I'm A Fan Of Ellie & Dina's Pairing In The Last Of Us, But I'm Surprised How Much The Show Changed Their Big Theater Scene In Seattle

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 4, and The Last of Us Part II.

I’ve been loving The Last of Us season 2’s adaptation of Ellie and Dina’s relationship, but I can’t believe how much the show changed their pivotal theater scene. The Last of Us season 2, episode 4, “Day One,” kicks off Ellie and Dina’s search for Abby after arriving in Seattle. Although it cuts out a lot of open-world exploration and combat encounters, it follows the game pretty closely. They track down the W.L.F. to a TV station, they find all the Wolves in the station have been massacred by the Seraphites, and they get chased into a clicker-infested subway tunnel.

In both versions of the story, after narrowly escaping from the subway, Ellie and Dina hole up in an abandoned theater. It’s one of the most pivotal scenes in their relationship: Ellie finds out Dina is pregnant and Dina finds out Ellie is immune to the Cordyceps infection. Both of these secrets are still revealed in the TV show’s version of the scene, but it goes in a totally different direction. The Last of Us season 2 has made a few key changes to the game, but the retooling of this scene might be the most radical change yet.

The Last Of Us Season 2 Makes A Brilliant Change To How Dina Finds Out Ellie Is Immune

It's Not A Random Occurrence, It's An Act Of Heroism

In the game, the Cordyceps infection isn’t just spread through bites; it’s also spread through airborne spores, which can be protected against with gas masks. While Ellie and Dina are escaping from the subway, Ellie’s mask breaks and she breathes in spores. Dina can’t believe what she’s seeing, but they’re swarmed by infected, so they have to run. Ellie’s broken gas mask revealed her immunity to Dina completely by chance in a random occurrence. But the TV show’s version of this scene makes a really smart change to the way Dina finds out about Ellie’s immunity.

In the TV show, Ellie throws her arm in the way of a clicker to protect Dina from getting bitten, so she reveals her immunity with an act of heroism and the quick thinking to use her “superpower” for good. It’s always fun to see Ellie use her immunity to solve a problem. She used it to stall David when he was about to chop her up in season 1, and there’s a moment toward the end of The Last of Us Part II (without giving it away) that she does a similar thing.

How The Immunity & Pregnancy Reveals Play Out Between Ellie & Dina In The Last Of Us Part 2 Game

In The Game, It's A Bitter Argument

In The Last of Us Part II, when Ellie and Dina get into the theater, they each reveal their secrets. Dina struggles to wrap her head around the revelation that Ellie is immune, while Ellie is furious to learn that Dina is pregnant and kept it from her. It escalates into a bitter argument. Ellie tells Dina that since she waited so long to tell her about the pregnancy when the right thing to do would’ve been to turn back before it was too late, she’s become a “burden.” It’s their first big fight as a couple.

In the TV show, when they get to the theater, Dina tearfully pulls her gun on Ellie. As far as she knows, she just watched Ellie knowingly infect herself, and now, she has to put her down. It takes a really long time before Dina can trust that Ellie isn’t going to turn and believes she’s really immune. After that, she feels such a sense of relief that she doesn’t have to kill her — and has such a profound perspective on how precious life is — that she finally does two things she’s been too scared to do.

She tells Ellie she’s pregnant and finally acts on her romantic feelings. In the game, Ellie and Dina have sex the night after their first kiss — the night before Joel’s death — so they’re an official couple by the time they head to Seattle. But the TV show saved their first sexual encounter for the theater, which totally changed the outcome of the scene. Where the pregnancy reveal creates a rift between them in the game, it brings them closer together in the TV show.

Ellie's Heroism & Dina's Reaction Add More Weight To The Immunity Reveal

In The Game, Ellie's Immunity Reveal Is Incidental & Gets Quickly Shrugged Off

The TV show adds a lot more dramatic weight to the reveal of Ellie’s immunity. In the game, it’s totally incidental. Ellie’s gas mask breaks by accident, Dina’s confusion around her immunity is quickly cleared up, and it’s never mentioned again as they focus more on Dina’s pregnancy and the pressure to turn around and go home. The TV show makes a lot of changes to Ellie’s immunity reveal, and they’re all for the better. Ellie’s heroism and Dina’s reaction bring more stakes and emotion to the table.

Having Ellie throw her arm into the jaws of a clicker to protect Dina makes the immunity reveal a heartwarming act of heroism. She doesn’t think twice about making this sacrifice for Dina, because she cares so much about her. It gives Ellie much more agency than she had in the game when she simply fell over and broke a piece of headwear.

Dina’s reaction to Ellie’s bite — holding her at gunpoint while she sleeps — enhances the drama. She has to reckon with the possibility of killing her best friend and the love of her life as she turns into a flesh-eating monster, then feels an immense sense of relief when that doesn’t happen. Isabela Merced nails that complex emotional rollercoaster.

Why Ellie Reacts So Differently To Dina's Pregnancy In The Last Of Us Show Compared To The Game

In The Game, They're Much More Open About Their Feelings At This Point

In the TV show, Ellie’s reaction to Dina’s pregnancy is completely different than in the game. In the game, she’s so singularly focused on exacting revenge that she can only think about how the pregnancy complicates that mission. But in the TV show, she sees the bigger picture. She’s excited about co-parenting a baby with Dina and Jesse — or, as Ellie hilariously puts it, being a dad — and it just reaffirms her love for Dina.

At this point in the game, Ellie and Dina were much more open about their feelings for each other, so Ellie was angry that Dina had kept her pregnancy a secret. In The Last of Us TV show, Dina tells Ellie about the baby because, in that moment, she thought she was about to lose Ellie. That gave Dina a reason to finally act on her own feelings and be honest (including about the pregnancy).