I Feel Like Ellie Did Miss Joel Once She Started Cutting Him Off. Like, She's Telling Dina That That

I feel like Ellie did miss Joel once she started cutting him off. like, she's telling Dina that that lodge is the one on his and Tommy’s route, and the immediate fear when Jesse says no one relieved them? she still cares about him. she just. doesn't show it that much. although, it could also be because of the conversation before the happenings of the game. it's just AAAAAAAAA the fucking details, man

I do hope to see more of it in the show, though, because we didn't see a whole lot of it

also be prepared for more ouchie revelations, just as a precaution :) every time I rewatch it, there are more things that exist just to pain me

wait! is it giraffe time? I shall try to find giraffes! we shall see how well I do, though, cause I do plan to take a little nap. I watched a no commentary playthrough for it the very time I watched it, and somehow fell asleep during a fight scene? so I didn't miss anything important, but man was I confused. I am just a sleepy little guy

part 2 game play time :D

Do you have any fanfic recommendations?

hi, anon! I do! I read a little fic every night as ✨️enrichment time✨️ so there's gonna be a lot. all of these are on ao3 :)

"I think I saved myself by saving you" by @not-so-mundane-after-all was actually my first tlou fic that I read! it's a sickfic where Ellie gets sick before leaving Jackson

"violent heart" by @timelesslords is another good one! it's ep8 aftercare, but with aspects from the game and the show. she also has one from Joel's perspective called "never let you down again"

"never let me down again" by tayyys (I'm not sure what their tumblr is) is a good one! it's a rewrite of ep6 and on, where Ellie leaves after having overheard Tommy and Joel's conversation

"miller lite" by captainredspade (CodeNameArtemis) is also good! this one has a lot of Tommy and Ellie bonding, but it's angst cause Ellie got hurt on a day trip with him

"irreplacable" by captainredspade (CodeNameArtemis) is one where Ellie takes a bite for Tommy and there's more bonding between them

"heaven doesn't want me now" by @lkay-09 is one where Ellie (sort of) gets a choice at the hospital. some of the lines in there are just *chefs kiss*

"come tomorrow this will all be in our past" also by @lkay-09 is one where Tommy goes with Ellie, instead of Joel, in ep6

"triplicate" by @penandinkprincess is a very angsty one where Joel finds Ellie's file at the hospital in Salt Lake!

"a half-step to the left" also by @penandinkprincess is the Tess lives au we all asked for hehe :)

"glimpses unseen" by flannelfeelings (@boopernatural here :)) is one where we see Tommy's trauma of losing Sarah when Ellie gets hurt outside the walls

I shall stop listing them now as there are A Lot, but I recomend lkay, pen, and flannelfeelings' fics a lot :) there's a lot of fics between them all and they're all so good :)

The show expanding on Bill, Frank, Tess, and Joel’s story was so heartbreaking. Within 24 hours Joel looses his partner and then finds out his only 2 friends are dead

LITERALLY!

I remember watching it with my mom and when Joel went out to the front yard with the letter, she just sniffled a little and said that now he has no one. and I think I did put that together, but hearing the agony in my mom's voice? shit broke me more than the realization did, I think. but also that was so close together, too??? like, Tess died, they walked for maybe a day or two (I think??) and then he finds out that Bill and Frank are also dead, and have been for a while? he didn't have the time to properly grieve Tess and now he has to grieve his only two friends? I don't know how he kept going after that

I feel like Ellie not showing she misses Joel that much could just be a result of his ‘parenting’ in part 1. He pretty much taught her to keep her emotions in and not talk about things

Show Joel did take a different approach and opened up to her more, so hopefully we’ll get some more emotional scenes

ooo true true did not think of that, thank you, anon!

also, taking into account her growing up in fedra, she's probably used to hiding her emotions and just bottling them up. so with Joel telling her to not talk about her feelings and other heavy things (ie. the conversation in game 1 where Joel snapped at Ellie for bringing up Sam and Henry), she already knew how to deal with it. the freaking details, man

I would also love to see more emotions in the show! especially with how different they are than in the game. I feel Joel is a lot more open with his emotions (even if he does bottle them up, too) in the show, so hopefully he can tell her what really happened

also to the anon who asked if Maria knew about the estrangement, I don't think she did! before Ellie and Jesse go to Dina for patrol stuff, Maria stops her and says "I don't know what's going on with you and Joel" and that "the guy really cares about you," so I'd say she doesn't know what's happening. which, honestly, props to Joel and Ellie cause they're fighting their own inner battles and are still able to put on this intricate of a façade. is it intricate? no idea, but it's so bonkers that people didn't up on it