I've kept away for a few years, so I'm sorry if this is like a stranger butting in. I've never played the game--any FPS for that matter. I didn't find the story/series particularly unique (whether a virus or fungi, it still makes zombies which make more zombies). The post apocalyptic setting I enjoyed, yet I found the characters somewhat shallow, which is understandable, considering the time constraints. Overall, I enjoyed the time spent watching the series.
The insights in this thread as to Joel, however, I'm having a tough time wrapping my head around.
First off, the morality of our world today, doesn't apply. All governments' initial solution to curb the pandemic was to bomb their own cities--killing millions, I assume. The people have struggled for 20 years under an oppressive government that knows of no other way to defend partial-city fortresses from the pandemic and keep civilization as they knew it intact. So they're brutal, have essentially enslaved the people (not that different from post nuclear planning), and consider any resistance capital in nature. The people inside those walls I also assume have become rather callous as well. Outside those walls are raiders, cannibals, and small pockets of society--who all kill others to survive, or don't survive. I could go on, but anywho, it's kill or be killed, everyone killing anyone as a precautionary measure for good reason.
So let's talk Joel.
* Ex-combat military before all this. He's had to kill before. Now, he kills before he is killed, as everyone else does, or they're victims.
* Initially after this all started, he did things he's not proud of to survive--like many others--and as many will if the day does come.
* He still kills because that is the way of this world, kill or be killed. You are either an aggressor, a defender, or a passive victim.
* Why kill the people in Kansas City (think that's where it was) instead of letting them go once disarmed? Because they would get others to kill him and Ellie, not just give up and sit on the sidelines since they lost the fight. So they remain a serious threat.
>>> Skipping to the last two episodes brought into question.
* Why kill the man he interrogated, who answered his questions; the man's bound brother; all the others to rescue Ellie form the cannibalistic pastor, would-be child molester? Because if he didn't, again, they would get their compatriots to kill him and Ellie--just like the four men from the same group that attacked them previously. They didn't mean to talk to or capture them. They meant to kill Joel and Ellie, take what they had, possibly take them to eat, and if one failed the rest would finish it.
>>>> In the last episode, I found Joel's moon-eyed gaze and passive tone rather strained, however, considering the episode's length I suppose they were grasping to portray that Joel did not find a surrogate daughter. He found respect for Ellie, recognized her strength, that she endured, and perhaps even developed a platonic love for her--a new person like all others he had bonded with--he would gladly sacrifice himself for.
* Ellie was not aware that the Fireflys would kill her. They made that clear, 'she didn't know, to not scare her.'
* They 'hope' that maybe, perhaps, possibly, are unsure, what's in Ellie's brain might make a vaccine. They don't know if a serum can be made from her blood, or her harvested anti-bodies, whatever. The 'one surgeon' has a theory, and he'll kill a thousand Ellies to prove it. To him, the Fireflys, Marlene (that one irks me), if it fails, oh well, keep trying. It sounds noble 'searching for a cure to mankind's ills,' at everyone else's expense, not their own. As far as we know, they may not even have the means to mass produce it--and then who gets it? Fedra, or do they get left out as punishment? What if the Fireflys or Fedra decide to only release the cure to those who pledge fealty to them--that's a whole lot of ifs and maybes.
>>>>> Joel has evolved from survive to protect Tess/Tommy, to fulfill a promise, to survive to protect Ellie, nothing more. He is focused on that singular existence. Even his survival means little as long as he accomplishes that task.
* Why methodically kill all the Fireflys, even Marlene? Because if he doesn't kill each and every one that is a combatant--experienced killers in their own right--as he tries to leave with Ellie, they will kill him, and kill Ellie for a possible nothing, period.
* Why lie to Ellie at the end? Because she has proven herself to be a strong person--meaning--she likely has within herself the will to sacrifice herself for others. The trouble is, she is too young to realize that a LOT of people are too willing to sacrifice others casually. If he doesn't lie to her, she may well seek out more Fireflys, thinking she is doing something noble, not realizing it is for a possible nothing. That's what youth does. They hope to change the world through their selfless acts, never realizing others will waste lives casually.
So, I guess it boils down to throw your hands up and say, "What will be, will be"--insert moo or baaa here--and passively lay down and die, or do all you can to protect the one person who means something to you. How many lives is one life worth? That depends on what that one life means to you. I know what I would try to do, and can find no fault in Joel's actions.
Just because he will act where we might not, does not make him a maniac.
K2
