Understanding the Ending of ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Episode 5: Explaining the Spores and Ellie’s Actions.

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 5 reveals that the evil driving the HBO hit’s drama has evolved. I’m talking, of course, about both the Cordyceps virus and the show’s never-ending cycle of revenge-driven violence.

**Spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 5, now streaming on MAX**

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 5 culminates with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) chasing Nora (Tati Gabrielle) through a hospital run by the Washington Liberation Force (or WLF). Nora, of course, is one of the five former Fireflies who tracked, captured, tortured, and murdered Joel (Pedro Pascal) for the mass murder he committed in Salt Lake City at the end of Season 1. Nora, in her panic, attempts to climb into a barricaded elevator shaft to escape Ellie’s quest for blood. The problem is that the B2 section of the hospital was barricaded because an insidious new version of the Cordyceps virus lurks there.

The Cordyceps virus has evolved to infect humans simply through the air. There’s no need for an Infected to bite a person anymore. Merely breathing in the spores will immediately infect and eventually kill a person.

This horrifying new development is revealed in tandem with a new, crueler version of Ellie. The girl we once watched giggle over puns in a paperback book is now resorting to torture to wreck vengeance and gain intel in her hunt for Joel’s primary killer, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever).

The symbolism of both the plague and Ellie becoming more deathly dangerous at the same time aside, The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 5 leaves those of us who maybe haven’t played the video games feeling a little confused. Did Ellie just kill Nora? What’s with that final jump revealing the return of Joel in happier times? And, maybe most importantly, what does the introduction of this new form of Cordyceps mean for the characters in The Last of Us?

In The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 5, Ellie sneaks into the hospital run by the Wolves and finds Nora, one of the five former Fireflies responsible for killing Joel. She first holds Nora at gunpoint, asking for information about where Abby is. Nora first attempts to reason with Ellie, admitting that she’s not only sorry she had to witness Joel’s death, but that she herself is still haunted by the memory of that day. Then, Nora flips the script, asserting that “little bitch got what he deserved,” as she throws some sort of liquid on Ellie and runs away.

Ellie pursues Nora through the hospital. The problem that Nora literally runs into is the fact that earlier in the episode, the Wolves cordoned off an entire wing of the hospital. Stuck in a dead end, Nora tries to shimmy herself into an elevator shaft for safety. Instead, the elevator car plummets, leaving her stranded in the halls infected with the new spore version of Cordyceps.

Ellie follows Nora into this hellacious area, passing a few sorry infected souls, including Leon Park (Cheonguk Park), the son of Hetienne Park’s character from the episode’s cold open. When Ellie catches up with Nora, just minutes later, the Wolf is wheezing in agony. Nora taunts Ellie, pointing out that they’re both dead. Ellie, on the other hand, affirms she is immune. Nora realizes that, yes, Ellie was really immune and that Joel destroyed humanity’s one hope for a cure.

Ellie continues to ask Nora to give her information on Abby’s whereabouts. When Nora refuses, Ellie grabs a pipe and begins to beat the already dying woman. After one horrific blow, we cut to a sweet, sunlit scene where Joel is waking a happy Ellie up in Jackson.

So did Ellie kill Nora? That is certainly the implication. However, even if Ellie doesn’t beat Nora to death, Nora is already dead, because she’s infected with Cordyceps.

In the video game The Last of Us II, Ellie kills Nora by beating her to death with, yes, a pipe. Nora is also infected. The flashing lights are still red. It’s the same basic scene only the HBO show never shows Ellie going full feral.

So what’s going on in Stairwell B2? Well, in HBO’s The Last of Us, a new version of the Cordyceps virus has emerged. One that can spread infection through the air, via spores.

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 5 sets up this new concept with a devastating cold open interrogation. WLF leader Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach) learns from top ranking soldier Elise Park (Hettienne Park) that she went against orders to abandon her team and to barricade the B2 area of the hospital because of a disturbing report she got from her son Leon on patrol. Instead of just finding a few normal Infected, Leon and his group were infected with the illness just by breathing.

In an ironic twist, this new version of Cordyceps finally brings the show closer to the games. In the video games, some Infected give off spores as they die and those spores spread the illness.

The Last of Us video game creator and series co-showrunner Neil Druckmann told Polygon back in 2023 the reason why the spores were initially cut from the HBO show.

“If we wanted to treat it realistically, and there are spores near, characters would wear gas masks all the time. Then we lose so much, which is maybe the most important part of the journey is what’s going on inside behind their eyes, in their soul, in their beings,” Druckmann said. “For that logistical reason, we were like, Let’s find a different vector.”

For this specific part of the story, neither Ellie nor Nora have to wear a mask for the scene to work. That’s because Ellis is immune and Nora is dying.

JOEL LIVES?!?! Er, well, not quite.

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 5 ends with Ellie seemingly flashing back to happier times. The sun is shining. She’s safe in her bedroom in Jackson. Oh, and Joel is greeting her as she wakes up for a bright, new day.

Pedro Pascal returns to The Last of Us in flashbacks, not for real. Joel is still dead, ya’ll.