list of what i personally consider to be joelโs biggest โi forgot that i keep insisting iโm not your dadโ moments:
-โwell now i have to see itโ / โi donโt want you toโ just the tone in which he says this and the thing of being like iโm not going to stop this from happening but iโm going to make my disapproval known, very dad
-his face softening and posture opening up a little in ep1 when sheโs like โbut you know where to go? so weโre gonna be okayโ because even though heโs pissed to be babysitting and thinks sheโs more trouble than sheโs worth, he is not immune to scared little kid
-also ep1, all of his annoyed eyerolling at ellie instantly respecting/listening to tess and not him
-the Single Silent Nod of Capitulationโข๏ธ
-becoming increasingly able to sense when ellie is about to ask for a gun from a mile away
-becoming increasingly able to sense when ellie is about to ask him to explain something he doesnโt know jackshit about
-saying under his breath โjust wait goddamn itโ while jogging after her
-loud coffee slurp in response to being told itโs gross
-also, assuming a 14 y/o who grew up in military school would like coffee
-dad infodumping infused with mild griping (i.e. pre-pandemic air travel, gasoline, how fedra cleared the highways)
-oH i ThouGht yOu weNt tO ScHooL
-โyouโre gonna break your neckโ/โslow downโ/โwhat did i just sayโ
-impatiently telling someone to straighten up is very dad
-the white lie about everyone loving contractors and contractors being cool obv
-doing the โis there anything bad in hereโ / โjust youโ bit not once but twice. he really does cycle through the same like 6 weak-ass jokes
-asking someone else to navigate while driving and then stressing them out for not navigating well enough for his liking
-being able to guess her favorite astronaut, i am weeping
-laying down 3 ground rules and then pretty much immediately and continually letting ellie get away with breaking 2 out of 3
-starting to look over at her in surprise when she says โi donโt want to talk about itโ because itโs the first time thatโs happened and he can tell heโs touched on something that really bothers her, and you see him having to wrestle with the dad impulse to be concerned
-when ellie tries to get him not to go after the sniper; impatiently being like ugh come on that guy is not gonna shoot me he literally sucks (pedroโs read of this line always makes me laugh)
-and of course also the follow-up, when he sees heโs going to have to do better than that to convince her that everything will be fine and his tone softens and he asks her to trust him. the โno questions, just do itโ to โdo you trust meโ pipeline bro, fuucckkk
-the wyoming scenes when theyโre nearing jackson and joelโs losing his cool a little and acting kinda grumpy and agitated really remind me of when you have to run errands with your parent while theyโre in a bad mood