joel noticing that ellie's been acting quiet and trying to make it up to her with chef boyardee and boggle and letting her read her "shitty puns" just to make her smile is easily the most dad thing he's ever done

ignoring how emotionally devastating the episode was I love how once joel accepted he was a Dad again he went from reluctant father figure to full blown dad mode. did not hold back. found ellie’s favorite food and a board game for them to play. took her to the zoo (the giraffe feeding scene). asked her if she was ok in the most gentle way possible. told her stories about sarah. compared her to sarah bc they’re both his daughters. told ellie how proud he was of her / how much he cared for her. opened up. said “we’re going home”. murdered dozens of people for her. brought her on a hike. you know. normal dad stuff 

The way that Joel’s done what he could not to kill people and you can feel his hesitation when he has to kill the teenager in Kansas City, and the old man in ks city trying to snipe them, but when it comes to David’s men, when it comes to where the hell his Ellie is, shit breaks loose. They will tell him where Ellie is, they will tell him how to find her, and the motivation isn’t them getting to keep their lives, it’s how quickly they want to die.

it amazes me how ellie's "tough guy" demeanor is totally different when she's not with joel. it's like. having him present and close gives her this extra security so that she can seem more confident in what she's saying. her threats are more consistent and even more creative and sarcastic because she knows joel is there to protect her anyways. but now that she's facing these men alone??? her voice is higher and less steady, much more child-like. her threats are repetitive and not as cocky, she can't mask her fear through this dangerous demeanor as well as before because she's not only afraid that joel's not there, but also that they might find him and attack him in a moment in which he's too vulnerable to protect himself. the LAYERS