Let’s see what I go tell the others now.

Something very unique about the Last of Us is the way it handles character death and extreme tragedy in a remarkably respectful way.

Pop culture in this current moment is all about who can explore the darkest topics and depict violence in the most provocative way. (I am specifically looking at you, Game of Thrones and Euphoria!)

Even though the Last of Us is an HBO show, the people behind the series grant their characters a level of respect that most don’t.

Bill and Frank avoid the all-too-common “Bury Your Gays” trope and live sixteen beautiful years together. When the time is right, they go out on their own terms and the camera grants them dignity in death by not panning to their dead bodies at the end of episode 3.

We also never see Sam after he is shot by his own brother; we only need the blood splatter to let us know what happened. And instead of portraying a gratuitous suicide scene, we instead focus on Ellie and Joel’s reactions when Henry takes his own life.

The best example is probably the ultimate fate of Riley being kept offscreen in the latest episode. The last time we see Riley and Ellie together, they believe they are both going to die and pledge to do it together, on their own terms. Of course, the viewer knows Ellie is immune and had to defend herself from an infected Riley SOMEHOW, but guess what? We don’t have to know. Did they ever get another kiss? What were their last words to each other? We don’t know. The girls get to have privacy in their final moments together, and it’s perfect.

In summary, I really love that the camera respects the characters of this show and allows us to linger on their best moments instead.

i was a little worried that they'd try and make david a redeemable character but instead they managed to make him so much worse holy FUCK. the way they wrote david in the show was so horrifying that i found myself being frightened of what was going to happen despite knowing everything from the game already. they somehow managed to make him even fear-inducing and disturbing. the scene where she's in the cage and he holds her hand? telling her he wants her at his side? "there's no fear in love"? and especially the "the fight is the part i like the most". my god it was so disturbing and morbid and i literally felt paralyzed watching it

major kudos to both the actor and bella, they did such a phenomenal job

I hear people say that Ellie killing David was badass. I wouldn't say that. When Joel pulls her off David, you can see how absolutely horrified Ellie is after almost being r*ped and eaten. It's less badass and more tragically 'beautiful' of how strong that girl is and it has nothing to do with her being badass. She's strong because she has to, because the circumstances force her to be.

I will never get over what a masterpiece the whole winter section is. We get to know Ellie to the fullest in this part of the game, and I think that those who haven't fallen in love with her yet at this point did right after.

Gets captured, wakes up in cage, completely disrespects old white man, slays (literally)

I mean I was expecting some horrible awful shit to come out of David’s mouth this episode but I was Not expecting him to connect Cordyceps to the absolute devastation that love causes, the kind of love that makes you do things you never thought you could for someone you love.

“What does Cordyceps do? Is it evil?

No.

It's fruitful. It multiplies. It feeds and protects its children, and it secures its future with violence, if it must.

It loves.”

That’s the most fucked up and terrible way of explaining it, and it’s exactly what Joel and Ellie are willing to do for one another. Thanks for that, David.

just watching this GIF and i noticed something i thought was cute.

joel is so soft in this, so gentle, with ellie

when his hands come up to cup her face, you can see how he’s trying to do it kind of quick, so that he can direct her to really look and see that its him. he’s a little frantic trying to get ellie to see that its him. but as his hands jump up from her shoulders to her face, there is a millisecond of hesitation before he very gently cups her face.

that’s the switch from frantically trying to turn her around and see him, to gentle comforting and soft words.

even in that split second he makes sure he isn’t being rough. he hesitates grabbing her face for a second, making sure that he can do it slowly and gently, instead of just moving straight from her shoulders to her face. he doesnt grab her head or force her to look at him, he gets his hands in position on either side of her face before slowly bringing them down to her cheeks as she realizes who he is.

thank you pedro and bella for this scene.

“What did the frustrated cannibal do?

He threw up his hands.”

Neil Druckmann & Craig Mazin, I will eat you for throwing that joke in.

when we are in need.

I dont know if this makes sense in writing the same way it makes sense in my head but oh well. The way David kept calling Ellie's name in the newest episode reminded me of the way sometimes older men will read out my nametag at work and then start exsessively calling me by my name like they know me (sounds like an odd comparrison but stick with me here), in order to make me uncomfortable- to make me feel small. It's an intimidation tactic- he wanted to scare her, not only was he getting off on her fighting back, he was getting off on everything that led up to that as well; making her uncomfortable, chasing her, and calling out her name as she hid from him. He found sick plessure out of all of it. Some men get off on the fact that they can strike fear into others, David is clearly one of these men.

In the Left Behind episode, they really are building up Ellie’s attempted r*pe and general creepy encounters with David to be even worse and scarier than the game.

First, we have Ellie’s insistence that Riley turn around while she changes. She does NOT like anyone watching her undress. Riley even says that Ellie has always been “weird” about it.

Then, she tells Riley to get off her after they are done taking pictures in the photo booth. It’s a small moment, but it shows that Ellie is uncomfortable being touched by others, even her crush. The average teenager would probably jump at the chance to be closer to the person they like, but not Ellie.

Finally, the infected person attacking Ellie and tackling her to the ground is meant to mirror the way David attacks Ellie in the game. The infected crawls over her while she screams at him to get off. She is likely going to experience some form of PTSD from this moment.

In summary, I am scared for next week. :(

if i had a dollar for every troy baker character who got killed by blunt force trauma i’d have 3 dollars. which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it only happens to the j names

The scene where Ellie hacks David's face into little pieces and then comes Joel to hug her and comfort her.

There's this moment when everything goes quiet for a moment except for the music playing in the background where Joel keeps comforting her with words and we see his lips moving, but we no longer hear what he's actually saying to her.

And I know it's supposed to be up for interpretation, but I've spent an embarrassing amount of time watching the clip trying to see what he is saying regardless. And it might not be exactly it, because the camera keeps moving and is not settled just on his lips, but I think that what he's saying to her is something like

"Look at me." he says before she lifts her sad eyes on him.

"I'm never going to let anyone touch(hurt) you again, okay? Okay?"

Maybe the number of times I've watched the clip has damaged my brain at some point and I'm just being delusional here, but I'm really willing to go with this. As long as it's comforting for Ellie, I'm in. Must be it, must be.

I think everyone will agree