There are several Easter eggs and references that diehard fans of The Last of Us will spot during the heartbreaking episode, Left Behind.
These Easter eggs include horrifying Halloween masks, fake movie posters, photo booth memories, arcade game combat and so many more.
Here is every Easter egg spotted in The Last of Us episode 7:
Every Easter Egg in Episode 7
Dawn of the Wolf Poster
As Ellie and Riley explore the mall, they walk past a poster for an upcoming movie titled Dawn of the Wolf Part 2.
This poster appears in The Last of Us video game on a billboard that Joel and Ellie pass while exploring. You could watch the two of them discuss how it looks like a “dumb teen movie” in the game.
Mortal Kombat Arcade Game
While there have been plenty of significant changes in The Last of Us TV show, one minor change made in episode 7 was the arcade game scene.
In the Left Behind video game, the arcade machines aren’t working, so Riley makes up the game for Ellie, who imagines it in her mind.
In the TV show, the two of them play Mortal Kombat together, which both references the arcade machine segment from the Left Behind DLC, and also an incredibly popular arcade game in 2003.
“Lose Our Minds Together”
After Riley and Ellie get attacked toward the end of episode 7, they sit down and evaluate their survival options.
In a last ditch attempt at believing they can make it out alive, Riley says the line, “We can just be all poetic and shit and lose our minds together.”
In the Left Behind DLC, Riley also says this line, albeit slightly differently. She says, “My vote? Let’s just wait it out. You know we can… be all poetic and just lose our minds together.”
Dinosaurs
If there’s one thing Ellie absolutely loves in The Last of Us, it’s dinosaurs. In episode 7, we see multiple examples of this, from drawings of dinosaurs on her bedroom wall to Riley teasing her gift to Ellie is a dinosaur.
Of course, in the video games, Ellie talks about dinosaurs frequently. In fact, in The Last of Us Part 2, Joel and Ellie even go to a dinosaur museum as her birthday present.
Previous episodes have also teased her love of space travel, which is perhaps her biggest motivator for being the cure to the Cordyceps infection.
Water Gun
While Ellie and Riley don’t get to have a water fight in episode 7, like in the Left Behind DLC, they still manage to reference it.
When Riley tells Ellie she got her a gift, Ellie guesses what it could be. One of her guesses is a water pistol, which is about as close a nod to the water gun fight as you can get.
Read More: Who Plays Riley in The Last of Us TV Show?
Photo Booth
The photo booth scene in which Ellie and Riley take photographs of themselves pulling off silly poses is lifted directly from the game.
This scene plays out in a very similar way, with every detail from the bunny rabbit on the photo booth to the poses they pull being the exact same.
The Macho Nacho
The Macho Nacho Mexcian restaurant that Ellie and Riley visit toward the end of episode 7 is actually a location that appears in the Left Behind DLC.
You can spot their tasty tacos while wandering the halls of the mall in the Left Behind game. Unfortunately, you can’t visit it as a proper restaurant.
Shaking Your Flashlight
Ellie is repeatedly seen shaking her flashlight throughout episode 7 as it seems to run out of battery. Now many may have presumed this to exist purely to build up a future jumpscare, but instead, it’s actually a fun reference to the games.
In The Last of Us video games, players had to shake their PlayStation controllers in order to charge up and successfully use their flashlights.
So, Ellie shaking her flashlight in episode 7 had more to do with paying homage to the video games than it did to setting up a scary scene.
Read More: What Are the Fireflies in The Last of Us TV Show?
Halloween Masks
Finally, the Halloween masks that Ellie and Riley wear while dancing on top of the counter actually make an appearance in the games.
During a similar sequence in the Left Behind DLC, Riley Ellie can try on several different Halloween masks, including the wolf one. Meanwhile, Riley wears a clown mask identical to the one in the show.
Check out all of the other Easter Eggs that have appeared in previous episodes:
