S01.E06: Kin

[Whimsy]

Quote

After ignoring the advice of locals, Joel and Ellie descend deeper into dangerous territory in search of the Fireflies- and Tommy

Original airdate 2/19/23

[AimingforYoko]

Nice to see the walls come down for Joel, plus it let Pedro flex some acting muscles. 

Commies in Wyoming,  I guess it really is the apocalypse.

[Constantinople]

If watching The Goodbye Girl is as good as it gets in this dystopian, apocalyptic hellscape, kill me now.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Constantinople

[Lady Whistleup]

Amazing acting from Pedro Pascal this episode. 

[paigow]

There must be a Bacta tank in the train station...

[paigow]

15 hours ago, Constantinople said:

If watching The Goodbye Girl is as good as it gets in this dystopian, apocalyptic hellscape, kill me now.

The kids in Reign Of Fire  were better off with Christian Bale & Gerard Butler re-enacting The Empire Strikes Back

ETA: Also the kids in Terminator 1 that had to watch a flaming TV were better off...

Edited February 20, 2023 by paigow

[Starchild]

15 minutes ago, Constantinople said:

If watching The Goodbye Girl is as good as it gets in this dystopian, apocalyptic hellscape, kill me now.

Hey I liked that movie!

I have to say, after that speech about "the only people who can betray you are the ones you trust", I figured Tommy would somehow do just that to Joel. 

I call shenanigans on the false foreshadowing! Damn you show, for playing with conventional tropes.

[bethy]

Ooph. That scene between Joel and Tommy. I love what it said about the relationship between the two men - that even after so much time apart, Joel was willing and able to bare his soul to his brother. And that Tommy was willing to do what Joel asked of him. Really beautiful. 
 

When Maria was talking to Ellie about Joel, I was like, “Lady, you don’t even know the man. Stop acting like you have anything to offer to this girl in terms of advice.” 

[HC87]

Imagine watching "The Goodbye Girl" during a fungi apocalypse?

Little slower tonight, which is fine....

[magdalene]

I am drained.  Pedro Pascal ripped out my heart and twisted it with his acting.

Small voice: That wound doesn't look survivable under these conditions.

[wanderingstar]

I want to give Joel a hug.

[peridot]

The older couple at the beginning made me laugh, they kept giving shit to Joel and Ellie and weren't phased at all.  I was glad to see Joel and Ellie get closer this episode.

It was really shitty of Tommy to stop communicating with Joel without giving him one last message that he's going to a safe place.  I didn't enjoy Maria trying to talk shit about Joel either, she doesn't know that man.  I'm surprised that an unused Diva Cup was still available.  Even today, I wouldn't know how to use that thing.  I kept waiting for the shoe to drop about the community, so I was pleasantly surprised that their were no ambushes or betrayals.

Joel and Ellie's ride across the land on a horse looked so peaceful.  Now I want to ride a horse!

Those monkeys would have scared me.  I guess I was assuming that all the animals in a zoo or lab would have died long ago.

I wonder how Joel will survive that wound?

[Lady Whistleup]

Also, I disagree with Ellie. I think the eggplant colored coat looked great. It's a lot like my heavy winter coat.

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 minutes ago, peridot said:

The older couple at the beginning made me laugh, they kept giving shit to Joel and Ellie and weren't phased at all. 

I recognized the woman's voice, and sure enough, it was Elaine Miles from Northern Exposure fame! 

[aghst]

11 minutes ago, Gillian Rosh said:

I want to give Joel a hug.

I would have to think this was an expansion on the game?

Inside the Episode, someone said they wanted to show the inner lives of characters.  Joel was speaking to his brother, not a therapist, but he had a lot to get off his chest.  Or shoulders.

Seeing a doppelgänger of Sarah probably didn't help his confidence, a reminder that he failed to protect someone very close to him -- while he and Ellie have grown close -- they've saved each other's lives for one thing.

Ellie is still confident in Joel's abilities even as he has doubts or is it that she's become so emotionally dependent on him that going with Tommy was out of the question, if she had a choice.

 

[LoveLeigh]

41 minutes ago, magdalene said:

Small voice: That wound doesn't look survivable under these conditions.

Well he has to survive for the show to go on. Maybe there is a rewind button somewhere there. 

[Accidental Martyr]

59 minutes ago, Superclam said:

I recognized the woman's voice, and sure enough, it was Elaine Miles from Northern Exposure fame! 

Yes, I immediately recognized Marilyn’s voice.

[bitchin camaro]

Well, at least this episode gave me the opportunity to explain the diva cup to my husband. I think that disturbed him more than grandma zombies. 

[PWHCHCH]

Amazing how despite it being decades, all grassland in the middle of no where is shown to be mown short. 

[kay1864]

5 minutes ago, PWHCHCH said:

Amazing how despite it being decades, all grassland in the middle of no where is shown to be mown short. 

Walking Dead had that problem a few episodes in. The guy in the house whose wife was a zombie, none of the lawns in the neighborhood were overgrown. 
 

Joel can magically not bleed out?

[Racj82]

3 hours ago, bethy said:

 

When Maria was talking to Ellie about Joel, I was like, “Lady, you don’t even know the man. Stop acting like you have anything to offer to this girl in terms of advice.” 

Well....she might. Not about Joel personally but trust is probably the hardest thing to do in this world so she may understand things Ellie doesn't. Also, she only knows Joel through Tommy. Joel probably sounds dodgy as fuck with only that knowledge.

I love that this episode was like one season of walking dead but without the usual fuckery going on under the surface.

[CrazyDog]

The couple at the beginning was wonderful. Graham Greene! The humor was needed in this pretty bleak show.

"Did you tell him the truth?"

"Yes"

"Are you telling me the truth?" Lol.

The was a beautiful episode up to the last 5 minutes. 

I was also waiting for shenanigans at the community, and it was nice that it actually was just a functional commune.

The scenes with Ellie and Joel traveling were beautiful. "Everyone loved contractors."

Joel and Tommy were so good together. Joel opening up about losing his edge, his nightmares, and his failures to protect those he cares about, and Tommy agreeing to help even as he wants the past behind him. Though knowing he basically cut Joel off was hard to hear. Joel is stuck in the militant QZ, burning bodies for rations, while his brother finds a better life. Ugh, such a good scene with the two of them.

I didn't mind Maria being wary of Joel. No, she doesn't really know Joel but she's heard what he's capable of. And she could sense they weren't being completely honest. 

This was probably my favorite Ellie episode. The envy while reading the diary, to her hurt at Joel leaving, to her resignation at going with Tommy. Her quietly being all packed and ready to go was so sad. And then going with Joel with no hesitation, lol. I may have cheered.

The season still feels rushed (I would love more Joel and Ellie scenes, and would have loved more of the QZ and Tess and Joel's lives there), and more of Tommy and Jackson, but I'm finally seeing the Joel and Ellie family dynamic.

Joel looked frighteningly pale at the end :(

Edited February 20, 2023 by CrazyDog

[Cheezwiz]

I kind of enjoyed having a zombie-free episode, although there was some definite tension. The settlement Tommy was living in seemed like such a comfortable idyllic oasis, that I would have a really hard time leaving, (even if I had a charge in my care whose blood might save humanity). The hot water in my apartment went out for one day over the weekend, and I thought I would go nuts, so clearly I'm not someone who would do well in a post-apocalyptic society.

The older couple at the beginning of the episode cracked me right up. Kudos to those above who recognized  the actress who used to play Marilyn on Northern Exposure!

I thought the escaped lab monkeys were really scary - my first thought was that some of them might be infected and attack. Of course the humans wound up being the scariest.

My assumption at the conclusion was that Joel was toast and that Ellie would have to continue on her own. I don't see how he could possibly survive, plus it looked like he had been having other cardiac issues prior to them setting out again.

[paigow]

2 hours ago, PWHCHCH said:

Amazing how despite it being decades, all grassland in the middle of no where is shown to be mown short. 

Herds of feral sheep and goats are grazing...

2 hours ago, kay1864 said:

Joel can magically not bleed out?

NPC intervention... Ellie has to trade her coat for help...

[Anela]

No! I guess he's really dead? :( They really bonded, so he had to go. Fuck.

I liked seeing Marilyn, from Northern Exposure, and Graham Greene.  Rutina Wesley, too! (From True Blood.)

Edited February 20, 2023 by Anela

[Anela]

4 hours ago, peridot said:

The older couple at the beginning made me laugh, they kept giving shit to Joel and Ellie and weren't phased at all.  I was glad to see Joel and Ellie get closer this episode.

It was really shitty of Tommy to stop communicating with Joel without giving him one last message that he's going to a safe place.  I didn't enjoy Maria trying to talk shit about Joel either, she doesn't know that man.  I'm surprised that an unused Diva Cup was still available.  Even today, I wouldn't know how to use that thing.  I kept waiting for the shoe to drop about the community, so I was pleasantly surprised that their were no ambushes or betrayals.

Joel and Ellie's ride across the land on a horse looked so peaceful.  Now I want to ride a horse!

Those monkeys would have scared me.  I guess I was assuming that all the animals in a zoo or lab would have died long ago.

I wonder how Joel will survive that wound?

I was afraid the monkeys would attack, that the horse would die, and that the town would be overrun, because I'm used to shows like the Walking Dead. 

I hope Joel magically survives. I don't see how he could, and I wondered why they couldn't stay in the town for a little while. 

[Haleth]

Aww, I adore Graham Greene and was hoping they'd spend more time with him and Elaine Miles.  (I recognized her voice from NE too.)  They were too cute.

I like The Goodbye Girl.

It was nice to see a town where people were thriving and everyone was cooperating in building a life for all.  No roaming gangs, no fascist feds, no murdering neighbors for supplies.  If Joel survives I hope he gets to return and become a sheep farmer or a singer.

How in this world can Joel possibly survive that stabbing?

[bethy]

5 hours ago, Racj82 said:

Also, she only knows Joel through Tommy. Joel probably sounds dodgy as fuck with only that knowledge.

This is really what bugged me about that exchange - the presumption that after having heard only Tommy’s version of events and having met Ellie, what, 30 minutes earlier, she has any actual basis for offering Ellie advice. Maria didn’t know either Joel or Ellie, but decided she could speak into that situation. There’s arrogance in doing that even if you think you’re doing it for the right reasons. Plus, she actually undermined herself and her chance to help Ellie, if Ellie had really needed help by putting the girl on the defensive. 

[Tachi Rocinante]

The opening scene was absolutely brilliant.

Is it just me, or did it seem like Joel had a bit of an issue with the fact that Tommy was married to Maria?

When you get to a supposed "safe" compound and there are monkeys running around free, you should probably leave.

I, too, learned what a "diva cup" is.

[wanderingstar]

12 hours ago, CrazyDog said:

The couple at the beginning was wonderful. Graham Greene! The humor was needed in this pretty bleak show.

I laughed hardest at this exchange:

Joel: Any advice on the best way to travel west?

Marlon: Yeah. Go east.

Joel and Tommy's reunion was beautiful, but it highlighted the different places they're at in their lives. Tommy's found community and love, but Joel is still just trying to hold himself together, still frozen in that moment when Sarah died. I am curious about why Tommy left the Fireflies. Disillusionment? Disagreement with their tactics?

I enjoyed the Maria character a lot, but I'm partial to Rutina Wesley. I loved her tough, tense conversation with Ellie. The little memorial for Sarah and for Maria's son, Kevin tugged at my heartstrings. 

Joel's talk with Tommy, begging him to take Ellie to the Fireflies broke my heart. He is just consumed by fear and guilt and probably a lot of shame. Brilliant work by Pedro Pascal.

Ellie and Joel seem to be moving toward a true father/daughter dynamic, despite their protests to the contrary. I appreciate that Ellie called him out on trying to leave her "for her own good." 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Gillian Rosh

[bosawks]

Pedro does weariness so well.  His face just makes me feel fatigued.

In a dystopian future gender-based violence probably exists in Maria's world to a point that I think not giving this advice to a female traveling alone with a male she doesn't have a vast experience with would seem irresponsible.  

Especially given her past as an ADA.

[Bannon]

Not a big fan of zombie fiction, but I may stick with this, since the dialogue is better than the norm for the genre, and the acting first-rate. The scene between the brothers, with Joel frankly copping to his terror of getting old, in a world that has become completely unforgiving of any weakness, rang very true.

I think I'm going to like the episodes without, or with minimal, zombie content best. In an otherwise good episode, I really disliked last episode's deus ex zombina, for purposes of allowing an escape from the baddies of the week.

[overtherainbow]

It's good to see Graham Greene still acting.

I take it this is the last Joel episode because he wasn't in the preview for the next episode. Would have liked to see more Joel and Ellie interaction. 😢

[Artsda]

I guess it's the Walking Dead watching in me that I expected the great town behind the walls to be too good to be true. Nice they actually left without any happening. 

Hope there's medical supplies in that train, or that they can get back to Tommy's town somehow.

[Capricasix]

Another great episode. I’ll need to watch it again (and again) to catch anything I missed the first time.

I always enjoy seeing Graham Greene in anything. He’s a Canadian acting institution.

The only thing puzzling me is, how Maria (Tommy’s wife? I think that was her name) is still young enough to have children. She was an ADA in the Before Times, which would mean that she would have had to have been a practicing lawyer for a few years at least, in addition to undergrad and law school - and the pandemic was 20 years ago - so she has to be *at least* in her mid-40s, and that’s being generous. Yes, I know that it’s possible for a woman to be pregnant at that age. It just made me think 🤷🏽‍♀️😄

Edited February 20, 2023 by Capricasix
fix minor grammatical slip-up

[Racj82]

3 hours ago, Tachi Rocinante said:

Is it just me, or did it seem like Joel had a bit of an issue with the fact that Tommy was married to Maria?

Every success Tommy had stung him. It reminded him of how much Tommy distanced himself from Joel. It probably also reminds him what he could of had with Tess.

4 hours ago, bethy said:

This is really what bugged me about that exchange - the presumption that after having heard only Tommy’s version of events and having met Ellie, what, 30 minutes earlier, she has any actual basis for offering Ellie advice. Maria didn’t know either Joel or Ellie, but decided she could speak into that situation. There’s arrogance in doing that even if you think you’re doing it for the right reasons. Plus, she actually undermined herself and her chance to help Ellie, if Ellie had really needed help by putting the girl on the defensive. 

This is all the benefit of following Joel and Ellie's journey. I'm not going to judge Maria for her caution. We know Joel. From the outside looking in and with whatever messed up stuff Maria has seen, she is probably always on high alert with strangers. Her approach wasn't great but if she had been right, it was good for her strike during the minimal time when Ellie and Joel were separated.

1 hour ago, bosawks said:

Pedro does weariness so well.  His face just makes me feel fatigued.

In a dystopian future gender-based violence probably exists in Maria's world to a point that I think not giving this advice to a female traveling alone with a male she doesn't have a vast experience with would seem irresponsible.  

Especially given her past as an ADA.

Exactly

[DoubleUTeeEff]

I liked the way the woman in the cabin told her husband the "gun is all the way over there," like she was too lazy to go get it rather than it was out of reach when Joel showed up.

I'm still not sure why there was an either/or situation with regards to Joel or Tommy taking Ellie. I mean, safety in numbers, right? Couldn't Joel's last thing that he ever asked Tommy was to accompany them both? Really, they should have rested up in the commune, gained their trust, explained their situation and then had a whole posse accompany Ellie. I mean, if you really wanted to ensure the survival of humanity, it seems the fewer risks you take the better. I just have a hard time believing a group that's trying so hard to rebuild would be against getting Ellie to where she needs to go if it meant it would help so significantly. But maybe that's the point, Joel won't trust anyone.

So, maybe I should spoil myself if Joel is dead or not. I assumed that according to the previews we'd get

Spoiler

Ellie's background at the FEDRA camp

in the next episode and then at the end we'd see another deus ex machina and have a doctor show up to save Joel or something. But maybe he's really dead and no more Pedro Pascal for the rest of the season and all next season? That would be terrible!

[Capricasix]

I really don’t think Joel is dead. And I never played the game, so I know very little of the backstory - but I don’t think his story ends so soon.

I forgot to add the part that made me laugh out loud - when Joel was teaching Ellie how to target-shoot and he took the gun to show her that it was still working fine, he said something about how to aim it, and she said, “Are you gonna shoot it or get it pregnant?” LOL 🤣

[Colorado David]

Heck yeah, Graham Greene (loved him in Green Mile among other things.) And yep recog'd Elaine off the bat - now if we can find a way to bring Rob Morrow in, I will be an incredibly happy camper.

Woah....Joel is a goner unless they bring in someone to assist him. I hope so, we have all become so attached to him.

Small quibble about where that commune is getting its supplies from, as it did look pretty darn remote. I can see some farming and stuff, but the booze and all the food for the horses?

Edited February 20, 2023 by Colorado David

[iMonrey]

I guess I'm more invested in this show than I thought, because I don't know if I will want to continue watching it if Joel is dead. 

They managed to do a lot with this episode which I expected to dislike based on the previews for it. I really like the smaller parts that just focus on Ellie and Joel so I was not looking forward to adding a big community to the story, but they didn't stay very long and managed to avoid a lot of the community tropes we got in The Walking Dead. 

20 minutes ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

I'm still not sure why there was an either/or situation with regards to Joel or Tommy taking Ellie. I mean, safety in numbers, right? Couldn't Joel's last thing that he ever asked Tommy was to accompany them both? Really, they should have rested up in the commune, gained their trust, explained their situation and then had a whole posse accompany Ellie. I mean, if you really wanted to ensure the survival of humanity, it seems the fewer risks you take the better. I just have a hard time believing a group that's trying so hard to rebuild would be against getting Ellie to where she needs to go if it meant it would help so significantly. But maybe that's the point, Joel won't trust anyone.

This. I mean, I get that this is just the way Joel is, but it was driving me nuts he wouldn't tell everybody that Ellie was potentially the cure for the virus. They have a lot of guns in the community, there should have been a large, armed escort to take her where she needed to go.

[paramitch]

Another great episode. I love what Craig Mazin is bringing to the show -- I just think he causes Druckmann to up his game.

It was heartbreaking to me that, yet again, they find a real safe haven, as at Bill's, yet they couldn't even stay more than a night. I mean, I get the urgency, but honestly for their own mental and physical health, I would have had them stay a few days (even a week) before continuing onward. (Shoot, even in Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship stays a full month in Lothlorien to rest and recuperate, for God's sakes, after escaping the terrors of the Mines!)

It was wonderful to see Graham Greene (I've always loved him, and Thunderheart remains one of my favorite movies lifelong)), and I loved seeing Elaine Miles, still with that sweet little-girl voice just as before on Northern Exposure! They were so funny and cranky but also adorable. I hope they stay okay, darn it. They seemed so vulnerable.

Everyone's work here was so good. The little quiet moments are always my favorites, so I loved Joel and Ellie's talk by the fire about what they want to do, and Ellie dreaming of space. Loved Joel's quietly affectionate good-night to Ellie, "Get some sleep. Dream of... sheep ranches on the moon." It was just so lovely, and it's so nice to see them depend on and support each other. And -- it's such a subtle, nuanced detail for me to nerdily point out, but it's lovely and telling that Joel is asking her to dream of BOTH their dreamed-of futures -- not just telling her to dream of the moon, but for her to dream of sheep ranches (his dream) on the moon. Another confirmation that their destinations are the same now.

The town was so interesting -- again, a hard-won Utopia of sorts, and it's always good to see Rutina Wesley (and it was great to realize Tommy had survived). It's funny -- I was so tense the entire time, waiting for the trick to reveal itself, that they ate people, or that they wouldn't let Joel and Ellie leave, etc., and of course there was none of that manufactured Walking Dead shit here.

But I felt so bad for Ellie, fourteen years old and the outsider again, instantly cut off from Joel, afraid of being left or abandoned (her worst fear) and trying to act tough. There is a beautiful, quietly sad reaction from Ellie when Joel sees Tommy and runs to him. You can almost read Ellie going, "Oh, shit, now he has someone he REALLY cares about." Then the scene between Tommy and Joel (just beautiful acting from Pascal and Luna), and then another powerhouse scene right after, with Joel and Ellie (and Pedro and Bella absolutely killed me in that scene). So of course I was thrilled when Joel was already in the stable and saddling up the next morning.

Once again we get all those references to that time for Joel (and Tess) and Tommy when things were real, real bad, and they did terrible things. It takes me back to episode 3, and Tess and Joel looking so young and peaceful with Frank and Bill, who were able to tell Bill they were good people and still mean it, 13 years before Ellie. I was angry at Tommy for judging Joel (but then again, we didn't see what went down), but at the same time, the difference between that Joel and Tess is so starkly different from the Tess and Joe at the beginning of the show, with Tess so rough and harried, beaten up by a bunch of men for a car battery.

I know story logic means they couldn't have done it, but I still wonder why -- when things got THAT BAD -- Tess and Joel didn't go to Frank and Bill to ask if they could shelter in their safe little compound.

Meanwhile, it was so sad seeing Joe deal with those moments of weakness -- were they panic attacks, or something physical? And Ellie have to deal with Joel's wound. I was yelling at the television at Joel "Don't pull out the knife!" Sigh.

Seriously, Joel has to be okay. First, because I care about Joel. And second, because I don't want Ellie left all alone again.

14 hours ago, Constantinople said:

If watching The Goodbye Girl is as good as it gets in this dystopian, apocalyptic hellscape, kill me now.

Hey, I love The Goodbye Girl. Sue me. I also loved the sneaky parallel, which is that we see the scene where Elliot meets Lucy for the first time -- a tough, streetwise little girl he will eventually become family to.

13 hours ago, peridot said:

It was really shitty of Tommy to stop communicating with Joel without giving him one last message that he's going to a safe place.  I didn't enjoy Maria trying to talk shit about Joel either, she doesn't know that man.  I'm surprised that an unused Diva Cup was still available.  Even today, I wouldn't know how to use that thing.  I kept waiting for the shoe to drop about the community, so I was pleasantly surprised that their were no ambushes or betrayals.

Joel and Ellie's ride across the land on a horse looked so peaceful.  Now I want to ride a horse!

Those monkeys would have scared me.  I guess I was assuming that all the animals in a zoo or lab would have died long ago.

It definitely feels like Tommy's departure and silence was some kind of judgment on Joel for what Tommy witnessed him doing. He could at least have let Joel know he was okay.

I really liked Maria -- I thought she was smart, careful, and kind, and was glad to see someone the Apocalypse hadn't ruined in terms of her essential core. I hope she and their precious town stay okay and protected.

13 hours ago, Superclam said:

I recognized the woman's voice, and sure enough, it was Elaine Miles from Northern Exposure fame! 

I did too -- instantly! I also loved that she could instantly (and correctly) understand that Ellie and Joel were not going to hurt them. She and Graham Green were so cute together.

11 hours ago, PWHCHCH said:

Amazing how despite it being decades, all grassland in the middle of no where is shown to be mown short. 

There are places where the grass just doesn't grow high anymore. I knew the plains had short grass now in many places, but I looked it up anyway:

Mixed prairie in western Kansas and Nebraska and portions of southwestern South Dakota, eastern Wyoming and Colorado, and the panhandle of Oklahoma has lost most of its overstory of mid grasses. Much of the Great Plains is now a shortgrass disclimax due to long-continued close grazing.—Plains Grasslands (KSU)

9 hours ago, CrazyDog said:

The scenes with Ellie and Joel traveling were beautiful. "Everyone loved contractors."

This was probably my favorite Ellie episode. The envy while reading the diary, to her hurt at Joel leaving, to her resignation at going with Tommy. Her quietly being all packed and ready to go was so sad. And then going with Joel with no hesitation, lol. I may have cheered.

I loved all of that too. I really treasured the time we got to spend with Joel and Ellie here, just traveling and talking. For me, in a perfect world, we would get 2 or 3 episodes of that kind of interaction, honestly (I love the quiet stuff).

9 hours ago, Cheezwiz said:

I thought the escaped lab monkeys were really scary - my first thought was that some of them might be infected and attack. Of course the humans wound up being the scariest.

I 100% thought the monkeys were going to show signs of being Infected, and that they would attack Ellie and Joel.

5 hours ago, Haleth said:

It was nice to see a town where people were thriving and everyone was cooperating in building a life for all.  No roaming gangs, no fascist feds, no murdering neighbors for supplies.  If Joel survives I hope he gets to return and become a sheep farmer or a singer.

How in this world can Joel possibly survive that stabbing?

I'm hoping the blade missed stuff like his liver or any vital organs over there, and if Ellie can bind the wound and stop the bleeding, she might be able to get him to someone who can help? I don't know, I got nothin'. I'm unspoiled, so I just cannot accept that he's going to die. Fingers crossed.

I really want Joel to sing now. If he gets better, we better get a song out of Pedro Pascal.

Edited February 20, 2023 by paramitch

[Capricasix]

Apropos of nothing, the resistance fighters in the Terminator universe used detector dogs in a similar way as in this episode 🤔

[cardigirl]

I really enjoyed this episode, for all of the reasons stated by so many before me. The opening with the older survivors, Ellie and Joel bonding, the beautiful scenery they were walking/riding horses through. This is a gorgeous show, even if it is a post-apocalyptic world. Made me want to move to the Canadian Rockies. 

But what I loved most was that moment when Joel yelled "Tommy!" and all the emotion that one utterance conveyed. My heart just seized up. Great acting by Pedro throughout the episode. (Please, please go watch The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Pedro is ah-ma-zing in that! In a totally different way.)

I, too, hope Joel survives, mostly because I really enjoy seeing Pedro Pascal on my screen. #shallow 🥰

Edited February 21, 2023 by cardigirl

[paigow]

1 hour ago, Artsda said:

or that they can get back to Tommy's town somehow.

It took 5 days of slow riding to reach Camp Firefly... turning back is not an option...

[kay1864]

1 hour ago, Colorado David said:

I can see some farming and stuff, but the booze and all the food for the horses?

Same! I get the impression they took over an existing town, but enough liquor and feed for 10 years is already there? Doesn’t make sense.

[bethy]

I meant to say, too, that I also loved what we saw of Ellie and Joel’s conversation on the horse. Joel seemed much more open with Ellie and willing to engage with her. I think his conversation with Tommy and then with Ellie gave him some freedom to accept both what he was feeling with her and what she’s feeling to him. 

[shelley1234]

Ahh, once again Joel and Ellie are at a place where they could just hunker down and make a home.  They are still holding on to the hope that getting Ellie to the fireflies will save the world.   They are better than me since I'd want to just find a life in the world that is instead of constantly almost dying for a chance of a world like before. 

I did laugh that the propaganda of communism being the worst thing ever still survived in this apocalyptic world of clickers and zombies....as Tommy living in a communistic world is still like...umm, no we're not because communism is bad.  Maria then reminding him what a commune is....you dolt.  

What became clear to me in this episode is that Ellie is more family to me than Tommy is to Joel. He'd choose her over him if he had to.  She's not Sarah, but she definitely is someone who he feels responsible for like a father would.   That terrifies him and that's what the panic attacks are about.  

I don't know how Joel survives the knife wound in the world that they are in.   But I am hoping for a magic TV show miracle because I want this to continue to be the story of Joel and Ellie.  

P.S. High five to the menstrual cup shout out.   In a world where no more tampons are being made....that's a game changer for a 14 year old girl.   

[paigow]

26 minutes ago, shelley1234 said:

I don't know how Joel survives the knife wound in the world that they are in.   But I am hoping for a magic TV show miracle    

Ellie finds some mushrooms, grinds them into paste to cover the wound...

[dabbrusc]

37 minutes ago, shelley1234 said:

I don't know how Joel survives the knife wound in the world that they are in.

FYI, it wasn't a knife. It was the broken end of the baseball bat that the guy broke across the tree when the fight started.

[Constantinople]

7 hours ago, Tachi Rocinante said:

Is it just me, or did it seem like Joel had a bit of an issue with the fact that Tommy was married to Maria?

 

3 hours ago, Capricasix said:

The only thing puzzling me is, how Maria (Tommy’s wife? I think that was her name) is still young enough to have children. She was an ADA in the Before Times, which would mean that she would have had to have been a practicing lawyer for a few years at least, in addition to undergrad and law school - and the pandemic was 20 years ago - so she has to be *at least* in her mid-40s, and that’s being generous. Yes, I know that it’s possible for a woman to be pregnant at that age. It just made me think 

While they were driving to Kansas City, Joel told Ellie that Tommy joined the army after he graduated from high school and was shipped off to fight in Desert Storm. That would Tommy about 50, which is not young for a father having his first child in the midst of a fungal apocalypse.

So Joel's issue may not be to whom Tommy is married, but that he's married at all. In the same conversation with Ellie, Joel said Tommy is a "joiner" who signed up to save the world and that Tommy made the same mistake with the Fireflies.

So perhaps Joel is concerned that Tommy is making the same mistake again, or a similar mistake.