Marlene TLoU - Tumblr Posts

Since The Last of Us won best “superhero” series at the Critics Choice Awards, what was your favorite part of The Last of Us (the superhero show)?

My favorite part was when Captain Dad used his superpowers of grief and mental illness to kill Doctor Firefly and begin the origin story of Golf Girl.

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by @bumblepony! Have a snip from...something new.

Tagging @march-flowerr, @sixhours, @hypnotisedfireflies, @probssomethingorother and @ameerawrites, and anyone else that wants to participate.

Bleed to Love Her

Posted something new, and a little...different...earlier today, on AO3. Title: Bleed to Love Her Chapters: 1 / ?

Warnings: +18, mildly suggestive scenes, trauma, gun violence.

Summary: He doesn’t know how he does it, he just knows that it happens with frightening quickness; that suddenly he’s howling like a wounded animal, he and his brother tumbling against the side of a dumpster in a tangle of limbs and fists, and it’s only his slight edge in speed that gives him the upper hand, that lets him straddle Joel’s legs and rain punches to his ribs, his jaw – and he barely feels the retaliatory hits to his own ribs, his stomach – but he feels the arms around his neck, choking him, pulling him back –

The world is swimming, the tops of the buildings blurring into the wispy gray sky. The taste of copper floods his mouth. He's flat on his back, the rough, wet pavement biting into his skin through his shirt, and Tess looms over him, grinding her boot into his chest, pinning him in place.

“ – are not fucking doing this –”

--

Slight AU: Tommy never leaves the Fireflies. He still heads west, assigned to help establish their newest base and protect their most essential asset - a scientist who thinks he can develop a "cure." Even without his help, Joel and Ellie manage to find their way to Salt Lake City.

Some things change, while others stay exactly the same.

I know people give Marlene a lot of flack for telling Joel about wanting to kill Ellie, but to be fair, the last time she saw them together, Joel didn’t seem all that “invested” in the “cargo”…

My Top 5 Shots of Every Episode of TLOU

Episode 9

TW: Gore

Number #5

What can I say? I just think this one is gorgeous. It represents why The Last of Us HBO’s cinematography works so damn well. It’s subtle, atmospheric, and gritty, while still being absolutely gorgeous. I love the dingy yellows, and the rim-lighting on Marlene. Just a fantastically put together shot.

Number #4

This shot is absolutely brutal in the best way. In the show, the camera doesn’t show the bodies of dead people, opting to go the route of showing the main characters when someone dies. It’s this really effective way to make the violence more impactful and character-driven. During the hospital massacre, however, they very purposefully don’t do that. They show the bodies. They show the people falling. It’s this really affective subtle twisting of the knife that gives this sequence this really unique and incredible tone of shock, and it absolutely wouldn’t have worked without the buildup of amazing, character driven violence until then. Small (“small” tangent aside, the shot itself absolutely rocks! The high-angle of the body squished against the stairs. Joel scavenging the dead man for parts. It’s so brutal and clinical, another thing the hospital sequence does incredibly. It’s an extremely affective, amazing shot.

Number #3

This show’s ultra wide shots just go so hard, but this one even more than most. The dreary sky, the ultra wide on Anna showcasing the field and the city in the background… it’s so atmospheric and just absolutely fantastic. Bravo.

Number #2

What can I even say about this shot? The lighting. The contrast. Ashley’s incredible acting. It’s just incredible.

Before I reveal my #1, here are some honorable mentions…

It’s the symbolism here more than the shot that makes this absolutely excellent. But Joel taking Ellie out of the light just hits so hard I couldn’t not include this somewhere.

Another absolutely gorgeous side-view shot, it’s just so good!! The reason this one isn’t number five is because there was already another amazing side view on here…

I debated this and the other Anna shot for number two, and while the other one came out on top, this one is just so gorgeous and emotional I couldn’t not include it.

This one’s just really pretty lol

Number #1

I don’t even know how to express how good this shot is. It works on so many levels, and in so many ways. It’s dark and emotional and it has incredible contrast (all things that describe episode 9 as a whole) Ellie over Joel’s shoulder, in the dark, with the gorgeous rim-lighting and the deep blues… it’s just incredible. INCREDIBLE.

That’s all for now, folks! I’ll do this again when s2 comes out!

please tell me im not the only one who thinks marlene is so fine

🚨 Spoilers for ep. 7 AND the entirety of og TLOU game. 🚨

Random thought II. HBO TLOU does a lotta shit right, but how it plays with perspective (with perspective being such an important thing in this game series already) it easily the best imo. AND important I think, considering it's something that a surprising amount of video game adaptions tend to fail with or don’t really bother at all) Thread below

Why do these characters do all the awful and amazing stuff they do? How do they justify their actions to others and themselves?

I go on and on on this account abt the inherent differences between video games (active medium) and television (passive medium) and how production teams need to stop looking at them like they're obstacles when adapting video games into tv and instead see them for the opportunities they are it to expand on side characters and the world in ways that video games can’t.

In the game, we really only get to see Joel’s perspective the whole way through (with Ellie during the Winter segment, which I'll get to in a sec). We know all about his trauma, his guilt and fears over losing Sarah, and how much he loves Ellie and wants more than anything to protect her. That very much culminates in much of the audience understanding, if not outright justifying, him murdering dozens of people and lying to Ellie about the whole thing. And within the game, it works really fucking well. Why else are people still vehimately defending Joel’s actions over a decade after the game was released?

But with television being the passive medium that it is, we get that chance to see an expanded version of the world. We get to have more scenes focusing on nonplayable characters, setting up their wants and goals and desires independent of Joel and Ellie. We get to have extended flashbacks without Joel and Ellie. We get to have whole episodes focusing on them in the case of Bill and Frank which, if you ask me, is so far the best ep. in the series.

The result? We get to better see everyone’s perspective and mindset and what drives them to do the things they do which fits the series' core thesis of love as a motive.

Bill and Frank? Romantic love, so strong and powerful that the idea of losing of it scares the fuck out of you.

Sam and Henry? Familar love. The intense desire to protect your family at the cost of others. Knowing what you doing it wrong, knowing that it will hurt so many people, but doing it anyway.

Kathleen? Grief and the absence of justice. What do you do when you fail the person you love?

Tommy and Maria? Wanting to protect what you have. Being satisfied. Finding hope and purpose in community.

Riley? Wanting a place to belong and have hope for the future.

All and all these bits make the world feel much more lived in, for lack of a better word. Joel and Ellie don’t feel like the center of the universe. Like the brutality that the characters demonstrate feels like it has more of a meaning —they exist and are driven by things independent of Joel and Ellie.

Idek if this makes any sense but ya. Hyperfixation go brrr brrr.