This Is An Emotional Rollercoaster | THE LAST OF US Episode 3 Reaction - HBO Series 

The infected Ellie kills is a Stalker. If you remember from the game, stalkers are the phase infected go through between Runners and Clickers. It's easy to distinguish them, because they usually have mushrooms growing on their body, noticibly on the face, but they still have the ability to see and their head isn't yet a... well... exploding mushroom.

What's special about the juxtaposition of the two versions of Bill is that they serve the same narrative purpose even though the trajectory of their counterparts result in the two portrayals being polar opposites of each other. Game Bill serves to show Joel what being emotionally guarded will lead to; a life of solitude with little to no meaning, whereas Bill in this episode serves to show Joel that being emotionally vulnerable and letting yourself love again will give you purpose and allow you to live a meaningful life. Both stories ultimately lead to the same path, but this tells us an emotionally charged bittersweet love story along the way, which is a testament to how incredibly well-written this episode was

A masterpiece of an episode from start to finish. The acting, the dialogue, the pacing, the music, the cinematography, perfection. I am absolutely blown away by what they have achieved in this show so far. I knew when Druckmann himself was going to be heavily involved in the adaptation that it was going to be good.... But this is on another level. Wow, just wow 😮

When I heard “On the Nature of Daylight” start playing I absolutely lost it. Like pulled my legs up into my chest and started ugly sobbing!!!😂❤ I love their story so much, even now, it’s remained with me.

Love how 1 show can introduce u to so many new great reactors

i just noticed a detail in the scene where Joel and Tess visit for lunch, they’re just eating roughly chopped vegetables. That tells me Bill was like “I will allow these people to come, but I’m not cooking for them.”

This is not only my favourite ep so far, but it is the most emotional ep I have ever seen. Watched 3 times. Still weeping. Great reaction!!! 😊

It took me seeing some reactions to realize the purpose of the radio message being "Danger" triggering. That was Bill essentially leaving a message for Joel and Tess to come "help", but when they got there they'd find all the weapons and things they ever needed to protect themselves. It's Bill leaving behind for his "friends" what he could. If you read on the note it tells Joel which wine to use and etc with Tess. So he's basically telling Joel to give it a chance with Tess, stay there, and keep her safe. But it's too late, Tess is gone. And when Joel comes in, the door slams shut. Bill can finally go knowing Joel got there.

This series is not only the first ever to honor a video game, it even enriches it. All changes made so far make sense, closing logic gaps in the game or expanding the universe while preserving everything important. In this episode, an interesting parallel is even indirectly drawn between Frank and the infected. Both no longer have control over their bodies (Frank has ALS), but are still clear in their heads. The infected, at least in the first stage, still have a conscience. In the game they cry when they are undisturbed. I think Ellie is shown a little more psychotic in the show so that she is better understood in Season 2 than in Part 2 of the video game. For some, she was drawn in a difficult way to understand. She would supposedly be so different as a kid. But she has always been more condemning, vindictive and resentful than forgiving. That's why the kill of the stalker fits very well and how she did it. This is made for the people who need it easier to understand Ellie. Tess and Joel have known each other for over 13 years in this show. So almost as long as Joel knew Sarah. I'm sure he loved her, just couldn't show it or he didn't know it himself. He only realized when she was gone. The thing I don't find so great about your way of seeing things is that we get a hint from you with every little thing that was different in the game. Considering how close the series as a whole is to the original, unlike all previous video game adaptations, this is completely superfluous. It seems like disappointment that is actually not appropriate.

These comments by Pixie about Ellie's behavior... I felt that way too, but the show is different enough to make the differences in Ellie make sense.

Was waiting for your reaction! Can't wait to watch it. I absolutely don't care that they deviated from the source material 'cause it elevates the character development and the narrative to whole new emotional heights. What a phenomenal episode!

I think Ellie "playing" with the Clicker (I think he was actually a "Stalker") goes back to episode 2, when she asks Joel if it was hard to kill them knowing they were once human. I think she wanted to see if there was any humanity left in it and then realized there wasn't, so she just offed it. It lends to Ellie learning quckly as she goes along the journey.

My interpretation of the Ellie & the infected was that she was both reflecting on what could have been her if things had have gone a different way, but also testing the limits of what she's capable of -- which will lead up to the moment next episode where she does something to help Joel (iykyk, which is also why they gave her the gun now IMO) and then ultimately to the culmination of events with David. It's like, we've seen so many people lose their humanity already -- will the same thing happen to this cheeky, naive teenage girl?

Once again, an absolutely stellar review, summed up a lot of my feelings when I first watched the episode, great job Pix!

Absolutely love your reaction videos. Keep up the great work! P.S I also lost it when the Max Richter music came on.

"This episode is going to be sad, isn't it?" Yes...yes it is.

This channel is quickly becoming my favorite one to watch TLoU reactions with. Excellent job! I think you'd be able to grow your channel a lot quicker if these reactions dropped on the same day. But nevertheless - love your insight on everything.

How the hell do the writers make us feel so much for characters that are limited to just this one episode? We meet Bill and Frank for the first and last time this week, and it broke me...why?!? Lol Nick Offerman will always be Ron Swanson to me, but he did an incredible job playing Bill here. He was on Kimmel this week, and he said at the time he had first gotten the script for this ep, he didn’t have the time to be on the show. But his wife (Megan Mullally, Karen from ‘Will & Grace’) also read the script and told him he HAD to take the role. Wifey knows best sometimes! 😂 And I think they showed Ellie killing the stalker because they touched on this last episode, where she asked Joel if he ever killed any infected and whether it was hard doing it knowing they used to be human. Not sure how Ellie was in the game, but the creators seemed to have made her super-inquisitive in this series. And I think her cutting that stalker’s head before killing him was to see if he would bleed like a human. But after seeing the spores inside the cut, it confirmed for her what she needed to do. Could be a lot more to it, but that’s my interpretation of that scene.

Frank either has ALS or multiple sclerosis something along those lines for neurological diseases.

18:51 tf is this cursed picture of Joel lmao

I find it interesting how when playing the game we kill infected in the most brutal ways. Yet when it comes to the show, god forbid Ellie is curious, sadistic, or however you want to interpret her action, and we find it disturbing.

love that you keep making references to the game and spotting the differences! makes the video all that much interesting to watch and makes me look forward to seeing the next video you have for us!!

Been waiting all week for you to do this. Excited to watch! :)

@ 26:10 The (often forgot about) phase 2 infected are called stalkers.

Ellie killed that stalker right after she was reminiscing at the machine. What on earth could have made her so mad she would want to kill the stalker... Also, consider she just loss Tess to stalkers/infected. She is angry and traumatized.

Absolutely heartbreaking and definitely game-changing, no pun intended. I think down the road they are going to make more different scenarios to how the tv series will go... Sure hope they change how Joel will die. They can kill him, but I hope it's not that fast.

I didn't get your reaction to Ellie and the Stalker. Wasn't the way I took it all. We saw Ellie asking Joel if it was hard to kill the infected knowing they were human once, and here we see her look just under the first layer of skin and see nothing but fungi bursting out as it has replaced all human tissue underneath, and THAT is what allows her to harden herself enough to be able to kill it. I think she needed to see that there was nothing human left to be saved in order to be able to do such a thing, and to truly see and understand what the fungi does to the humans it infects to appease those doubts and worries. So yeah... didn't find it very disturbing, out of character or any other such thing.

You’re gonna understand Ellie’s stab once you see episode 7 😢

I suspect the next episode will be raiders, so we should get our human on human goodies.

I can't say anymore than "Incredible well done" Same! I waited for the magazine scene also. I love this scene because Ellies humor. Maybe it's still coming.

Omg Henry and Sam are going to destroy me if they did this with Bill. I wonder if they’ll change much with them as well. I agree with what you said on Ellie, from explanations I understand why they made her more like that but tbh I don’t know how I feel about it personally. It’s nothing on the actress though like how I see people complaining about her, I think she’s a great Ellie it’s just some choices that they added that make things more interesting

This episode is making me wonder if season 2 will start in Boulder Colorado like the game or in Bills town since it's essentially been left to Joel.

For me Ellie just confront her fears with the Stalker in this episode.

was waiting for this week was too long lmao

I like that you say Ellie is different because of the infected she kills in the beginning. But if you remember, in the first game we simply don't see Ellie's perspective for most of it. Basically this foreshadows some things about her "guilt" and what comes in part 2.

I don't think it's violence that Ellie is attracted to, it's more about power. She was brought up in a FEDRA military school which was presumably very strict and I could see her feeling quite powerless growing up. Joel and Tess are (were, RIP Tess) rulebreakers that have agency in the world that Ellie finds exciting and wants for herself. I think that's why she is always playing with her knife, asking Joel for a gun and messing with the infected, she doesn't want to be weak and powerless, she wants to be able to deal with the harsh world she has to live in and violence is the way to be powerful in this environment.

I'm thinking that by the time season 3 wraps up that part 3 of the game will be out. So hopefully 5 seasons total plus maybe HBO diverges afterwards? Idk good times

Stalkers are the stage between the runners and clickers. I'm curious what they do with the bloaters, since they obviously won't have spores. That's certainly the Anna Torv that I would've recognized too (I literally did not until another RU-vidr pointed it out for the first episode). Much closer to what I've known from her as Olivia in Fringe. The whole aging makeup in this show is nuts, especially in this episode. Nick Offerman is the fucking champ too. The way he portrayed vulnerability was an absolute masterclass. I miss the banter between Bill & Allie, but I can't be mad with such good writing, story telling, cinematography (that strawberry scene with the sun, pollen & insects, playing "It Can't Last" from Part 2… T_T) and acting. This episode is so choked full of details it's actually insane. Sad how many people do not see this, just because "gay men bad". This episode would still be an absolute masterpiece even if Frank would have been a woman instead. Personally I hope this episode gets all the awards. We also not just learn for how long they knew Bill (and Frank in this case, Joel didn't knew him in the game), but also that Joel knew Tess for a damn long time and that they are in the Boston QZ for that period time already as well. All those window scenes definitely hit very differently after knowing Part 2, it already started in the first episode with Sarah's room. This was definitely the happy episode though. Bittersweet, but not inherently sad, like the fucked up scenario from the game where Bill remains the paranoid lonely nutter that he was in the beginning here. Here they found and complemented each other, grew old together and then went out on their own terms, peacefully. That's honestly the jackpot, especially considering the world they were living in, but even in our world today imo. Bill was almost certainly lonely for more than just the 4 years too. He was a homosexual in a tiny US town in 2003, which was likely part of why he shut himself off from everyone around him. So it only took the world to end for him to finally find a reason to actually live, and not just "survive". I feel the letter and Tess' last words of making sure that Ellie gets there and Joel to keep her safe are already priming the viewers for Joel's decision at the end of Part 1. Slight future game story spoilers ahead: As for her "sadistic" side, I think it might have partially to do with what happened 3-4 weeks earlier to her and Riley. She not just lost her love but it also kinda started her whole identity crisis thing. Given that in the game she doesn't mention or even really hints at anything before they meet until the very end of the game I would assume that the DLC was not fully written yet, so now they have a chance to represent her mental state from that a bit more within the show. When they reach the mass grave we can clearly see that she's distraught and saddened by the sight. I think if they'd truly meant for her to be sadistic she would have had a different reaction there.

Yay! My favorite video of the week. Hi Pixie 👋. Edit: I just finished the game (Part 1) last night for the first time. Part 2 arrived today. Can't wait.

I feel like Ellie is acting like this because of her trauma and guilt over what happened to Riley....or more to the point, what Ellie was forced to do. So she's trying to find out about killing, and about the infected. She wants to watch Joel kill the FEDRA guy because she knows he's a real human, and she wants to determine if that looks different from killing an infected. She wants Joel to tell her how killing a real human feels for the same reason. She wants to know what Joel thinks about the fact that the infected used to be people, and does it bother him. She cuts the trapped infected guy open to look, because no real person would let you do that without struggling, and their head wouldn't be full of fungus. Once she really sees that the guy isn't a person anymore, she violently dispatches him. It's all just Ellie trying to justify the mercy killing of someone she loved, by proving to herself that killing a person and killing an infected are completely different things. Everyone seems to think she's just being vicious or savage, and it's definitely not that at all. If someone I loved got turned and I had to kill them, I'd almost certainly want to find a way to prove to myself that I wasn't a murderer. That's what is happening here.

This episode will win awards, the actors will win awards and hopefully a bunch because it’s well deserved. I’m glad the story took a 180 compared to the one in the game.

Wow you have a wonderful speaking voice. Can I ask what your accent is specifically? Great editing too!

Max Richter is amazing. Using that piece is like emotional assault :/

Bill taught Frank how to survive, and Frank taught Bill how to live. The difference between the game and the movie happens during that argument in the street. In the game Bill says absolutely not, Frank starts resenting him because he’s an extrovert. Eventually Frank leaves, gets bitten, hangs himself to not turn. And leaves an angry letter to Bill, to which Bill swallows his tears and feelings and goes, “Well then fuck you too”. Bill will die bitter and angry having never lived at all. In the show Bill compromised a bit, and let Frank love him how he wanted to love him. Let him make a friend, Tess and Joel. Spruce up the neighborhood. Frank in turn compromised and settled for just that. It’s still an apocalypse, he can’t invite too many people or do too much. So they both died satisfied, in each other’s arms, after a full life. In either case their plot purpose is to teach Joel that surviving isn’t enough. In the game Bill shows Joel how bad and purposeless his life can be if he doesn’t open up. In the show Bill shows Joel how good it can be if he opens up. Joel reads the letter and realizes that Frank died happy. And Tess died never having that chance. So he starts opening up a bit. Both Bill and Franks are sides of the same coin. The bad ending. And the good ending.

Can we please jump right into the winter season? 😬🤩😬🤩😬🤩😬🤩😬🤩😬🤩

great video

If you like to watch emotional series, I can only recommend: The Haunting of Hill House. (daily motion)

What was the plan with the tripwire if it was a taller or shorter infected? 🤔

Have to appreciate the irony of Frank representing the gamer community’s point of view. “I do not support this… I should be furious….. But you have to admit it is romantic…. heheheheheheh…”. Love your reactions! Your balance of emotion and knowledge is maybe the best on RU-vid for this subject matter!!!!!

delighted like #777 and new subscriber. looking forward to the rest!

Love your meme game

❤️❤️❤️

As for El 'playing' with the clicker... For us whom haven't played - we get a lot of El to this point, but it was all talk and talk is cheap. She cut him and looked inside... Yikes!

alright, nice video. Refreshing to see some intelligent life on the reactors bubble.

All I can say is... Great reaction! Small side note: I think Ellie needed to dehumanize by cutting the forehead of that infected in the basement so she was able to put it out of it's misery. She wants to have the ability to not feel bad doing it or killing all the infected when it becomes necessary.

Cutie 🥧

Really not fond of tv Ellie. She’s such a bizarre character and lacks any of the endearing qualities that made her likable in the game.

Are you going to spend the whole time talking about the game or are you going to start talking about what you're watching? The vast majority of people don't know the game and will never play it. That's why it's a TV series.