#tlou podcast

[jinglerat]

they were so fucked up for changing up that scene where ellie saves joel.

i'm listening to the aftershow podcast and it makes sense that ellie is excited about the gun because that's power she didn't have when she got infected. then she gets the chance to wield that gun, that power, and save joel.

and yet when she does shoot the guy, she's in shock and she didn't expect that. she wants to be like joel; powerful tough guy, will smash a soldier's face to death. but when the guy, brian, starts begging for his life, she can't kill him. 1. because she knows joel is mad she snuck a gun. (joel is mad for other reasons but this is what is running in ellie's mind as this plays out). and 2. she feels sorry for brian because she knows he has to die but she can't do it.

so when joel tells her to hide back on the other side of the wall, she complies and starts to cry 1. because of the shock of it all and 2. because she thinks she isn't as tough as joel, she thinks she's not as tough as she wants to be because she couldn't kill brian. (she didn't know yet that joel wouldnt let her kill if he could help it, but given her history, she blames herself for not being tougher. so she cries.) but as soon as she tears up, she wipes her face immediately as if nothing ever happened. as if it didn't affect her at all. because she WANTS to be like joel; powerful tough guy, will stab a hunter in cold blood.

and when joel reunites with her on the other side of the wall, she immediately assures joel that she's alright. she's unbothered. even if she didn't deal the killing blow, she's wants to prove that she's also a powerful tough guy, will not be shaken by death. and in that way, she's already like joel. pushing down these normal reactions to terrible situations that kids shouldnt go though.

they're so fucked up for showing how ALIKE joel and ellie are. of course ellie [SPOILERS FOR TLOU2] seeks revenge for joel. joel would have done the same for her. they've both read the same manual on how to deal with loss and grief: bitterness and revenge. they're the same.

[teashadephoenix]

my favorite bit from the ep4 TLOU podcast

re Joel’s "You're cargo.” line

TB: He says it dispassionately. Why?

Mazin: Because it's what he wants to be true.

TB: For whose benefit is he saying this, his or hers?

Mazin: For himself. I mean, what is the alternative? To say, "You are family. I actually am starting to care about you. You're filling a place in my heart that I thought I had closed off completely. And by filling it in my heart you are opening me up to experiencing the greatest pain that I have ever felt, a pain that I swore to myself I would never feel again." OR, he can say, “yeah no you’re not family. You're a job, I was given you by Marlene, I'm delivering you, and I'll drop you off with the fireflies.“

Druckmann: He's not gonna say “I've already murdered for you.”

[aquitainequeen]

Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann in The Last of Us 1x02 podcast: We shot the scene of Tess getting 'kissed' by the Stalker as if it were an intimate moment!

Me: ...

Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann: Instead of shooting it in a creepy way, we thought, let's shoot it in the most beautiful way. Like, backlit, silhouetted, profile view, and we slowly just come in and in and in as if it was an intimate kiss of two lovers.

Me: ......

Me: .........WHAT.

Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann: But the way we did it underscores the theme of love, because the fungus loves too. It makes more of itself. Even if the way we reproduce may be horrifying and violating. But it is tender when this man comes to her, it's not violent, she's not fighting, and he very gently shares of himself.

Me:

[koke]

Craig Mazin on Ellie's puns

I remember in the game being shocked that the game was suddenly offering me this thing that had no benefit for the game. At all That's what I loved about it, that it was just gratuitous and yet lovely and human. It was sort of like saying, "Hey, you know what? "You don't have to be eyes in the back of your head "or getting ready to run or shoot it every moment. you can take the time to stop, look around, experience the beauty of the world that's created. But what I also love about it and why it was essential to include in the show is that it undercuts this thing that happens when adults write kids. They either write them too young or too old. And there's this stage of life. My friend Scott Frank had the best description of it ever. I was talking to him about my kids as they were going through that age. And he said, "I call that time of life, fuck you, tuck me in." They are ready to go out on their own. They want a gun. They want to be in charge. They think they know everything. Also, they're still children. And I love how Ellie has this joy for something so juvenile and infantile and stupid. And she knows it's stupid, but she loves it. It's honest joy. And I always find myself connecting to characters when they show me what they love.

[thefabelmans2022]

btw on the official last of us podcast neil druckmann and craig mazin said that joel would feel safe as a sheep farmer and he wanted to be a singer but the thing he really wanted and what he was put on this earth to do was be a father. so there's that.

[shakshukagirl]

Listening to the tlou podcast with Craig, neil, troy and Ashley Johnson really shows that it was made with so much love and fun. like everyone involved loves the story and the characters and each other. It's so sweet. I'll miss it like I'll miss the show, and the little ritual I had of watching the episode then listening to the podcast as I clean or do work.

[skellybonesandtrees]

Craig and Neil talking about how Bella struggled with holding that rifle through the whole scene. MY TINY BABY! 

[cn-4amsleeper]

I don’t think after listening to the latest TLoU podcast people would still be claiming that Troy is a David defender but okay.

[vampirebeyotch]

“ellie’s not a romantic” she is though! she has so much love for the world and her people!! she’s constantly wonderstruck by nature and remnants of a world before her!

[chiefnooniensingh]

"Sam couldn't hear her. So that means, it was still him inside."

FUCK YOU CRAIG MAZIN

[multiversed-daydreamer]

Finally listened to the podcasts and found the origin of “fuck you, tuck me in” and I’m in tears. I fucking love that.

[pedritoisapunk]

you got sad cuz of my post so im doing as you asked *tucks you in*

HAHA omg friend!! "fuck you tuck me in" is my tag for Joel and Ellie!! In one of the BTS podcast episodes, Craig Mazin describes Ellie's age and time in life as "fuck you, tuck me in", cuz she thinks she's so tough, she can curse, she has a gun, etc, but she's still a child and still craves that comfort given to children, like tucking them in.

.... that being said, I will gladly accept your tucking me in 🫶

[aquitainequeen]

The importance of having rubber duck debugging when creating is never more evident than when you learn that, during the shooting of the museum scene from The Last of Us:

"Because our creative partners, who hadn't played the game, Carolyn Strauss in particular [...] she, in her very simple Carolyn way, said, "I don't know what the problem is. Like, why...I don't get that they can't see.'"

"Oops."

"Yeah. Like, the fact that they don't have eyeballs isn't enough. 'And I don't necessarily know why they're clicking.' "

So they had to go back and add in the bit with Joel mouthing that Clickers can't see, but they can hear.

[pedritoisapunk]

“We’re watching someone burn their own soul to save someone they love.”

We all just become shades of grey

[koke]

Then the tough part is if I'm playing Joel or Ellie and I need to kill these people to get through this level I can't connect with them too much as a player. I need to be able to sneak up behind them and kill them without feeling like oh god I just killed Linda, you know that would be really hard to deal with if I felt a lot for them.