The Last of Us‘ Joel Is Not a Good Guy (But That’s So Easy to Overlook!) and More Post-Episode 4 Thoughts
Joel Miller has done bad things.
We’ve heard the refrain several times over the course of The Last of Us’ first four episodes. Joel said it. Tess said it. Ellie asked about it. And we’ve seen it for ourselves: Starting in Episode 1, when Joel lost his mind on the guard blocking his exit from the Quarantine Zone, and as recently as Sunday’s hour, which found him finishing off an attacker he easily could’ve let live. (Read a full recap.)
Pedro Pascal’s character is a man of unflinching violence perpetrated with disregard for morality or collateral damage. On paper, I sure as heck don’t wanna hang around with that guy. And yet! The minute you throw him on screen, protecting a smartass teenage girl, he’s my favorite. My absolute favorite. Cue up the Hank Williams and save me a spot in the backseat, because I AM FULLY ON THIS RIDE WITH THESE TWO.
The way I forgive this man his transgressions! (And, as you know if you’ve played the video game on which the HBO series is based, there’s… a lot more ground to tread here — but don’t ruin it for the newbies in the comments.) “He’s experienced overwhelming trauma,” I think as he makes Jell-O out of a FEDRA guard’s face. “He’s had to survive decades in a hellish dystopia!” I murmur to myself as he swiftly silences that kid who’s crying for mercy in the laundromat. “He’s doing it for Ellie!” I intone, like a mantra, as the season, and the… let’s call them “choices” continue.
In my defense, Joel is played by a very charismatic actor who is so seemingly replete with joy, he couldn’t get through his inaugural Saturday Night Live hosting gig without dissolving into giggles multiple times. I mean, who is going to hate this guy?
If you’re new to The Last of Us‘ story — AKA you haven’t played — we’re at the precipice of some seriously gnarly stuff that’s going to come up for both Joel and Ellie. Similarly, Sunday’s ep marked the start of Joel’s willingness to engage more with her. We got their banter in the car (his gruffness only ratcheting up her impishness, a beautiful thing to see), his opening up about Joel and Tess, his inability to tamp down his laughter after she shared yet another dad joke from Will Livingston’s No Pun Intended: Volume Too.
We also saw Joel become very concerned with Ellie’s emotional well-being after she had to shoot someone to save his life. His halting check-in, as well as the way he circled back to the topic later in the episode, shows a care — dare I say affection? — that belies his insistence that she’s nothing more than “cargo” and the fulfillment of a promise to a dead friend. “We’ll get through this,” he assured her. Is that the kind of thing you say to someone you truly don’t care about?
Episode 4 also had me thinking about:
* Melanie Lynskey and what a damn force of nature she is. So glad she’s here as Kathleen, even if it’s not 100 percent clear yet what’s going on in the remains of the Kansas City QZ. Don’t get me wrong: I’m extremely glad the Yellowjackets star is finally getting her due. But you all slept on Ever After, and it shows.
* What Chef Boyardee’s offerings would actually taste like after 20 years in the can. Probably, as Ellie and Joel mentioned, not too bad? Good, even, if you’re grading on a post-apocalyptic curve?
* Quick reminder that next week’s episode will be available early on HBO Max and HBO On Demand because of the Super Bowl: Details here.
What are your Episode 4 thoughts? Drop ’em in the comments!
What this story does to subvert expectations has only just begun. I can’t wait to see it play out and I just hope they can make Season 2 as hard to watch as it was to play. If you know, you know.
I’m hoping they realize their mistakes of the 2nd game and have a chance at a do over or they’re going to not get a 3rd season.
They might draw it out but I don’t think they’ll change it. Nor do I think they should. It’s the story they want to tell.
But everyone hated the story, and unlike a video game where people bought the whole story on the day they purchased it and get it all whether they want it or not a tv show they can just stop watching. Then it tanks for the network.
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Not to mention the difference in actual star power for actors, and what people tune in for, and how the current actors are currently being received in the roles. If they thought season 2 of True Detective got slammed compared to the first…
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It’s not often you get to make a gigantic mistake and get a do over. Their ego might not allow it, but they might want a season three, and allow this to be its own thing.
Its probably good to remind yourself about every once in awhile about Joel. Especially when you are shown a character who also appears to have been through it (like Kathleen) who we see as the bad guy and its entirely possible she is just having a day of bad decisions. But if she were our main character, we’d believe her.
I have to say, I was very confused about the early release date for next week’s episode and the Super Bowl didn’t cross my mind. I think it was also because there were so many HBO Max commercials on regular cable TV this weekend that I was concerned the channel had given itself like until the end of the month to get an uptick in subscribers before it said it was finally dead.
Yes to both. (I didn’t connect the reason for the early release either). But it does remind me of the TV version of the Walking Dead and their first encounter with Negan. Considering the “good guys” assassinate for hire Negan’s men he’s pretty much completely justified in what he does, it’s just we care for the ones he’s doing it to so he’s the bad guy. But from that point on our protagonists are as bad or worse. As the saying goes, no one is the villain of their own story.
Kathleen was having a bad day? Girl, she ordered her men to kill a room full of people and she was willing to kill Sam because she was having a bad day? Give me a break.
I won’t say or judge on anything he may or may not do later. And we can guess he’s done bad things in the past. But how did this episode move the needle at all? You had a bunch of bad people pretending they needed help and then tried to kill them sight unseen. NOW, after you tried shooting him and choking him out with a rifle you’re supposed to give him a second chance to really be honest when he says he’ll just let them go and not call in his friends as he’s bleeding out to kill you. That’s not violating marquis of queensbury rules, that’s just dumb. He lost any right to be cute and sympathetic when he tried to kill Joel and his child companion unprovoked. Joel may be a bad guy; this didn’t make him a bad guy though.
Love Melanie Lynskey. She was the best in Togetherness. There is something soft and strong about her, all at once.
I’ve always said, if we had an apocalypse like TLOU, I would choose my associates wisely, and the rest were disposable or food. Anyone crosses me, disposable. Joel is actually kinder than I would be in this situation.
The game version of Joel isn’t nearly as agro as this version. They allude to his dark past and he does some rough stuff in defense of Ellie, but they’re definitely leaning more heavily in that direction. I think I know why, but it’s best to avoid spoilers.
They’re doing this all the time on the show because they won’t admit that part 2 sucked. They wanna paint Joel as the bad guy as soon as possible because they will fk up this show just like the dyd with the second game.
Without going into too much detail either, pt 2 sucking as a game would be far worse as a tv show. Because of the two leads, one is a legit tv star with charisma, and the other will not be able to carry a show unless they recast.
Is there an expectation that during a civilizational collapse, people will still be decent and honourable?
What a weird piece of criticism…
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NO SPOILERS! Not for me but others. How hard is that?
Survive 20 years in the world that he had to survive in and see if you’re going to be a good person after that time. It’s a morally gray world. In that world, Joel is okay. He’s a bit more ruthless on the game than he is on the show, but in this world where you can be much worse, Joel is alright.