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Spoilers for The Last of Us season 2.

Greetings Popversians, and welcome to Lore Corner! Each week, video producer Ashley V. Robinson and staff writer Grant DeArmitt are going to take you deep into the pre-existing lore behind some of pop culture's most exciting adaptations, such as the gut-wrenching post-apocalyptic thriller The Last of Us. Enjoy! 

If there's a core emotion to HBO's The Last of Us, it's fear. But if there's a secondary emotion, it's heartbreak. Just two episodes in, we were shocked with the brutal death of the story's father figure, Joel (played by the internet's father figure, Pedro Pascal), followed by a stirring rendition of the song Through the Valley, sung by Critical Role's Ashley Johnson. Already a powerful number, that song was especially resonant because of its history with the game, and now, HBO is tugging on heartstrings again with another tune straight from the The Last of Us Part II game.

That would be Take on Me, originally sung by Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha in 1982, but slowed down for an acoustic version sung in this episode by series lead Ellie, AKA Bella Ramsey. In this edition of Lore Corner, we're going over what the song means to the game, as well as how that's adapted to the series, and the song's importance to a different beloved franchise.

What does Take On Me mean to The Last of Us Part II?

Long before Ellie sings the song to her love interest, Dina, there's another kind of love represented by not just this number, but anything played on guitar. That's because the guitar was a major way that Ellie and Joel have bonded, ever since Joel taught Ellie the instrument in the earliest days of their companionship. Flash forward to the weeks after Joel's death, and the song takes on a different meaning.

The reason that Ellie gets her hands on a guitar in the first place is that her and Dina have managed to shelter themselves in an abandoned Seattle music shop, on their way to exact revenge on Abby for killing Joel. So while the rest of this journey is a brutal reminder of Joel's death, this momentary sidebar is a reminder of his life, and moreover, the love he showed Ellie. It's a bridge for Ellie between the family she lost and the new one she is gaining, and it's a double-edged reminder of her commitment to them both. 

By adapting this moment from the game into the series almost beat by beat, HBO is not just establishing canon important to fans of the preexisting material, but giving new fans an idea of what's to come in the relationship between Dina and Ellie, as well as providing a moment of blessed relief from the death and violence that makes up so much of the show.

Does Bella Ramsey sing Take On Me in The Last of Us, season 2, episode 4?

Oh yeah, that's Bella Ramsey singing, no autotune or dubbing necessary. In case you need confirmation, take it from series costar Isabela Merced, who recently told Variety that, "[Bella] is a really talented musician, and also has their own songs that they’ve written throughout the years. And I had the pleasure of getting to hear that behind the scenes. We would sometimes bring a guitar, and play for each other."

Yeah, so it turns out that Ramsey not only acts and does their own stunts, but sings for their own scenes. However, unless you're Isabela Merced, this is very likely the first time you, as a viewer have heard Ramsey do that. And still, if you're a fan of genre entertainment, it may not be the first time you've heard this acoustic version of the song.

Where have I heard this version of Take On Me before?

Keep in mind, the original Take On Me as sung by A-ha is an upbeat, flourishy piece with a lot of big, synthesized moments to make the song pop. By slowing it down and playing it just on guitar, The Last of Us Part II proved that the song is capable of a quieter, more teary-eyed resonance, but they were hardly the first to do that. In 2018, two years before the game came out, that was proven by none other than Wade Wilson himself.

Yes, that nagging voice telling you you've heard this before as you watched The Last of Us, season 2, episode 4 was trying to remind you of 2018's Deadpool 2. In the emotional climax of the film, when a dying Wade was just about to be reunited with the already departed Vanessa, it's this version of the tune that was playing. Of course there was a hint of snark to the scene (it wouldn't be Deadpool without that, no?), but for a movie as violent and crude as the X-Men spinoff, it was a remarkably sincere (and therefore moving) moment.

The second chapter of HBO's The Last of Us is about as different as you can imagine from Deadpool's, but if you're looking for it, you can't help but find similarity in how the creatives behind both projects used this number. That is, they took a moment away from their respective core emotions of excitement and fear to spend some time with a number that is both out of place and oddly fitting.

All in the service of breaking our hearts.

The Last of Us, season 2, airs new episodes every Sunday night on HBO and Max.

You don't need to beat the game to prepare for the next one—here are all the major new and upcoming games coming our way.