What got me was Marlene telling Joel that basically he knew that Ellie would have went along with it, but Marlene lies to Ellie and doesn't tell her that she's not gonna wake up, so that kind of ****s up that idea. Marlene acting like Joel was a selfish piece of shit for doing that, but not telling a kid that you're killing them is wayyyy more ****ed up. I really hate that Joel lied to her though. That really bothered me and I don't think Ellie really believed him.

Also, a vaccine doesn't really move the needle all that much for me. Things wouldn't change in Joel's lifetime, hell things wouldn't even change in Ellie's lifetime. Plus it would take an incredibly long time to even get a working product. Also you prevent anyone from getting it, but there are still millions of infected roaming around. Joel did the right thing, but Ellie should have been told and given the choice to decide with all the pros and cons. I would have taken the same path as Joel though personally, but I would have told her what happened. I'd just make sure all of them were dead so she had no options of doing it

They pointed out in the intro with the scientists talking. A vaccine against fungal infection does not exist. Because it's not possible. The scientist directly references this fact within minutes of the start of the series. So, why are they wanting to kill Ellie and take out her brain? The **** would they even do with it?

Was that explained in the game better than how weirdly I perceived it in the series?

From a biological standpoint, that's just super silly for them to think they could make a fungal vaccine from Ellie's brain when it was knowingly impossible and even referenced as such in the intro. In addition, medical tech is basically non-existent at this point. Maybe it's just me overthinking it. But that was a rare head scratcher that took me out of it for a moment, in an otherwise awesome series. That bothered me even when the Fireflies initially explained their plan. But I passed it off as maybe they had a big modern human settlement or something.

One thing I felt the finale did well was the role reversal in Joel and Ellie. Typically, Ellie was the outgoing one and always trying to get Joel to open up. In this episode, it felt like Joel was oversharing and "clingy" in a way, while Ellie was doing more of the introspection.

The one thing I did not like was the lie. Whenever he started explaining what happened while she was out, I was like NO NO NO NO NO!!!! They're relationship was bas one survival and mutual trust. Love of a child or not, after everything she's been through, she deserves to know the truth. Being 14 after an apocalypse is totally different than the 14 we think of. I'm sure she could have handled it. She might have been pissed, but they could have worked through it and been okay. She knew he was lying. That's why she gave him the opportunity to come clean. When he didn't, you could literally see her processing it in her head and making the decision of "okay."

This episode felt like a video game. With him overtaking the two guy, making sure to grab his backpack, and then picking up ammo and weapons whenever he ran out. It was cool.

There wasn't a vaccine *yet*. Ellie is a miracle. The writer from the game has confirmed that it would have worked.

That makes what Joel did extremely selfish. Its further proof that love blinds people, especially parents. The father and mother instinct is one of the more selfish things that exist in society that people for some reason think is actually selfless. They (Ellie and Joel) have a chance to save humanity. And all he cares about is how he feels.