The Last of Us season 2 episode 4 sees Bella Ramsey perfect a game moment

With Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) arriving in Seattle - and starting to discover that the WLF may be a tad bigger and more dangerous than they previously anticipated - the pair hide out in an old music shop.

As Dina rifles through records of old, Ellie heads upstairs and finds the holy grail - an intact guitar. Dina comes to join her when she hears Ellie tuning the instrument, and what follows is perhaps Ramsey's best - yet most understated - moment in the series so far.

In a scene taken straight out of the game, she performs a captivating rendition of Take on Me. Far from the synth-pop sound of A-ha's original, Ellie's acoustic cover is a haunting and emotional rendering, packed with meaning about love and loss.

Of course, the guitar is a connection to Joel (Pedro Pascal), who taught Ellie how to play the instrument during their years in Jackson.

In the Last of Us Part II, Joel plays Pearl Jam's Future Days to Ellie in an emotional moment that clearly shows his love for her without him having to say it. As we all saw in episode 2, Joel, the person Ellie came to trust most, was brutally killed in front of her, with the guitar being one of her last connections to him.

Ellie playing for Dina also clearly echoes that moment, which only becomes all the more meaningful when the pair admit their feelings for each other later in the episode.

Now, with Joel gone, Dina is the person that Ellie trusts most - and she's going to have to go through hell and back to make sure she doesn't lose her too.

Take on Me in itself hearkens back to Ellie's best friend, Riley (played in the show by Storm Reid last season), whose death all but stole the last of Ellie's innocence. As A-ha's upbeat hit played in the background, Riley showed Ellie around an abandoned mall, with Ellie left in wonder at things like escalators and arcade machines.

But that night would end in horror, with both girls bitten and Ellie having to shoot her best friend as she succumbed to the infection, while Ellie discovered in the worst way possible that she's immune. Ellie is still clearly scarred from Riley's death, as she hinted to Dina earlier in the season, when she told her that the story of the first person she killed is "too f**ked up" to talk about.

For viewers, the Take on Me moment represents everything that Ellie's lost, most clearly making those connections to Joel and Riley, but also showing that she still has a chance for love.

So far, Ramsey has showed us so many different sides to Ellie - from depicting her being distrustful of Joel in season 1 and then slowly letting down her guard down, to the unfiltered rage and undiluted fury we've seen in the last few episodes following his death.

But, with the Take on Me scene, Ramsey shows us something completely different - a vulnerability we don't often see from the character, combined with a sense of hope for the future, even when you consider everything she's lost.

Ashley Johnson, who voiced Ellie in the games (and who played Ellie's mum in season 1 of the show), was also rightfully praised for her rendition of the song in the game which is, criminally, only an optional moment for players (although many understandably make sure they don't miss it due to it being such a powerful scene).

While the pair's renditions are different, they evoke the same feelings of love and loss, brilliantly showing Ellie's vulnerability and, miraculously, allowing us to take a breath and focus on the human story at play in the story.

Because that's what's so brilliant about The Last of Us - putting aside the jaw-dropping visuals and the heart-racing action, it's so well-loved because of its humanity. And now, as Ellie continues on after that moment, we're set to see how much of that humanity she can desperately grasp onto.

The Last of Us season 2 is streaming on Sky Atlantic and NOW with an Entertainment Membership.

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