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I always dislike it when people say that show Ellie is too ‘annoying’ or ‘bratty’ or ‘hostile’.

There’s three main reasons for this:

1, she’s a scared kid. She’s never been shown love and had to act tough as a defense. She just had to kill her bestie/gf and was chained to an AC unit for two weeks, just to be pawned off to two people she’d never met who just threatened to kill her. It makes perfect sense she’d be on edge at first, and we see her open up more and become more comfortable with Joel (and Tess to a lesser extent) as the series goes on.

2, I think the thing that makes me love TLOU HBO so much is just how real all of the characters are (TLOU video game too, but it’s a very different medium where there is less realism most of the time). Everything that characters do, every emotional response they have, makes perfect sense because of their personalities and histories. It’s really incredible writing, if you look at it all. It feels real, and is still so wholesome and tragic at the same time. I think it’s really special, and I think Ellie’s response is also incredibly real and well written. I don’t think it makes Ellie less endearing or adorable at all.

3, don’t be mean to Ellie I love her and she’s my lil’ fictional friend🥲

I was watching TLOU HBO video essays again (it’s normal behavior, ok?! NORMAL!!!) and I saw someone say that Bella Ramsey’s performance was “flat” at times, but I completely disagree. I thought that their performance was never less than truly incredible. They portrayed such deep emotion without being melodramatic, they developed Ellie through the story in a truly masterful way, they perfectly showed us such real, human reactions and responses to all the situations Ellie was put in, and the way they played off their co-stars was really fantastic.

Not every scene they were in was hugely emotional, and the ones that were hit HARD. There were plenty of normal conversations, but those were acted to perfection too. Those normal scenes made TLOU so amazing.

IDK why I’m posting this, I guess just another Bella Ramsey appreciation post on my blog lol. Anyway, I truly, deeply loved their performance SO much, it was so amazing. The cast of TLOU is truly in another planet.

Quick side note: pls don’t DM me about why I’m wrong. It’s not really gonna do anything, and it just sours both our moods. You don’t have to agree with me, I get that it’s subjective, just don’t private message me listing all the reasons you disagree, yeah? Cheers👍 (I’m not British I just like the word ‘Cheers’)

I think TLOU does something really interesting, where it uses exposition to show personality.

Like, when Ellie asks Joel about the world and he answers, it isn’t just ‘let me talk about the awesome world building we did’, but it’s also showing Ellie’s curiosity and efforts to bond with Joel, and Joel’s sort of grumpy knowledge about how everything just is.

I just think it’s very well done 👍

Quick appreciation post for Bella Ramsey’s performance as Ellie!

I’ve talked a lot about how much I love their performance, but I’m gonna do it again because there isn’t enough Bella Ramsey appreciation in the world (“But they were nominated for an Emmy!” Shut up, there should be more.)

Bella Ramsey put so much heart into their performance, fantastically showing us Ellie’s humor and big heart and hope, but also showing us her fear, her sadness, her rage. This sharp bite that she needed to develop to survive in the world of TLOU. They played the characters’ highs and lows with this incredible amount of depth, of humanity. They showed us Ellie’s hopes and her trauma. Their performance exhibited this raw edge that left the moments of pain splintered in your mind and the moments of joy that warming your heart. It was truly incredible👏👏👏

Can I just—

LOOK AT THIS GUY!! LOOK AT HIM!!

I LOVE THIS ZOMBIE SO MUCH!!! He’s like… gorgeous, in this scary way. The cordyceps growing out of him, the way he moves, it’s just amazing.

Not to mention the prosthetics, makeup and effects that went into this. Seriously I cannot express my love for this big guy.

Me:

Something TLOU HBO does SO well is show that Ellie’s just a kid. Even when she’s fighting for her life or in situations no kid should ever be in, she’s still just a kid. A kid who’s trying to act like an adult, sure, but just a kid.

She pretends she’s tough because that’s how she’s survived, but you get these wonderful, occasionally heartbreaking moments of seeing just how young she is.

You see it when she’s laughing with Riley or fascinated by a car. You see it when she’s making stupid decisions that she doesn’t know any better than to make. You see it when she tries to help Sam and has no idea what to do, and when she’s lost and scared while Joel’s incapacitated. You see it when she breaks down in her father-figures arms after learning a new horrible thing about humanity, and in her curiosity and naivety and recklessness.

She’s a kid so out of her depth, with nothing but the weight of the world on her shoulders and the lessons she’s learned from living in a world where everyone’s doing awful things to survive. She tries so hard to pretend to be in control, but you see these glimmers of the kid that she is, and her good intentions and hope that the world tries and tries to take away from her.

Something that ticks me off is people comparing TLOU the game with TLOU HBO and saying it didn’t have as much emotional impact as the game, or that it didn’t “recapture the magic”.

Like… yeah of course it didn’t have as much impact for YOU. You played the game first, and saw it for the first time in the game. With TLOU HBO you saw it again, of course it’s gonna have less of an emotional impact on you when you don’t already know the scene.

Some people went into TLOU HBO expecting to feel exactly what they felt when they played the game, but that’s impossible. The show will never be able to “recapture the magic” for you, because you know the scene and what they’ll say. You already know the emotional beats and the plot.

That’s why ep 3 hit people who played the games and people who didn’t so hard, not just because it was an amazing story, but because you didn’t know what would happen. You didn’t already know the scenes or what they’d say, because of course it “doesn’t have the magic” when you already know exactly what comes next unlike when you played the games.

I watched TLOU HBO first, and all of the emotional beats struck their mark perfectly and hit me like a damn semi-truck.

“You’e not my daughter, and I sure as hell ain’t your dad”, “I swear”, “I got you baby girl”, they all wrecked me like they wrecked you when you played the game.

Of course the scene is gonna hit harder when you’re experiencing it for the first time, rather than the scenes being “worse” in the show.

I never saw any pacing issues with TLOU HBO, like the thought literally never crossed my mind. I talked to other people who’ve watched it without/before playing the video game, no one said anything about pacing issues. In fact basically the only people who complain about pacing issues are the people who played the games.

At first I took this as the rose tinted glasses toward the games like I have for the show, where the thing you experience first you’re probably going to like more, and people were just annoyed that it was different. Then I saw this post that made so much sense to me that it just changed my whole perspective on it.

I’m not sure how to find it now, but it basically said that it made sense people who played the games would feel like the pacing is off or that they were rushing through it, because when they played the game there were these long breaks in between the important scenes for gameplay. In the show there weren’t long breaks for fights or item collecting, so of course it feels rushed for the people who played the games.

For some reason I hadn’t thought of that, and it totally floored me.

I think a lot of people forget that Ellie and Dina in part 2 are only nineteen. Nineteen! They’re still teenagers whose brains aren’t fully formed, yet they’re dealing with a crazy situation and going through hell, on top of that losing loved ones and an unexpected pregnancy while they’re still freshmen in college!

It adds this whole other layer to the story, of these kids who grew up in the apocalypse falling deeper into the ways of the world they live in, and about breaking the cycle of violence and vengeance in the game’s conclusion.

Season 1 of TLOU HBO did amazing at showing the fact that’s Ellie’s still just a kid, way too young to be in this situation, and I bet (and hope) that’s something they continue to focus on in Season 2.

Something the Last of Us s1 did that I hope s2 and onward continue with is that every death matters. Every death affects the characters, the viewers, and the story, even if just a bit. And not just the main one’s, like Tess or Riley, but the small characters too. The one’s who are only in it for one scene.

I think it’s interesting how for me at least, when I hear a video game is getting adapted, I automatically think of the set-pieces and combat and how it’ll get adapted, but with TLOU HBO, the new medium actually allowed for them to scale down the violence, rather than up. (Except for the infected sequence in episode five, but that’s a whole other post about why that one worked so well).

After every death you see the characters faces. You see how it affected them more than you’d be able to with a video game (no hate to video games, they need more enemies to remain something you can play and it wouldn’t be realistic for a cutscene to happen every time you killed something).

I think it’s a testament to how well done TLOU HBO was, and how both versions played to their respective strengths as a medium. The game needed enemies and things to do so it didn’t become a long cutscene, but the show was able to scale down the violence and really make every death matter with dialogue and shots and closeups that just wouldn’t be realistic for a game, but works so well for a show.

Something ‘When We Are in Need…’ does SO well is that throughout the whole episode you have the same reactions, and feel the same things as Ellie.

It starts and she’s hungry and Joel’s really sick and it makes you, the viewer, scared for Joel and scared for Ellie, too.

Then she goes hunting and finds the deer and then she meets David, and it’s suspicious and you don’t trust him, then they start to talk and it’s a good time and you almost start to have fun and then…

“James put the gun down.”

Right along with Ellie you think: Oh fuck. Shit just got real.

I watched a video essay on how they were able to accomplish this setup and turn, and it’s really just an incredible feat of writing, directing, and acting.

Then you and her are desperate to heal up Joel, and feel that sad sort of warmth as she cuddles up to him.

Then the Silver Lakers come back and Joel’s helpless and still you feel the same thing as Ellie through the whole sequence, you feel the same worry for Joel and the same intensity. Then she gets taken down and right along with her you think ‘uh-oh’.

The next scene with Ellie is when she wakes up in the cage, and once again it all applies. You, along with Ellie, are super wary of David and are desperate to escape. To get out of there.

Then you see the ear at the same time as Ellie. Even if you already suspected the cannibalism from the earlier scene with the stew, you still have that same disgusted reaction of ‘oh god are they gonna eat her?!’.

Then he takes her hand, and you have that same awful, shuddering realization. Even if you were like me and immediately were like “this guy is definitely bad”, you still get that confirmation, and the you still absolutely have that ‘oh fuck’ moment.

Then she breaks his finger, and just like her you have that moment of victory, before once again it all comes crashing down.

Then through the ‘I’m infected’ and restaurant fire fight your heart is pounding and you’re barely breathing. It’s intense and scary and then he’s on top of Ellie and I don’t think any piece of media has ever gotten me more scared.

Then she starts hacking at his face with the cleaver, and that scene is… indescribable, honestly.

Ellie stumbles out of the burning building and you just feel shocked.

Joel comes up behind her and her pulse jumps momentarily, and then you see it’s Joel and just like Ellie you’re so so glad he’s here. And his ‘I gotchu baby girl’ is in my opinion the most comforting, sad, cathartic moment on television.

The way that we’ve been in Ellie’s shoes the whole episode, with her rather than watching from the outside, makes that final moment so much more impactful. We’ve been through hell with Ellie, and now we get that comfort too. It’s absolutely brilliant filmmaking, and was such a good way to play it for maximum emotional ‘oomf’.

It’s also why I sorta disagree with many of pacing complaints about that episode, because if it was too extended or had unnecessary action scenes it would’ve lost those “shared feelings”.

Also, I know not everyone felt this way watching the episode, especially people who played the games because they already knew what was going to happen, meaning that they couldn’t have those heel turns and realizations that put you so well in Ellie’s head. (I have a different post about this general effect).

But I think it was very intentional, and for people who it worked for it was some of the most impactful, incredible tv, period.

Here’s why the infected scene in episode 5 of TLOU works so well…

Buildup: As of episode five in the series, we’ve seen infected multiple times already, and every appearance has built up this “threat-level” of them. In the first two episodes we see both the larger scale of the infected and how scary they can be in hordes (like the driving scene and the capitol building, as well as the absolutely brilliant overlook scene), but also how threatening they can be solo (Joel and Sarah in the diner and the museum scene)… also in episode three we get Bill’s little “ehehe” from an infected death which is just as if not far more important as well.

By the time we see the infected come running out of the crater, the writers have already intentionally and precisely given us the knowledge of just how scary the infected can be.

That’s also why I’m glad they only did this type of massive battle once in the series, because once they did it, it becomes impossible to recapture that buildup and almost “unleashing” of the infected, of seeing just how scary they are.

The buildup also includes the more typical rising tension of the episode (which was, like everything else in the show, done absolutely fantastically), and the foreshadowing of the infected by both Kathleen and Henry.

Scale: The infected scene in episode 5 is by far the biggest in scale action sequence of the show. The huge amounts of infected pouring out of the rubble and the massive Bloater, as well as how many people are involved, the fighting in the background, it makes the whole battle feel huge. It leaves you in this sense of almost “awe” that so many great action sequences have.

Horror: In the sequence there are horror elements added in to make it feel scarier (complementing both of the points above). Obviously zombies are already horror-esque, but that’s not what I mean.

I feel like the best example of horror elements being incorporated into the fight is the part where Ellie is in the car. Enclosed spaces are a horror staple. Ellie being trapped in the enclosed space with an infected, and later Henry and Sam trapped under the car, transition this battle beautifully into tension-filled smaller scale sections in this massive battle, with parts so pinprick focused on the people we care most about, and how bloodthirsty and terrifying these monsters are.

We also see it in Kathleen’s shocking and gruesome death, and the power of the bloater, almost reminiscent of the predator or other near-unstoppable horror forces.

Cinematography: The lighting in the battle is so good, with the fire and darkness adding to this scary effect of the battle, as well as this extra layer of dynamism and contrast.

Also, I’m always a sucker for background fight, following characters as they navigate through violence. The way this sequence does it is also incredibly well done, with the background ever-shifting and changing, with the focus of the shot being on someone actively trying to avoid the fight and get past this living mass of gore.

The handheld style of TLOU is something I can write essays about (and I will! Post about cinematography coming soon lol) but in this sequence it makes you feel like you’re on the ground with the characters as the battle rages around you.

Monster Design: This one is self-explanatory, I’d say. The clickers, and the Bloater, my goodness the Bloater, look so incredibly good. And the way that they created this almost alien thing overtaking regular peoples bodies and turning them into monsters is incredibly amazing, and the practical effects make it look so real and detailed (they had the makeup guy who did the Night King and Vecna)

Emotional Resonance: This one’s pretty simple. The battle makes you feel things. Not just fear for the characters, though there’s definitely a lot of that, but also showcasing Joel and Ellie’s growing bond, with Ellie trusting Joel to have her back and Joel desperately trying to protect her.

It was absolutely magnificent, and an absolute feat of filmmaking.

I love this scene so much. Ellie and Joel are surrounded by strangers with guns and Joel’s having a panic attack and Ellie’s just like “DOGGY😃😃😃”

Let’s talk about the cinematography of TLOU HBO…

Cinematography can effect a show in a lot of ways, from helping to set a vibe/aesthetic to affecting the tone of the story to enhancing the emotion of scene.

Good examples of this are Succession and it’s almost mocumentary-style camerawork with the handheld style, pans, and pop zooms giving it a more comedic tone and adding to the immersion, occasionally complimented by smoother shots and mixed with prestige, HBO-style sets, or White Lotus and it’s bright colors and smooth, luxurious camerawork and beautiful locations that help to transport the viewer away and sell the absurd way that these people live.

The Last of Us has a very unique tone, with a very bleak backdrop and moments of genuine emotion and tenderness without melodrama. It intentionally lets scenes breathe and doesn’t try to make itself glamorous or polished, and that’s something helped by the style of cinematography. It’s something that sets it apart from most modern-shows, and gives you that feeling of watching something “real”.

The Last of Us’ cinematographers, Ksenia Sereda, Eben Bolter, Christine A. Maier, Nadim Carlson, and Catherine Goldshmidt, use subtle, handheld cinematography to immerse you in the world of the Last of Us, making you feel like you’re alongside the characters (something I mentioned in a previous post). It’s intentionally not sleek, and really helps to establish this more intimate connection to the characters by not being afraid to get up close and personal to their reactions and emotions.

The show’s work with perspective and lighting is especially breathtaking, with shots that can find beauty in anything, wether it be dust in the light, the silhouette of a man on a horse, the subtle patterns of blurry chainlink, or someone backdropped in fire in one of the scariest scenes on television.

The Last of Us uses it’s cinematography to enhance the tone and emotion of the absolutely fantastic show, as well as staying beutiful even traveling through the wreckage of the USA.

I fuckin’ love The Last of Us

Dialogue Styles and The Last of Us

There are many different ways that media handles dialogue, but in my observations they can usually be sorted into three different categories: Poetic, Witty, and Real.

There are more complicated and technical ways to look at it, but most shows have one that is the main “style” of dialogue.

Poetic Dialogue: People talking pretty, basically. It’s unrealistic, but speaking in metaphors or beautiful words can make you cry or give you chills.

Many monologues use poetic dialogue. Think of Luthen’s “revolution” speech in Andor or Silco’s “drowning” speech from Arcane. Period pieces or fantasy media also tend to use poetic dialogue.

Witty Dialogue: Dialogue that’s funny or smart. It’s also unrealistic, but really fun to watch!

Most good comedies most often use witty dialogue, like Community, Arrested Development, and Brooklyn 99. As do dark comedies like Succession or Aaron Sorkin Dialouge like the Social Network (that movie fucks, btw).

Realist Dialogue: Pretty self explanatory. Realistic Dialouge that sounds like how real people talk.

Examples of good realist dialogue include The Bear and Better Call Saul.

(Quick side note: Realist Dialogue isn’t indistinguishable from normal conversation. Usually dialogue and the way people talk is very different. Real dialogue just captures a more natural and raw way of speaking than the other examples.)

So what category does The Last of Us fall into?

Well, here’s the interesting part. I would say that the game and the show fall into different dialogue categories.

I would say that the game falls into the ‘Witty’ dialogue type, while the show falls into the ‘Realist’ dialogue type.

The show also occasionally dabbles in Poetic Dialogue, like Bill’s speech to Frank at the end of ep 3, Joel’s “I’m failin’ her in my sleep’ speech. If you’ve watched Chernobyl you’ll know that mixing real and poetic dialogue is a Craig Mazin specialty.

While both, like most pieces of fiction, have moments of all three (like the show absolutely has witty moments and the game has poetic ones), their main styles are different.

While there are many ways that you can see the differences in dialogue styles, but the starkest contrast is the way Ellie talks.

In the game you can definitely see the Juno-esque origins of Ellie that people have speculated about. She talks with this quickness, even in dramatic moments. She’s always got a quip or a joke or something clever to say (though you see less of it in the final part of the game).

In the show Ellie talks more like a real teenager. She’s clever and a she’s funny, sure, but she also gets flustered or doesn’t know what to say. She says the wrong things or rambles or she blurts stuff out and she sounds young in a way that game Ellie doesn’t.

You can see the difference most clearly in scenes very similar in both the show and the game, like when she shoots the man in Kansas City/Pittsburg, or when she wakes up in David’s cage.

In both these scenes you can definitely see show Ellie a bit more flustered, a bit more scared, and a bit more young.

TLOU HBO was able to use it’s medium to increase the realism of the story (something I’ve talked about before), and a way of doing that is to change how the characters themselves speak.

There are many other examples, but these are definitely some of the clearest.

But while the way they talked changed, the characters stayed quite consistent with only a few very intentional differences, and I think it’s awesome, and a testament to how strong the characters were, and how the writing in the show is that it doesn’t feel too jarring or separate. At the end of the day they’re very different, but both absolutely play to their strengths as a medium and I think that’s pretty cool!

I love how TLOU HBO uses colors…

Before Sarah dies the colors are a lot warmer, a lot “kinder”, almost

But when she dies, and it transitions to present day, the colors get colder. More stark.

But Ellie’s colors are warm

And you see that contrast…

…then you see their color schemes come together

As @consultingzoologist pointed out, you see the color-scheme shift when the characters are alone and at their lowest points.

Ellie in Silver Lake…

…and Joel in the hospital…

…and once more you see that contrast…

…but this time Joel take Ellie out of the light

I love how TLOU HBO uses colors…

Before Sarah dies the colors are a lot warmer, a lot “kinder”, almost

But when she dies, and it transitions to present day, the colors get colder. More stark.

But Ellie’s colors are warm

And you see that contrast…

…then you see their color schemes come together

Now that this has become a topic of discussion (again) there’s something I gotta say…

Honestly? I have some problems with Ellie’s part 2 design. Not because it’s a bad design, but because of a completely different reason:

Ellie in TLOU part 2 is nineteen years old. After the time-skip she’s 21-22.

Ellie in Part 2 is a Hollywood teenager. Plain and simple. And I know people are going to hate on this because they love Ellie’s character design, and it’s not that I think it’s bad, I just think it’s important to acknowledge that it isn’t realistic.

I’ve seen so many ways people have tried to justify it, saying things like “well stress and lack-of-food make people look older”. Yeah, they do. What they don’t do is turn people into models. Stress doesn’t give them perfect cheek-bones and plush lips—it gives them wrinkles. A couple scars doesn’t make someone look realistic—especially when they’re precisely placed as to keep the sex-appeal at a maximum. Ellie in TLOU part 2 was absolutely designed to be attractive and appealing to people. The design wasn’t made to be realistic, the design was made to be marketable.

It’s absolutely fine to love the character design, what’s not fine is to expect people to look like it and be mad that they don’t.

Bella Ramsey looks like a real nineteen-year-old. Bella Ramsey looks like a human. Bella Ramsey didn’t have their appearance designed pixel-by-pixel and shown to focus groups and adjusted so they could look good to as large a range of people as possible.

People look like people. Get over it.

I know people give Marlene a lot of flack for telling Joel about wanting to kill Ellie, but to be fair, the last time she saw them together, Joel didn’t seem all that “invested” in the “cargo”…