WEBVTT - HBO's The Last of Us Ep. 7 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.640 Warning, this podcast couldast spoilers for the Last of Us 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:08.120 episode seven and in our nerd out, pretty major spoilers 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:11.160 I think for the Last of Us Parts one and two, 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:16.439 the video game, and depending on what the Last of 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:18.759 Us Season two decides to do, potentially for the Last 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:21.080 of Us Season two as well, so be warned about 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:40.920 that nerd out. Hello, my name is Jason Concepcion. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:42.239 I'm I'm Rosey Night, and. 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:45.080 Welcome to x ray Vision, the Crooked media podcast where 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:51.040 we dive deep to your fais movies, comics, and pop culture. 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.240 In this episode, guess what. It's the Lost of Us 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:56.520 and it's gonna make you cry. Like every week in 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:00.240 the Hallow Week, it's episode seven, and boy, if you 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.600 haven't played the game, and if you have played the game, 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:04.760 if you haven't played the game, you're in. You're in 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.680 for some some sad times ahead. And in that doubt, 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.280 listen to Robe tells us about a possible Lost of 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:15.399 Us pop three. Dun, Dun, dun. 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:17.800 Of course, if you want to jump around, check the 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:21.640 show notes for time stamps. Coming up the air lock, 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:34.440 we're stepping out of the airlock and into Ellie's feder 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.760 orphanage past For the Last of Us episode seven, titled 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.200 Left Behind, written by Neil Druckman and directed by E. 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.960 Liza Johnson. We start somewhere in suburban Colorado. There is 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:51.080 a bloody trail leading to the ruin of the suburban house. Inside, 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.040 Ellie is desperately trying to keep Joel alive. She has 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:57.880 them laid out on a mattress in the garage or somewhere. 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.840 She's trying to keep pressure on his gut wound. Which 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.560 same place Sarah is it? You know, there's mirror images or. 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:09.720 Shadowing, And I think this is like a great moment 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.240 to just kind of say the show is doing so 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.120 many smart little things to make itself more believable, because 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:21.000 compared to the game where Joel's like impaled, you know, 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.080 this feels very real. It feels like a real small 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.000 wound that could end a life, and it does have 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.280 that impact of feeling like, is that where Sarah is it? 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.680 It looks the same and Joel is not doing well. 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.160 I mean, do we have Neo Sporan and the post 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:40.359 outbreak feature. It's unclear if there's any less. Joel is gasping, 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.360 you know, leave, just leave, trying to get Ellie to 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:47.200 just save herself get out of there. And Ellie is saying, Joel, 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:48.720 shut the fuck up. 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:50.760 She is having any of it. 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:54.119 No, she is desperately trying to save his life. Joel, 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:56.520 you know, of course, wants Ellie to take the horse 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:59.280 ride back to Jackson live out her life with Tommy 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:04.400 and Marie. And Ellie covers Joel with his jacket because 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.200 he's shivering so hard, and she heads upstairs, closes the 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.480 door on the room where Joel is and starts thinking 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:14.400 about the past, and we flash back there. It is 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.160 her Federa school. We get to see Ellie at Federal 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:22.800 School jogging in fizzed class, jogging around in a circle. 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:27.839 She's wearing a walkman from like nineteen eighty eight and 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.519 kind of loping around in a circle. And as she's 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.280 doing that, a tall girl who we will soon come 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:38.960 to learn is named Bethany snatches her headphones off her 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:43.560 head and is like, hey, pick it up. Apparently, collective 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.120 punishment is the rule at feder which is not surprising. 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.720 And because Ellie is slow, everybody's going to have to 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.880 run extra aps, and Bethany is tired of running extra laps, 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.720 so Ellie's like, okay, then I'll fight you to get 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:02.120 my walkman back. Bethanie says, you don't fight. Your friend fights, 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.880 and she's not here anymore, is she? And then Ellie 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:06.000 punches the girl in the face. 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:08.920 It's great, It's really just a good moment. And I 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:10.960 think as well, I feel like this is such an 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.960 important moment in Ellie's story because what we see here 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.880 is this transition from the girl who likes behind the 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:19.760 girl's kind of in our own world, the girl who 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.960 clearly was just protected by her friend, And in this 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.680 moment we get that little bit of fierceness and agency 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:28.960 and that Ellie that we kind of know now, which 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.799 is the Ellie who's not afraid to just punch someone 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:32.279 in the face. 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:36.039 That's a great point because as we see over the 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.159 course of this episode, and as we've seen over the 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:46.479 course of this series, Ellie is often the person under 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:51.839 the protection of the fighter, the more aggressive person, the 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.640 stronger person, the more confident person, as she's been with Joel, 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.360 and that has been the case with her friend, who 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:02.600 we have yet to meet. We catch up with Ellie 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.160 in Captain Kwang's office, Captain Quang's kind of the principle 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.360 of this federal school. And in this meeting we learned 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.279 that Ellie's been disruptive lately. It's been just the last 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.720 few weeks that this kicked off. She's obviously very smart, brilliant. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:21.520 Even Captain Kwang notes that, but she's been in the 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.719 whole several times over the last few weeks. When she 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.160 offers to just go to the hole again for knocking 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:32.880 Bethany out, Kuwang is doesn't take the bait. He's frustrated 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:35.560 because again she is smarter than she's been acting. So 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.960 he lays out a couple of passer He says, okay, 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.400 path number one, you keep fucking up, and Bethany's going 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:44.760 to make your commanding officer. How do you like that? 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:45.960 Or two? 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:50.520 Follow the rules. Become an officer. You get the better food, 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:52.920 you get, the better housing, you get, the less dangerous work, 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.080 and you get to give other people orders. What do 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.440 you think about that? And the truth is, though she 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:05.400 doesn't say any here, Ellie thinks that sounds pretty good. 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:07.560 Actually, so he sells her on it. In that moment, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:10.840 it has like an honesty here an adult who is 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.200 just telling her how it is and who is basically 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:16.280 like look, you can either let your bullies bully you, 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.640 or you can rise up the ranks of this fascist organization. 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:21.960 But then you can bully the bully and you can 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:23.560 also be in like a safer space. 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.600 It's it's interesting. This scene starts with Ellie looking at 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:32.360 Gwang's family photos. It's a wife and daughter, I'm assuming, right, 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:37.120 and who knows if they're still alive or what. But 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.440 thinking about this, this is our first real moment of 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:46.479 like seeing Federick humanized. Because Gwang says right after that 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.080 kind of lecture on the two pass, he says, quote, 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.400 we're the only thing holding this all together. If we 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.280 go down, the people in the zone will starve and 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.640 murder each other. Now. And it's interesting because we've been 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:01.560 framing the things that Joel or tom Me have done 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:03.800 in the past as you did what you had to 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.560 do to survive. And I think Kwang would say, not 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.120 only am I doing what I have to do to survive, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:16.160 as distasteful and at times unfair as it is, but 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:18.480 I'm also doing what I have to do so other 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:19.360 people could survive. 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.480 He believed, he's a believer, he's a believer in Federra 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.600 and he kind of hints at this like, you know, 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.080 no now what other people say about Fedro, like it's 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.680 only us and you know what in the Boston QZ, 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.480 I maybe maybe that was what was real. Maybe that 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:35.640 was a version of that was true at least at 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:39.160 some point, or that's what Quang believes. But like, I 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.120 do think it's a really interesting comparison after we saw 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.080 what Fedri did in you know, Kansas City. 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.320 Yeah, I think that argument holds some weight. And it's 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.360 also clear that there is no overarching command in control 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.320 of federal like each the men and were like they've 0:07:55.360 --> 0:08:00.720 become their own little city states unto themselves without any 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.520 kind of like oversight. But I think it's an important 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:10.400 perspective to hear that despite the corruption of the rank 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.920 and file soldiers, there are people at the top who 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.680 are like this is I'm not saying this is perfect, 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:18.640 but this is the best we got. And maybe he's 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:23.120 I'm not sure that he's necessarily wrong. Gwang then goes 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.880 on to tell Ellie, you know, basically like I see 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:28.360 you as a future leader. Now get your walk in 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.680 and get the fuck out of here, and she leaves. Later, 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.280 Ellie is in her room. She's reading an issue of 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.959 Savage Starlight. It is raining, much like the night where 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:40.840 she and Joel set out on their big adventure from 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.240 the QZ. You see her knife on the table next 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.199 to her. She stares across the room at an empty bed. 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.640 She's frustrated, she's lonely, she's clearly not getting any kind 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:55.319 of satisfaction from reading this issue of Savage Starlight. And 0:08:55.400 --> 0:09:00.800 eventually she falls asleep. And when she's asleep, late almost 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:04.320 two in the morning, someone creeps into the room through 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.800 the window and it is Riley. This is the person 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.440 who is missing, This as the protector. This is Ellie's 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.040 best friend, owner of the empty bed, and Riley has 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:14.680 been missing for the last three weeks. 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.280 And I will say this is a great bit of 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:21.920 foreshadowing about is not sensible Riley is Yeah, because Riley 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.640 creeps into this room and basically sneaks up on her 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:29.160 armed friend, who obviously is like what the fuck and 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:31.760 almost stabs her like and I think that is a 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:35.920 really good kind of like. Riley is someone who has 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.640 not been made more cautious by the post apocalypse. Riley 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:44.679 is someone who has found that humor and pranks and 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.240 kind of this lazzy affair, like reckless attitude is what 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.559 helps her get by, and she even says it to Ellie. 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:52.120 She's like, it was a joke. I thought you'd find 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:52.600 it funny. 0:09:53.280 --> 0:10:00.079 Yeah, it's interesting. Riley is where is Ellie is? I 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.440 didn't of how she was raised. Is kind of a 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:06.560 believer in what Federra is selling. Riley is looking for 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.720 a cause and she has clearly found it. Ellie is like, 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.560 are you okay? And Riley's like, I just ran away 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.400 for a little bit, and then she flashes a gun 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:16.240 a piece. 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:19.720 Ellie loves a gun. 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:28.880 Ellis nobody loves a gun more than Ellie. And Ellie 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:33.120 is fucking shocked because you know, Riley has joined the Fireflies. 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:38.559 Is what this means now, I would say for anyone 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:42.520 who has been thinking of the Fireflies as like this 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:46.679 freedom fighter organization fighting against the evils of Fedra, they 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.559 just armed like a sixteen year old kid literally, and 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:51.960 it as we learn to put her in charge of 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:53.760 bombs spoiler moving out. 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.800 Yeah, there's a lot of you learn a lot about 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:58.800 Molly and I feel like, and I wrote a piece 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.680 actually ign where I think this leans into some of 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.360 our thoughts about like what does Molly know and how 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:07.640 much is she kind of this kind of puppet Masstu. 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.160 But yeah, they literally just armed a child who is 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:16.520 clearly lovely but reckless. Af well, I mean, then she's 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:17.640 a kid, you know, she. 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:20.880 Is a kid. You know, there's almost no situation in 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:24.480 which you can be like, we're we're an armed quasi 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:31.720 military operation fighting to overthrow you know, despotic regime and uh, 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.559 and we're trying to bring democracy and freedom, you know. 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:37.120 Bad chilsages and that's and how. 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.839 We're going to do that is by giving sixteen year 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:47.360 old guns like it. It doesn't work. So Riley says, 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:51.880 you know, she went and joined the Fireflies. She wants 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.880 Ellie to come out with her for a few hours, 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.719 doesn't say what they're gonna do and have basically the 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:59.840 best night of their lives. Ellie is like, I gotta 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:03.840 be a drill tomorrow, but she goes of course. Anyway, 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:06.720 they head out to the street to the QZ. Riley 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:12.240 wants Elie to stop fucking around with Bethany. Uh, she's 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.720 it's interesting to your point. Riley has come away from 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.400 this three weeks with the Fireflies and now she's acting 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:23.840 like listen, kid, I've seen the world and as a 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.920 as a mature adult now an owner of a firearm, 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.520 I got a telegal Yeah, a little drama. Yeah, this 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.000 little drama you have, it's small potatoes compared to what's 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.160 really going out there in the big, big adult world. 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:44.000 It's a little patronizing, just a little bit patronizing. Riley 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:48.840 we learn as a fighter. She talks about how she's 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.880 learned to kind of like focus her rage, her anger 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:56.559 on the things that matter, meaning overthrowing turity and re 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:00.640 establishing democracy under the aegis of the Firefly, and she 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.280 gives Elle a little bit of a you can't fight 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.680 everything again, this wisdom that she has gleaned in the 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.480 three weeks. You gotta pick, you gotta pick Firefly traded camp. Listen, 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:13.920 I've been firing at paper targets for the last two weeks. 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:15.760 I gotta tell you, you can't fight everybody. 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.120 I mean, it's also like me. I think this is 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:23.920 a really interesting episode in terms of how it showcases 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:28.200 the similarities because Federer is making child soldiers, that's what 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.960 they're training people for, and they arguably probably armed some 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.600 of those children. And guess what the Fireflies are doing 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:36.840 exactly the same thing. It's kind of the Kansas City 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:43.360 question of what do you replace something like Feder with. 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:45.920 It has to be something better, it can't be the 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.720 same thing. And are the Fireflies in a process of 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.839 actually planning for something bad or are they just replicating 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:54.600 the thing that they want to stop? 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:58.079 Exactly what I was thinking so much about watching this episode. 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:00.960 This is maybe this conversation time because maybe jumping ahead 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.520 a little bit, but I think the downfall of the 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:10.080 Fireflies of Feder, of the Kansas City freedom fighters if 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.840 you could call them that, and people who fight for 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.480 causes in the real world is this thought of, Okay, 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:20.480 we're opposing the bad guys, therefore we are good, and 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.720 when we get power, we will be good, when in 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:29.000 actual fact, you will just become the thing that you overthrew, 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:34.400 because no one has the clear eyed ability to look 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:38.120 at themselves and go no, actually, the problem is not 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.080 the people who are in charge. The problem is the 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.320 corrosive effect of being in charge. 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:44.440 Yeah, and if we. 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:47.520 Yeah, the systems that we build, if we don't build 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:52.000 a system that has oversight on the people who were 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.640 in power, then we're just gonna be Feder Part two 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.280 and this is not a thing that either the Fireflies 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.360 or Riley or anybody is thinking about. Yes, that we've 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:03.160 seen in this world. 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.480 No, I think that only people who are thinking about it. 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:11.600 Ironically is like Jackson Jackson, the Comnists. They took years 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.680 to plan a system with from what we know like 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:18.920 democratic oversight and like extreme planning. But what has that meant? 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:23.800 That means it's a tiny society that's actually incredibly exclusionary. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:27.280 So there's this kind of like all these really interesting conversations. 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.840 And the thing that so blew me away about this 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.760 episode is like, look in our discord on the internet. 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:34.680 The thing that is going to get you about this 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:36.960 episode is the emotional arc of the characters, right. 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:37.520 Absolutely. 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:41.280 I came away from it knowing so much more about 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.440 the world and having so many more questions about the Fireflies. 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:46.880 The piece that I wrote I cover this show every 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:48.960 week at IGN, and the piece that I wrote this 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.560 week wasn't even to do with Ellie and Riley. It 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:53.560 was just all about Marlene because I was like, wait 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:55.840 a minute, what does this mean? Because they will get 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.840 to this later, but they changed so far, they haven't 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:02.440 revealed something that's really important in the game. To understand Marlene, 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:06.360 and without that knowledge, Marlene seems like a very sinister figure, 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.760 and I find that to be a very interesting choice. So, yeah, 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:12.800 this is just such a mind blowing episode because it 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:18.080 is essentially like a fun Stranger Things esque like why. 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.000 To a point it reminded me of I mean, it's 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.360 it's so very very modeled on the DLC in which 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.160 Riley Oh years, it's like direct, but it also reminded 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:32.800 me of the San Junipero episode of Black Men. Yes, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:39.760 very San Junipero. Yeah, two women together just living a 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:40.440 life in. 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:44.680 A night, which I also think is like probably completely 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.800 intentional because I feel like the people felt like that. 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.880 The third episode of the show, another great queer episode 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.080 of TV. A lot of people I saw them being 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.160 like the gaze, they have their Sand Junipero, like the 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.680 Cis gaze, Like they have it, you know, the men 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.840 have had They've they found their space. And I kind 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:03.680 of think that they probably look to that a lot, 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.880 that this idea of where can you find like joy 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.800 in love and in queer love even in the face 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:12.040 of like an apocalypse. 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:14.760 X Ray Vision will be back. 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:24.560 And We're back. 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:34.679 So Riley leads Ellie over rooftops. They head up into 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:37.439 a building. Ellie is winded. They find a dead body there, 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:41.440 which apparently was not there the last time Riley has 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:43.480 been through this building. They then take a closer look 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.760 good time to time back, Yeah, I would imagine so. 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:50.400 But then it's clear that the guy committed suicide. There's 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:54.760 a bottle of pre outbreak liquor, I think next toom, 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:58.000 which is clearly very expensive, as is the you know, 0:17:58.040 --> 0:17:59.679 there's also a baggy of pills, and we know the 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:04.040 bag at least this is extremely expensive. Yeah, so this 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.640 this person went out with a bang. The hopelessness caught 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.919 up to them and they have killed themselves, and they 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.520 kind of like lean in close and they examine this person. 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.080 They take the bottle of whiskey, and then all of 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.960 a sudden, the floor under this corpse gives way and 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.360 it just falls down. And it's a measure of how 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.520 hardened you would be growing up in this world that 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:31.639 Ellie just fucking laughs, just laughing hysterically at this. Yeah. 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:35.560 On the roof, the girls sip from the bottle. Ellie asks, 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.160 is that the first dead body you've ever seen? Riley? Is? Like, no, 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:40.639 I saw my parents Ellie's like, oh, that's right. I'm sorry, 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.200 I'm sorry I asked about that as a change of topic. 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:45.080 Can I hold your gun? 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:50.840 Could I please? She's like, I just love guns. 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.080 Could I just feel the weight of it? 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:53.400 Yeah? 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:58.640 I didn't love the trigger discipline here, but that's another thing. 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.240 Ellie then asks, okay, well, why did you join the Fireflies? 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.399 Like what wasn't a boy? Like? What was it this probing? 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:09.280 You know? Clearly for what happens later on, Riley says 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:13.800 that she was just out. She just snuck out. She's 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.080 clearly was very frustrated with the kind of rules and 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.120 regulations at FEDRA, so she had snuck out. She's running 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.320 around on the streets. She ran into a woman who 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:26.399 she doesn't define who it is here, but it's clearly 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:30.200 Marlene who asked her, hey, what do you think of FEDRA? 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.800 And Riley must have asked in the right way because 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.760 next thing you know, Riley is in the Fireflies and 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:44.879 Ellie here pushing back against this kind of clear, you know, 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.919 romance that Riley is in, with this kind of like 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.400 new mission that she has found in her life, pushes 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:54.320 back with by by basically recycling Captain Wong's line, which 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:56.960 is like, well, you know, Fedra, they're not perfect, but like, 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.520 aren't they the only things holding it together? They're here. 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:05.280 Riley doesn't argue with this now, she isn't not at 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.960 this moment. She leads Ellie on to where they're going. 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:11.920 They're standing on the rooftop. She's look over there, you 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:16.639 see those new lights. Yeah, Fedra has been apparently running 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.159 new electric lines to some of the vacant apartments, and 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:23.040 it is like service and house the growing population. And 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:25.760 now they have that argument, you know, Ellie's like, well, see, 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:27.640 feder is not bad. They're not all bad, right, They're 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:30.520 giving people a place to live. And Riley says, yeah, 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:34.760 but they're starving a portion of their population. And Ellie says, well, 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:39.040 it wouldn't be so difficult if the fireflies hadn't blown 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:41.439 up the warehouse where all the food is kept. And 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:45.040 then Riley's like, no, we didn't do that, and then 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:48.719 Ellie's like, and also the fireflies are killing civilians when 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:50.919 they get caught in the crossfire, get you know, or 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:52.760 just happen to be around where these bombs blow up. 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.720 And then Riley says, no, we're not doing that, and 0:20:56.760 --> 0:21:01.439 then she says the thing that is so literally ironic 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:04.760 and she doesn't know it. It's you know, again with 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:07.800 this incredible maturity that she's gleaned, like in the three 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:11.000 weeks that she's a grutty way is you know, it's 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:15.679 okay to admit that you don't know everything, the implication 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:19.960 being I do kind of know not everything, but a 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:23.000 lot more about the world, a lot more than you. 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.840 You don't understand how it works, and of course that 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.320 you know they're The tragedy of this is that they're 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:31.800 both wrong. And she also says, Okay, we're here and 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:35.200 it's them. All this building is supposedly sealed up because 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.359 it's full of infected and Riley says, oh yeah, well 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:40.960 if it's sealed off, then why is it sealed off? 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:42.480 And they see there's a hole in the roof and 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:46.880 they go inside. What they find in here is that 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.680 the electricity is on. Riley turns it on and all 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:56.160 the stuff is almost as it had been on outbreak day, 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:58.399 like still the signs of looting at different stores, but 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:02.359 electricity on. It's really fountains running. 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:07.560 It's really amazing. And also I saw some people who 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:09.439 were like, oh, how could you not see those lights. No, 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:12.680 I've actually been to those American malls where the roof 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:15.399 is completely solid, but it looks like there's skylights, and 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:19.560 they're actually electrical lights and stuff. I believe that there 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:21.320 is a version of the world where you could not 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:24.159 see those lights coming on from outside. Now, do I 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:29.040 think you should be like lasting Carousel music when there 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:32.840 is a whole race of infected monsters who can only 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:37.000 hear things. No, this is obviously a bad idea, but 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:39.240 I will say I do believe that there. I do 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:41.760 believe there's a version where people couldn't see the lights outside. 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:44.679 I don't think the lights are what you should be 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:45.399 worrying about. 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:55.240 I think the story will bear you out. Riley notes 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:58.400 that hey, looks like there's no infected in the mall, 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:02.320 like they've been telling us. Score one for Feather being 0:23:02.400 --> 0:23:06.159 absolute liars. She tells Ellie again that some of the 0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:09.159 stores are empty because of the looting. They stand in 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:13.280 front of a victorious secret store and they're kind of 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:18.399 just talking about like what they're experiencing, and then Riley says, 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:21.479 you know, I'm trying to imagine you wearing that, pointing 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:25.280