Latest news with #Scars
Los Angeles Times
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
System of a Down's Daron Malakian strikes familiar, violent chords on new Scars on Broadway album
Fans of System of a Down desperately hoping the Armenian American alt-metal band will one day release a full-length follow-up to their chart-topping 2005 companion albums 'Mezmerize' and 'Hypnotize' can at least seek some solace in the latest offering from band co-founder Daron Malakian. 'Addicted to the Violence,' the third album from his solo project Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway, may lack System frontman Serj Tankian's mellifluous singing, iconoclastic rants and feral screams, but its eclectic structure, melodic earworms, fetching vocal harmonies and poignant themes are sonically and structurally similar to System of a Down — and with good reason. 'All of my songs can work for either Scars or System because they come from my style and have my signature,' Malakian says from his home in Glendale. 'When I wrote for System, I didn't bring guitar riffs to the band. Like with [System's 2002 breakthrough single] 'Aerials.' That was a complete song. I wrote it from beginning to end before I showed it to them.' Malakian — who tackled vocals, guitar and bass — assembled 'Addicted to the Violence' (out Friday) during the last five years, using songs he'd written over roughly two decades. The oldest track, 'Satan Hussein,' which starts with a rapid-fire guitar line and features a serrated verse and a storming chorus, dates to the early 2000s, when System's second album, 'Toxicity,' was rocketing toward six-times platinum status (which it achieved nine months after release). With Scars, Malakian isn't chasing ghosts and he's not tied to a schedule. He's more interested in spontaneity than continuity, and artistry takes precedence over cohesion. None of the tracks on the band's sporadically released three albums — 2008's self-titled debut, 2018's 'Dictator,' and 'Addicted to the Violence'— follow a linear or chronological path. Instead, each includes an eclectic variety of songs chosen almost at random. 'It's almost like I spin the wheel and wherever the arrow lands, that's where I start,' he explains. 'I end up with a bunch of songs from different periods in my life that come from different moods. It's totally selfish. Everything starts as something I write for myself and play for myself. I never listen to something I've done and say, 'Oh, everybody's gonna love this.' For me, a song is more like my new toy. At some point, I finish playing with it and I go, 'OK, I'm ready to share this with other kids now.'' Whether by happenstance or subconscious inspiration, 'Addicted to the Violence' is a turbulent, inadvertently prescient album for unstable times — a barbed, off-kilter amalgam of metal, alt-rock, pop, Cali-punk, prog, Mediterranean folk, alt-country and psychedelia — sometimes within the same song. Lyrically, Malakian addresses school shootings, authoritarianism, media manipulation, infidelity, addiction and stream-of-consciousness ramblings as dizzying as an hour of random, rapid-fire channel surfing. Is writing music your way of making sense out of a nonsensical world? I like to think of it as bringing worlds together that, in other cases, may not belong together. But when they come out through me, they mutate and turn into this thing that makes sense. In that way, music is like my therapist. Even if I write a song and nobody ever hears it, it's healthy for me to make and it helps me work stuff out. When I write a song, sometimes it affects me deeply and I'll cry or I'll get hyped up and excited. It's almost like I'm communicating with somebody, but I'm not talking to anyone. It's just me in this intimate moment. Is it strange to take these personal, intimate and therapeutic moments and turn them into songs that go out for the masses to interpret and absorb? I want people to make up their own meanings for the songs, even if they're completely different than mine. I don't even like to talk about what inspired the songs because it doesn't matter. No one needs to know what I was thinking because they don't know my life. They don't know me. They know the guy on stage, but they don't know the personal struggles I've been through and they don't need to. Was there anything about 'Addicted to the Violence' that you wanted to do differently than 'Dictator'? Different songs on the album have synthesizer and that's a color I've never used before in System or Scars. Every painting you make shouldn't have the same colors. Sometimes I'm like, 'Will that work with the rest of the songs? That color is really different.' But I'm not afraid to use it. [Warning: Video includes profanity.] 'Shame Game' has a psychedelic vibe that's kinda like a hybrid of Strawberry Alarm Clock and Blue Oyster Cult, while the title track has a prog rock vibe redolent of Styx, Rush and Mars Volta. I love all that stuff. I spend more time listening to music than playing guitar. It's how I practice music. I take in these inspirations and it all comes out later when I write without me realizing it. In 2020, System released the songs 'Protect the Land' and 'Genocidal Humanoidz,' which you originally planned to use for Scars on Broadway. At that time, I hadn't recorded 'Genocidal Humanoidz' yet, but I had finished 'Protect the Land,' and my vocals on the song are the tracks I was going to use for my album. Serj just came in and sang his parts over it. Why did you offer those songs to System when every time you tried to work on an album with them after 2010, you hit a creative impasse? Because [the second Nagorno-Karabakh War] was going on in Artsakh at that time between [the Armenian breakaway state Artsakh and Azerbaijan], and we decided we needed to say something. We all got on the phone and I said, 'Hey, I got this song 'Protect the Land,' and it's about this exact topic.' So, I pulled it off the Scars record and shared it with System. You released the eponymous Scars on Broadway album in 2008, almost exactly two years after System went on a four-year hiatus. Did you form Scars out of a need to stay creative? At the time, I knew that if I wanted to keep releasing music, I needed a new outlet, so Scars was something that had to happen or I would have just been sitting around all these years and nobody would have heard from me. You played a few shows with Scars before your first album came out in 2008, but you abruptly canceled the supporting tour and only released one more Scars song before 2018. That was a really strange time. I wanted to move forward with my music, but we had worked so hard to get to the point we got to in System, and not everyone was in the same boat when it came to how we wanted to move forward. I just wasn't ready to do a tour with Scars. Was it like trying to start a new relationship after a bad breakup? I might have rushed into that second marriage too quick. I had [System drummer] John [Dolmayan] playing with me, and I think that was [a sign that] I was still holding onto System of a Down. That created a lot of anxiety. A few years later, you announced that you were working on a new Scars album and planned to release it in 2013. Why did it take until 2018 for you to put out 'Dictator'? I was writing songs and thinking they were amazing, but in my head I was conflicted about where the songs were going to go. 'Should I take them to Scars? Is that premature? Would System want to do something with them?' I underwent this constant struggle because Serj and I always had this creative disagreement. I finally moved past that and did the second album, but it took a while. System of a Down played nine concerts in South America this spring, and you have six stadium gigs scheduled in North America for August and September. Is there any chance a new System album will follow? I'm not so sure I even want to make another System of a Down record at this point in my life. I'm getting along with the guys really well right now. Serj and I love each other and we enjoy being onstage together. So, maybe it's best for us to keep playing concerts as System and doing our own things outside of that. The cover art for 'Addicted to the Violence' — a silhouette of a woman against a blood-red background holding an oversize bullet over her head, and standing in front of a row of opium poppies — is the work of your father, Iraqi-born artist Vartan Malakian. Was he a major inspiration for you? My approach to art and everything I know about it comes from my dad, and the way we approach what we do is very similar. We both do it for ourselves. He has never promoted himself or done an art exhibition. The only things most people have seen from him are the album covers. But ever since I was born, he was doing art in the house, and he's never cared if anyone was looking at it. Do you seek his approval? No, I don't. He usually is very supportive of what I do, but my dad's a complicated guy. I admire him a lot and wish I could even be half of the artist that he is. And if he and my mom didn't move to this country, I would not have been in System of a Down. I would have ended up as a soldier during Desert Storm and the Second Gulf War. That's my alternative life. It's crazy. Have you been to Iraq? When I was 14 years old, I went there for two months to visit relatives and it was a complete culture shock. I'm a kid that grew up in Hollywood, and I went to Baghdad wearing a Metallica shirt and I was a total smart aleck. Everywhere we went, I saw pictures and statues of Saddam Hussein. I turned to my cousin and said, 'What if I walked up to one of the statues and said, 'Hey Saddam, go f— yourself?'' Just me saying that made him nervous and scared. Talking like that was seriously dangerous and I had no idea. That was a definite learning experience of what I could have been. And it inspired me later to write 'Satan Hussein.' You had a glimpse of life under an authoritarian regime. Do you have strong feelings about the Trump administration and the way the president has, at times, acted like a dictator? I don't hate the guy and I don't love the guy. I'm not on the right, I'm not on the left. There are some things both sides do that I agree with, but I don't talk about that stuff in interviews because when it comes to politics, I'm not on a team. I don't like the division in this country, and I think if you're too far right or you're too far left, you end up in the same place. Is 'Addicted to the Violence,' and especially the song 'Killing Spree,' a commentary on political violence in our country? Not just political violence, it's all violence. 'Killing Spree' is ridiculous. It's heavy. It's dark. But if you listen to the way I sing, there is an absolutely absurd delivery, almost like I'm having fun with it. I'm not celebrating the violence, but the delivery is done the way a crazy person would celebrate it. So, it's from the viewpoint of a killer, the viewpoint of a victim, and my own viewpoint. I saw a video on social media of these kids standing around in the street, and one of them gets wiped out by the back end of a car and flies into the air. These kids are recording it and some of them are laughing like's it's funny. I don't want to say that's right or wrong, but from what I'm seeing, a lot of people have become desensitized to violence. You're releasing 'Addicted to the Violence' about six weeks before the final six System of a Down dates of 2025. Have you figured out how to compartmentalize what you do with System of a Down and Scars on Broadway? There was a time that I couldn't juggle the two very well, but now I feel more confident and very comfortable with where System and Scars are. I love playing with System, and I want to do more shows with Scars. I couldn't tell you how either band will evolve. Only time will tell what happens and I'm fine with that as long as it happens in a natural way. Everything we've experienced has brought us to where we are now. And now is all we've got because the past is gone and the future isn't here yet. So, the most important thing is the present.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hear Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway's New Song, ‘Killing Spree'
Daron Malakian has strong opinions about what's missing in heavy music today: danger and risk. 'I think you have a generation of fans who are very easily offended,' he tells Rolling Stone. 'Offensiveness and shock should not be taken away from rock music in general.' Those qualities are inherent in 'Killing Spree,' the bloodthirsty first single off Addicted to the Violence, the new album from Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway, due out July 18. 'Insanity/Controlling me,' he sings in the song's chorus, 'Society/The kids are on a killing spree.' Built on manic, strobing guitars and undulating waves of distortion, the music feels both cutting and brutalizing. 'It's gonna feel like a Jesus comin' back,' he sings, stretching the last word heavenward with giddy, helium-like aplomb. 'It's gonna feel like the devil's on the attack.' More from Rolling Stone Watch Julien Baker Join Jasmine.4.t to Cover System of a Down's 'Toxicity' System of a Down Jokingly Confirm Glenn Close Was a Bandmate Following Golden Globes Shout-Out Serj Tankian Asks If Imagine Dragons Would Play Nazi Germany Amid Azerbaijan Concert 'I think the song 'Killing Spree' is a subject that I don't think a lot of people want to touch,' Malakian, 49, says via email. 'I don't care, I'll touch it because it exists. It's not to be shocking or offensive, but it exists, and that's what I'll write about if I want to. I'm not going to edit myself if someone is going to be offended. I think that's missing in heavy metal music.' He's reluctant to explain the song — 'Your kids are on a killing spree, so your kids have something to do with it,' he says vaguely — partially because he doesn't see anything controversial about the subject matter of killing sprees. 'We live in a world, and things happen in this world, and killing sprees are one of those things that I've seen happen kind of often in the last 15 years or so — but I actually wrote the song way before that,' he says. Moreover, he looks at the song as commentary more than a transgressive statement. 'It's not for or against anything,' he says. 'It just is.' These days, Malakian says he just writes songs for the sake of it. As guitarist-singer for System of a Down, he's been keeping busy touring with them. Since that band has reached a creative stalemate, at least when it comes to making a new album (they did record a couple of songs a few years ago), he has been slowly working on a follow-up to the last Scars on Broadway album, Dictator, which came out in 2018. That album contained songs he had once hoped to record with System of a Down; Addicted to the Violence, he says, is more general. 'At this point in my life, I don't write any songs for System or for Scars,' he says. 'I just write songs. I think if System was making an album, some of those songs would probably end up on a System album, but System does not make albums these days, so they go to Scars.' Malakian had recorded Dictator as a distraction from 'some personal things going on with my family and my life,' so he recorded a bunch of songs in the space of two weeks, doing everything himself, from the vocals and guitars to the drums. Addicted to the Violence has been a more considered affair that found him collaborating on songwriting with his friend, multi-instrumentalist Orbel Babayan, drummer Roman Lomtadze, and saxophonist Matthew 'Narducci' Silberman. 'This album probably took me longer than any album I've ever made to decide it was done,' Malakian says. 'On this one, I did more home demos, recorded some stuff at home, picked the songs in my rolodex of songs that were like, 'Let's record this one, see how it goes.'' Scars on Broadway first recorded the songs at Malakian's home, but it didn't sound right, so they went to a studio, recutting everything but the vocals. He estimates it took close to two years to get everything the way he wanted it. 'I was in no rush,' he says. 'I'm never in any rush. I'm sure people who like what I do realize I don't put out an album every year. … That's just my process.' So will people be able to hear these songs in a concert setting? 'I have plans to play live, but I don't have any tours scheduled or anything like that,' he says. 'But I definitely have plans to play live.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Last of Us' Reveals a New Traumatizing Way to Die
(Warning: Spoilers ahead.) Being immune doesn't mean Ellie (Bella Ramsey) can't die in one of the innumerable other ways humans can inflict pain—like bullets and arrows, or being hanged and disemboweled. But her unique medical condition does come in handy when yet another cordyceps danger presents itself on The Last of Us. Seattle continues to throw up dangerous obstacles that emphasize how this virus adapts over time, such as the intelligent infected like the one Ellie encountered in the Season 2 premiere, and airborne spores that are a new addition to the menu. You don't need to get bitten to succumb to the parasitic fungus. Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) started this quest to find and kill Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) by slipping out of Jackson at night. Yes, they are experienced and skilled fighters, but woefully unprepared against an army of the living and undead. It is another outing with tense standoffs and seemingly impossible odds. But Ellie and Dina aren't alone, and the arrival of Jesse (Young Mazino) is welcome, as it was impossible to imagine how the pair would escape the 'big f---ing something' without him. I don't always love the 'guy comes in to save the day' narrative, but Ellie's immunity does make her cavalier when coming up against the impossible. Dina admits that Ellie being a little crazy is one of the reasons she loves her, even if it almost gets her killed. Of course, this isn't to say that Ellie isn't thinking about Dina or Dina's pregnancy. Yet agreeing to use only knives or run away (because bullets will attract both human and infected attention) never felt like a real option. Sure enough, they have to shoot their guns. It is immediately concerning that the Wolves don't follow the fleeing trio into a park. More infected? Nope, this is where the Scars are spilling literal blood and guts in their ongoing conflict against the Wolves. The Jackson trio becomes the Scars' new targets after witnessing a live-action version of the dead Wolves that Ellie and Dina saw with their intestines on display last week. In the melee, an arrow hits Dina in the thigh, and Jesse carries his ex-girlfriend, hopefully, to safety, and to rendezvous with Tommy (Gabriel Luna), who also came on this unsanctioned rescue attempt. Ellie ends up alone in Wolf territory, and her petite stature allows her to slip into another small hole. It hasn't gone according to plan (does it ever?), but Ellie has found her way into the hospital. Perhaps luck is on Ellie's side because she locates Nora (Tati Gabrielle), who was part of Abby's Joel (Pedro Pascal) hunting crew, and Ellie's ticket to revenge. Okay, it isn't as easy as that, as Nora isn't going to give up her friend in the blink of an eye. Joel's screams still haunt Nora, but she doesn't regret that he is dead, using this moment to throw chemicals at Ellie and sound the intruder alarm. Ellie gives chase, dodging the bullets and objects thrown her way. Nora knows the layout, which should put her at an advantage. However, she ends up in a ward that has been blocked with Ellie close behind. Nora has minimal options, prying open the elevator door as her only means of escape. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Nora falls to the floor marked B2. The level would look innocuous enough if it hadn't been for the opening scene. Episode 5 opens with a Wolf superior, Haneraton (Alanna Ubach), checking in with Elsie Park (Hettienne Park) about the recent deaths of a patrol unit sent to clear the basement levels. The patrol expected the worst because it is a ripe environment for a cluster or horde. Instead, B1 was empty. A different squad went to B2, where they found cordyceps on the walls and floors. Squadron leader Leon struggled to breathe when he radioed with a status report. However, it wasn't a typical case of getting bitten. Elsie determined the spores were in the basement air but not the vents because no one else was sick. To protect the rest of the population, Elsie made an impossible decision to lock the doors to B1 and B2, with Leon telling her to seal the patrol in, including him. It is even more devastating to learn that Leon is Elsie's son. In this case, a parent was part of a decision to sacrifice their child to preserve a valuable medical resource (in this case, the hospital), which is something Joel could not do. It all comes full circle because Ellie follows Nora down to B2 and encounters a thriving mushroom landscape unlike she (or we) have previously seen. It is stunning in that 'nature that can also kill you' way, and the mushrooms are growing out of the still-breathing men and women. It is a beautiful nightmare reminiscent of Hannibal, which did have a mushroom episode (and Last of Us guest star Park had an equally memorable death on the Bryan Fuller adaptation). Spores shimmer in the air, which would be pretty if it weren't so perilous. Well, perilous to everyone but Ellie. The teenager cranks up the drama by turning on the emergency lights that bathe the whole place in red. If anyone was unclear about what emotion Ellie is feeling, then this color scheme underscores the rage. 'You stupid b---h,' Nora says, thinking that they are both damned. Ellie revels in her gift with zero fear that someone else will find out. Nora realizes the 'immune girl' isn't just a story or a myth. However, Ellie doesn't want to chit-chat and instead asks where Abby is. Ellie emphasizes that she doesn't care what Joel did, so Nora reveals the ugly truth. 'I know,' says Ellie. These two words will always make me think of Harrison Ford in The Empire Strikes Back; in this case, it is Ellie saying she still loves Joel. It is confirmation (not a surprise) that Ellie found out Joel's deep, dark secret at some point in the five-year time jump, and in his death, she has forgiven him. What Ellie does next is take a page from the Abby torture handbook, picking up a pipe and using it to break Nora's leg. When Nora refuses to spill Abby's location, Ellie hits her again. Earlier, Dina revealed who her first kill was to highlight that she understands why Ellie needs to avenge Joel. It is this thread that ties Ellie to Abby, with both women seeking to spill blood for a dead father. To cut from Ellie bathed in red light enacting violence to a sun-dappled bedroom in the past is like whiplash. When Joel says, 'Hey, kiddo,' it feels like we have seen a ghost. Seeing delight on Ellie's face at Joel's presence is equally odd. Buckle up: it looks like that flashback episode is coming!
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Last of Us' Reveals Ellie and Dina's Life-Changing Secrets
(Warning: Spoilers ahead.) There is nothing quite like nearly dying to move a relationship to the next level. Sure enough, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) become more intimately acquainted after dodging death at human and infected hands in an action-packed The Last of Us. It is a revelation-filled episode that sees both young women revealing secrets—and themselves. Venturing into Seattle opens with a pleasant hangout in the city's now-abandoned gay neighborhood, Capitol Hill. Ellie and Dina have a moment to breathe before horror nips at their ankles—and arm. Ellie finds a guitar in perfect condition and plays an acoustic version of A-ha's 'Take on Me,' moving Dina to tears and showcasing both Ramsey and Merced's range as actors. It serves as a poignant reminder of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and what he taught Ellie, beyond just survival skills. Still, it doesn't take long for the pair to locate the militia that Joel's killer, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), belongs to. While they don't find Abby, Ellie and Dina have an eye-opening encounter in which they learn they are not the only ones hunting the Washington Liberation Front, also known as the Wolves. What begins as gathering intel descends into a subway ride from hell. After last week's zombie-free outing, The Last of Us goes all out with a sequence that had my heart in my mouth. It begins with Ellie and Dina discovering a gory tableau; several Wolves have been gutted. 'Feel Her Love' is written in blood next to the same symbol worn by the massacred group that Dina and Ellie found on their journey. The duo has stumbled upon a turf war. Oops! Last week, I incorrectly assumed the group known as Seraphites (or Scars) were pacifists, and didn't think it was Abby's militia that did this. It turns out I was very wrong as the Scars have shed a lot of Wolf blood—and vice versa. 'What the f--- is wrong with Seattle?!' Dina says after throwing up a second time—and I start to wonder if she is pregnant. There is zero time to assess the situation before a team of Wolves arrives on the scene. The pair hides, but needs to find a way out of the building and is at a disadvantage because they are unfamiliar with this location. However, they are experienced in escaping difficult situations. When the patrol gives chase, they can't squeeze through the same gap into the subway system as Dina and Ellie. The soldiers know another way, soon lighting the transit tunnels with red flares. It is a good news/bad news situation as one flare lands on a parasitic fungus, immediately attracting a swarm of infected to their location. At first, it sounds like a few are coming their way, but Dina will run out of fingers, toes, and body parts if they wait to do a head count. The Wolves are quickly overwhelmed, leaving Ellie and Dina with the undead. A derailed subway train proves to be a reprieve, but soon the zombies are punching their way through windows. The tight space and sheer volume add to an already edge-of-your-seat sequence. The pair escapes the train, but hits another obstacle that can be a pain even without a horde on your heels: the iron maiden turnstile. Not having a card to swipe through isn't the issue. Instead, the exit hasn't been used in over two decades, and barely moves. To buy Dina some time, Ellie pulls her immunity trick out of the bag. But when the infected bites her arm, Dina has zero idea that Ellie hasn't sacrificed her life. Unlike a flimsy fence, the turnstile keeps the infected at bay. Above ground, an old movie theater offers shelter. Or rather, a place for Dina to shoot an infected Ellie. 'I would die for you, but that's not just what happened,' Ellie says. Ellie's immunity is a closely guarded secret, and no matter how flippant she seemed in the premiere when she was teasing Tommy (Gabriel Luna), Ellie has stuck to this code of silence. However, getting bitten could lead to death by gunshot instead. It is another tense situation, which Ellie tries to defuse by telling Dina to let her go to sleep, and if she turns, then Dina can kill her. Of course, Ellie is confident it won't happen, but Dina looks terrified. When Ellie wakes up later, the bite shows zero sign of infection. One revelation down, another to go. 'I'm pregnant,' says Dina. Honestly, I am shocked at myself for not calling it last week when Dina puked (the tell-tale TV pregnancy trope). Dina kisses Ellie, and all thoughts of babies and bites slip away as they go much further than New Year's Eve (thankfully, there are no homophobes, Wolves, or infected to interrupt). The following morning. Dina looks at the fresh bite and then the tattoo-covered scar. It is open confession season, as Dina admits that thinking she had lost Ellie made her confront the attraction she has long denied. Dina knew Ellie had feelings for her and that Jesse (Young Mazino) wasn't the one. 'No, you like boys,' Dina's mother insisted when her daughter said she was into boys and girls. Dina thinks Ellie is brave for being out, and Ellie jokes that she's 'just obvious.' By the end of the episode, Dina and Ellie are even more united. Ellie wants to raise the baby with Dina (and Jesse), but gives Dina an out in this fight because of her pregnancy. The radio they lifted from one of the dead proves handy as they hear gunshots and recognize the name of one of Abby's team members. Dina insists she will join Ellie on this mission. But who are they facing? Well, for starters, Jeffrey Wright as former FEDRA soldier Isaac. The episode opens with a flashback to 2018, when Isaac killed his FEDRA unit, including Josh Peck (from Drake & Josh), sparing only young soldier Burton. (As a Guilded Age fan, I was thrilled to spot 'Clock Twink' Ben Ahlers with another HBO gig under his belt.) This introduction shows Isaac becoming a Wolf, joining Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach, another HBO mainstay), and he remains a commanding force in the present, giving a tutorial about Mauviel copper pans as an instrument of torture rather than fine dining. The interrogation scene highlights that the Scars are impossible to break, and some Wolves have switched sides. Can Ellie and Dina use this ongoing bloody war to their advantage? All of Ellie and Dina's cards are on the table with no secrets left to tell (other than what Joel did to the Fireflies), and they are more united than ever before. Perhaps the two of them versus an army isn't such bad odds after all.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'The Last of Us' Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Return of Tati Gabrielle and more surprise appearances
We've reached the final three episodes of The Last of Us Season 2, as we follow Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) on their quest to find Abby (Kaitlyn Dever). Travelling through Seattle amid the feud between the Washington Liberation Front (W.L.F.) and Seraphites, also called Scars, things get even more gruesome on the show this week. But continuing a pattern we've seen in multiple episodes now, Episode 5 starts with a look back at the past. Specifically with Hanrahan, played by Alanna Ubach. Where to watch The Last of Us: Crave in Canada, HBO and Max in the Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Rutina Wesley, Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, Spencer Lord, Danny Ramirez, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey WrightNumber of episodes: 7 The episode begins with Hanrahan, arriving at a hospital controlled by the W.L.F., noticing a stairwell boarded up. She then questions Elise Park (Hettienne Park) about why she killed some of her own men by doing so, "including Leon." Elise explains that her unit was responsible for securing the hospital, which they did without trouble, and all that was left was the basement. But with components of the building collapsing, there was only one stairwell with access to the three basement levels. After B1 was clear, Elise sent a team to B2 the next day, led by Leon, who she highlights was particularly skilled. Leon was able to radio back an update that there were Cordyceps, then five minutes later he communicated again, but could hardly speak. Elise thought he had been bitten, but Leon said, "It's in the air. Seal us in." Elise and the rest of the team did as Leon said. That's when Hanrahan reveals the most devastating part of the story, saying "I'm sorry about your son." Continuing with Dina and Ellie, it's Day Two in Seattle and Dina is trying to figure out a route to get to the W.L.F. occupied hospital, as she's been listening to the Wolves communicate through the radio they were able to get their hands on. That's not really Ellie's strength, so she's spending her time playing the guitar in the empty theatre where they've found shelter. Ellie starts to sing 'Future Days' by Pearl Jam with the line, "If I ever were to lose you." While that may not mean much to those who just watch the show, video game fans know how important that song is to characters Ellie and Joel. It's a moment we see in the game where Joel is really trying to express his love for Ellie, that he loves her like a daughter. But back to Dina and Ellie's journey, Dina found a gap in the W.L.F. patrol setup, identifying a building they can travel through, but the concern is that the Wolves don't have eyes on it because it's filled with infected, making it a "reckless" move, as Dina describes. But one they take anyways. Dina also highlights that the Wolves are talking freely through the radio, which makes her think the Scars are like the Amish, choosing to live without technology, allowing the W.L.F. to communicate knowing their enemies aren't listening. As they continue to try to get to the hospital, they see dead bodies, which makes Ellie question why Dina is coming along, especially because she's pregnant. But Dina responds by telling Ellie about the first time she killed someone. When Dina was little she lived with her family in a cabin in a forest, north of Santa Fe, and she would beg her mom to let her play outside. One day when Dina was eight, she went outside alone, defying her mom's wishes. When she got back to the cabin there was a raider there and she could hear her family screaming. She was too late to save her family, but she shot the raider. Dina tells Ellie that if he had gotten away, she would have hunted that raider down forever. That's enough for Ellie to agree to continue the journey as a pair. She knows Dina understands her need to find Abby. As Ellie and Dina arrive at the building Dina scouted, they come in contact with the "smart" infected, who strategize and hide. Both Ellie and Dina are attacked by the infected stalkers and they're saved by Jesse (Young Mazino). Jesse and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) snuck out of Jackson to try to find Ellie and Dina, and Jesse was able to track them to the theatre, where he saw Dina's map. Jesse, Ellie and Dina get to a park, an area the Wolves won't go. But they see Scars murdering a W.L.F. member, hanging him and cutting open his torso, just like the bodies they saw earlier in their journey. But then an arrow hits Dina, with Ellie telling Jesse to get Dina back to the theatre. Instead of following Jesse and Dina, Ellie sees the hospital and takes her chance. She finds Nora (Tati Gabrielle) and tries to get her to reveal where Abby is, by holding her at gunpoint, but it doesn't work. Nora says she's sorry Ellie saw Joel die, but "the little bitch got what he deserved," and Nora tries to flee. As they both run down the hallway, Nora jumps into an elevator shaft, which leads to the dreaded B2 basement level Hanrahan and Elise were talking about at the beginning of the episode. Ellie climbs down to B2 and sees the walls and floor full of Cordyceps, with spores in the air, and one person stuck to a wall with Cordyceps. The badge on his shirt says, "L. Park," it's Leon, Elise's son, stuck in pain between life and death. As Ellie continues exploring the basement, she hears Nora coughing and wheezing, who says now they're both infected by breathing in the spores. But Nora then realizes that Ellie is "the immune girl." Ellie once again asks where Abby is, Nora won't tell her, but says Joel killed everyone in the Fireflies hospital, including the only person who could develop a cure, Abby's father. "Joel shot him in the head. That's what he did," Nora says. Ellie puts away her gun, kneels down and again, asks where Abby is, but Nora still refuses to tell her. Ellie then picks up a metal pipe she sees on the ground and asks one more time, before beating Nora. To end the episode, we cut to the past with Ellie asleep in her bed, being woken up by Joel saying, "Hey, kiddo."
