Last of Us Running Thread

By the way, Ashley Johnson wasn't the only voice actor from the game to appear in the finale. Laura Bailey, who was the voice of Abby in the second game, played one of the nurses in the hospital scene.

 

I was trying to explain the ending to my wife. She doesn't game and she hasn't watched the show and although I am sure she would and would enjoy it, she doesn't seem like she is running to do so. She hasn't cared about the spoilers and is probably humoring me in talking about it.

When I first told her what happened in the game she was like, so? Many people would do that. You don't know that the cure would work. And I responded, it's not that it's the lie and that we don't know what Ellie wanted. She didn't seem bothered by it. I might not have explained it well, but it really keeps showing why this is such an interesting debate.

That's another element of this, there is this theme that they finish what they started. They talk about it right up until the end. So did they finish it? What did Ellie want?

 

I'm sure that will be dealt with in Season 2. I know some of how that goes in the game, so I don't want spoil that. Even if Ellie would have chosen to sacrifice herself, imagine it in our world. Would we allow a 14-year-old to make that choice without a parent or guardian having a say? Joel may not technically be her parent, but he is her guardian.

I think we are meant to believe that the doctor's idea for a cure would have worked and I tend to look at Joel's choice with that assumption in mind.

 

No, we wouldn't have a child make that choice. But we wouldn't have her slaying her way across the country to get to that point either.

It is an amazing accomplishment in my mind that a game made a story that gets us talking like this. While the show added a bit to it, just cutting to the credits and making us think and talking about it, just adds to it.

 

I'll defer to those of you who follow this closer; I thought Ellie was undergoing brain surgery to remove parts of the fungus which is frightening but not that it was a foregone conclusion that she dies. Or is it just the logical step that the fungus and her brain are one and the same at this point?

 

Marlene says "it was going to be quick and painless." My belief—and going on Joel's reaction—this surgery was going to kill her.

 

I guess I don't exactly recall if they said she would in fact die but it is certainly strongly implied.

 

Pleasantly surprised that my HBO Max streaming works in the EU. Just watched on my phone and will do so again when I get home.

It’s made clear in the game that Ellie won’t survive the surgery. It’s been awhile since I played it so I can’t remember if they mentioned that she probably had the cordyceps at birth and that’s why she was immune. Final episode was good, and Ellie’s clearly still skeptical even as she says ‘OK’ at the end. The tension for S2 is set up well.

 

I don't recall there ever being an origin to her immunity in the game. I think it is something the DLC misses, and which the show follows, and the DLC is otherwise outstanding. Brought it up after that episode that I wish they would have shown the Fireflies getting Ellie after that event and figuring it out and what happened to Riley. But the game didn't go there either. I could have totally missed it somewhere, but I don't think it was ever said.

I thought that was a really good addition in the finale, the backstory. Also, couldn't agree with you more on Ellie's reaction at the end. She just isn't totally onboard. There is this trust no one element in this story. Obviously includes Joel and Ellie.

 

I think they made it very clear that the surgery would kill her.

 

I'm not sure about the game, but that opening sequence with the mother serves the purpose of providing an implied explanation in the show.

 

Bella Ramsey said that Ellie knows Joel isn't telling her the truth, but she's trying to force herself to believe him because the alternative is unthinkable to her.