The Last Of Us Season 2 Episode 5 Just Featured One Of Ellie's Toughest Scenes, And Bella Ramsey Nailed It

The Last of Us season 2, episode 5, “Feel Her Love,” translated one of Ellie’s toughest scenes from the video game into live-action — and Bella Ramsey absolutely nailed it. Although Ramsey’s casting has been the subject of some unfair backlash, they’ve been crushing it this season. Just like they did in season 1 with scenes like kissing Riley, killing David, and forcing Joel to swear he’s telling the truth, Ramsey is taking all the most devastating moments from Ashley Johnson’s performance in the games and recapturing what made them so powerful while putting their own unique spin on them.

Throughout the season, Ramsey has evoked all the right emotions in all the most important scenes. Seeing Ellie weep at the sight of Joel’s corpse was just as heartbreaking on television as it was in the game, and her romance with Dina has been just as intoxicating and endearing in its new medium. In The Last of Us season 2, episode 5, Ramsey was tasked with pulling off one of Ellie’s darkest and most challenging scenes from the game — the moment the character becomes truly terrifying — and they pulled it off spectacularly.

Bella Ramsey Nailed Ellie's Torture Scene In The Last Of Us Season 2

Torturing Nora Is A Major Turning Point For Ellie

The Last of Us season 2, episode 5 deviates from the game in a few key ways. Dina joins Ellie on her journey to the hospital instead of staying at the theater, Jesse saves Ellie from a gaggle of stalkers and not from a W.L.F. squad, and Dina takes the arrow from the Seraphites, not Ellie. But once Ellie sneaks off on her own to infiltrate the hospital, it sticks much closer to the game. She confronts Nora at gunpoint, Nora taunts her about Joel’s death, and she corners Nora in a red-hued hallway full of spores.

As Nora dies of a coughing fit, Ellie beats her with a lead pipe to force her to give up Abby’s location. There was no way that the TV show could make this sequence quite as shocking as the game, because the game forces you to press the square button, making you the one who’s beating Nora to death. In the TV show, you’re less of an active participant. With that in mind, I was impressed with how close the TV show got to replicating that shock, and it’s all down to Ramsey’s performance.

Ramsey brings a chilling coldness to every line delivery as Nora pleads for her life. Nora tells Ellie the basement is full of spores, so she’s killed them both by bringing them down there, but Ellie bluntly asks, “Did I?” Nora tells Ellie that Joel killed all the Fireflies, assuming she doesn’t know that if she’s so adamant to avenge him, but Ellie simply says, “I know. I don’t care.” There’s a blatant lack of empathy in the way she speaks to Nora; she’s just embodying pure rage and hatred. It’s a stark contrast from Ramsey’s usual happy-go-lucky bubbliness.

Ramsey's Ellie Is As Genuinely Scary As Her Video Game Counterpart For The First Time

She Comes Off As Callous & Cold-Blooded

What makes this moment so powerful in the game is that Ellie is genuinely scary. You can’t believe the kind of brutality she’s capable of as she pummels Nora over and over again with the pipe, flagrantly ignoring her cries of agony. Ramsey recaptures that scariness perfectly in the TV show. There’s an unhinged glint in their eye that hauntingly conveys Ellie’s cold-bloodedness in this moment. She’s solely focused on exacting revenge and her humanity is taking a backseat.

Ramsey has displayed a ton of incredible acting moments throughout The Last of Us: the look of shock and dissociation after hacking David to death; the look of mistrust after Joel swore he was telling the truth; the stolen glances at Riley and later at Dina. And now, they’ve given a tour-de-force portrayal of the iconic torture scene. Anyone who still doubts Ramsey’s acting abilities or suitability for the role of Ellie hasn’t been paying attention.