First Things First…
This season has been so good. I’m just hoping they land the plane and give us a great season finale. It’s going to be hard to match the intensity of Ellie’s encounter with David in the previous episode, though. Maybe this is a more mellow, table-setting finale?
6 Things I Like
6. A Worthy Sendoff for Marlene
Shoutout to Merle Dandridge. Fans of the game made a big deal out of her reprising her role as Marlene here in the show, which made me think she’d be a more prominent character.
But even though she’s key because of her role in protecting Ellie, putting Ellie under Joel’s protection, and pushing the agenda to develop a cure at any cost, she’s not in the show very much.
She pops up here in the finale, though—first in the gut-wrenching flashback, and then in the hospital Joel and Ellie had been trying to get to.
In the flashback, Marlene puts aside her gut reaction and does as her lifelong friend, Anna, asks—killing Anna, who’d been infected, before she turns.
Anna, as I’ll get to, was Ellie’s mother. And not only did Marlene have to make that excruciating decision to kill her—she now decides to put Ellie in for surgery, knowing it will kill her, too.
I have more to say about the decision itself in a minute. But my problems with it don’t take away from Dandridge’s performance. You can feel her pain as she knows she’s breaking her promise to her friend by sentencing this teenager to die.
But you also feel her conviction that she’s doing the right thing for the good of humanity.
It’s stellar acting and brings so much depth to a character we never got to spend much time with but whose actions and decisions are helping shape the future of civilization.
5. Suicide Storytime
Joel’s story about his scar—that he was the one who shot and missed—is heartbreaking.
It’s another tremendously acted scene in an episode full of them. The bond between Joel and Ellie—and the chemistry between Pedro and Bella—is so strong that this simple conversation is as compelling as anything.
We find out that there was a point shortly after Sarah’s death where Joel didn’t see the point in moving forward. Staying strong for Tommy didn’t matter, and he was ready to die.
I love Ellie’s simple reaction when she croaks…
“I’m glad that didn’t work out for you.”
And Joel dispels a platitude I’ve always hated—that time heals all wounds. He never says the words that Ellie is the one who healed him, but he doesn’t have to. It’s obvious to him… and to Ellie… and to us.
4. Joel’s Rampage: The Sequel
For the second episode in a row, Joel goes on a rampage.
This time, he disarms and kills the two Fireflies Marlene has escorting him from the hospital. He then goes on a murder spree to get to Ellie before they can start her surgery.
His aim is true, while no one can hit him. He’s ruthless but emotionless. It’s kind of on point that in a hospital, he acts with surgical precision. He even kills without hesitation the Fireflies who surrender and put down their weapons. And when he runs out of ammo, he kills up close and personal with a small knife.
All of this is set to slow, operatic background music featuring lots of violins. It’s as if we’re watching a hauntingly beautiful piece of art play out.
3. Ellie’s Origin Story
The flashback I mentioned that kicks off the episode finally reveals why Ellie is immune. Her mother became infected just before giving birth.
But more than the reveal, it’s just a beautiful scene. Anna desperately tries to escape from the monster that chases her but can’t. She only manages to kill it after getting bitten.
You can tell what a great mom she would’ve been, though, because there’s just as much desperation in her plea to Marlene to protect Ellie—and in her lie that Ellie was born before the infection.
2. Role Reversal
I felt bad for Joel as he keeps trying to connect with Ellie and cheer her up, but she remains sullen and distant.
For most of their travels, she wouldn’t shut up, no matter how little Joel wanted to talk. It was just question after question, no matter how intrusive, and it took him ages to warm up to her.
Now he’s fully on board with the relationship. She’s just about the only thing in the world he cares about. And he’s trying to share parts of himself with her. He even mentions trying to find a guitar so he can teach her to play.
Plus there are the little things—like, he swipes Boggle and says they can play, although she’ll beat him at it. And he’s all excited about finding more cans of Chef Boyardee. But after her harrowing experience with David, Ellie is out of it. Not that she’s mean or shutting him down, she’s just barely responsive to anything he talks about. It’s amazing to see how much both characters have changed throughout the season.
1. Worth the Sacrifice
The thing that finally snaps Ellie out of her funk is seeing a group of giraffes in the wild, and feeding one of them leaves and small branches from a tree.
I think Ellie recognizes the innocence in these creatures—innocence that seems to be all gone from her now.
Not only does she respond well to it—she also recognizes it’s something worth sacrificing for.
Joel seems to have the same reaction to this scene—especially to Ellie’s unbridled laughter—as I did. It’s music to his ears. And he, in turn, is ready to scrap the whole plan, forget using Ellie to find a cure, and turn around and live happily ever after in Tommy’s community.
But Ellie, to her immense credit, turns him down. She could take the easy route. Instead, she questions what their whole journey was for if she doesn’t see it through.
A lot of heavy stuff comes out of a simple encounter with giraffes!
2 Things I’m Mixed On
2. Killing Marlene
Joel makes a valid point to explain why he’s about to kill Marlene—he knows if he leaves her alive, she’ll just keep coming after Ellie once she recovers. That’s how committed Marlene is to finding a cure.
Plus, he just killed about 50 other Fireflies to rescue Ellie. What’s one more?
But in the couple of meetings we’ve seen between Joel and Marlene, I’ve felt like there’s mutual respect and understanding of who the other one is at their core.
Maybe that wouldn’t matter to Joel in the end if he feels Ellie’s life would still hang in the balance. And killing damn sure isn’t out of character for him.
But I also think it would’ve been in character for Joel to let Marlene live because he believes she’s trying to do the right thing at any cost. Right or wrong, he understands that level of conviction.
1. Joel’s Lie
Every layer Joel adds to his lie makes it more far-fetched.
They just ran some tests on Ellie… turns out there were lots of kids like her who had immunity… but they couldn’t use them to develop a cure, so they scrapped everything… and then RAIDERS ATTACKED THE HOSPITAL and he barely got her out alive and that’s why she’s still wearing a hospital gown.
Even though Joel knows Ellie wants to see this through to the end, they never talked about the possibility of it killing her. And I never felt that her death as part of the process was understood.
Plus, Marlene admits to Joel that she didn’t tell Ellie the surgery would kill her. Even if that decision was as well-intentioned as Marlene made it sound—a way to not cause Ellie any unnecessary fear or distress—Joel could still feel justified in doing what he did not just out of selfish reasons, but because neither he nor Ellie bargained for her dying. So I’m not convinced he has to lie to her at all.
That being said, I see why he feels like he does. And from a storytelling perspective, there’s much more dramatic tension this way, if it takes a little while for her to find out the truth.
But the lie is just SO unbelievable. It’s like people sometimes say—if you think someone is lying, just let them keep talking. The more he goes on, the worse it gets. I think even Ellie realizes that and just isn’t ready to face the truth.
2 Things I Don’t Like
2. Option 1: Brain Surgery and Certain Death
As for the Fireflies’ plan—is this brain surgery that will certainly kill Ellie really the FIRST option?
They don’t want to start with some bloodwork, see how that goes? Maybe work their way up from there?
This is terrible because, first and foremost, they’re not even trying to give Ellie a chance to survive. But also, it’s foolish because there’s no going back. If they perform surgery but the plan fails or something goes wrong, they can’t go back to Ellie once she’s dead. And there are no other test subjects. So they’ve put themselves in a position where they MUST get it right the first time.
1. Joel vs. Two Bumbling Fireflies
Now here’s a choice Marlene makes that’s incredibly stupid. She of all people knows what Joel is capable of. She already knew from their time in Boston. And now that she sees Joel and Ellie made it across the country safely, she knows even more assuredly how dangerous Joel is.
Yet when she sees how upset—how desperate—Joel is at learning Ellie’s fate, and she realizes he’s too dangerous to stay in the hospital, she doesn’t kill him… she doesn’t have her entire battalion escort Joel from the premises… nope, she just sends him out with two morons.
Those two suckers never stand a chance.
I don’t get how Marlene is willing to do ANYTHING for this cure—even break her sacred promise to her lifelong friend by allowing her daughter to be killed in the name of science—but she won’t have Joel killed to protect her plan.
Tim Matassa
