Joel Was Right | The Last of Us Analysis

The Last of Us franchise is known for a lot of things emotional moments between characters that feel real and human third person stealth Action gameplay with crafting and Resource Management a knack for getting itself into controversy while also being one of the most revered and awarded IPS and not just gaming but now television too but despite the thousands of hours of discussion and Analysis has been done regarding the Last of Us in the time since the first game released in 2013 there's one topic that has kept people talking and debating for over a decade and that would be the ending of the first Last of Us in fact this is certainly not the first YouTube video about it and it won't be the last in 2023 I had done hugee videos on both The Last of Us Parts one and two and while I was originally going to put them together as one larger video for today I thought it be more interesting to take what I had said about the ending and its aftermath and make that a video instead I fully believe that the climax of The Last of Us is the best I've ever seen and belongs in the pantheon of best game endings because of how it has kept people talking for so many years so without further Ado here's my perspective on why that is and why I think Joel was right and to do so we should start with the facts marleene barely made it from Boston and magically Joel shows up with Ellie just in time for them to save her and begin their preparations to make the Cure but things take a turn when marleene reveals to Joel that in order for a vaccine to be made they'd have to study the Corps in Ellie's brain to find out how the virus mutated and find a way to recreate the effect Ellie will have to die for this to happen and Joel stands against this for obvious reasons I get it but whatever it is you think you're going through right now is nothing to what I have been through I knew her since she was born I promised your mother I would look after her then why are you letting this happen because this isn't about me or even her there is no other choice [Music] here yeah you keep telling yourself that when Marlene has her guy try walking Joel out at gunpoint Joel turns the table on him and that begins the final gameplay segment where you have to reach Ellie in the operating room before it's too late it's a simple setup but it's had people talking for an entire decade now let's go over why if you've ever used the internet before I'm sure you've seen this image the trolley problem in short a train will run over five people but you can switch the tracks to kill one person but saving the five it's a basic moral hypothetical that gets people to consider where their values align I think the ending of The Last of Us is the most interesting usage of the trolley problem that I've seen because it comes with so many different angles in this story the stakes here are that Ellie is the only person who is immune to this virus and sacrificing her could mean Humanity could beat the corp's virus and try to restore itself to something resembling what it was before this concerns not random strangers with the future of humanity in general but the debate Joel is faced with is can you sacrifice your own daughter for that it's a lot easier to make decisions like this if you aren't personally connected to the people in question to the fireflies Ellie is a kid they don't know sure it's an ethical matter that would give them pause for thought but their goal is to save Humanity so therefore it's easy to put aside the humanity of this girl as her sacrifice will SA save so many others Joel does understand the logic behind it when replaying the game for the video I was struck by this conversation between Joel and Ellie in Pittsburg your fellow Hunters do this cute I know my money's on the military why would they mow down all these people you can't let everyone in dead people don't get infected you sacrificed the few to save the many it's kind of shitty yeah so clearly Joel is well aware of the idea that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few but it's like I said a harder contract to sign if the people involved have a personal connection to you Marlene makes the case that this is what Ellie would want to do and there's a lot to unpack there let me start with the basic question is Marlene right to that I'd say yes if Ellie at this stage was presented with the facts that she'd have to die in order to save the world I do believe she would do it but I believe that choice has been influenced by the trauma she's seen take a list of this nightmare Ellie had that she tells Joel about when they first got to Salt Lake City go on and tell me about it so I'm on this big plane full of people and everyone is screaming and yelling cuz the plane's going down so I walked to the cockpit open the door but there's no pilot I try to use the controls but I obviously have no clue how to fly a plane and right before we crash I wake up I've never been on a plane isn't that weird well you know dreams are weird her life is a crashing plane that she can't stop because she doesn't know how to fly a plane obviously this is the immunity issue she wishes to save the world but the Firefly is the only people who can help her do it Ellie believes she deserves to pay for being immune as she tells Joel in the ending back in Boston back when I Was Bitten I wasn't alone my best friend was there and she got bit too we didn't know what to do so she says let's just wait it out you know we can be all poetic and just lose our minds together I'm still waiting for my turn Ellie her name was Riley and she was the first to die and then it was Tess and then Sam none of that is on you she has survivors guilt Riley didn't deserve to get infected and turn into a monster Tess got infected and was killed for the sake of bringing her to the fireflies Sam didn't deserve to get infected either Ellie believes that her immunity makes that suffering her fault and she owes this to those people but is she right I don't think so Ellie never chose to be immune it was a freak genetic accident she has no moral obligation to do this but she believes she does because she's a deeply traumatized kid but then that's the thing even though Ellie would probably want to save the world if she had the choice does that matter in an ethical conversation 14-year-olds in our world aren't given that kind of authority but then in this world who could decide for Ellie if you think she can't herself marleene well marleene is more of a distant Aunt of Ellie than a parental figure Marlene was friends with Ellie's mother and placed Ellie in military school to keep her safe while she continued leading the fireflies so they didn't even know each other that well all things considered would it be Joel well Joel is the only adult who has spent any significant amount of time with Ellie but then you realize Joel was hired by Marlene to transport Ellie to and from becoming Ellie's dad was not part of the job description so through that lens Joel's opinion is irrelevant but to have two people journey across the entire country mostly on foot against a horde of deadly humans and infected and expect them not to grow a bond is also ridiculous my point being that it's a lot easier for Marlene to begrudgingly sacrifice Ellie because she's at the end of the day pragmatic but also doesn't know Ellie and didn't spend a whole year with her seeing her likes and dislikes her laughing and crying at various moments like Joel did I think that's why marleene can Intuit it that Ellie would want to do this based on her various traumas and says so to Joel but mysteriously Ellie was taken right from the water here and straight to the operating room Ellie being unconscious allowed the fireflies to skip right past the part where they even ask Ellie what she would want to do because there was a chance she'd say no and they weren't willing to take it which brings about a conversation regarding the Firefly and whether or not they even have what it takes to do the job at all by The Last of Us Part Two it's confirmed that the doctor was going to succeed in his effort but I'm not actually talking about whether or not he could make a vaccine I'm talking about what happens after that the fireflies are in a war with fedra and they're losing Marlene was down to her last leg back in Boston when she hired Joel and Tess and then says she lost most of her crew on the track from Boston to Salt Lake City the fireflies are almost extinct and making this miracle cure from Ellie is their Hil Mary to win back some power and influence over fedra but do the fireflies have the resources to to mass-produce this can they keep the info on how it was made out of the hands of fedro in order to maintain that leverage why is the cure for mankind something to be used as a political tool in the first place and how do you spread it across the globe what if some people reject the corps vaccine All Those Questions resting on the shoulders of a militia group in its dying days should cause anyone to have less confidence in their ability to actually pull this off and even furthermore is it really possible to save the world in the way the fireflies want sure if you round up every infected left and administer The Cure world World Wide how can you bring the world back to the way it was before where we all lived under the social contract after 20 years of it being gone can people like David simply go back to work societies like tommies and Jackson demonstrate that it's not impossible to still live in a world where people have community and work together but Nation or even worldwide would it work do we fix the destroyed cities and buildings and just all go back to being behind a desk for 8 hours a day after everyone spent 20 years trying to survive on their own is the world Beyond saving here these are all interesting questions that people have been debating about for a decade but before anyone gets lost in the sauce I think it's important to establish one key fact Joel does not care about any of this from the very beginning he's never been someone who cared about whose side was right or wrong just doing what he needed to do to further his own Survival sometimes I see people defend Joel's actions with a moral explanation about informed medical consent and the potential efficacy of the fireflies but that goes against Joel's character because that's not what he cares about his first reaction to Ellie having to die is this find someone else there is no one else find someone else to sacrifice I don't care who it's just not going to be Ellie he's come too far and gained too much to allow this to happen this is another really interesting thing about the ending for me talking about what motivates Joel and Ellie look at this conversation between them after the draft scene we don't have to do this you know that right what's the other option go back to Tommy's just be done with this whole damn thing after all we've been through everything that I've done I can't be for nothing in Ellie's mind as I went over a moment ago it can't be for nothing means Riley Tess Sam and Henry can't have died in a world where Ellie doesn't save the world it's not that she doesn't want to go to Tommy and live that father daughter life with Joel she does she loves Joel just as much as he loves her but for her clearing her conscience of this immunity baggage comes first and foremost which I personally find to be irrational but that's neither here nor there Joel doesn't disagree with Ellie that it can't be for nothing but the difference is that for him a world where Ellie dies to make a cure is a world where it was for nothing he was forced onto this difficult emotional journey across the US where he was able to let go of the pain that Sarah's death caused him 20 years ago he had a renewed hope in the future that he could be a father again and live a semi- peaceful life with Ellie Tommy Maria and their whole Community he can't and won't go back to being a Smuggler in Boston Joel's Arc is more of a circle he starts the game as a devoted father who will do anything to protect his daughter but when he fails a piece of him just dies with Sarah making him the man you meet at the beginning of the game the whole journey here was Joel gradually being brought back to the man he was at the start a devoted father who will do anything to protect his daughter and yes Joel isn't Ellie's father but that's part of the idea of the game telling the complete story on how two strangers can become an unbreakable family unit so that fact is kind of irrelevant in my opinion that's why the choice for Joel was an easy one I could tell you why but I think this statement from Troy Baker where he starts to tear up over it says more than I ever could when we were making part one I was at a disadvantage to Neil because Neil was a father and he wasn't um I was acting this was a very real possibility for him what do I look like in the event I lose my daughter and I have a son and I don't know what I would look like if I lost him but I do know that if I have the opportunity to save him I would do anything I would do anything to save him so people have asked me why would Joel do that when he could have saved the world and my answer to them is always this he did he did save the world it's just that the world was that girl that's it the HBO Joel Pedro Pascal echoed a similar thought in an interview after the season finale to Joel the vague idea of a world free from the infected isn't nearly as important as his family and so he's going to lead that final assault on the Firefly hospital to save Ellie is it the right choice I mean no look back at the trolley problem Ellie being sacrificed means a lot of lives that might be lost to the virus won't have to be that way anymore but Joel does what most people would do Neil dman stated that in Focus tests for The Last of Us people were asked what they would do if they were in Joel's shoes for non-parents it was 50/50 and for parents it was 100% in support which is the beauty of it we can all recognize what the interest of the greater good are while also understanding the human element even if some members of the audience wouldn't do what Joel did everybody gets it including me even if that makes him the villain of the story technically I believe Ellie doesn't owe Humanity her life I think her belief that she does has more to do with trauma than critical thinking I don't think the fireflies have what it takes to actually mass-produce a vaccine and all that but as established none of that really matters if I were Joel presented with all the same facts I'd like to believe I tried to do what he did perhaps I'd be willing to let it go if Ellie was given the ability to choose and said she wanted this but of course she wasn't but then you get an extra layer of depth in the whole thing the thing that takes it from one of my favorite endings of all time to to my favorite Joel is cornered by Marlene as I showed before he's led a rampage throughout the hospital and despite that she gives him the ability to walk away if he just gives up Ellie it then jump cuts to Joel in a car and you might think wait did he do it did he give up but then you see Ellie in the back seat waking up and Joel then tells Ellie a complete lie that the fireflies tested dozens of immune people and stopped looking for a cure and sent them on their way intercut with him finishing off Marlene to make sure she won't come after Ellie Joel is trying to pacify Ellie's immunity this specific lie I think was so that Ellie would feel like her immunity wasn't an important thing anymore he knew this mission was important to her and thus he tells her this story so she doesn't think about it anymore and moves on but we all know that's not how it works the final gameplay segment begins with Ellie looking over her bite mark to Ellie that's the equivalent of Joel's watch a constant REM reminder of that original pain and loss that will never go away the player controlling Ellie from now to the end as they walk to Jackson mirroring the opening as you played as Sarah and then first control Joel trying to save Sarah by carrying her out of the city the final playable Joel's segment is carrying out of this Hospital determined to not fail another daughter and he succeeds this time and then you play from Ellie's POV at the end what makes the ending special is that it gives you what you wanted in a sense because Ellie getting a safe place to grow up and know some kind of idea of normal alongside Joel has been what you've been expecting SL rooting for for the entire time however it's built on the back of a lie that keeps critical information about Ellie's purpose in life away from her which means that the ending has this Bittersweet feeling to it since Ellie definitely doesn't believe what Joel is saying causing her to open up about what happened to Riley and her other feelings of survivors guilt ending The Last of Us on an iconic note that has again been another Central piece of the debate that has raged on for years following this game's release oh you don't understand I struggled for a long time with surviving and you no matter what you keep finding something to fight for now I know that's not what you want to hear right now swear to me swear to to me that everything that you said about the fireflies is [Music] true I [Music] swear okay [Music] all that should make it pretty clear why this ending has been discussed so thoroughly in The Gaming Community for so long that's the thing about hypothetical moral discussions the debate never really ends and The Last of Us just piled on so many things to debate about whether you think Joel is right or not is separate from how you feel about his lie for example I think lying to Ellie was wrong something I wouldn't have done at least not for as long as he did but that's getting beyond the scope of the game what did Ellie mean by okay I don't think anyone ever thought she actually believed his story but what does she mean by that then can people live happily with something like that hanging over them can you really ignore a lie forever these are the questions that lived in people's minds rentree for years after this game released The Last of Us is unrivaled in so many ways and I'd recommend it to any PlayStation 3 owner it's truly a special one-of aind game in my oh so humble opinion the last of us will always remain a favorite game of mine for as long as I live because of the fact that it's an emotional experience it's something that's hard to forget because it shows you so many things about what it means to be human in a world long after the fall of society and what people are willing to do for those that they love from start to finish maybe it didn't invent a single Trope it contains but it's so expertly done has stuck in my mind for years after its release and has done so for Millions upon millions of other people and has forced its audience to ask questions about their morality and what they do in impossible situations if it concerned the people they cared about and that to me is irreplaceable it's why I love the last of us it's why I will always think of its name when recalling my favorite games even if you don't precisely execute Royal Guard Maneuvers or get an srank at the end it's an experience what more can I say I think his reputation is earned but I'm getting off subject here in regards to the original Last of Us that's the note the game ended on so people were free to make their own interpretations of what happened for several years as the sequel didn't release for another 7 years everything I just said more or less is my perspective on the ending of the first game but I think the video will be incomplete without showing what I had to say about The Last of Us Part Two since it's now a pretty crucial part of the discussion as Joel's Choice from the first game lies at the center of the second one and Joel and Ellie's relationship also lies the center of it the next several minutes may seem like it's getting off subject from the title of the video but I think talking about their relationship the impact of the lies and the conclusion all back up the original point so bear with me here it'll make sense by the end The Last of Us two begin shortly after the first game Joel and Ellie reached Tommy's settlement and Jackson as the game opens with Joel fixing up a guitar and explains to Tommy that he slaughtered the fireflies to save Ellie life and then told a lie in the hopes that she could move on from the whole Crusade Tommy promising to take this to the Grave if it comes to that we then see Ellie for the first time as Joel is honoring his promise to teach her how to play guitar and singing The Pearl Jam song Future Days to her I actually never heard this before the game but I'm glad they got the permissions needed to use it because it's a great song it's now one of my favorites and is such a perfect encapsulation of Joel and Ellie's connection the song being the thesis of The Last of Us Part Two If I ever were to lose you I surely Lose Myself everything I have found here I'm not found by myself try and sometimes you'll succeed to make this man of me all my stolen missing parts I have no need for [Music] anymore I believe and I believe CU I can't [Music] see our future Days days of you and [Music] me sorry I just had to play the whole thing because you know gets me a bit teary eyed every time anyway The Last of Us two's inciting incident is when Abby the daughter of the Firefly surgeon kills Joel for revenge and Ellie sets out to find her throughout the game there are a lot of important details to talk about you can see in Joel's house after he's buried the outside is littered with flowers laid by others in the community Joel is just a different man now he was a respected part of this community in his house you can see he had Hobbies like wood carving or playing guitar he was thriving instead of just surviving displaying the photo of himself and Sarah framed right alongside a photo of himself and Ellie at the stables in Jackson showing that he loved them both equally this whole house segment is just so depressing in a beautiful way as the house is full of momentos like this Dinosaur book that we later see was something Ellie got when they went to a museum for her birthday or Ellie smelling Joel's jacket in the closet to get one last reminder of his scent now that he's gone it just feels true to life in regards to losing people but I get ahead of myself my point is that Joel's death was done in a brutal way that I think was true to the character as he stood four years after the first game he handled it like a pro and the scene is really tragic to watch even with the knowledge that it was coming and of what happens after and most of all it was necessary for the player to be in the same emotional state as Ellie and it worked it gives Ellie a nightmare scenario that is arguably worse than Riley's death feeling a pain she's never felt before one that she never thought she would like she said to Joel in the first game I can't imagine losing someone you love like that losing everything that you know I'm sorry Joel and with that said the player set up for Ellie's campaign pain in Seattle I think the way the story is structured is really compelling I kind of took that for granted before playing it again since I know how it all goes down in the end but they paste it and placed flashbacks at just the right moments to where you'll be kept guessing about what actually happened here you don't know why Abby and her crew want Joel dead at the start you could make guesses but it's not confirmed and you also don't care as much because you and Ellie both just want that Vengeance but Dena brings this up during Seattle day one any of this jogging memories of stuff Joel said about his past nothing new what are the chances he did stuff that you don't know about hi he wasn't um wasn't very big on sharing this got me thinking about how the player actually doesn't know at this point if Ellie knows about what Joel did or not is Ellie going to find out during the hunt for Abby how will that knowledge change her perception of Joel if that happens Jesse mentioned in the prologue that Ellie got mad at Joel at the party the night before the game started but who knows why questions compounded by by these well-placed flashbacks the first of which is Ellie's 16th birthday at a museum that ends with Joel and Ellie finding a firefly logo with the word Liars underneath it which affects Ellie because of that survivors guilt I talked about last time shout out to Joel being placed in front of the S so that the word between them is just liar so that brings it back into your mind that there's still an awkwardness between Joel and Ellie regarding what happened in Salt Lake City but then it's during the Norah interrogation that Ellie learns that Abby and her crew were formerly fireflies out to get Joel for what happened 4 years ago it's this gradual dissemination of information that gives the story a lot of intrigue and keeps you guessing about what's going to happen next while on the subject of Ellie's flashbacks now is a good time to go into them despite the frequent talking point that Joel was done dirty in this game I think he might be the best character in it because he absolutely steals every scene he's in Joel is a character who in this game alone has a lot of layers to consider despite appearing in like five segments of the entire game his ghost lingers over the entire story including both Ellie and aby's campaigns whenever Ellie gets to play guitar her first instinct is to play Future Days if I ever lose you surely lose and all these kills are in his name so you think about him quite a lot even if he's not on screen most of the time but when he is your eyes are glued to the screen after Ellie's Seattle day one which is about 3 hours of intense gameplay Ellie thinks back to a more peaceful moment her 16th birthday this is one of the few parts of the story where there's no action or shooting at all Joel has a surprise plan for her and he refuses to say what it is until they get there after everything the player's been through thus far this part just invokes the Nostalgia from the first game as it's just Joel and Ellie the childlike fun Ellie we remember not the more depressed 19-year-old you control in the main story it's hard not to have a smile on your face while watching this because these two just have a really entertaining Dynamic oops what is wrong with you you should see your face right now what am I drown I'm you're not going to drown got to work on that confidence kiddo yeah keep laughing old man see what happens looks like how's that feel refreshing yeah it's not nice getting pushed in is it well actually we need to swim through this part anyway I got you back you're angry and upset I am very angry and upset now come on but placing it after his death and the first day in Seattle just makes it sad as you know Ellie is just never going to get another day like this again but I can come back to this one in a moment I already mentioned how this day ended with Ellie accidentally stumbling upon that Firefly sign which brings that tension back into their relationship the next flashback you play is a year later and Ellie is 17 now being more distant towards Joel typical teenage angst for sure but also because she's off-put by the fact that she knows Joel isn't telling the whole truth but it is also this scene where we see Ellie and Tommy had a nice uncle niece Dynamic important to build up how much Ellie was just instantly accepted into the Miller family as it would be important for how the relationships play out later and once more showing that times used to be simpler for Ellie even in this apocalyptic world this flashback ends with Ellie and Joel stumbling upon two teens who left jackon got infected and died and Ellie finally has the nerve to confront Joel on the lie but he stands his ground on it how do you you know they were useless maybe if you you just would have given them more time they could have figured something out there was no cure there's nothing that could help these people or anybody else I know you wish things were different I wish things were different but they ain't and in Ellie's final flashback she goes back to the Firefly hospital and learns the truth her being immune was a miracle the only doctor who could do the job is dead and The Smuggler is missing along with the girl and she demands Joel tell the whole truth this is the part I want to talk about because I've seen so many different reactions to it Joel lying about Salt Lake City might seem like a small percentage of what their relationship is like they've been through so much that You' think it would be an easy thing to just Overlook for Ellie in fact I've seen some people say that the first game's ending showed that she was willing to buy into the LIE before so why are we going back on it now but I think the fact is that at age 14 Ellie was more willing to just go along with it since she doesn't have much of anything at this point besides Joel it's easier to just buy into it but the flashbacks gradually show that Ellie can't live with the mystery of what really happened because she assigned so much importance to saving the world with her immunity a lot can change between 14 and 17 so her getting more testy about it makes perfect sense because fundamentally good relationships are not built on lies Joel lies to Ellie Because he believes it's in her best interest to not know what happened to avoid the guilt that she would feel from not saving the world which perhaps is fair when she's 14 and they're still on the road but there's no reason Joel couldn't just relent and say the truth when she's 16 or 17 and has seen that life is worth living even with all that they've seen instead he digs his heels into the ground and gaslights Ellie over it she's not buying into his flimsy story anymore and he just treats her like she's being an outrageous child throwing a tantrum and we need to get these kids back to their families is there something else you'd like to rehash no when Joel shows up in Salt Lake City to find Ellie he says this you talk to me you don't just leave me a goddamn not that is very rich coming from him because she did and he continued lying to her face when they both know she doesn't believe it anymore and if he had a say in the matter he'd continue lying about it and gaslighting her over it until the day he died of old age so in that moment he's being a complete hypocrite as I said when talking about part one I think Joel's choice to save Ellie was justified I just think he really went wrong here with the never-ending lies because even with all the good he does for her the lies it ered the relationship over time Joel doesn't give Ellie many details on what happened in the hospital and I also have seen it said that why doesn't he just explain that the fireflies never gave Joel the merchandise that he and Tess were promised why doesn't he say that they never gave her a choice so he was just looking out for her and how impossible it might have been to spread the vaccine worldwide and all sorts of other things but like I said in the part one video Joel's motivations had nothing to do with any of that Joel never even asked about the weapons he in tests were promised cuz he didn't even care about them anymore Joel is just not the get on your hands and knees and beg type he's not going to cry about how he couldn't lose another daughter he's a man of few words and the ones he chooses says all of that without saying any of that making a vaccine would have killed you so I stop them Ellie doesn't need a long speech about why he did it because she already knows she knows Joel loves her with everything he has and refuses to entertain a world where she's gone and thus did what he did however Ellie can't really appreciate or accept that right now because she at age 17 is depressed enough to to believe she's not worth that kind of affection Ellie thought she deserved to die to make the deaths of Riley and Tess and Sam have some meaning to it in this moment Ellie feels all the weight of these deaths meaning nothing and the weight of the last two years of Lies unraveling before her in real time so she chooses to just end it with Joel this reframes the campaign because we Now understand that when Joel was killed he and Ellie hadn't really talked in like 2 years I fully believe Ellie was justified and cutting Joel out of her life at this moment as I said good relationships are not built on lies keeping something this major from Ellie is a serious violation of trust and a valid reason to stop talking to someone even if I think Joel's Choice was a good one and the one I'd make if I were him another bit of cruel irony to the whole thing is how the perfect Middle Ground here is Ellie and Joel properly getting to unpack what has happened and why the lies were told but she goes no contact over it the ironic thing is that Joel is getting that punishment and it definitely is his fault well it's his fault because of the lying but I actually meant that Ellie's coping mechanism is just avoidance and bottling up anger and resentment she didn't used to be that way though she just is now cuz that's how our primary influence Joel acts whenever he has to deal with tough emotions hey look um about Tess I I don't even know what here's how this thing's going to play out you don't bring up Tess ever Joel put the idea in Ellie's mind early in their Adventure that you don't talk about how you feel and you just stay silent and that's the end of it got to leave that stupid robot on his grave what should I do with it I me what I want to talk about it no why not how many times do we need to go over this things happen and we move on it's just that's enough you're right I'm sorry not to say Joel was a bad influence on Ellie certainly the opposite just that his poor coping skills have rubbed off on her I think Joel would have a different attitude in regards to talking about Tess or Sam after that Farmhouse argument but the damage was done Ellie acting this way is learned behavior from him so Ellie cutting him off as a prison of his own making in several different ways these flashbacks show how Ellie gradually fell out with Joel leading to the moment of his demise but they're also present day Ellie reflecting on these moments with a feeling of nostalgia and guilt these flashbacks show how in the moment lies eroded trust but also how in the past tense it's very easy to take people for granted when they're still around all the flashbacks show just how great of a dad Joel is if you look past the lying and gaslighting part Ellie is so invested in dinosaurs in space and all that kind of stuff and he found this Museum and planned this whole camping trip for her to see it when they enter this model spaceship he gives her a tape of the Apollo 11 launch to listen to on her Walkman and says it took a mighty effort to find that tape you don't do this for people you kind of like or kind of feel the void of the other daughter the hotel flashback has a fight with a bloater and the game does a fake out game over where you think you're about to die but then Joel Just tears the monster to pieces with a machete definitely one of the coolest moments in the game because we all know how tough bloaters are and Joel just goes toe-to-toe with one to save Ellie like what a badass those are the kind of Acts you forget about when you're mad at someone for what they've done that's bad I've I've seen people criticize Joel for the idea that he saves and takes care of Ellie because he wants to fill the void left behind by Sarah in a possessive way but I don't buy into that at all I'm not a psychiatrist so I'm not an expert on the psychology of people who lose their kids but from where I'm sitting I don't think Joel was trying to replace Sarah with Ellie I already said earlier that he displays Sarah's photo right next to Ellie's in his house he used to not be able to look at Sarah at all until Ellie gave him something new to live for Sarah and Ellie are just two very different kids Joel doesn't try to get Ellie to fit in a Sarah box because he engages with Ellie's interests that she doesn't share with Sarah Sarah liked playing soccer and boy bands and teen drama movies Joel took her to those movies even if he doesn't like them one bit because Sarah being happy made him happy but now he says to Ellie that he actually read The Savage Starlight Comics she likes even if they aren't his thing because he wants to have a window into Ellie's life and interests he found that Apollo 11 tape because it would mean so much to Ellie even though he's no expert on this material hey Joel guess what the first animal to go to space was I don't have to guess I was a monkey no it was fruit flies yeah in 1947 it was to see radiation exposure at high altitudes they lived through it dead Gung girl you are smart thanks after he's dead you can see an idiot's guide to space in his nightstand because he wants to learn about this stuff because that is what Ellie cares about I just don't think he'd do any of that if his love for Ellie wasn't genuine or was just a projection from losing Sarah he has the respect for Ellie to just stop talking to her when that's what she wants because knows he's screwed up and accepts it his house also has this Thanksgiving photo in it where he and Ellie are on opposite ends of the table not even looking at each other and that was the status quo for years because he wasn't going to beg for forgiveness he knew he didn't deserve and she was just festering in Anger through it all Ellie never hated Joel she just took all of her self-hate and pointed it at him every issue she's ever had related to the immunity goes from a feeling of isolation and sadness to an anger at Joel in Ellie's Journal you can read all these various thoughts for example Ellie had a girlfriend named cat between games and when they kissed the first time Ellie got freaked out because she was concerned that would make cat infected something that's a pretty valid concern but she had no Outlet to talk about it with because only Joel Tommy and Maria know her condition and you know how Joel is with talking about it resenting him for all that makes so much sense this is just a very human game with human issues like how Ellie writes to herself when she's younger about how she doesn't want to tell Joel about her relationships because she doesn't know if he'd accept it or not which leads to a funny cringeworthy interaction like this one I hear the way Jesse talks about you no Jesse and I are just friends no no I've got a pretty Keen Eye for these sort of things not so Keen with this one characters in this game feel real to me they make decisions that maybe aren't rational or the best choices but one's real flawed people would make Ellie going two years no contact is just hard to watch because even though Joel has it coming she's not making herself any happier by doing it she's just making herself Miserable as her ego can't rationalize the fact that she still loves Joel with the knowledge that he did all these things that should make her hate him so it's just easier to avoid him these are two people who aren't good at expressing their emotions and that puts a wedge between them Ellie's Revenge Mission happens because of the fact that she took Joel for granted and just sort of expected him to always be there ready to let her back into his life whenever she wanted I mean if she really hated him why would she keep living in his backyard for 2 years after she cut him off she just didn't want to talk to him for the time being not expecting him to be taken away from her out of nowhere but between the ending of Ellie's story and the end of the game is aby's story which I could and did spend a lot of time talking about however I don't think that's particularly relevant to the subject at hand so I'll instead jump way ahead to the end of the game when Ellie's living at The Farmhouse with Dena and their son and Ellie is still struggling with the PTSD from Joel's death in the mix of all this we get another flashback of the party that took place the night before Joel's death they haven't talked in two years but when Ellie is hit with a homophobic comment Joel rushes to her defense only for her to tell him off for getting involved in her business again what's great about all these flashbacks but this one in particular is that we're constantly left guessing about where the relationship stood by the time Joel dies and this one is just gut-wrenching because you actually think was this the last thing they ever said to each other and she was just carrying on with the resentment for no reason but the true ending serves as one sliver of optimism as it turns out that the party fight was not the last time Ellie talked to Joel it was later that night where a lot of emotions are put on the table this is one of my favorite scenes in the game as Ellie learns from Joel that he's totally okay with her being romantically involved with Dena something she was concerned about when she was younger but then brings it back to the matter of the lie and just lays it out that she believed dying for the vaccine would have made her life worth something Joel just stands up straight and says one of my favorite lines in any game if somehow the lord gave me a second chance at that moment I would do it all over again it's just such a powerful line as even after two years of being no contact with Ellie being given nothing but time to reflect on what he did he still stands by at 100% he might regret the lies but this man will never regret saving Ellie's life and seeing her grow in a safe Community with friends and family with the hindsight that his actions will lead to them being estranged her being alive makes it all worth it and if that's not love in its purest form I don't know what is I think that for me changes Joel's actions in part one from being selfish to selfless yes he saved Ellie cuz he couldn't live with another daughter dying that much cannot be argued as his motivation at the time but this hindsight really changes it for me it's no longer about him getting to spend time with Ellie it's about her getting to live because he thinks she's worth more than a vaccine and that she deserves to have community and family and know what that's like being someone who never had it as a kid and that just gets me every time but his heart sinks when she says she doesn't know if she can forgive it or not but then I would like to try I like [Music] that okay [Music] I'll see you around [Music] Yep this whole scene placed right at the end reframes the whole game yet again in the prologue Ellie says to Dena that it would be nice to grow old when she was saying she wished she was sacrificed four years ago the previous night she said she wanted to watch a movie with Joel that night Ellie was on on the path of healing and moving forward as confirmed by Neil dman and co-writer H gross Ellie was ready to move on and enjoy the time she had left with Joel for however long it was going to be but Abby stole that Redemption from them thus the game that we just played happened Ellie's Quest was one for finding the ability to forgive herself for not forgiving Joel Sooner and by the end through Abby she understands why Joel did what he did and truly forgives him and herself he loved Ellie with everything he had and she felt the same about him now she can draw him quite clearly a man at peace with the world and that is why I think Joel was right in the end we can debate all the live long day about whether or not choosing one person over the entire world is right or wrong and people will continue debating that till the end of time not even just in the conversation of the last of us but I'm just saying that in a killer be killed World choosing the love of your family be it blood family or found family is a really emotionally compelling plot it's the ultimate respect of the first game by making the entire thing revolver on the choice Joel made to save Ellie one that shows by the end that he was right to do it but actions have consequences and he accepted that when they caught up to him I just think these are deeply empathetic games I've become more empathetic for having played as the stories of both games but part two in particular get you to reckon with your biases and see things from a different perspective and I consider that invaluable it's why the last of us one and two are some of my favorite games ever made despite them being nothing like most other games I consider favorites but yeah sure the debate will continue to rage on for years about Joel being the villain of the series but that's the best part of the debate it doesn't matter that I didn't end the conversation today cuz that wasn't even the goal it was to show that from my perspective he was right for no other reason than just having love for his kid and wanted to give her a chance to live despite the huge relationship wrecking mistakes he made afterward that I went into but that's pretty much all the time we have for today so I will say that I hope you enjoyed this video and that my YouTube break is now officially over and new content will begin very soon so on that note I'll say what I always do thank you all for watching and I'll see you next time

Channel: J's Reviews

Views: 347,999

Keywords: the last of us, last of us, the last of us part 2, the last of us 2, the last of us hbo, the last of us joel, the last of us show, the last of us part ii, the last of us part 1, the last of us ellie, the last of us series, the last of us ending, the last of us tv show, the last of us trailer, the last of us explained, the last of us and why joel was right, last of us 2, joel the last of us, the last of us remake, the last of us gameplay, the last of us analysis

Id: sgUvaiBqmUQ

Length: 41min 20sec (2480 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 17 2024