#I'm kind of bad at recognising/understanding romance so I don't wanna comment more than that

[wolves-etc]

thoughts on The Last Of Us episode seven, largely in the order I had them:

[thoughts on: 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | X | 1.8 | 1.9]

— it took me a while to realise that the shapes at the end of the credits are ellie and joel. it's grim - two figures, alone, growing out of this infested world.

— she can't be actually about to leave joel?? splitting them up at this point isn't allowed, what the shit

(unless she can get there and back quickly enough to bring him medical attention in which yes please)

— first glimpse of the military school!! it's a little odd to realise she had more access to music than joel did. I can't quite remember ellie's first mention of her friend, either - it might've been the first episode?

— did not expect a dressing down in a military school to begin with "what's going on?", gently spoken

— captain kwong I actually really like you. he's an inherently manipulative bastard and I don't trust him but this is another adult talking to ellie honestly and giving her options rather than just making decisions for her, and it's nice to see, in a messed up way.

— and ellie's also not scared of him - or she doesn't look scared. she did tell sam that thing about being scared all the time and I don't think that was a joke. not cowed by him, then. and okay, maybe it's on purpose, maybe he's deliberately avoiding crushing her spirit because they don't just need grunts, they need officers too - but he's still not crushing her spirit entirely, and it's a relief.

— …he really believes they're what's holding civilisation together, too. he's genuinely scared and doing what he can to try to keep things going.

(and still, he has to know that there are abuses of power under a military dictatorship. he has to know, and he's justifying them, because he believes the work they do is that important. I really don't agree with him but I sort of don't know where exactly to fault him on his reasoning, and that's chilling.)

((and I'm doing a LOT of speculating about a character we only see briefly, when he's manipulating a teenager for the cause. but still.))

— gosh, I know ellie got culture shock looking through the teenager's bedroom in jackson, but this is such a normal teenage bedroom too. I mean, almost. one with the vibe of a cell or a ward. but we get a glimpse of everything up on the walls, the drawing of the dinosaur, the mortal kombat poster.

— okay an awful thought is occurring to me. I had to look up transcripts to double-check what ellie said about her friend first: when ellie calls marlene a terrorist, marlene says "was riley a terrorist?" and the past tense there and ellie's expression both felt... significant.

so we can guess her friend died tragically. we know ellie killed someone and doesn't want to talk about it. and it's awful, it's so awful, but if she had to kill a friend who got infected, that could answer it. and it'd add extra angst to her trying and failing to save sam, too - because hey, she didn't even know to try before, maybe she can manage it this time! and then she can't.

— OH GOOD, RILEY'S A SHITHEAD TOO

— she has a good grin.

— "turn around." "you're so weird about that." <3

— uh oh this doesn't bode well

— okay maybe it bodes fine. is it even a girls' night out if they don't see a corpse and have a laugh about it

— ellie and riley are bad influences on each other and also very cute

— riley I've known you for five minutes and I know you should be smart enough not to go into a mall that's only allegedly full of infected. "if it's sealed off then why isn't it sealed off" THE CEILING CAVING IN DOESN'T MEAN THEY WERE LYING about this specific thing at least

— the moment riley said they were on a mission I just. sigh. nonzero chance this is an actual firefly mission.

…fuck, is this gonna be where they both get bitten

— you know, ellie cutting and killing that infected in the cellar where joel stopped to pick up a cache of supplies? that makes much more sense if it was revenge for riley's death. because she hasn't been quite that brutal since. but like, the chance to safely look into the face of the thing that should have killed her, that killed her friend, and get to know it a bit, then quietly regain some of the control she lost? that makes sense.

— …riley directing her into place so she can watch as the mall flickers to life, oh gosh. oh that's beautiful.

— THE FOUR FIVE WONDERS OF THE MALL. STARTING WITH ELECTRIC STAIRS. OH GOSH.

they're so gonna end up at the arcade.

— shoutout to whoever took the time to put lipstick on a glasses advert when the world locked down

— and dawn of the wolf part 2 is definitely a twilight movie equivalent

— environmental storytelling </3

— you know when you feel deep fondness but also your heart breaking a little but it's not sad, it might not even be bittersweet but that's the closest match? yeah. ellie checking her reflection in the victoria's secret window.

— hi this scene is just so soft and so pretty and so sweetly ow

— ARCADE TIME, I KNEW IT

— "you asshole." "yeah, I'm the same asshole that spent an hour yesterday breaking this fucker open." okay riley put so much effort into that night oh heck

— I'M SORRY THE MILEENA VORE IS AN ACTUAL THING. SHE ACTUALLY BARFS BONES. why am I even surprised

— can the camera not zoom out ominously please. this is sweet this is fun let's not do this right now

— ellie's attempt at a goodbye that was also an "I don't like you enough to leave the school and join the fireflies with you," but they both know that, it's not a surprise, fuckin' ouch

— "how does a computer get drunk? it takes screenshots." "what are screenshots?" "I don't actually know."

— (listen I used to write in what was technically a postapoc setting, though the worldbuilding was crap so we mostly ignored that, so I keep wanting to go back and incorporate ideas, it's terrible.)

— riley crashing at that mall with at least one ticking timebomb just chilling in one of the shops, turning the lights on and playing loud games multiple times, I really really don't like this

— oh this hurts. it was set in stone from the start but it still hurts.

— OH SHIT MAYBE NOT. fake screams wtf that's mean, show.

— "maybe the fireflies aren't what I think they are but they chose me. I matter to them." "you mattered to me first." heY OW

— seriously these are baller lines. these lines alone I could see people going feral over. this is the good angst that people write fics about.

— do they have to have this incredibly cute dance party in a shop with lots of faces and figures in the background while we know there's an infected in the mall, please I am suffering

— oh they're so cute and also so doomed

— we still don't know who ellie killed.

— "we can just be all poetic and shit and lose our minds together." yeah, I mean, ideally you could, that's a really sweet and tragic sentiment-

— present-day ellie? is a fucking badass. and I say that not to negate the fact that she's a scared kid trying to keep her caregiver alive, but rather because she's a scared kid and she doesn't know what to do and she's trying even though it's so, so hard.

— the face of someone who's not gonna lose him too.

#longer one this time! #the last of us hbo #the last of us spoilers #tlou spoilers #angst tag #orig #I find ellie and riley a little complicated and I think because it's a kinda grown-up story? #a very real messy thing that a relationship can be asymmetrical (to whatever degree and in whatever ways) and still have love there #and so much love really. #I'm kind of bad at recognising/understanding romance so I don't wanna comment more than that #but gosh they were sweet and gosh that hurt #also yes I am in fact a little smug looking back at some of my guesses now I have more information #perks of taking several hours to watch each episode (and the show being well-written tbqh)