vaselineisalie

A lot has already been said about how Bill was a potential future for Joel where he opens his heart again and finds happiness. Bill and Frank are the story of what people continue to live for in this apocalyptic society; theirs is, in the end, a happy story.

Kathleen is another potential future for Joel, one where he leaves his heart closed. Kathleen admits that her brother would have wanted her to forgive Henry–after all, he’s trying to save the life of his kid brother who has cancer; the real villain is FEDRA, who withholds lifesaving care unless Henry gives them something big–but she doesn’t. She fully admits to her violent, dirty deeds and doesn’t care. Her heart has closed off so much that she tells Henry that kids die all the time. (The irony, of course, is that she is killed by a child clicker.)

She’s very much like the Joel we meet initially in 2023. One of the first things we see him do, remember, is toss a dead child into a pyre.

Had Kathleen been able to let go of her rage, she could have been an effective leader; her people followed her, and not just because she was the former leader’s sister. She, much like Joel, gets shit done. Had she actually done something when she found the buckling floor in the last episode, they might have been able to fortify the QZ in some way. If nothing else, the people of Kansas City would have had more of a chance than they ended up having because the bloater was her seventh priority; she was so blinded by her need for revenge that the entire QZ falls. (Hell, if she hadn’t been so blinded by her need for revenge, she probably could have survived.)

- joel stacking rocks was to show that he missed and mourned tess. in that moment he was saying “i’m sorry, i blew it, i lost you.”

- in the beginning of the episode ellie told joel tess’ death wasn’t her fault but deep down she does feel like it was her fault.

- ellie admires joel because he protected her multiple times and as a child she has a desire for a parental figure to protect her.

- frank realized bill was gay pretty much as soon as he got out of the hole and saw how bill was looking at him. bill’s taking in how handsome frank is and “frank’s brain is incredibly attuned to that.” that’s why frank was smiling.

- frank realized bill was gay fast, but he realized he wanted bill when bill was playing the piano and singing linda ronstadt.

- it took them a while to find long long time by linda ronstadt but they always intended the song for bill to sing to be about a long love that was forever unrequited. “it was very important that the lyrics were someone saying ‘everyone tells me that it’s okay, that love will find me […],’ no it doesn’t, no it’s not, and the person that i long for from afar - i’m gonna love them basically forever in the most unrequited manner.”

- it was important that frank immediately knew bill’s sexuality because frank SAW bill, because bill had completely buried his sexuality but frank saw through him.

- frank originally was trying to see what he could get out of bill (like a free lunch) but the more time they spent together, the more he went “oh, this is a beautiful person.”

- “there is two ways of loving things. frank wants to love outwards - he is sun, he is light. he wants to make things beautiful around him, he wants to care for bill, he wants to revitalize the streets so it’s not just this mausoleum bill lives in, and he wants to have friends. he wants to share what they have. and bill wants to put an electrified fence around them that is guarded by an additional layer of flame-throwing gas pipes and no one can show up ever because he must protect frank from the world… and as it turns out, both of those loved are required but one of those loves is likely to give you in trouble more than the other.”

- when frank put his finger on the furniture piece and saw how dusty it was, he realized what his purpose could be in bill’s life. bill can protect them, but frank can nurture their home.

- when bill apologizes to frank for growing old fast, it’s because he’s afraid of frank being left alone. “look at this beautiful man and the beautiful things that he does, and what is bill’s contribution? bill doesn’t grow strawberries. bill’s contribution is to keep frank alive. but bill is already afraid that he’s going to fail and that is a fear that joel has because he has that fear through experience [of losing his daughter.]“

- bill and joel understand each other and that they’re purpose is to protect others. they don’t care about their own lives.

- on their last day together, bill decided very early that he was going to die as well.

- the gun that ellie takes belonged to frank.

Ellie: okay

Joel: So anyway my brother was in Desert Storm because he just couldn’t help being a hero and then he joined the Fireflies for the same reason what a fucking dweeb you know, also me and Tess and Tommy used to ambush people and it’s clearly deeply painful for me to recall but oh well—oh hey when you said it wasn’t your first time hurting someone like that what did u mean that’s wild do you wanna talk about it ):