Posted on 03/14/2023 7:04:45 AM PDT by gattaca
When the threat of death looms over both him and the person in his care, Joel shows what love really looks like and why masculinity matters, especially in crisis.
For everyone who has faithfully tuned in to the post-apocalyptic video game turned television series “The Last of Us” through its first season, the last two months have been a wild and bumpy ride.
That’s true in every sense. Thematically, viewers have endured everything from a brotherly reunion to a cannibalistic cult, the treacherous birth of a beautiful baby girl to the untimely death of a deaf boy and his tormented brother. The contrasts have been poignant.
Morally, it’s been no less turbulent. Just three episodes in, a near-feature-length vignette introduced us to two characters, Bill and Frank, who reject the natural order not only in their sexual relationship but also in their responsibilities as men. In committing suicide together, they send the message that selfishness is “incredibly romantic,” love is coercive, and healthy masculinity can involve renouncing the responsibility to defend the vulnerable within one’s care.
If episode three was a dark valley, however, the finale offered an unexpected beacon of light.
Joel and Ellie — now bonded into a compelling father-daughter-like relationship by mutual self-sacrifice, shared experiences, and equal but opposite trauma — finally make it to their destination: the hospital where the Fireflies and their resistance leader Marlene have planned to create a cure for the deadly Cordyceps fungus using Ellie’s unique immunity.
It isn’t the rosiest of roads to get to the hospital. As they exchange puns while wandering through an old Army emergency camp, the traveling duo gets knocked out by armed Fireflies. Joel finds himself in the hospital when he wakes up. But where’s Ellie?
Marlene won’t say at first, just that the girl was worried about Joel but is now fine and being prepped for surgery. The procedure, Marlene reveals, will remove the antidotal cells Ellie has had since birth to replicate them for a vaccine that can be distributed to the masses.
But Joel puts the pieces together. Cordyceps lives in the host’s brain. The surgery will kill her.
“We didn’t tell her. We didn’t cause her any fear. There won’t be any pain,” Marlene responds to an enraged Joel. But she’s wrong. Even ignoring the evil of denying informed consent to an otherwise healthy child and her guardian, there will most certainly be pain, even if Ellie isn’t the one who feels it.
When the threat of death looms over both him and the person in his care, unlike Bill and Frank, Joel shows what love really looks like and why masculinity matters, especially in a crisis.
After thwarting a pair of armed Fireflies who try to escort Joel out of the building and away from an anesthetized Ellie, Joel seizes their firearms and does whatever it takes to save the girl. He takes down everyone who stands in his way, up to and including the doctor wielding a scalpel at Ellie’s bedside. Hippocrates is no match for a surgeon with a lofty goal of saving the world — but neither is a match for a surrogate father separated from his child.
Blood is shed. Lives are lost — and with them, the hope for a cure. Some might call it toxic masculinity. Others call it morally “dark gray.”
During our own viral outbreak, Americans lost sight of many things in pursuit of global salvation. “All in this together” somehow became an excuse to do everything apart. To slow the spread and show we cared, families relegated their own parents to deadly nursing homes to die alone. To feel like they were saving the world, parents pumped their kids full of experimental shots, stuck them in front of screens, and made them suicidal. Informed consent went out the window — job or jab, pick one — for the “greater good.”
Americans have done the same thing with technology and human sexuality. In the name of progress for all of mankind, we’ve stuck a smartphone in every hand and many have installed obvious pronouns in their email signatures, while their children get sucked down the gender-bending rabbit holes of TikTok and Tumblr.
Maybe Joel should have told Ellie the truth about what happened when she was unconscious. After all, maybe she really would have been willing to give up her own brain for science. But maybe, when faced with a life-or-death dilemma, Joel grasped a simple truth we’ve abandoned: Saving the world starts with saving the lives within your own care.
Why pollute your mind by watching junk like this and adding to the wealth of its producers?
Cause it’s not ALL trash, there are wholesome messages in some things. And it’s entertaining. Even monoliths of self- righteousness such as yourself must relax sometime. Or, maybe not.
Finished episode 8 last night. Going to try to wrap it up tonight.
Bill and Frank would’ve killed the series for me.
I started an Icelandic series...”Trapped”. First season was great even though I had to read captions to understand what the cast was saying. Second season...had a gay male couple playing a major role in the first episode (and presumably the later episodes). “Click.” Off went the TV.
Except this IS garbage and anti-Christian.
You can’t just say “the poison tastes good” as it rots your insides.
Stopped watching when someone associated with the series said they intentionally put in the episode with gay lovers so people would have to watch it.
I don’t get my moral compass from television. I get entertainment and distraction, core beliefs come from other sources. I understand the difference. Perhaps we just disagree.
Demand better
“I started an Icelandic series...”Trapped”. First season was great even though I had to read captions to understand what the cast was saying. Second season...had a gay male couple playing a major role in the first episode (and presumably the later episodes). “Click.” Off went the TV.”
I quit watching “Lost” and “The Walking Dead” after many episodes due to ridiculous unnecessary homosexual scenes. I watched a couple of episodes of this show (on a bootleg website, I ain’t paying for it) but quit before the homosexual scene because I could just see it coming. Depending on the show I can possibly handle a designated homosexual character but if it gets physical I’m gone. It grosses me out.
I don’t want to disappoint you, but this is better than most. At least there were some positive, but overly harsh actions in this series, the overwhelming message I took from it was love, sacrifice, and loyalty. Where else you going to get that from a mainstream action show. All good plots revolve around love and loyalty, and this was no different. Sure, it had it share of bullshit and counter programming, but it was easy to recognize and ignore. But, to each their own I suppose. Little house on the prairie is gone, and I liked that show too.
The ability to discern the parts that you agree with from the parts you find offensive is an indication of a healthy mind.
There were parts of the series I found “over the top.” Then I remembered the “bad guys” had mushrooms for heads.
I especially liked the Rocky Mountains outside of Natick MA.
I found the “evil” characters to be cartoonish. I found the “love story” forced. And the gay scene between the teenagers was contrived. The writing was blunt—there really was nothing in the entire series that was a surprise.
But…it was filmed well.
I understand it’s not for everyone. But, I also know I am not their “target” audience. But coming onto a forum to dismiss something you clearly did not watch, nor have any intention of watching is silly. You sound like a preacher telling teenagers not to dance.
I’d call it brutalizing mass murder...
Only because you’ve lowered your expectations so much - you think a saltine is a ritz cracker.
Yea. Ok. Your moral superiority is showing. Keep it up and pretty soon you can be in a dark room reading the Bible by candlelight. Oh. You’ll be alone.
Tried to have a thoughtful conversation. Just couldn’t quite get there with this guy.
Didn’t watch it yet is the expert. Tells me a lot.
It was easy to skip things. When they said key words, I hit FF and stopped after they died. PERFECTION.
I may have to try your method. I’ve run short on good TV series to watch.
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