and on the head of her guitar. We also see even more posters of space, showing how Ellie has always dreamed of being an astronaut,

including this one poster of an astronaut playing a guitar, which is, of course, the most Ellie thing ever. We can see that her bed was removed, which indicates how recent her transition into the garage was, And under her bed frame, we can actually see a picture of your mom. And then she heads into Joel's office where we see a woodworking bench like the one we see in game. And it even features the same owl and duck that could be found around the shop. Joel's late-blooming passion for woodworking is an interesting midlife crisis for him,

as he was once a man who took life, but now spent his spare time crafting it instead. She then turns to a red box by the bed and a shot that not only lines up one-to-one with the game visually, but in the soundtrack as well as we hear that iconic guitar slowly fade in. In the box, Ellie finds Joel's watch and his gun. Now, the juxtaposition of these objects speaks volumes. The watch represents a life forever halted, a life that was restored by his relationship with Ellie, while the gun is the instrument that he used to commit these unspeakable acts.

Now, in a way, these objects represent the choice that Ellie has to make. And the fact that she holsters the gun but doesn't put on his watch, metaphorically shows how she prioritizes vengeance above all else. Then we hear Dina call from downstairs, despite the fact that she wasn't there before, but she wasn't the game. So the show just had her pop-by unannounced with cookies like she's Agatha Hardness. Now, while their conversation in this scene is new, Dina is surprising Ellie with the Tupperware full of goodies,

mirrors what Tommy does in the game immediately after Joel's death. Here, however, Dina is using them as a peace offering after withholding information on the Salt Lake crew. I know most of their names. and I know where they're from. Wow, can cookies really make up for that? Well, maybe not, but HBO needed to create some reason why Ellie didn't just... You just start pulling your tubes out and crawling on your hands and knees to get there.

I don't give a fuck. So, if Ellie didn't know where to find them, she would be forced to stay put. The changes here also highlight just how different the relationships between these characters are in the show. Not just between Ellie and Dina, but in how Dina sees Joel, and even in Tommy's perspective, as we see later.

After Dina finally spills the rest of the details about the WLF, Ellie asks, Did he say how small they were? No. But seeing as how no one's ever mentioned them since, I'm guessing, small enough for us to handle. Which, as we find out in the closing of the episode, is very much not the case. This is when they reach out to Tommy, which presents yet another contrast from the game, where Tommy is actually the one to engage Ellie first.

In the game, he tries to discourage Ellie from making the trip, saying... To have the guys that we would need to do this smart, we'd be leaving Jackson vulnerable. Which are the exact points that Tommy brings up. up in this conversation. But if we're going to put a posse together, we got to do it right. Tommy ends the conversation in game by tricking Ellie into waiting a day and then getting permission from Maria for supplies and a team.

But he runs off before any of them can have that conversation, which sends the girls after him to Seattle anyways. However, HBO decided to let these arguments fully play out, giving Ellie a chance to ask Maria and the council for herself. After convincing Ellie to make the pitch, he mentions, buried our dead 10 miles south of town if you want to visit them. Now, in the game, the cemetery is just walking distance from Joel's house. Still, the choice to move it on the outskirts of town and for Ellie to visit it on her way out

shows how her mind was already made up regardless of what the town decided. Then we get our first introduction to the seraphites. Oh, no, they got bugs now, too. You are thinking of termites, Doug. No, these seraphites are a religious cult at war with the WLF. They worship the prophet, a visionary who claimed to see the end of the world coming and created an egalitarian society to survive it. Now, as the infection spread, she convinced her followers that the Cordyceps fungus was a divine plague.

God's punishment on humanity. The seraphites reject all modern technology, communicating over long distances with whistles. Now, the wolves call them scars because they carve the Glaswegian smiles into their faces, as a grim reminder of humanity's imperfection. You want to know how I got these scars. So while this moment between his father and daughter seems sweet, don't let things get twisted. The seraphites are bloodthirsty and disemboweling outsiders to free them for. from sin is part of their core beliefs.

No, don't! Now he is free. In combat, they are extremely stealthy and use whistles to communicate over long distances. They also use bows to quietly take out enemies from afar, as we see many of them carrying bows and arrows. Now, when the daughter asks her father for a hammer, he replies with, You feel safer? Which almost seems to be a reflection of Ellie and where she is in the show right now. Before Joel's death, Ellie,

could barely be trusted with a gun. We saw that when Tommy had to hide his sniper training with her. Now that she has Joel's gun, she really should be safer, but in reality, it's just put her on a path to more danger. The daughter asks if it's demons that are attacking, and he replies with wolves, which is the seraphites term for the infected, which leads us into this great transition with the wolves logo pinned on Ellie's Wall. Now, as we've talked about in past episodes, Ellie's wall used to be filled with things that she loved, bands and music, life, love. But now, that's been replaced with this image of a wolf, which to her represents hate and vengeance. And this speaks to the show's larger theme of forgiveness versus revenge.

Now, here we get yet another scene that is exclusive to the show with Jesse helping Ellie get her stamina back up. This also gives us another cool angle of her room where we can see a poster for Radiohead's creep and this Matrix poster. Now, The Matrix is a classic badass sci-fi kung fu movie, but at its core, it is a movie about enlightenment. Neo has to find the potential within him to unlock his higher self. I would argue that Ellie is on a similar journey this season. She is on a path of vengeance, but this path is destructive, and she needs to learn how to forgive in order to live a fulfilling life. We also see yet another toy dinosaur,

just like the one we saw chilling in the planter in the last episode. Now, given the fact that Tommy's kid is rocking a dinosaur hoodie in the very first episode, that means that we have seen a dinosaur in every episode so far this season. Now, that's kind of weird they keep hiding dinosaurs in a zombie show, right? Right, that's what I thought. However, there is a scene that we are sure to see later in the season that connects Joel to dinosaur specifically. So, these minor dinosaur cameos could be a small way for the director to show Joel's lingering impact on those around him. Or maybe it's just a coincidence. Either way, it's still weird that it's happened three times. I'm not crazy! You're crazy!

Ellie then tries to convince Jesse to vote her way tomorrow when the council makes their decision, but Jesse plays the Big Blue Boy Scout like the Captain Wyoming that he is. But he does suggest that Ellie write her thoughts down, which is advice. that she eventually takes. Now, during the meeting, we see three speakers take the mic before Ellie, with the first talking about how resource-intensive corn is. The person, he's right. I mean, if you were going to put on a chart with the X-axis being the-

Doug, I believe you, but we got the rest of this episode to break down. After the corn guy finally takes a seat, we hear from a mother who pleads against the Seattle trip, as she's worried that it's going to leave the town exposed. Now, in the game, this was part of Tommy's argument for keeping Ellie in Jackson, but it makes even more sense here in the wake of the invasion. Then the third speaker, Carlisle, seems to back her up, and if he sounds familiar, that's because he's played by Hero Kanagawa, the voice of Firelord Sozin and Avatar, and many others.

Carlisle is followed by Seth, the guy who made a homophobic remark at Ellie in the first episode, and he is the first person to make a stand in favor of retaliation. Well, Ray, why did he stand up for Ellie? I thought he hated her. Well, lots of reasons, but the main one is he believes she's right. However, the argument he's making is based in fears of the outside. So, while his response seems to be a change in his views, rooted in the same phobic tendencies. On top of that, Seth sustained a serious injury on New Year's Day that left him crippled, as he mentions later.

So, putting in some harsh words in support of Ellie's cause may be his best shot at any retribution whatsoever. Finally, Ellie takes the stand and makes her final case for justice, which she finishes with... But I am asking you, please, do what it takes to see that justice is done. Not for me. Not even for Joel. Do it for us. Which is yet another way this episode tries to define the us in the show title. The council votes with three yeses and eight noes.

Now, while we can't tell for certain, it looks like each vote was added on top of one another. If so, this would mean that Jesse, in fact, voted no, which seems to be the way that he was leaning when Ellie asked him during training. Now, after Tommy notices Gail at the town meeting, he catches up with her while she's watching a Little League game with her home-brewed beer, like the absolute legend that she is. You know it's home-brewed beer because it has those little caps that you can pop, in at the top. When Tommy kicks off the conversation, he says,

I didn't know you were a fan. Hell yeah. I had Tiger season tickets. Which seems to imply that she had a child who used to play baseball, but lost them in the outbreak just like Joel did. Gail also mentions the 2003 Tigers one of the all-time worst teams ever in Major League Baseball, and they lost their first 20 games of the season. Now, this is all another example of Gail being a reality check

for both the audience and the characters around her. As Tommy confesses his desire to save Ellie from because coming Joel, Gail argues that she doesn't need saving at all. Gail explains how Ellie is who she is because of Ellie and not because of Joel. In doing so, not only does she reframe the audience's perspective, but it also gives Ellie more autonomy than Joel ever did. She even goes so far as to say, If she's on a path, it's not one that Joel put her on.

No, I think they were walking side by side from the very start. Which assigns a whole new meaning to the show's intro and its somber update. We then cut back to Ellie, who is cleaning and modifying her gun. on a tool bench, just as you would upgrade your weapons in game. With all of her equipment sprawled out on the floor, she panics as Dina shows up, which is a major switch from the game. In the game, Dina was ready to pack up and head straight to Seattle. The game has them constantly flirting, and she's your main partner during the early

parts of the game. They share tons of dialogue, and it only takes a level or two to truly get a good understanding for how they really feel about each other. But the show doesn't have time to play out all those little moments. So instead, Joel is Dina's primary motivation for going to Seattle, which allows for Ellie and Dina's relationship to develop more naturally along their long journey. Dina casually flirts her way into the mission by pointing out the critical supplies that Ellie is missing, including bearspray, which could come in handy if they run across any raw

barbecue. And Dina also plots their course for them, but tells Ellie that she can't wear her chucks across Seattle. Yeah, but aren't there as an iconic part of her game design? Absolutely, but the show continuously wants to remind us how much more grounded in reality it is in the game. So, making small readjustments like this have been working pretty well for the show thus far. Dina then calls Jesse... Captain Wyoming. A clever nod to his Steve Rogers-like leadership aspirations. Dina tells Ellie that she needs to travel light, saying...

Everything else needs to fit inside a holster or your backpack. Which is all you are allowed to carry in game. We see the two are let out of the gates with a horse and a new gun by none other than Seth, who at this point has fully redeemed himself. Now, in the games, Maria is actually the one who gives Ellie and Dina the horse and safe passage outside of Jackson, but only after Tommy runs off on his own, and she wants Ellie and Dina to bring him back. But here, that's switch to Seth, who not only shows empathy to Ellie's cause,

but started unifying the others who would agree. He says he would join them, but... I caught some friendly fire on New Year's Day. I'm sure it's friendly. Which is a bit poetic, given his and Ellie's relationship at this point. As they leave, Seth reaches out and shakes Ellie's hand, which takes their relationship full circle. Even when Seth apologized in the kitchen,

Ellie didn't really believe him, but seeing him be there for her in this way really sets him apart, from the rest of the community. On their way out to Jackson, we see Ellie visit Joel's grave. Now, the fact that she's visiting Joel's grave now makes this very different from her grave side visit and game, because it's taking place so much later in the season. The snow-covered grave from the games is replaced with a warm afternoon sun, reflecting across plains, which gives it the same warm red hue that we saw when Tommy first saw Joel's body. Now, when she kneels down, she puts coffee beans on his grave, which may be a hint as to what really happened on New Year's Eve

that we haven't seen yet. Well, as she told Gail earlier this episode, Ellie claims that she didn't speak to Joel after their fight at the bar. However, they do have a conversation on the porch and the game, and it's a pretty important one. Most notably, Joel is drinking a cup of coffee during that conversation, and the two even make a point about how hard that is to attain, given the fall of global trade and all. Now, the game heavily associates Joel with his love for coffee, but we haven't seen very much of that in the show. So, even though we saw Ellie walk by Joel after their fight on New Year's Eve, my gut tells me that's not where the story ends.

we will find out that she comes back out onto that porch later on the night to talk to him. Ideally, the show will give us to us in a flashback later this season, which should hopefully explain the significance of the coffee beans that we see here. Then we get a montage of Dina and Ellie on their road trip to Seattle. Now, the series takes full advantage of the trip, allowing them to grow closer, whereas the game skips this entire part of the journey. They decide to play a game to pass the time where they name a band for every letter in the alphabet, giving them the chance to name drop Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa, Ozzy Osborne, and Green Day,

All easily recognizable bands in a world that ended in 2003. After they get tired of coming up with band names, they decide to talk about the first person they ever killed, which is actually a conversation that Ellie and Dina have when they're en route to Seattle, which realigns it back with the game just as the characters arrive at the city. This is where Ellie walks Dina through her second kill, which is a story that we saw play out in season one when she saved Joel for the first time. As they set up camp to shelter from the rain,

the show makes up for the lost love that we didn't get in the dispensary scene in the last episode, when Dina asks Ellie to rate their kiss, just as she did in the game. She even says, You're gay, I'm not? Now, you might be wondering how Dina can say she's not gay, but the thing is, by erasure is pretty common in general, and it stings even more here for Ellie. The way Dina talks about this massively waters down the significance of their kiss to the dance,

as if it was just a one-time fling. Dina even adds insult to injury when she talks about how she's hooked up with Jesse in the interim. So the game uses this same question to solidify their relationship and take it to the next level, But the show takes the direct opposite approach, which further goes to show the differences between their relationships in the show and how HBO wants to tell this story. That's when they stumble up on the body of the Sephardes. We can see them shot in the back over their logo.

And immediately, Ellie assumes it's Abby and the WLF. Yeah, but isn't she right? Oh, 100%. But it's not due to her intuition or rational detective skills. It's purely out of the fact that she sees Abby as the other, meaning that she is now capable of anything. When Dina finds the corpses on the side of the road, she pukes. Of course, what she saw was awful, but Dina has seen a lot worse,

including massive bare carcasses and grotesque clickers, so it's odd for her to get so squeamish. She even talks about how the smell triggered it too, all of which seems to indicate that she is pregnant. Person, that's a lot to assume. Well, it's a major plot point in the game, so it's bound to happen sooner or later. However, it seems like the show is being coy with this information for now.

As they get closer to Seattle, they spot a car, and this scene is very similar to the game. Yeah, we're getting close. we're close now. As they finally approach Seattle, Ellie makes a cheesy joke, attributing it once again to Joel's favorite cheesy action movie series

Curtis and Viper. The panning view of Seattle from the bridge looks exactly like it does in the game, and I would know because Seattle was designed by my brother-in-law. He even put my cat Artemis at the pet store in the game. The final shot, however, shows us just how wrong Dina and Ellie have been

in underestimating the WLF numbers. In the game, the WLF are big enough to occupy an entire football stadium. And while we don't yet know if they're going to be quite that big in the show, it's more than likely that the final shot is only a small portion of their total numbers. Well, guys, that's all the Easter eggs we caught in this episode. Huge shout out to Dodd Sites who wrote this video.

So what did you think of episode three? Any details we missed? Let me know in the comments below or at me on Twitter at Ryan Erie. And if it's your first time here, please subscribe. Welcome to the channel, and please smash that bell for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie. Thank you.