Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers from Episode 8 of The Last of Us.The Last of Ushas been taking over our screens this past month for great reasons. This HBO show, based on the popular video game of the same name, continues to draw intrigue and tension throughout its episodes, and with the show almost coming to an end, the audiences have been learning a lot of things about the characters as well as other important takeaways — one of which is how the show just lets Ellie (Bella Ramsey) be a teenager. It’s one of the things that make this an even better watch.
Ellie’s Upbringing and Its Effect on Her Perception of the World
There are a lot of things thatThe Last of Usdoes right, may it be regarding its faithfulness to the game and fleshing out the main characters. But perhaps one of the most appreciated things that came out of this is how they shaped Ellie. We know she is a 14-year-old girl who was born into this apocalyptic world, so she doesn’t know much about what was life like before everything came tumbling down. For her, that dark world isherworld, and watching shows and dancing without a care are just memories from the distant past that she wasn’t even a part of.Her upbringing from FEDRAand the environment she grew up in definitely played a significant part in how she sees the world and the people around her. Growing up in such a world can suck some of your innocence out because you are forced to grow up faster than you should’ve. This is the life of Ellie and the other kids on the show.
However, even though Ellie has been brought up in this type of rough and strict environment, we still see a lot of her innocence and childlike curiosity about different things. And that’s because she is just a kid who still has a long way to go when it comes to learning about the world around her. Now, we know her as this outspoken, tough teenager who knows how to defend herself.
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Ellie Is Just Like the Rest of Us
Besides her immunity to the fungal infectionand fighting off different infected Ellie is very much a definition of a relatable teenager. For instance, in the third episode, when she and Joel are venturing to visit Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) after losing Tess (Anna Torv), they stopped in an abandoned establishment to stock up on guns. Ellie wanders for a bit inside and secretly goes under a bunker and just snoops around. She then finds a box of probably expired tampons and immediately stashes it in her bag. It’s a small moment in such a huge and emotional episode, but it definitely resonated with a lot of people. Not a lot of apocalyptic shows actually show these types of problems, so this scene makes you think of what women go through. There’s even a scene whereEllie gets gifted a menstrual cupwhich would be an incredibly convenient thing to have in a world with limited hygiene supplies.
Moreover, Ellie is also snarky and foul-mouthed, much like most 14-year-olds. She has a tough personality and can sometimes be annoying. But when you’re at that age, who isn’t? And given her circumstances, it’s understandable. Teenagers also don’t really know much about the world or somehow grasp some realities, so their curiosities are well up there. Though she and Joel got off on a rocky start, Ellie never fails to ask many questions despite Joel’s annoyance and exhaustion. There’s also the fact that no matter how tough teenagers might seem or convince themselves they can do everything alone, they still need someone with them, to guide them. When Joel and Ellie got into an argument in Jackson, Ellie reveals that Joel is one of the few people she trusts and that she would just be more scared if he’s not going to be with her along the way. How these two communicate isn’t the best, but this scene shows how they already found a family in one another — they’re just stubborn to admit it.
Now, it would be odd not to mention teenagers and crushes. In “Left Behind”, we get to see a flashback regardingEllie and Riley(Storm Reid). These two are best friends who grew up in the confines of FEDRA, but they have each other. But when Riley visits Ellie after weeks of being gone, they go on this adventure in the mall. From a general perspective, it’s just two teenagers trying to have a normal experience by going into a photo booth and going on a carousel. But throughout these moments, we also see Ellie and her quite obvious, knowing glances toward Riley. Crushes are very much a normal thing to have, and seeing Ellie getting all flustered feels somehow nostalgic. It’s all there: the little glances, the ‘fixing up my hair’ discreetly, and the giddy smile. They are too realistic for some. Ellie has never really felt like that before, but her developing a crush on her friend is just so wholesome to witness. At that moment, it’s just the two of them.
The Last Of UsLets Teenagers Be Teenagers, And That’s Why It’s Great
The Last of Usperfectly captures the realities of being a teenager, and it’s never in a way that feels insincere or shallow. It’sreal. Teenagers are far from saints, andEllie is very much a flawed being with a lot of trauma and losses, but that’s why their portrayal in the show is great. The show just lets teenagers be teenagers. They show how a typical teenager would probably act in a chaotic world while still depicting the innocence of these younger ones. They let them do good and bad things because that’s what they do, and it’s how they learn. It never shies away from showing the ups and downs of teenagers such as Ellie, and it’s done in a way that you may’t hate them because you understand where they’re coming from. Overall, the writing of Ellie and how she is played by an actual teenager is what made this depiction even more grounded and raw.
The Last of Usis available to watch on HBO.
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