The second season of HBO's "The Last of Us" live-action series has left fans hanging on its handling of Tina and Ellie's relationship. In the show, although the pair had a great chemistry, they deleted key scenes that established their relationship in the game, such as smoking something together before romance. Because of this, when they embarked on the road of revenge, they never made it clear to each other.
Last week Tina's "You are gay, I'm not" caused an uproar. On the surface, this seems to have tampered with the bisexual setting in the game, but more viewers have realized that this is actually foreshadowing the emotional line, implying that Tina is struggling with her sexual orientation.
The fourth episode confirmed this speculation, but also brought new questions. When the two took refuge in a Seattle music store just like in the game, Ellie's singing brought Tina to tears; when Ellie was bitten by an infected person trying to save her, they fled into the abandoned theater familiar to game fans. Ellie reveals her immunity when Tina takes aim with a pistol. Then Tina suddenly confessed that she was pregnant, and then she and Ellie were entangled on the floor.
The next day, Tina and Ellie embraced each other affectionately, and Tina finally expressed her inner feelings: she had known that she liked both men and women since she was a child, but was denied by her mother; she broke up with Jesse just because she was trying to correct her sexual orientation. The fear of almost losing Ellie allowed her to break through the psychological shackles.
Regardless of whether the lingering behavior immediately after the pregnancy confession is abrupt or not, what is even more regrettable is that the slow-burning emotion foreshadowed in the third episode ended hastily in the fourth episode. Dina's interaction with Joel could have deepened the character's tension, but instead a declaration of "I'm not gay" quickly turned into an intimate scene on the floor. As they stroll through the streets of Seattle covered with rainbow flags, the show's presentation of LGBT pride never captures the theme and point.