The Last Of Us Hbo - Tumblr Posts
Can we talk about the fact Joel was literally wasting precious ammo just so he could teach Ellie how to shoot? And he didn't give a damn because it made his kid excited and he was just happy to have these moments with her? Yeah, no, I'm totally fine about this.
Bella Ramsey (as Ellie Williams) Pedro Pascal (as Joel Miller) This terribly heart-wrenching scene. From the episode, “When We Are in Need” THE LAST OF US (2023) [+] Bella Ramsey 🌼🤟 [+] LGBTQ 🏳️🌈 [+] ..more on “The Last of Us” 🎬
i am thinking about the changes to ellie’s response to killing david in the game versus the show. i think both are extremely valid reactions but there’s something about the disassociation and numbness she displays in the show that is extra heartbreaking. especially when you consider how this event changes ellie forever. and i was trying to think of how this trauma affects who she is in the second game, and i think i realized that the show is going to draw an absolutely devastating parallel between this moment and the moment she tortures nora. after she tortures nora in the game, she goes back to dina shaking, unable to get words out, covered in blood, and dina has to comfort her. just like what happened in episode 8. it’s all the more devastating when you realize the interrogation tactics ellie used are possibly ones that she learned from joel. joel is not there to emotionally comfort her like he did after she killed david, but in a twisted way he was there when she interrogated nora. it’s an excellent away of highlighting the dark parts of joel and ellie’s relationship, which i think the show is doing very well with (and much more than the games). and it’s a devastating way to highlight how the things ellie is doing are affecting her. this parallel is going to Hurt
I think there’s something so deeply and intimately and morbidly true about The Last of Us’s primary thesis which is that humanity’s fatal flaw, in that very Shakespearian way, is that we are destined to care too much about one another so much so that we discard the collective entirely. like we have such a capacity to love the human race and humanity as a whole, to grow our communities and govern cities how we know best and foster such connection with the masses which we are part of, but it’s overtaken by our capacity to love even just a single other person. like one human can come into your life that creates such an intrinsic and passionate love in you— or maybe two people or a family’s worth or any small number— and you suddenly would burn entire villages down just to keep them safe.
joel doesn’t blink twice murdering to find ellie. he doesn’t look back when he decides to do what he does at the hospital later on. he has no remorse about any of it it, because this one girl has grown to mean more to him than any possible greater good could ever mean. and it’s reciprocal. ellie would— and does— do anything she can to help him, save him, protect him, and, eventually, to avenge him. because that’s what you do when you love someone. not when you love people. when you love someone.
and it’s selfish, in a way??? because we love these people and would do so much for them because they mean more to us than other strangers do. it’s exactly like an iteration of the trolley problem, actually. one track has your daughter on it and one track has fifty people. don’t even try telling me you wouldn’t go onto track B if it meant saving your daughter and her puppy dog eyes from the whimpering and pain and fear. The Last of Us says yes, you would. I would. we all would. and like yeah that is our greatest weakness, that we have such a unique ability to love a handful of people so deeply that our compassion towards community and strangers and the bigger collective starts to slip from view. but goddamn what a fucking great fatal flaw it is to have. we are all going to die and the world will burn because we loved another person too much.
everything about the shot of joel and sarah is so tender, given the circumstances. joel just murdered someone for the first time out of defense and he’s holding her face so gently to reassure her of it, that they’re going to be okay. and the way that she’s holding his arms too, ever so gently but enough to just maintain contact, to know that he’s there, to hold on to him in these moments of fear. his state is intense, but he’s not showing any fear or sign of wavering. he has to be strong for her, it’s what she needs to see.
the shot of joel and ellie is so… desperate. he’s holding her face in the same way as the first shot, but you can tell it’s firmer by the way ellie’s ear and cheek are slightly squished. he’s working hard to steady her, but it’s not overly forceful. she’s grabbing on to his jacket, and once again it’s not a forceful grip but it’s just enough to know that he’s there. and his stare. there is fear and concern written all over it. he’s not hiding anything anymore. he’s showing her what she needs to see, albeit not intentionally. he’s someone who cares deeply for her and was and is concerned about her. he’s desperate for her to see that he is there in that moment and he is there for her, in the way an adult should be. in the way she deserves someone to be.
i’m just in awe at how the shots are so similar but so different and so appropriate to who these people are with each other. it’s parallels 101 but i just think the execution was phenomenal down to the little details and i wanted to appreciate that.
to get even more specific to the father-daughterisms of the shot of joel and ellie: i know joel has had that coat for many episodes and ellie’s been wearing that sweatshirt for who knows how long but i just think that the fact that the colors/tones are so similar that they’re almost matching is so, almost like, family-photo-esque? the way people will wear something similar but different in family portraits to show coordination but also differentiate. they’re not trying to show joel and ellie as being the same, but rather as being connected to each other, being family. i don’t know if that’s intentional but it’s how i see this. the second father-daughterism is the blood on both of their hands. the blood on joel’s hand is slightly older so it blends in a little more with ellie, but it’s still visible. but the blood on ellie’s hands is still fresh and sticks out more. both are a testament to their relationship to violence. the blood on joel’s hands which are holding ellie, show the purpose of his violence, to get back to ellie. but the blood on ellie’s hands that are moreso just clinging to him, clinging to something, because she was fighting for her life. her violence was for survival. yes, the blood was there because how could they not be covered in blood, but it can mean so much more if you choose to see it that way. these two birds of a feather, these beings so different yet so similar with this connection that runs so much deeper than they even know. i just think that depicting their relationship and its intricacies in these subtle ways is so powerful
how it started
how it’s going
It’s okay, baby girl. I got you. I got you.
It’s so gorgeous, and just true. And then the look on Bella’s face, as Ellie, realizing the enormity of what he’s saying, and the fact that it hadn’t even occurred to her. That this whole time, he’s been this person that she looks up to, and this person that saves her, and this person that she wants to save, because she wants that father in her life. She needs this connection.
But never did it occur to her what she meant to him. It was always, “What do you mean to me?” And when a child hears something like that, it is overwhelming to them. And you can see her struggling to process it.
I think we wrote this in the script, like literally, “This is how they say I love you.” They don’t say I love you. How they say I love you is they talk around it. Without saying I love you, she says, “Well I’m glad that didn’t work out.” - Episode 9, "Look For The Light" | The Last of Us Podcast
THE LAST OF US | 1.01 “When You’re Lost in the Darkness” THE LAST OF US | 1.09 “Look for the Light”
the "you're cargo" to "it's okay, babygirl" to "it wasn't time that did it" pipeline goes so fucking crazy bro
liking the last of us isn’t enough I need to absorb all of the media into my skin
i’m not family? no. you’re cargo.
the moment I get this scene in my grubby little paws is the exact moment that I will become someone unbearable to society
The Last of Us (2023)
learning more about ellie’s past and her mom is going to absolutely crush me I just know it. AND it’s ashley johnson playing her mom?? i’m done for.
The Last of Us (2023)
full-body sobbing over these two. like hyperventilating and had to blow my nose crying. bill and frank you beautiful bastards.
The Last of Us (2023)
i was genuinely just thinking how this bitter earth is the last of us’s song… and hearing its instrumentals in episode 3 was so moving and perfect.
joke book scenes soon please!!! the hunters are coming up next episode so maybe???
I saw so many people say that the aggression Ellie shows in the hbo series is out of character for her but like… Ellie’s darkness in tlou2 didn’t come out of the blue. She’s been hurt time and time again, and experienced so much loss. Plus she probably wasn’t taught to deal with these emotions at all (especially with being raised in a military school). It makes perfect sense for her to feel vengeful and aggressive. I think the show is setting up her future arc VERY well and I can’t wait to see where they take her!!
i swear to god i started crying when I saw tiny dina and tiny shimmer.
The Last of Us (2023)
i keep catching myself getting very attached to joel and ellie again and then i remember the plot of the second game
The Last of Us (2023)
joel’s ptsd being actively explored canonically is something so personal. thank you neil druckmann, craig mazin, and pedro pascal for this study of the detrimental effects joel’s loss-ridden life is having on him.
The Last of Us (2023)
“ellie gets to experience first love, first kiss. and then we snatch it away from her.” WHY ARE YOU SMILING YOU EVIL BASTARD I’M SO SAD.