Another break is taken by “The Last of Us” to explore a different love tale.

Once more, we break up your regularly scheduled zombie drama with a heartfelt love tale told over the course of a lengthy flashback to a different moment in the character’s life.

The sixth episode of “The Last of Us” ended with Joel (Pedro Pascal) still seriously injured, thus in the seventh, named “Left Behind,” Ellie (Bella Ramsey) had to tend to him. This illustrates how the game is continuing to stray from its pattern.

The bulk of the episode, however, flashed back to Ellie as the gruff military trainee who is led to an abandoned mall by her AWOL friend Riley (Storm Reid of Euphoria), which turned out to be less deserted than first thought.

The journey marks Riley’s formal farewell because she has chosen to join the Fireflies resistance movement. However, as the hour goes on, it pretty obviously turns into what amounts to a first date, with Riley introducing the wide-eyed Ellie to a variety of wonders – escalators, arcade games, photo booths, a merry-go-round – before a spontaneous kiss that changes and more romantically develops their relationship. The program also revealed where Ellie got the jokes for her book of illogical jokes along the way.

Since nothing nice can stay forever in “The Last of Us,” a zombie interrupted their momentary embrace and injured both of them. Ellie will learn through the meeting that she is immune to the zombie apocalypse, however Riley’s tragic outcome allowed Joel to return to his predicament and Ellie found a needle and thread to patch his wound.

Eagle-eyed viewers of popular show spot fault at 1:45 – Source: CNN
The study of love and loss in this harsh world, with its Linda Ronstadt-scored diversion involving Frank and Bill, and the fifth episode, to the extent that in a zombie apocalypse, even the good die young, evoked both “Left Behind” and the ongoing Joel-Ellie dynamic.

Everyone experiences this outcome sooner or later, right? In an effort to accept her terrible fate, Riley says. (As a side note, both performers are actually 19 despite though they are portraying younger; this probably contributed to the impact of their on-screen interactions.)

In order to cope with Joel’s illness and return to its stated goal of figuring out what makes Ellie unique, “The Last of Us” has two episodes left to air, but in the meantime, viewers are fixated on – and oftentimes nitpicking – every last detail due to the show’s rising popularity.

The show briefly provided a break from that, though, as it highlighted how “The Last of Us” keeps confounding expectations and why so many fans can’t get off this rollercoaster while illustrating the dizzying affects of youthful love.