‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Episode 5 Recap: Confessions, Stalkers, and Spores

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us.

The Cordyceps threat evolves in episode five of The Last of Us Season 2, as the fungus that once spread through bite and tendril now reintroduces a chilling element from the original game — airborne spores. The episode opens on a hushed conversation between two WLF soldiers, Elise Park and Hanrahan. Park, visibly shaken, recounts how her son’s unit encountered something deeply wrong in the basement of a Seattle hospital. The air down there was different — thick, unbreathable.

She sealed the lower level with people still trapped inside. Hanrahan’s response is swift and cold: keep it quiet. The show then pivots, leaving this warning to simmer while Ellie and Dina venture deeper into the chaos of Seattle. Dina, always strategic, plots their path using a tattered map, aiming to triangulate their location with minimal resources. Ellie, meanwhile, drifts toward a dilapidated stage, picking up a long-abandoned guitar. She strums the opening of a familiar tune — “If I ever were to lose you” — but the weight of memory proves too much. She stops, sets it down. That kind of emotion has no place out here.

Their destination: the hospital. But between here and there stands a building full of unknowns. Ellie, concerned for Dina’s safety after recent trauma, suggests she stay behind. Dina’s response is chillingly raw. She recounts the first time she killed — a man who murdered her family when she was just a child. “If he had gotten away, I promise you, I would’ve hunted him down forever,” she says. Her pain mirrors Ellie’s in ways neither of them fully articulate.

By nightfall, they reach the ominous structure. Dina jokes that it’s “haunted but empty.” Ellie replies, “Just like us.” Inside, it’s not ghosts they find, but stalkers — agile, silent, vicious. Dina races for shelter, locking herself in a wire cage while Ellie fights them off. A fungal-crowned stalker lunges. Then another. Dina’s gun jams. Things unravel fast.

Just as the fight teeters toward tragedy, a burst of gunfire turns the tide. Jesse appears from the shadows, saving both of them. His arrival is a lifeline, but not necessarily a comfort. He eyes Ellie’s bare arms, clearly doubting her claim that she hasn’t been bitten. On the run again, they come under WLF fire and duck into a nearby park. The enemy holds position outside, too afraid to follow. That’s never a good sign.

Jesse explains his mission: he and Tommy came to Seattle on a rogue op to recover Ellie and Dina. They split up to cover more ground and are supposed to regroup the next day. But there’s no time to linger. The forest isn’t empty. Scars are near, and their ritualistic brutality is on full display. From afar, the trio watches a scar priest execute a WLF soldier in cold, religious fervor. A noose, a scythe, and a prayer — the result is nothing short of horrifying. Moments later, an arrow tears into Dina’s leg. Ellie distracts the Seraphites, leading them away while Jesse escapes with Dina.

Ellie infiltrates the hospital solo. She sneaks past guards and corners Nora in a makeshift infirmary. Their conversation is laced with venom. Nora tells Ellie that Joel deserved what he got. Nora flees, leading Ellie to a sealed-off basement level. B2. The air grows thick. Spores drift like dust motes. Cordyceps lines the walls. We see what’s been kept secret, the infection can now spread through the air again. It’s the first time the series has shown airborne transmission, something dropped in season one to avoid hiding actors behind gas masks. But now, the fungus breathes.

Nora collapses, gasping. “You killed us both,” she says. “Did I?” Ellie replies, with a bitterness. Their final exchange confirms what many viewers suspected: Ellie knows the full story of what Joel did at the Firefly hospital. That he killed Abby’s father. That he made the choice for her. And still, she presses for Abby’s location. When words fail, violence speaks. Ellie picks up a pipe. What follows is heard, not seen. She wakes in Jackson, the sound of Joel’s voice pulling her back from the memory: “Hey, kiddo.”

Catch a glimpse of what’s coming next on The Last of Us below.

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