mcree

One advantage of streaming is that we don't have to go back to the Blockbuster to rent the DVD again. Things did not happen in the way you imply. Ellie can hear commotion while entering the lodge, but doesn't see what is happening. We the audience know more. Then she opens the door and enters with her gun drawn. As we hear two more punches, we see her seeing one or both of those. Manny grabs the gun and it goes off, getting everyone's attention and putting an end to the beating. Abby then impales Joel as Ellie watches. But your assertion reads like Abby tortured Joel and made Ellie watch the whole time. Ellie slashed Manny after he grabbed her gun, and Owen restrains him when he initially tries to retaliate. After Abby kills Joel, the gang starts to leave; Ellie threatens to kill Abby and then everyone else: "You're all going to fucking die!" Manny gives her one swift kick that breaks her ribs, and they all walk out. There is no "while" during which Abby or anyone else would intervene. It's a deliberate exception for Joel, who killed her father and 18 others: "There are just some things everyone agrees are just fucking wrong." Joel nods, BTW

Not sure what you mean: by losing Joel? Or Ellie's chance to cure the world, which does not seem like her security? Contrivance is too strong a word; but in the same way the first game was not actually about the cure, the second game is not about revenge. They're obviously why things are set in motion, and way more than a McGuffin, but not really the theme. I don't know how much of the game you spoiled for yourself, but if the adaptation stays as close as it has, there will not be a cure in season 3. There will also be almost nothing about revenge in Abby's Three Days -- she got hers already in S2E2. Not her POV, but we'll see the WLF and Seraphites, their cycles of violence; that's at least revenge-adjacent.

Abby actually never really cared about the cure at all: not at the first scene at the graves, not when killing Joel. It never came up. Interestingly, while Abby is pointing the gun, Ellie says four sentences in the show, out of these five in the game: "I know why you killed Joel. He did what he did to save me. There's no cure because of me. I'm the one that you want. Just let him [Tommy] go." Abby doesn't give a shit in either case, but even that oblique mention was removed for the show. So unless Abby later, during some quiet moment of contemplation, puts it all together, maybe she still doesn't know.

Her beliefs have changed over time. She was the one cure for humanity Joel's lie: not that unique, and the Fireflies couldn't make the cure work But maybe not entirely, doubting more over the years Confirming that Joel lied, losing that chance for the cure The "only" person that could make the cure work was killed by Joel So at this point, her immunity is only a partial tactical advantage when dealing with infected, and anywhere there are spores. It is unlikely that she will ever be the source of a cure. Ellie is certainly reckless in her pursuit of Abby. Abby couldn't bring her father back, but that didn't stop her from seeking justice and closure. If Dina didn't shoot the guy that killed her mother and sister, she would have hunted him down forever. Seems like a theme. Because before the influx of refugees, there were plenty of houses (in good enough condition to occupy)? And now, to avoid creating resentment, established residents are not being forced to move or share their homes? Cat is the team lead; maybe she has it. Not necessary to show her checking in: pretty boring TV.

The executives that make millions of dollars while renaming HBO Max to Max and then back to HBO Max? The reason is that people binge and cancel. So doing smaller chunks means that you will/might resubscribe a few more times. Also if a chunk does not do as well, they can cancel mid-way through the story: something the audience also just loves. Regret usually happens later. Explaining that she "made her talk" and "it was easy", Dina responded that maybe Nora got what she deserved. Ellie then says, "Maybe she didn't", and goes on to reveal to Dina that Joel killed "everyone in the hospital" (not quite true), and that the doctor was Abby's father. Dina has Ellie clarify that she did not know who Abby's gang was at the time of the killing, but that she did know what Joel did: news to Dina in the same way it was to the audience. We only found out that Ellie knew in the previous episode, four episodes after the event. Dina does not take this late reveal well, and says they need to go back, since Ellie has no actionable info, just "whale" and "wheel".

The birthday theme of this episode has established whether Ellie and Dina are technically having a "teen romance". The first game/season starts with Ellie at 14. Two months after they settle in Jackson, it's Ellie's 15th birthday. Four years later on her 19th birthday, she goes out with Joel on her first patrol. Nine months later, it is New Year's. She is in the hospital for three months. So they leave for Seattle right around when she turns 20 alone, after five birthdays with Joel. (That last one was rough.) Ellie is definitely twenty by the time they arrive. Right, and the count-to-ten and hold-out-your-hand were things Ellie did in the very first episode, when Marlene's gang was holding her, and verifying that she was not turning. In the game, Tess reveals that she had been bitten "an hour ago" while not exhibiting any real symptoms other than an aggravated bite. She doesn't say that in the show, but her hand noticeably trembles, and Ellie can deduce where they were and therefore estimate when the bite occurred. She might be inclined to give Eugene the benefit of the doubt in agreeing they could make it back in time; Joel probably never had, and never would.

What was said? "They" is only Marlene, relating second-hand what was planned. Ellie's Cordyceps has grown with her since birth, producing a chemical messenger that "makes normal Cordyceps think that she's Cordyceps" which makes her immune. The doctor is going to remove it, multiply those cells to produce those chemical messengers, and give it to everyone. "He thinks it could be a cure" That's a simple made-for-TV layman's explanation. For one thing, they're not "fishing", just poking around to see what they can see. That's a direct, if fatal, action plan. Marlene had several options to prevent a second season of the show; should she have elaborated with concrete details why the doctor was confident it would work (if there were any)? Turns out Joel didn't need anything more to believe in at least the broad likelihood of a cure. Saw a comment -- don't think it was here -- that we are never shown that the Fireflies had the necessary equipment to mass-produce a cure, putting it in doubt. Between Joel waking up after being stun-bombed and walking down the stairs, when he starts taking guys out, the audience sees even less than Joel does. What would one expect to see?

To avoid spoilers?

Anything other than “yes” would seem like an opportunistic lie at that critical moment. “Maybe” would be more accurate; but it would be less true.

Not the first time the show has been noticed by the methane gas lobby; this was: https://www.aga.org/the-last-of-us-natural-gas-remains-reliable-even-during-the-apocalypse/

Sure, if you're in the story-telling business, you keep it open-ended to do more. Or they're not interested in telling that kind of story; maybe because they can't figure out how to make it work, to put their spin on it. But the cure and immunity in this case is more than just a McGuffin. While it does set the story in motion for the first season, it is also the lynchpin for Joel's lie to Ellie, which underlies their relationship in the second game/season. And of course, Joel's reaction to the potential cure motivates Abby as well, which is the main driver. Meanwhile, we still have some -- counter to the point of the story and counter to Joel's own sense of it -- trying to extra-rationalize his reaction. Maybe because they understandably agree with it, but don't want to feel guilty about it? Ellie is now old enough to rent a car. Only a half-billion more have died, since there just aren't that many people left. (And for some reason, people aren't having as many children as they used to.) If testing alone has not produced a cure, and Ellie is more than willing, you still wouldn't risk it? You have to wait for Ellie to die of natural causes? Or are you trying to induce her to take her own life? In motion pictures, it's common for a scene transition to also include a jump in time. So the time between Joel being knocked out by the stun grenade and waking up with Marlene was probably closer to 5 hours (over 3000 times longer)

This came up way at the beginning of the season, in that scene at the graves. Nora starts talking about a rumor, and Mel shuts it down: "because it's not possible" that someone is immune. And again, the "only one" who could do something with the immunity is dead. Five years later, and Abby just does not care; it never comes up. Maybe it's in the back of Nora's mind. Doesn't matter, especially now. Technically, it's brandishing. Actually, both of them were, and both "in defense of" different things. Tactically, it was foolish of the doctor, but you know: desperate not to lose the chance the save humanity after twenty years of misery and the death of billions. Understandable. But as an argument for Joel's own personal self-defense? Yeah, delusional. You mean like with an MRI or some other kind of imaging? It's been weeks since Marlene got there ahead of Joel, and months since they agreed to bring Ellie there; they knew there was someone who appeared to be immune, and how she got bit and what her symptoms are. Marlene actually is the only one who could tell the circumstances of Ellie's birth, and how that might be relevant. The doctor(s) could then refocus twenty years of failed research and come up with some theories to exploit this immunity. Ideally, you could take it both in advance (how long would it last? would you need boosters?) and immediately after exposure if you hadn't already. You know, like that guy they showed that got bit during the siege and had someone else blow his brains out so he wouldn't turn. I guess we'll never know. With the state of the world, it was never going to be a 100% certainty that it would actually fully work. But if the Fireflies had a working theory -- and again, one can't prove a negative about that -- why wouldn't they take their shot? Would it be more prudent to keep the only immune person alive? Sure; but given how dangerous the world is -- people are getting killed or infected all the time, 19 of them very shortly -- could they afford to do that? They decided to take that gamble with her life. (If the Fireflies had decided to be less "merciful" and ask for consent, however problematic that itself might be, then Ellie would have said yes, Joel gets sad, and there's no big scene at the end and no sequel. Or a different one at least. Of course, even that is a dodge, because they couldn't ask because they don't Ellie that well: they figure she could say no and then they'd be in a pickle. So mercy is better for her; it's better for everyone, except Joel.) More importantly, Joel is not saying, "Well if it was 100%, I would let you do it." Of course he has no number or threshold in mind. He would simply refuse to give up Ellie: "Find someone else."

They're not trying to prove a negative. Like prove that you've never read The Great Gatsby, which was assigned reading in high school. Or more on-topic, prove you've never watched The Walking Dead, so any analogies have no meaning (no rule against posting those of course). It's not that there is no one else in the entire world; Abby's father was the only one they knew of. And if spreading a cure worldwide was short of a "guarantee", killing those that could even try is even further. No; the 2nd game makes this clear in the opening minutes. Joel tells Tommy shortly after arriving in Jackson that "because of her, they were actually gonna make a cure". It remains to be seen whether the show will be clear(er). It's a missing piece since Tommy knows Ellie is immune -- it comes up again in the first episode this season -- but we don't know what Tommy knows regarding why Joel and Ellie ended up coming back. Until then, as others have pointed out, it doesn't make sense when combined with Joel's other actions and lies, and it doesn't make sense thematically for the first game/season. Marlene later says that Ellie would want to do the right thing, and Joel does not disagree. That's why Joel lies to Ellie about other "immune" and the Fireflies not being able to make a cure work: don't go seek them out. Joel does not know that he killed the "only" one who could do it. (But the audience does.) I would be surprised if this isn't settled clearly in the show at some point.

Anyone with a few spare minutes and an internet connection can verify that did not happen. It hurts your credibility.

By this point in the game, Ellie has explained that she has a self-inflicted chemical burn there, to make it look less like a bite mark. Then the tattoo was done on top. In any case, it has been visible to everyone already for months/years, if only at a distance; perhaps with an accompanying story/lie. Medical attention might give cause to look more closely. But other signs of infection are very obvious. Does anyone even know what a healed wound from an infected that had no effect looks like?