Joel’s violence is front and center
One way to characterize the pacing of The Last of Us’ plot is that of a slow, sobering awareness of how far gone Joel is mentally. The loss of his daughter certainly prompts sympathy from the player, and even leads us to believe that Joel is a reliable narrator here. But it’s through Ellie that we start to possibly distrust Joel, at least as far as his violent impulses are concerned. He’s a tragic character for sure, but one we should perhaps be a bit scared of.
While we only have the briefest of teaser trailers to go by, the brief lightning flashes that hide and show Joel’s brutality, with Ellie watching, mirror several times Joel goes to town on someone in the game. One that stands out is Joel’s pummeling of Henry, before Ellie snaps him out of his violent blood rage to realize that this person isn’t a threat.
