Hi! This issue very much contains spoilers for The Last of Us. If you haven’t watched the last episode yet, do that first, and once you’ve picked your jaw up off the floor, come back here and enjoy this issue. If you’re not watching and don’t plan to, you should be able to follow along just fine, or start here with a recap of the finale for the full experience.
Moments after finishing the finale of The Last of Us, Paul and I immediately jumped into a debate about whether Joel’s serial killer-esque murder spree was “right” or “wrong.” Generally we agreed that Joel saving Ellie instead of letting the Fireflies harvest parts of her brain to create a cordyceps vaccine was, of course, a disastrous pile of “wrong,” but we couldn’t exactly blame him, either. The ghost of failing to save his daughter 20 years ago and living almost every moment in constant fear since that day obviously informed his drastic actions, if not excusing them.
But what about Marlene? Digging a little deeper, it becomes clear that the leader of the Fireflies really fucked up here, too. If Marlene really wanted to ensure a vaccine that would prevent people from turning into mushroom zombies was made no matter the cost, she should have killed Joel on the spot upon their arrival, or thrown him in a secure jail cell until the deed was done and it was too late for him to intervene. But instead, Marlene’s humanity and sense of what is “right” led her to let Joel go in an ill-advised moment of compassion for a man who is an extremely capable deadly assassin, ultimately sealing the fate of the world.
Marlene also didn’t trust the fate of humanity to a child. Ellie, at 14, is still a child even if she’s had to act like an adult since she learned how to hold a gun. Marlene must have believed that, given a choice, Ellie would have chosen to live. So instead, Marlene decides to take away her agency and force the choice upon her instead, unwilling to risk Ellie walking away from sacrificing herself to save the world.
If you were Ellie, what would you do? After everything Ellie has seen and done in her life, I think it was heavily implied that she would have willingly gone to her death to give everyone else a chance at rebuilding a better, mushroom-free future. Otherwise, everything she has been through, all the people she has lost, would have all been for nothing. I believe Ellie would have done the “right” thing (which is *undoubtedly* to sacrifice one person to potentially save everyone else), and Marlene and Joel took that choice away from her.
Both Marlene and Joel felt their actions were justified. And it’s fascinating that it’s their sense of “humanity” that ultimately fucks over the world, dooming humans to who knows how long in this twisted post-apocalyptic version of life on Earth. Even if Ellie wanted to take matters into her own hands someday and head back to Utah to volunteer her brain, Joel didn’t even hesitate to kill probably one of the only doctors left alive capable of manufacturing a vaccine, and it’s not like more virologists are pouring out of the ruins of the nation’s colleges anytime soon. I don’t know what the premise of the second The Last of Us game is, but what we saw in the finale was probably their last and only chance.
So here’s the thing: If this is how humans act when forced to make an important decision that determines the fate of the world–unable to see the bigger picture when faced with an emotionally distressing situation or unwilling to secure an outcome by any means necessary–are we even worth saving?
I would argue that, judging by the name of the series/game, the writers believe we aren’t. The spoiler was right there hiding in plain sight–they literally mean “the last of us,” as in, the last humans. We’re watching the extinction of the dinosaurs all over again, except this time, human nature is the asteroid. The infected will soon be all that’s left.
So here’s where it gets interesting. I am a huge fan of outer space and spend way too much time thinking about aliens (or the lack thereof). If you haven’t heard of it, there is a concept called the Great Filter which is a suggested solution to the Fermi paradox, which essentially boils down to this: If the universe is so big and old, why haven’t we been visited by aliens yet? Why are we seemingly alone in a universe so vast that it is likely teeming with potential for extraterrestrial life?
The Great Filter is a theory that basically says that the reason we’ve never met any aliens is that there are many major hurdles to becoming a spacefaring species (i.e. one that could actually make itself known to other species across the universe), but there is one GIANT hurdle that’s tougher than the rest. And most species never get past it.
So here’s where your brain will really start to hurt: Is the Great Filter ahead or behind us? Is the reason we are seemingly alone in the universe due to the fact that we’re the only ones (at least at this moment in time) that have made it past this great invisible fence, or is it still coming?
Of course, I’m sure you can guess that one of the “hurdles” proposed to be the Great Filter is the idea that civilizations advanced enough to create technology that makes traveling to the far reaches of the galaxy possible ultimately destroy themselves before they get there. It’s dark, but really think about that for a moment: We had two “world wars” last century, and we’ve developed nuclear weapons capable of dropping entire cities. If nuclear weapons don’t take us out, climate change probably will, sooner or later. Or maybe the A.I. behind ChatGPT will rise up and overthrow us! I mean, we’ve been talking about robots in literature for well over 100 years now, and robot apocalypse themes in the media are becoming increasingly common. (One of the very first robots in literature was created by Frank L. Baum of The Wizard of Oz fame in 1907. The robot’s name? Tik-Tok.)
It’s weird to think about possible other civilizations out there on different planets who have also begun sending “people” into space. Aliens, they’re just like us! We’ve sent astronauts to explore our own moon, but we haven’t gotten much farther than that. We’re just getting ready to explore our dead next-door neighbor planet, which in terms of the overall size of the universe, might as well be sitting in our lap. In a race between destroying ourselves (or the planet) and sending people outside our own galaxy, which do you think is more likely to win?
So what does this have to do with The Last of Us? Well, everything. If we’re a species fundamentally programmed not to do whatever it takes to progress and save our kind (or our planet), even at great personal sacrifice to an individual, maybe we deserve to let nature take its course. Maybe the Great Filter is this final test that we saw play out in the finale: Will we do what’s necessary to save our species from total annihilation, even when it’s “wrong” or hard? Or will one of us purposefully or inadvertently prevent it from happening?
If The Last of Us has any final subliminal message for its viewers, it’s that we’ll fail. Our “humanity”–our own moral code of right and wrong, our fierce loyalty to the ones we love, the thing that makes our species beautiful–might be the very reason that humans will never pass the Great Filter. When it comes to making hard decisions in the name of advancing our species, we suck.
But maybe we’re not unique. Maybe it’s the reason the aliens won’t ever find us, either.
What’s Up This Week
Wine: ????????
MSRP: ????
Color: White!
Nose: Right out the gate it’s a grapefruit explosion. It’s like if you smashed a grapefruit on concrete and then just smeared your face in it. The nose isn’t very exuberant, a ton of grapefruit and then you’re hunting for everything else. A little bit of lychee, very distant. And a dash of cat house. This has to be a New Zealand Sauv Blanc.
Palate: Again with the grapefruit! Wow. If you served this blind to your friends, they might honestly think it was grapefruit juice. A bit of cat pee / ammonia on the palate with classic pink eraser. A little saltwater, too. I hate to use this word but it definitely has a sourness to it, which starts to disappear as it opens up. I think it might pair nicely with Chinese food, especially a noodle dish with a brown sauce, or orange chicken.
Paul talking out loud to himself during the smelling/tasting portion: “I know for sure based on the nose that this is Sauvignon Blanc, and most of the world’s production of that varietal comes from Australia, New Zealand, France, California, South America and a little bit of South Africa. I know it’s not South Africa because it doesn’t have a healthy dose of “funk”, I know it’s not California or Australia because it’s not ripe enough–it feels like a cool climate wine–and if it’s from France, it would be a stylistic outlier. French Sauv Blanc is typically very hayloft and seascape. If it’s from South America, it’s not Argentina because it’s not a high enough elevation (it would be much more ripe), so it could be Chile, but it doesn’t have that lemongrass-verbena thing going on. So it’s gotta be New Zealand.”
Paul’s official blind guess: A 2020/21 $14 Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, maybe not from Marlborough. It’s a fun one.
The REVEAL…
2022 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand
MSRP: $8-$15
Availability: Extremely wide. Should be available at multiple stores in whatever city you live in.
Worth it: Absolutely!
Conclusion: If you get down with grapefruit juice, this wine is an absolute slam dunk. This is also an awesome wine to serve blind because it’s extremely typical for what it is–Paul guessed it correctly without even tasting it. A lot of people who like Sauvignon Blanc would be able to get this one in a taste test! At $11 (what I bought it for at Total Wine), we are both a buy on this for sure. And the best part is that you can pretty much find this wine anywhere.
I’m quite sure this is going to be divisive, but I looooooved Season 4 of You. I’d like to thank the writers for doing something I didn’t think was possible, which is finding a storyline for Season 4 that felt fresh and had me on the edge of my seat. Dammit they did a good job!!
*Light spoilers ahead* My brain spun around and inside out when the Rhys twist was revealed. I am sincerely hoping that Season 5 is the last, because there are only so many times we can see women in glass cages and Joe Goldberg going free before I will start to lose it. I am glad Penn Badgley agrees. Also, is anyone else LOLing at how Joe is now basically full-circle Dan Humphrey if he was a serial killer? I love it.
I sincerely apologize for this, but my song of the week is “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift because I was unreasonably excited to hear it in the final episode of You. A deliciously excellent fit. Here is my favorite “Anti-Hero” remix to give you something more interesting/new to listen to, lol.
Yes, of course I also listened to the four new tracks Taylor released to celebrate the ‘Eras’ tour kicking off. “All Of The Girls You Loved Before” is pretty good, but I see why it didn’t make Lover. It doesn’t really fit the vibe?
I’m very into the 70s right now, and this MASTERPIECE in a forest in Connecticut is really doing it for me. I love the repeating uses of purple, pink, and red in the house without it feeling overly feminine in any way (it’s all balanced nicely with blues and neutrals). We are pretty set on painting our office green, but now I’m thinking about painting our upstairs bathroom a shade of purple…
I have been a very loyal purchaser of CeraVe’s Daily Moisturizing Lotion for many many years, but this winter it wasn’t quite cutting it. I’ve been using CeraVe Moisturizing Cream on my face at night for over a month now and (in the winter) I will never go back!!!! In my mind, these two products are the same thing, except one of them is five times as thick. For around $16, this is a forever must-buy for me to use in the cold, dry months.
The most jaw-dropping thing I read last week was “TikTok is Changing What it Means to be Old” by Amelia Tait for Wired. Re-affirming my choice to avoid the clock app…
“I started noticing this trend of people who are essentially your peers, they’re a few years younger than you, addressing people who are older than them like they’re elderly, talking to them like they’re a senior citizen,” says Laurier, who is based in the US state of Georgia. In January, she made a TikTok about the “rampant” ageism she sees on the app. “The way that it is normal these days for someone in their late teens or early twenties to call someone in their late twenties or thirties ‘old’ or ‘washed up’ … I just find that really disturbing,” she said in the video.
Wait why am I getting emotional watching this stupid show?! Ariel’s exit this week wasn’t the usual tear-soaked crying fest we’re used to. It was a calm, composed, beautiful exit from the woman who I think would have made an absolutely *stunning* bachelorette. My co-worker told me this week that TikTok is obsessed with Ariel, and so am I. ABC doesn’t ever give us what we want, but we better fucking see her in Paradise, that’s all I have to say.
NOW. The biggest thing that happened this week was Zach confessing to his obvious front-runner, Kaity, that he slept with Gabi after saying he wasn’t going to sleep with anyone during “sex week.” He didn’t tell Kaity it was Gabi specifically, but she knew anyway, and he told all the millions of people who watch this show, too. Gabi said it felt like she had a red “A” on her chest, and I understand why she feels that way!
In no way should we be sex-shaming anyone on this show–sex between two consenting adults is absolutely okay, even in a weird TV environment–so I’m not suggesting that having sex in the Fantasy Suite is bad, but I think it was revealed for the wrong reasons. Zach literally said it: He confessed because of CATHOLIC GUILT! He told Kaity specifically because he knows he is going to choose her in the end (statistically speaking, the person who goes last during Fantasy Suites week has a 70% chance of winning), and he didn’t want her to find out later, which I get. But he told EVERYONE ELSE, too. It’s just unnecessary. Why can’t you just be normal, Zach?! Sex happens in the Fantasy Suites all the time, and we (the audience) don’t always find out. Why are these men (Clayton’s disaster with Gabby and Rachel, and now Zach) in the habit of telling everyone details of what goes down off camera? IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE OFF CAMERA! Being 100% honest isn’t always the right thing to do. In this case, I think it was wrong.
Gabi, we love you, we support you. You deserve better.
That’s it! My engagement ring guide is LONG lol so it’s coming to paid subscribers on Sunday. It has a 10 step guide to buying an engagement ring, answers to your questions, a list of stores I like, an educational “crash course” section, and a glossary of terms you might need to know. My hope is that it’s helpful to anyone who needs it, and you can also forward it on over to your partner if/when you’re ready to start the process and it will make both of you a lot less stressed out!!
K bye,
Kelly
#18. But Where Are The Aliens?
I also love You and was on the edge of my seat during season 4. I was pleasantly suprised with this season , wondering what the could do to make it interesting. I also agree season 5 should be the last season. As much as I would miss it, going out on top is so much better than dragging it out and the glass box.
My fiancé and I had a similar conversation after watching the finale and debating the age-old "trolley problem" issue. He was a philosophy major and I've taken a handful of ethics-type courses through school so it's definitely not the first, nor last, time we'll see/hear/participate in this type of discussion. I think the writers did an excellent job of the juxtapositions of character development and thought processes behind various actions (I.e., Joel/Marlene).