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Original poster

The last of us

420 replies

Botw1 · 30/01/2023 22:04

Is it weird to say no game spoilers? I've not played the game so don't know the game story line

Who else is watching?

The 1st 2 episodes were really good

But wow. Ep 3 is amazing.

I actually cried over characters I'd known for less than 1 hour

OP posts:
Offleyhoo · 13/03/2023 23:28

IClaudine · 13/03/2023 22:20

On the way to the hospital, Ellie was unusually quiet, as noticed by Joel. Do you think she suspected that they might need to kill her to find the cure?

I thought this afterwards too.

gamerchick · 14/03/2023 07:19

I have a hunch about how the game ends. If I am right it is very sad

Would.be really interested to hear it. It's just a hunch, not a spoiler or anything.

LadyLyndon · 14/03/2023 07:23

I was thinking how they might continue the series as it’s been so successful and I would like the producers and show runners to expand on the timeframe between Game 1 and Game 2. That way you can get another series out of it if Game 2 is the third series.

gamerchick · 14/03/2023 08:23

There's no way they can cram the second game into one season anyway. It's massive.

MotherOfHouseplants · 14/03/2023 08:38

Botw1 · 13/03/2023 19:07

@MotherOfHouseplants

I take your point but I think mine still stands

I don't think they spent enough time on either the plan or what Ellie might have wanted

I agree that the total lack of information about whether the vaccine plan was viable was tricky. I suppose it was part of a choice to make the final episode so lean - it was really short. Perhaps it would also risk losing audience sympathy for Joel if we knew that he was sabotaging a genuinely viable cure.

I do think they addressed what Ellie wanted, however, in the conversation on the building after the encounter with the giraffe. She said that after everything she had done, it couldn't be for nothing and they had to finish what they had started. I agree with you that she hadn't realised that she would have to die and she clearly believes that there is a life for her after the medical tests, but she sees her immunity as a chance of redemption for the things she has done. Joel gives her the choice to go back to Jackson but this is unthinkable to her.

Original poster
Botw1 · 14/03/2023 08:48

@MotherOfHouseplants

I don't think that scene indicated she would have agreed to sacrifice herself given the option

She may have.

Maybe that's another flaw of the show

The infected were barely seen. Humans posed a much greater risk (as is true of all post apocalyptic shows) so I'm not buying a cure being that big a deal

Marlene said it herself.

How long till she's ripped apart by clickers or killed by raiders

A cure won't help other of those

and

We had already seen someone choose the life of 1 child over the lives of many with the Sam story line. So it had already been set up that that's what families do.

OP posts:
DuncinToffee · 14/03/2023 08:57

This really was a fantastic show, can't believe it's finished.

SummaLuvin · 14/03/2023 09:00

I don't think that scene indicated she would have agreed to sacrifice herself given the option

I sort of think it did, and throughout the show developed her character so we can understand and second guess that at the bear minimum she would have strongly considered it. We see that - despite the world around her - she has a youthful optimism. We saw her try and save Sam with her blood, and really thought it would work. And we see her need to make the sacrifices she, and others have made to get her there, worthwhile.

But I also think that what the audience think she would have decided to do is not really the point. Though Marlene and Joel are on opposite sides of the coin, both restrict the information they give her because they are too scared of what she will decide to allow her the choice herself.

Telephome · 14/03/2023 09:00

I'm a bit unclear about Anna running into the house at the beginning, did she know the house? And then for Marlene to turn up after the birth, were they chasing her?

Any yes to the Bond villainy explaining- 'where's Ellie?'

'Prepping for surgery where her brain is to be removed and examined' 😬

Surely you'd just say 'resting', or 'having a bath' 😂

Original poster
Botw1 · 14/03/2023 09:02

@Telephome

When Anna went into the house she shouted something like are you here? So they must have known the house

Or surely you'd just kill Joel?

She even said, you're the 1 person I wouldn't want to be in debt to.

OP posts:
WeCome1 · 14/03/2023 09:05

Offleyhoo · 13/03/2023 23:28

I thought this afterwards too.

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I thought she was in shock after what happened with the cult leader.

SummaLuvin · 14/03/2023 09:05

Telephome · 14/03/2023 09:00

I'm a bit unclear about Anna running into the house at the beginning, did she know the house? And then for Marlene to turn up after the birth, were they chasing her?

Any yes to the Bond villainy explaining- 'where's Ellie?'

'Prepping for surgery where her brain is to be removed and examined' 😬

Surely you'd just say 'resting', or 'having a bath' 😂

I'm not sure. As the audience we have seen the emotional journey Joel has been on, we know he now sees Ellie as family so can say that the honesty from Marlene is daft. But Marlene doesn't know this, she has know Joel for almost 20 years as an empty shell of a man who is quite mercenary and transactional - I think it's fair to assume she would not have expected his reaction to be as strong, even if she thought he might find it distasteful, would she think he would go on a massacre to save that one girl?

memoriesofamiga · 14/03/2023 09:29

I really enjoyed the last episode but the ridiculous birth scene took me completely out. So much work goes into creating a believable world and characters, and yet they can't do a birth scene right. Babies just fall out it seems. So frustrating.

I can completely understand Joel saving Ellie. Like most apocalyptic worlds, the biggest danger is other people. Even if they could get a cure from Ellie, it wouldn't solve that. If anything a cure would just become a new bargaining tool.

IClaudine · 14/03/2023 09:32

WeCome1 · 14/03/2023 09:05

I thought she was in shock after what happened with the cult leader.

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How long ago was that? Joel was fully healed so must have been a while? Not saying she would not have still been traumatised, but the initial shock would have worn off?

Original poster
Botw1 · 14/03/2023 09:32

@SummaLuvin

Good point.

OP posts:
IClaudine · 14/03/2023 09:36

It was not perfect, agree about the birth scene. It would have been more realistic to have Anna in the midst of giving birth and then getting bitten, instead of the running to the house part.

But I can forgive the flaws, because overall it was a great series. Bella and Pedro were just brilliant.

WeCome1 · 14/03/2023 09:37

IClaudine · 14/03/2023 09:32

How long ago was that? Joel was fully healed so must have been a while? Not saying she would not have still been traumatised, but the initial shock would have worn off?

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Oh yeah. Good point. In my head it was about six days ago 😉

Original poster
Botw1 · 14/03/2023 09:38

It was clearly some time as the seasons had changed

OP posts:
FrostyFifi · 14/03/2023 09:52

They both seemed to be affected by the imminent change in circumstance after it being just the two of them. She was quiet and distracted, and he started opening up to her about his daughter and how he felt about her.

FrostyFifi · 14/03/2023 10:14

Thinking about it more, I enjoyed the overall moral ambiguity. The obvious initial assumption is that FEDRA are the bad guys and the Fireflies are the good guys fighting for justice. But the FEDRA military guy at Ellie's school wasn't a monster, he was an ordinary man with a family who was quite kind to her and she clearly wasn't at all frightened of him. Marlene on the other hand was willing to kill a child to achieve an ideal. Not say the other guy wouldn't have, I suspect he was a pragmatist at heart and she was an idealist/fanatic. Neither were completely good or bad.

Hoppinggreen · 14/03/2023 10:51

SummaLuvin · 14/03/2023 09:05

I'm not sure. As the audience we have seen the emotional journey Joel has been on, we know he now sees Ellie as family so can say that the honesty from Marlene is daft. But Marlene doesn't know this, she has know Joel for almost 20 years as an empty shell of a man who is quite mercenary and transactional - I think it's fair to assume she would not have expected his reaction to be as strong, even if she thought he might find it distasteful, would she think he would go on a massacre to save that one girl?

Show quote history

Yes, good point.
She still seemed to think Joel was in it for the money/trade

Itsrudemeghan · 14/03/2023 10:53

I took Ellie’s subdued behaviour as a result of the deep trauma she experienced with David and a sign of the death of her remaining childhood innocence.

I’ve absolutely loved it. Not enjoyed a series this much in such a long time, I think it’s a masterpiece.

IClaudine · 14/03/2023 11:14

I just read this on the Guardian column BTL comments. I guess they were too pushed for time to include this, but I think they should have.

There's time for a little more nuance in the game, embedded in the notes Joel finds while tearing through the hospital looking for ammo and Ellie. In particular there's a list of unsuccessful attempts to produce a cure with other immune children. As I recall Ellie would be the thirteenth the Fireflies had sacrificed, presumably in vain.

Flavabobble · 14/03/2023 11:15

In both the game and TV series I've never understood why marlene sends Ellie with Joel when she's going there herself anyway.

gamerchick · 14/03/2023 11:17

Because she was seriously injured and the fireflies were waiting for them at a central building to take her from there.