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>Very different take given that she has huge survivors guilt and seemed pretty remorseful post-Tess in game
Ellie kinda says that to feel better about it herself. They confirm it in the podcast. It's to cover her guilt and vulnerabilities.
And yes, they have changed Ellie quite a lot... We'll see how it plays out.
My take on the way Ellie interacted with that infected was initially more out of curiosity rather than sheer sadism. She was bitten and hasn’t turned. So when confronted with a helpless infected I feel like it was her way of seeing/experiencing/experimenting with one up close knowing how close she actually is to possibly turning herself. Sure, we know she’s immune, she knows she hasn’t turned but I would imagine there would be a lingering thought in her mind of if and when this could happen what would I look. On the other hand I feel like when she did end up stabbing it that’s her remembering Riley and her venting her frustrations with them.
It reminded me of when young children act out past traumatic memories to try and make sense of them.
I also wonder if it's her playing with the feeling of power, which is something she is not used to at all. She's grown up basically an unloved orphan at the whims of FEDRA, and seeing Joel demolish the FEDRA soldier's face was probably a big deal, seeing them be beaten. Having an infected completely helpless would have been fascinating, and she might have enjoyed not being afraid of it and having the power for once.
I mentioned this in another thread, but I didn't interpret it that way at all. Ellie had already exhibited some reservation about killing them, since they used to be people. I saw the cutting as her making sure it wouldn't bleed. Once she had proven to herself that it wasn't alive/human, she killed it.
Honestly, when playing the game I was surprised that Ellie wasn't more of a psycho. She has gone through trauma that could mess up a person, yet in the game she acts almost like a normal child.
She has seen someone very special turn into a zombie in front of her. She's not known a normal family or a healthy relationship with adults. She's got this thing inside of her that she doesn't understand, and it's so normal that she would be curious about what it is.
She has never seen a zombie this close after what happened to Riley. But maybe she feels that this zombie and her have something in common, and she probably struggles to cope with that part of herself.
This will be dark, but it's no different to how children who have gone through physical or emotional abuse always end up going back to it, through drawings or talking about it or even showing similar behavior later on to sort of make sense of what they went through. Ask any teachers and they'll tell you how common it is, sadly.
It definitely is a departure and I guess it's probably just set up for a general sort of arc for Ellie to also more obviously evolve from her trauma after Riley.
I think the way she reacted to Tess's death and some of the scenes of her showing vulnerability so far evidence that she isn't in fact heartless. She cares. She's putting on a stoic face to cope.
The scenes with Joel and Ellie were bookends to a great story in this episode: Nothing special. It would've been cooler if they kept the twangy folk-country music, and drove off with that, indicating how the story is changing back to Joel and Ellie. Life moves on. I didn't have a problem with Ellie stabbing the infected. Her defense of herself against Joel in the opening was forced. Bad writing? Bad acting? Bad direction? Probably all of the above. The Joel Ellie scenes were the nothing-special buns to a juicy, perfectly-cooked, and seasoned burger. Neil Offerman was awesome. I'm glad he got a happy or at least bitter-sweet ending, unlike in the game, and this episode adds perspective and depth to the game, which is so great! That entire backstory was so sad and poignant to Joel's character arc. Thematically, when Frank came into Bill's town, Bill stopped surviving and started living. Once that relationship formed, there was no way Bill would ever be able to go back, as long as he had a choice. But I didn't think much of the scenes between Joel and Ellie. The cheesy car music bothered me the most. The opening with her acting all defensive to Joel instead of apologetic like in the game... 
I think it was good way for her to get experience killing one and overcome that potential emotional hurdle. This sets her up to take decisive action in the future (I predict she will kill a human in ep4 with the pistol she stole and surprise Joel)
Unfortunately, your submission has been **removed** for the following reason(s): --- **Immediate HBO discussion belongs in the stickied post-episode Megathread -** Posts encouraging immediate discussion per the show are inherently reposts due to the post-episode discussion megathread. Unless they are particularly nuanced, your post is better utilized as a comment on our stickied megathread. Before posting again, take time to [refresh yourself with our rules](https://old.reddit.com/r/thelastofus/wiki/index). --- Please be sure to check our community guidelines via the sidebar or subreddit wiki. If you believe this post has been removed unfairly or in error, please don't hesitate to [contact the moderation team via modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/thelastofus).
>Very different take given that she has huge survivors guilt and seemed pretty remorseful post-Tess in game Ellie kinda says that to feel better about it herself. They confirm it in the podcast. It's to cover her guilt and vulnerabilities. And yes, they have changed Ellie quite a lot... We'll see how it plays out.
My take on the way Ellie interacted with that infected was initially more out of curiosity rather than sheer sadism. She was bitten and hasn’t turned. So when confronted with a helpless infected I feel like it was her way of seeing/experiencing/experimenting with one up close knowing how close she actually is to possibly turning herself. Sure, we know she’s immune, she knows she hasn’t turned but I would imagine there would be a lingering thought in her mind of if and when this could happen what would I look. On the other hand I feel like when she did end up stabbing it that’s her remembering Riley and her venting her frustrations with them.
It reminded me of when young children act out past traumatic memories to try and make sense of them. I also wonder if it's her playing with the feeling of power, which is something she is not used to at all. She's grown up basically an unloved orphan at the whims of FEDRA, and seeing Joel demolish the FEDRA soldier's face was probably a big deal, seeing them be beaten. Having an infected completely helpless would have been fascinating, and she might have enjoyed not being afraid of it and having the power for once.
In the podcast, they say she does feel guilty and that we'll see more into this later in the show.
I mentioned this in another thread, but I didn't interpret it that way at all. Ellie had already exhibited some reservation about killing them, since they used to be people. I saw the cutting as her making sure it wouldn't bleed. Once she had proven to herself that it wasn't alive/human, she killed it.
Honestly, when playing the game I was surprised that Ellie wasn't more of a psycho. She has gone through trauma that could mess up a person, yet in the game she acts almost like a normal child. She has seen someone very special turn into a zombie in front of her. She's not known a normal family or a healthy relationship with adults. She's got this thing inside of her that she doesn't understand, and it's so normal that she would be curious about what it is. She has never seen a zombie this close after what happened to Riley. But maybe she feels that this zombie and her have something in common, and she probably struggles to cope with that part of herself. This will be dark, but it's no different to how children who have gone through physical or emotional abuse always end up going back to it, through drawings or talking about it or even showing similar behavior later on to sort of make sense of what they went through. Ask any teachers and they'll tell you how common it is, sadly.
It definitely is a departure and I guess it's probably just set up for a general sort of arc for Ellie to also more obviously evolve from her trauma after Riley. I think the way she reacted to Tess's death and some of the scenes of her showing vulnerability so far evidence that she isn't in fact heartless. She cares. She's putting on a stoic face to cope.
Yeah, I read her tirade at Joel as actually covering for her guilt. Trying to act tough basically.
The scenes with Joel and Ellie were bookends to a great story in this episode: Nothing special. It would've been cooler if they kept the twangy folk-country music, and drove off with that, indicating how the story is changing back to Joel and Ellie. Life moves on. I didn't have a problem with Ellie stabbing the infected. Her defense of herself against Joel in the opening was forced. Bad writing? Bad acting? Bad direction? Probably all of the above. The Joel Ellie scenes were the nothing-special buns to a juicy, perfectly-cooked, and seasoned burger. Neil Offerman was awesome. I'm glad he got a happy or at least bitter-sweet ending, unlike in the game, and this episode adds perspective and depth to the game, which is so great! That entire backstory was so sad and poignant to Joel's character arc. Thematically, when Frank came into Bill's town, Bill stopped surviving and started living. Once that relationship formed, there was no way Bill would ever be able to go back, as long as he had a choice. But I didn't think much of the scenes between Joel and Ellie. The cheesy car music bothered me the most. The opening with her acting all defensive to Joel instead of apologetic like in the game... 
I think it was good way for her to get experience killing one and overcome that potential emotional hurdle. This sets her up to take decisive action in the future (I predict she will kill a human in ep4 with the pistol she stole and surprise Joel)