Photo: HBO/ The Last of Us
In the latest episode of "The Last of Us", viewers were left with a tragic ending that exposed the true character of protagonist Joel. As the episode opens, Ellie is unconscious, and Joel is tortured to reveal her whereabouts. He rescues Ellie, who is about to be killed by doctors who want to study her immunity to the fungal apocalypse that destroyed humanity. Joel then embarks on a murderous rampage, killing everyone in his way, including doctors, nurses, and guards. While he believes he's saving Ellie, Joel's actions are shown to be a tragic mistake.
Throughout the season, co-creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin reveal who Joel is, even before his killing spree. Joel is a brutal character who's capable of comparable brutality to his attackers in a brutal world. He's shown to have adopted violence as a means of survival and doesn't feel justified in killing his attackers. Joel's actions become a warm-up to his ultimate act of violence at the end of the season.
The episode's form builds to an archetypal hero's ending, where Joel guns down every person who stands between him and Ellie. However, the audience can feel that he's not acting as a hero. Director Ali Abbasi shoots Joel's twisted rescue mission without any tension. Joel's actions are shown to be jarring and tragic, not heroic.
Joel's actions are not only acting in his best interests, but he's also defying Ellie's expressed wishes. She wants to be a part of the cure to ensure that everything she's done is not for nothing. However, Joel chooses to become the villain, killing innocent people to protect the father-daughter relationship he can't allow himself to lose again.
As the season ends, Ellie suspects that there's more to what happened while she was unconscious than Joel is telling her. She asks him to swear that he's telling the truth, and Joel lies to her. In the closing moments of the magnificent first season, Joel's true character is exposed, leaving the audience to question whether they can root for a character who's willing to kill innocents to protect someone he loves.
The latest episode of "The Last of Us" is a tragic ending that shows Joel's true character, leaving viewers with many questions for the next season. The co-creators have done an excellent job of building up Joel's character, setting the stage for a tragic ending that shows the audience who Joel is. The audience is left to question whether they can still root for Joel, who's willing to kill innocents to protect someone he loves.
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