‘The Last of Us’ episode 7 paid perfect homage to the game’s photo booth scene

In one totally cheesy photo, Ellie and Riley are forever caught together, making silly monster faces and giggling nervously.

Last of Us Episode 7 takes teenage protagonist Ellie (Bella Ramsey) back in time to a fateful night as her best friend Riley (Storm Reid) guides her through an abandoned but powered shopping mall. I’ll take you Lots of butterflies, Ellie bravely defends her feelings for Riley as she explores the shop, but despite Riley’s cool, calm, and collected appearance, these anxieties aren’t just Ellie. In one of the funniest scenes in the photo booth, the show captures the familiar angst of unrequited love confirmation and pays tribute to one of the sweetest scenes in gaming.

In Riley’s “Wonders of the Mall” tour, she takes Ellie to the photo booth after the pair ride the carousel. They sit tensely side by side. Riley comes in with her $5 bill ready and Ellie accuses her of doing all this photo booth thing before. “No, idiot, I’ve been waiting to do that with you.”

At the booth, you will be directed by a cartoon rabbit to strike your best pose. Panic then sets in when the pair realize they haven’t prepared a pose. After her classic dumbfounded WTF-do-we-do pose, Riley suggests bunny ears and back-to-back, while Ellie suggests a terrifying pose. Physical contact! With your unrequited love! It’s the sweetest, most awkward, tense sequence in which Riley and Ellie look totally uplifted and giddy in each other’s company.

the scene is Last of Us‘ Downloadable Content (DLC) left behinda spin-off released by Naughty Dog in 2014 that was the basis for the story of Episode 7: Ellie’s Backstory with Riley.(opens in new tab) Use them essentially to date as part of a sequence that uses the game’s normal mechanics and actions.

“We took these mechanics that were used for violence when we played as Joel in the full game, but in this extra chapter, we’re going to flip those mechanics over and connect with Riley, have these kinds of dates, and be together.” escape to.” Last of Us Creator Neil Druckmann told HBO’s podcast(opens in new tab)The studio spent an enormous amount of resources developing this emotionally intimate character moment, and Druckmann said Naughty Dog was just as valuable as the major action sequences. It is a scene with impact.

“We were like, ‘Oh, what if they went to this photo booth?’ So you can choose the poses you want to do, and as long as that experience shapes how it goes, it’s there.”

Director Craig Mazin said on the HBO podcast that he wanted to include almost exactly the photo booth scenes that appear in the game, “down to the bunny ears and monster poses.” — Mazin and Druckmann talked about scenes deemed important to do this, like Ellie and Joel’s discussion, and scenes that could deviate or extend from the game world, like Bill and Frank’s story .

In the photo booth scene in the game, Ellie, who is controlling it, can choose the theme from “love”, “friends”, and “cool”. (Yes, Naughty Her Dog literally thumps out the entire relationship-defining chat at this moment.) Select “Love,” Riley asks sarcastically. Ellie quickly brushes it off with “in your dreams.” Once the theme is locked, players can choose to change poses using her PlayStation buttons, which Ellie and Riley differ from. Some of these poses end on the show, such as bunny ears that are really sweet moments for gamers, and scary poses, etc. In many poses, Riley moves her body next to Ellie and looks like she’s in her teenage years. It makes my heart flutter.

“Ultimately, the moment is about cracks in the dam,” Druckmann said. “Seeing these girls, consciously or not, start telling each other that there is more to friendship than that. That was what the game was about.”

It’s this sense of headlong crushery that makes this scene so relatable. Druckmann describes it as “that moment when you get very insecure… there’s not enough evidence to say ‘she definitely likes me’.

“Ellie is so aroused and afraid of physical contact with Riley that when it happens, she is afraid she won’t be able to stop him from kissing her, so stop it.” We have to,” Mazin added.

Ellie, in particular, spends most of the episode/game trying to shield herself from these feelings. This is the second time Ellie is weird about physical contact with Riley. Ellie stumbled in the elevator, Riley caught her, and Ellie hurriedly adjusted herself and stuttered, “I’m fine.”

“Ellie is afraid Riley will spot her,” says Druckmann. So she has to protect herself from it.”

However, not only is Ellie shielding herself from the possibility that Riley doesn’t feel the same way, she’s also unsure of how Riley feels about being gay.

“I think what Ellie really fears is not just rejecting the romance, but completely rejecting her as a person, as a friend,” Mazin says. endure it. “

The Last of Us is streaming now HBO Max.(opens in new tab) New episodes air every Sunday at 9pm ET on HBO.