JOEL WAS WRONG - Last of Us ENDING EXPLAINED

swear to me that everything you said about the fireflies is true I swear okay [Music] hey welcome back to screen Crush I'm Ryan Airy so guys we have to talk about Joel's decision in the final episode of The Last of Us after a long journey Joe and Ellie finally found the fireflies but the hope for a happy ending with the Cure turned into a heartbreaking bloodbath Joel chose violence and killed everyone he saved Ellie but in doing so condemned everyone else yeah but Ali is safe so that's what matters well that's the question isn't it was Joel right to do this to protect Ellie or was Joel wrongk and his selfish need to protect his surrogate daughter he robbed Humanity of a second chance this is your chance keep her alive and you said everything right now this is a debate that goes all the way back to 2013 when the original game was released both the show and the game create this powerful moral debate about Joel's actions well look you saw the title of the video so you know where we stand Joel was wrong but that doesn't mean that the fireflies were right see this is the beauty of The Last of Us there's a complicated moral debate in every aspect of this story every perspective is sort of flawed nothing is simple and there are no easy choices this is why exploring Joel's decision is so interesting but as complicated as all this is the simple fact of this is Joe was wrong and this video is going to explain why I know you mean well I know you want to protect me you have but there's no halfway with this we finished what we started all right so first let's bring everybody up to speed on Ellie's condition and why she had to die to make this cure Ellie's Mother Anna was infected with cordyceps while she was pregnant but it happened mere seconds before Ellie was born cordyceps Works fast so it infected Ellie at her birth Ellie lived with the infection since she was a baby and the cordyceps grew within her producing a chemical messenger that tricks normal cordyceps and that is how she's immune when she's infected as a teenager the fireflies believe that Ellie's immunity could create a cure multiply the cells in a lab produce those chemical Messengers and then I can give it to everyone but to make this cure they need to remove the cordyceps from Ellie a process that will kill her but why is that well because the cordyceps infection grows inside the brain so the fireflies doctor needs to remove the cordyceps from Ellie's brain and that procedure would kill her Joel couldn't allow for the fireflies to take Ellie from him so he killed them all I guess I've killed baby 20 people maybe 40. 20 years earlier he was powerless to save his own daughter Sarah's death broke Joel he even attempted to kill himself but due to dumb luck he survived and after that he just kept on Surviving though it was a bleak existence he had no real purpose nothing to live for he became a cynical man a murderer and a monster but he regained his Humanity thanks to Ellie so Time Heals all wounds I guess it wasn't time that did it Joel needs Ellie she says purpose now and he must protect her at all costs even if it means killing everyone who threatens his surrogate daughter so from Joel's point of view there is no choice here at all Joe is a parent and what parent wouldn't do anything to protect their child cure or no cure I mean I'm on team Joe the Firefly suck anyways all right well cool let's talk about that let's try to defend Joel's Choice from a certain point of view first of all can we really trust the fireflies to develop this cure successfully I mean this is the post-apocalypse we're talking about it is doubtful that can Mass produce the Cure efficiently at this point for all we know they can't even manufacture The Cure at all I mean the Firefly's doctor believes that Ellie's unique condition could create a cure but no one knows for certain if it will work maybe it wouldn't hurt to do some more tests before killing the only person in the whole world who is immune just saying whenever I'm about to do something I think would an idiot do that and if they would I do not do that thing also the openings of both episodes made it clear that it may be impossible to cure cordyceps and there are no treatments for this no preventative others no cures they don't exist it's not even possible to make them [Music] to mention that the fireflies take the choice away from Ellie Marlene doesn't want to give Ellie a vote because the Cure is more important than Ellie's wishes she must be sacrificed for the greater good and the fireflies prove time and time again that they're really incompetent and careless in the first episode most of the fireflies get killed in the Boston qz in the second episode a bunch of others get killed at the Rendezvous point they entrusted Humanity's Only Hope in the hands of two brutal Smugglers instead of getting an army of fireflies to escort Ellie to safety and then all of them get wiped out by a 56 year old man not to mention that these so-called Freedom Fighters are into blowing stuff up not really caring who gets caught in the crossfire in their war against fedra so even if they create a cure can they really be trusted to give that cure to everyone considering all of this maybe we're giving them too much credit they could actually create a cure let alone say What's Left of humanity and sure if we apply real world science to this then maybe it's hopeless but I mean it's a fictional story so let's assume that within the context of the story The fireflies will be able to create a cure if the Q or would work then Humanity might have a chance to rebuild civilization this might be a terrible thing to say but if sacrificing Ellie's life saves everyone else isn't that the right thing to do wouldn't Ellie want to give her life for the greater good logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few but here's the thing guys none of this matters to Joel whether or not the fireflies can create a cure is not even a factor in his decision when Joel made that choice to save Ellie and kill the fireflies he didn't care if they could actually save the world he didn't consider the Cure at all or even the world for that matter Joel did this for one reason only he protected Ellie he created a powerful bond with her and she became the daughter he lost and now the fireflies expect him to experience that terrible pain all over again I mean for Joel that is not an option his decision is not rational it's made from Pure emotion he loves Ellie and he cannot live without her the things I do for love Joel's love for Ellie is fundamentally destructive because for him it's less about saving Ellie and more about not losing her and no matter how much we understand Joel's reasons the truth is that his actions are horrific what he did is morally wrong he kills the fireflies he kills the doctors he destroys any chance for a cure Joel Stole the World's future because for him there is no future without Ellie what does cordyceps do is it evil no it feeds and protects its children and it secures its future with violence if it must so it doesn't matter if the fireflies can or cannot actually make a cure Joe is not thinking about the future of humanity because the last 20 years taught him to survive by being selfish and brutal he has spent a long time caring only about his own life and the lives of the people that he protects like Tommy and Tess no one else matters if he doesn't There's Hope For The World why bother going on keep going for family and now the only one that matters is Ellie the rest of the world can burn for all he cares now on top of all the murder and condemnation of the human race Joe also robs Ellie of her agency granted he doesn't really get a chance to let her choose because the Firefly stole that choice from her first but by the point Joel learned about what they were planning it was too late for any conversations that being said Joe clearly knows that what he did was wrong because he lies to Ellie about what really happened now you could say that he's protecting her from the truth that he doesn't want to put that burden on her but in truth he lies because he knows that telling Ellie what he did might tear apart their relationship and his lies became uglier with him making things up turns out there's a whole lot more like you dozens of them the doctors they couldn't make any of it work they've stopped looking for a cure this lie crushes Ellie because for her it means that all of her sacrifices were for nothing Ellie has experienced immense trauma in her short life she lost people that she loved and cared for everybody I have cared for has either died or left me her trauma only intensified after what happened with David a turning point that might have destroyed a part of her forever a crucial aspect of Ellie's personality is her Survivor guilt Ellie and Riley were both infected Ellie survived but Riley turned and Ellie had to kill her after that it was Tess and then Sam she took on that guilt we saw how her inability to save Sam crushed her it'll work great the vaccine I tried with Sam I wanted to save him deep down Joel knows that if given the chance and Ellie knew that her sacrifice could save the Rileys and Sams of the world she would not hesitate to sacrifice herself she would see it almost like balancing the scales that it's only fair for her to give her life so everybody else gets a second chance after she got so many Second Chances herself she is his purpose but saving Humanity was her purpose and Joel stole that purpose from her her only chance to honor the people that died for her when and if Ellie discovers what Joel did she might never forgive him for that because she lives in a broken world that you could have saved but it isn't for you to decide for you so what would she decide and what's next for Joe and Ellie now Ellie may or may not recover from her trauma maybe they find a safe haven in Jackson they might even have a somewhat normal life but sooner or later Joe will die I mean the average life expectancy in this world isn't very high by then Ellie would likely be a skilled Survivor but Joel condemned her to lead a harsh life with a hopeless future in a world that she could have saved Ellie's death would have meant that there could be a cure it would have created a safer world for Tommy and Maria's children and when you think about it every character that Joe and Ellie meet through the season serves as an interesting parallel to Joel's decision for example Tess she sacrificed herself to give Joe and Ellie a chance to escape she died believing in Ellie and The Cure this is your chance to get her there you you keep her alive and you said everything right true Tess was infected so she was going to die anyways but she went out on her own terms in her final moments Tess fully believed that Ellie could be a second chance for Humanity and Ellie would likely want to go out that way as well Frank and Bill represent a more hopeful outlook for the world when Frank decides to die Bill accepts his decision he could have fought it tried to find some way to change his Lover's mind delay the inevitable but instead Bill loved Frank the way he wanted him to they love me the way I want you to this story had two important lessons for Joel the first was finding something to live for like Frank gave Bill a reason to live the second is understanding when it's time to let your loved ones go Joel's best lesson was in endure and survive Kathleen was so blinded by her need for Revenge that she was willing to do horrible things for her own selfish needs and in the end she and her people died for it in the same way the world's going to suffer from Joel's selfish decision now Henry did some bad things as well but we can justify his actions because he did them to protect his brother but after Sam is infected and attacks Ellie Henry has to make a terrible Choice kill his brother or let him tear Ellie apart now Henry made the right choice it may seem like the only choice but how can Henry kill his brother even if he's infected but he chooses to save Ellie and let his brother go knowing that it's the only way however he couldn't live with what he did and this is the fundamental scene for Joel because Joel faced a similar conflict in the end let Ellie die to save everyone else or save Ellie and condemn what's left of humanity now sure the post-cordyceps world sucks and it might be hopeless Humanity might be too far gone civilization has been reduced to Lost tribes ruled by the oppressive fedra and the insane leaders like David and Kathleen and most people are kind of terrible so you could even say that the last remnants of humanity don't even deserve to live but that's a nihilistic world view miles I mean say what you want about the tenets of national socialism dude at least it's an ethos the show introduced many horrible people but it also proved time and time again that this world is filled with good people like Frank and Bill like Tommy and Maria like Sam like that amazing old couple what about the fireflies we get those in the summer not the Bugs the people there are Firefly people foreign should all of them just die because the rest of the world sucks the Jackson Community is proof that there can be life hope and civilization in this Bleak world and with the Cure Humanity could rebuild the world sure some people are too far gone but every society has some bad people with or without a fungus infection but if you just keep going you find something new to fight for but now there's no hope Joe robbed every one of that chance because of his traumas his dependence on Ellie and his need to have a daughter and that is why he's wrong but that's what makes the last of us one of the greatest stories ever told so what do you guys think was Joe wrong or was he justified in what he did let me know down in the comments below or at me on Twitter and if it's your first time here please subscribe and smash that Bell for alerts for screen Crush I'm Ryan Airy [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: ScreenCrush

Views: 164,881

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Id: IGa2ySWj7bg

Length: 12min 52sec (772 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 13 2023