i so wish we were able to see a real, just natural joel and ellie hug. like no arguing, no trauma, just like everyday hugging.
don’t get me wrong, i love the two that we do get because the both of the them carry so much of their own emotion. the first one being silverlake. literally such a perfect scene, i love this hug so much, but it’s a result of such a traumatic experience and ellie isn’t able to reciprocate for obvious reasons. just lean in.
and then we have the one where joel finds ellie after she ran away. again, i love it and we even get a little head kiss from joel. sobbing. but again, this time, it’s followed by a fight and the rift between them begins.
in both of these hugs, ellie doesn’t reciprocate. joel initiates both. neither of them are a hug hug if you know what i mean.
and then to break your heart a little more, the next time we see ellie hug someone, it’s tommy, after joel died. and this time, she hugs back, burying her head into tommy’s shoulder and closing her eyes against tears.
i can only imagine that she so badly wished it was joel she was hugging. just one more time. maybe she wished that she hadn’t shut him out or taken his hugs for granted. she closed her eyes and willed it to be joel instead, but he’s dead and she’ll never be able to hug him again. with how comfortable joel was with coming up and hugging her before their fight, in the image above, i can only imagine that they did hug regularly, we just didn’t get to see it.
and i think when ellie hugged tommy, she would’ve done anything for it to be joel instead. just one last time.
“Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time I had somebody I cared about. It was a partner. Somebody I had to look after. And in this world that sort of shit is good for one thing…
… gettin’ ya’ killed… You keep babysitting long enough and eventually it’s gonna blow up in your face.” ~ Bill
ellie’s question is like a kid asking their parent to push them on the swing, or give them a piggyback ride.
and joel’s response is as if they’ve known each other for years, and not just two years like they have. it’s just such a dad response. he’s answering it as if he’s watched her grow up (which he kinda has for a while now), but like for much longer than two years.
“oh, i’m too old for that now. i can’t give ya’ rides like i used to when you were a kid” and they’ve literally known each other for only a couple years by this point.
i’ve literally had interactions like this with my parents. “remember when you and i used to do this…?” and they’ll be like “yeah, but i’m definitely too old and you’re too big for that now” in a reminiscent sort of way.
joel is dad. and don’t even get me started on the “kiddo”