My online collection of stuff to look at later

Two scenes where Joel is told it’s not about him and he makes it about him.

1. When Ellie tells Joel that with all she’s done to get there, she has to finish what they started, she’s sending a signal that she understands what she may have to give up, but wants to see it through.

2. When Marlene tells Joel Ellie would’ve wanted to do the right thing, she’s admitting it’s not her or Joel’s choice, but Ellie’s and that Ellie would’ve wanted to save the world.

Joel didn’t listen and instead kept Ellie from fulfilling her purpose. On the one hand, he saved her from dying. On the other, had she been fully informed and given the choice, she might’ve chosen to go through w/ the surgery and Joel would’ve been disrespecting her choice and denying her agency over her own life. After all, Ellie told him she wanted to finish what they’d started.

From what Joel told Ellie and the way he was acting when they got to WY, Ellie had become a Sarah stand in for Joel and he couldn’t stand the thought of losing her. He doesn’t know it yet, but by his actions, it’s exactly what he’s done.

Anyways, this series was excellent and im excited to see how they carry out S2 and the alternating POV of Ellie and Abby.

Don’t mind me, I’m just articulating what most everyone knew on a subconscious level.

Ever think that, depending on how you’re identified or self identify, The Last Of Us is the world we live in today, either

1 - exactly as it is. The infected are the loud people in your community openly proclaiming that you shouldn’t exist because of your skin color or you’re part of the LGBTQ community. They’re mindless, heavily armed, carry tiki torches, were infected by a steady diet of Fox “News” and other right wing media, and it only takes one of them to be annoying or even dangerous. FEDRA is the government that controls where you live (redlining, segregation), your rights, and any interaction with them, no matter how minor, could entrap you in a huge prison system, or end your life.

So far, we’re up episode 7 of The Last of Us so let’s look at the zombie apocalypse show’s central premise: Love and the irrational things people do because of it.

E1: Paternal love. Sarah’s death broke Joel and his inability to deal w/ grief poisoned him and sent him down a morally dark path. In E6, Tommy hints at the lives they destroyed using survival to justify their actions. If grief is love persevering, Joel pushed away his persevering love, and let his anger drive his survival decisions.

E2: Pragmatic love. Tess was Joel’s partner but he deals w/ her death the same way, by not dealing w/ it. They were more business partners than romantic partners, but love was still there, however closely guarded they were w/ their affection.

E3: Romantic love. Bill & Frank did big and small romantic things for each other over 16 years including die together. It’s surprising how normal their relationship was considering the cordyceps pandemic.

E4: Poisoned love. Kathleen lets the anger of her brother’s death poison his life’s mission. Her brother was a charismatic, inspirational leader that was betrayed and killed. Kathleen took the anger at the injustice and rather than continue his work the way he performed it, chose violence and intimidation as a means to an end. Her thirst for revenge clouded her judgement, leading to the loss of her people to an eruption of infected.

E5: Fraternal love. Henry loved his brother so much that having to kill him broke him so much he took his life. Henry made taking care of Sam his sole purpose. He made the hard decision to give up Kathleen’s brother in exchange for Sam’s life, and he felt guilty about it. Joel related to that with what he did to ensure Tommy’s survival. When Sam got infected and attacked Ellie, Henry killed Sam and realizing he failed, he took his life the same way Bill did, but with more tragic context and surroundings.

E6: Fraternal love. Joel & Tommy would do anything for each other but also have a messy history and relationship. Joel openly tells Tommy his fears and begs him to finish his mission for him. Tommy’s the only person he can trust because the only person he can trust is his brother.

E7: First love. Ellie & Riley tentatively and anxiously move from friends to romantic partners. The seeds of attraction were already there so their first and last date was about as magical and awkward as it should be for teens. Ellie experienced romantic love, her first kiss and after an infected ruined her date, the loss of her girlfriend.

The following is a guess based on how the game played out.

E8: Familial love. Ellie would risk her life to save Joel. As a consequence, she gets captured by cannibals and kills their leader David in a rage. As a result, she may feel guilt and confusion at how she could do something like that. It will likely stain her self image.

In episode 3, Bill tells Joel he found one person worth saving and God help anyone that tries to hurt that person. In episode 5, Henry says he traded a great man’s life, possibly the savior of Kansas City, for his brother’s life and that Joel understands his motivation because he was someone’s father.

In Bill’s case the lesson is to do whatever you have to to save the person worth saving. Everything is permitted, to borrow a phrase from another video game franchise, Assassins Creed. Taken to the extreme, it’s easy to develop tunnel vision and forget why you’re saving that person. Ellie’s immunity may lead to a cure, but it’s wrapped around her brain stem and the only way to develop a cure is to kill her and dissect her brain and spine. This is explained to Joel. Too bad no one ever taught Joel it’s not about him, and that Ellie is entitled to make decisions that affect her life.

In Henry’s case the lesson is given the choice of one life over many, the rational and irrational parts of you are in conflict, and either choice could lead to feelings of guilt that would be hard to resolve. If Joel saves Ellie, he dooms humanity, and if you’ve played the game, that’s exactly what he does.

Given the lessons to save the person you love at all costs regardless of whom you hurt, we know that’s what’s gonna happen. And given the way Joel deals with his trauma, it’s no wonder Ellie eventually learns the same lessons and deals with her trauma the same way.

In the Henry & Sam section of the game, you play through an ambush, spend time in a hotel fighting runners, stalkers and bloaters in a flooded basement and hunters on the upper floors before finally meeting Henry & Sam.

When you meet them, they’re just travelers passing through when the hunters found them and scattered their group. Their objective is to leave the QZ, cross the bridge and reunite with their group at a radio tower.

First objective is to escape the QZ which is pretty easy with a well placed arrow to the head and some mollys to take out the rifle nest. Then we get separated from Henry & Sam, some more shooting, a leisurely jog to the bridge and a cutscene that reunites us with Henry & Sam.

Next objective is farting around the sewers learning about survivors that used to live their before getting infected and fighting those now infected survivors.

Third objective is running the gauntlet in a shooting alley with a sniper on the far end and his buddies hunting you as you move forward. After taking out the sniper, it’s your turn to man the sniper’s nest and shoot the pursuing hunters and the infected drawn to all the commotion. That’s when Sam gets infected.

Yadda yadda yadda cutscenes, Henry has to kill his little brother, then wracked with guilt, himself, and Joel and Ellie fast forward a season to Wyoming. It’s sad and I hope they get a better ending in the show.

Now let’s guess how they’ll handle all this in Ep 4&5.

The detour and ambush in the city is straight out the game, but now the hunters have a leader and don’t use corpses as hood ornaments . Their leader, Kathleen, feels Henry betrayed her brother to FEDRA and is turning the city over to find Henry & Sam, to the point that she’s ignoring bubbly ground in a building that’s probably full of bloaters, shamblers, stalkers, runners, etc. waiting to pop like a pimple all over Kansas City. Meanwhile, Henry & Sam get the drop on Joel & Ellie in the high rise they’re holed up in for the night.

What are Henry & Sam’s motivations? Are they sticking around, maybe to free the city from Kathleen’s proto-fascists and protect their family? We haven’t seen any indication that they’re organizing a resistance. Do they know about the underground infected bubbling to the surface and are trying to warn people of the danger? And if Henry & Sam want to escape, why haven’t they? They could’ve and should’ve left at anytime. So why confront Joel & Ellie?

The two groups interests have to align in order for them to team up. Joel & Ellie’s interest is leaving and Henry & Sam can show them how, either in exchange for something or because the way out needs more man and firepower. Meanwhile, there’s a pimple full of infected that’s gonna pop all over the city. Maybe Henry & Sam want to get to a radio tower to warn the residents and urge them to leave before they’re overrun with infected. While that’s all happening, the pimple pops, the infected climb out and wreak havoc and Sam gets infected, although I hope he and Henry make it through unscathed. Ellie & Sam deserve a childhood, but like Hunter said in The Bad Batch, in this galaxy, they don’t get to be kids.

SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t played The Last of Us or The Last of Us: Part II

In The Last of Us, Joel Miller and Jerry Anderson fuck humanity by ignoring the only person on the planet that hold’s the key to a possible cure for the fungus that’s killing humanity. We know Joel’s part first hand since we’re the ones doing the fucking. In The Last of Us: Part II, we learn Jerry Anderson’s part. 

“But Joel was acting nobly and heroically! And Jerry was making a hard decision, choosing the many over the few, or the one!”, you say. Well, both their actions left humanity fucked. Jerry, possibly the only person left who could synthesize a cure, is dead, and in the sequel game, so is Joel. Meanwhile, humanity is left without a cure. Like I said, fucked.

“That’s harsh!” you screech, “They were taking the best decision from a group of shitty decisions.” And here’s where I say they shouldn’t have been making these decisions at all. The only person whose decision it was to make was Ellie.

Yes, 14 year old Ellie was the one who should’ve made the decision as to whether she should sacrifice her life for a possible cure, or choose to live and leave the scientists to continue looking for a cure. If she truly was humanity’s savior, shouldn’t she be given the choice to save humanity or not?

“But she’s only 14!”, you shriek, “She’s too young to make that decision!” Who says? Society has collapsed. She’s wandering around in a world trying to kill her and she’s killing back to protect herself. She knows the stakes. Would waiting 4 years and letting her make that decision on her 18th birthday make you feel better, even if you knew it meant 4 more years of suffering and death for millions of innocent people? 

She was always the only person to make that decision. But two white men decided to make that decision for her. Did they ask her? No. Did they consult her? No. Did they trust her to understand the consequence of the sacrifice she would’ve had to make? No.

Instead, they didn’t consider what she might want or let her exercise agency over her own life. Instead, Joel wasn’t willing to sacrifice her for the possibility of a cure, and Jerry decided he had to sacrifice her to save humanity. But neither were sacrificing anything because it wasn’t their sacrifice to make. It was Ellie’s sacrifice alone to make if she so chose. And she never got to choose.

Imagine if at the end of The Last of Us, Ellie was fully informed and asked to choose. The player could choose to live and then fight their way out of the Fireflies compound, or they could choose to sacrifice her life, trusting Jerry to find a cure. 

If she chose to sacrifice herself, she would die, Jerry would fail to find a cure and Joel would kill Jerry, and fight his way out of the Fireflies compound. The Last of Us: Part II would be Abby’s quest for vengeance and Joel’s quest to avenge Tommy after Abby kills him trying to get Joel’s location.

If she chose to live, we’d get The Last of Us: Part II, but Ellie wouldn’t have survivor’s guilt. She could still continue down her dark path of vengeance and perhaps even continue on to form her own cult of personality and embrace her villainous turn in a third game.

Instead, we got The Last of Us: Part II where Ellie goes on a single minded, all consuming quest for revenge with no consideration or care for the people in her life.

1. Episodes or webisodes that tells the story of John Walker’s mental illness progression and treatment. It should cover the worsening of his condition, attempts by his wife and family to get him treatment, his backlash against those attempts, the low point, then him and his wife dealing with treatment. Obviously, the writers room needs writers familiar with mental health issues and a therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist advising.

2. Episodes or webisodes of Sharon Carter’s journey from CA:CW to TFATWS. It’s a seven year journey so there’s plenty of time to dig into what would cause her to give up her life of service to a life of self-enrichment. Being left alone and forgotten by the hero her aunt always spoke so highly of would be just one contributing factor while being forgotten by Nick Fury would be another. The potential to develop a compelling character arc and a rich, rewarding story is immense. The writers room would need to be female lead and female staffed.

3. Joaquin Torres backstory including his family’s journey to America, the immigrants story, the DREAM act, defining moments from his upbringing that shape his character, and the trials and tribulations of fixing and getting used to Sam’s old wings. Maybe a series or webisodes.

4. A New Orleans centered story with Captain America, Photon, and Cloak & Dagger. Maybe Captain America: Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler or a Marvel one-shot.

Talk about white male privilege. This is peak. An elderly white man used his platform at the WSJ to try and bully Dr. Jill Biden into not using her title “Dr.” His reason for identity shaming her is that the title should be reserved for MDs only which she is not. He even paraphrases an unnamed wise man saying that only people who have delivered children can call themselves Dr., no doubt catching many MDs that have never delivered a child off guard, and making their patients view them with suspicion.

His mansplaining screed is full of identity shaming, sexism, inadequacy, and inaccuracies. And the WSJ not only published it, they published a defense of it claiming that critics are mean for using their first amendment right to criticize something they published.

What about her identity motivates him enough to write an opinion article about the title she earned? When he hears “Dr. Biden”, does he say to himself, “Joe Biden’s a doctor?”, before realizing that Jill Biden is the one being referenced? And why does he presume it’s his place to tell her to drop the title? Does calling her “Dr. Biden” make him uncomfortable? Did he just admit to feeling inadequate when he compares himself to the younger, female, doctor of education? Not only does he implore her to drop the “Dr.”, but he assumes a level of familiarity he doesn’t have and calls her “kiddo” in an attempt to demean her and highlight the social hierarchical positions: she’s a younger woman, and he’s an older man. In his mind, she should listen to him and be someone he can comfortably feel superior to.

He points out that soon she’ll be living in the best public housing in the world as the First Lady. He wants her to assume the title that makes her subordinate to her husband and comes as a condition of marriage to the president. He wants her to bury her accomplishments and herself and become the first housewife. Unlike the title of doctor, the title of First Lady is given to the whom ever is the president’s wife. It’s unearned. Dr. Biden is a woman who’s made herself into an education professional. First Lady Biden is the woman the president chose to marry. You can’t easily dismiss a doctor.

1. Did they purposely use Pete’s 1960’s era dialogue (save my bacon, shake a leg) to create a generation gap?

2. Did everyone at Insomniac look at Pete’s remastered face, and go, “Yeah, that’s MUCH better!”? Cuz it’s not. It’s actually pretty distracting.

3. The maps in Spider-Man PS4 and this game aren’t the same.

1. WTF Ganke, how you gonna just tell every crook and criminal who to target in Miles’ life, and where to find them, including the Kingpin whose operation you helped shut down? I mean, is this how we’re setting up the DLC?

2. I like how Uncle Aaron’s betrayal of Miles’ trust mirrors Miles’ betrayal of Phin. Both were done out of love and a desire to protect, but their dishonesty further damaged their relationships and potentially made things worse.

3. Did Phin really die? Did Rick Mason really die?

4. That statue of Stan Lee and the dedication to his in-game character Mick was perfect.

5. With the exception of Krueger and the Kingpin, I felt bad for all the villains, even the Rhino, although not to the same extent as the Prowler and the Tinkerer.

6. The cultural inclusion and representation more closely portrays the NYC I’m familiar with. The music and soundtrack matches well with the mood and environment.

7. The map doesn’t represent NYC all that accurately. Streets end at T intersections way too much. But to the designers credit, I always knew what neighborhood I was in.

8. The focus on family for Miles’ story is an excellent idea for his first solo game. The story itself was pitch perfect, although I would’ve liked decision points that led to different endings and outcomes, similar to Detroit Become Human. Game play length was just right with the right mix of side missions without being repetitive.

9. Props to Jasmin Savoy Brown’s voice acting and motion capture work. Her performance made her incredibly sympathetic which made the ending even more heartbreaking.