May 26, 2025 • 15 mins
In the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us, Marlene fought to find a vaccine, while also looking over her best friend's daughter Ellie from afar. We shine a light on her backstory, her struggles with leadership and depression, and the reasoning behind her decisions in this classic (classic) episode.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm often stuff I've Never told you Protection iHeartRadio, and
welcome back to another classic Today, we're bringing back a
fictional Women around the World that we did on Marlene
from the.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Last of Us. I mentioned it in this episode.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
In the second game, she is in it in flashbacks.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
We don't know if that's gonna happen yet. We'll see, but.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm very, very interested. That was kind of in a
strange place right now because there's only so many characters
we can talk about without spoiling what comes further.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Down the road. And so I have a couple that
I'm like dying to talk about, but we have to wait.
We have to wait, but we can bring this one back.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes, So please enjoy this classic episode. Hey, this is
Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stefan Never told you
a protection of iHeartRadio, and welcome to another sub sub
(01:21):
segment of fictional Women around the World. We are continuing
with our Last of Us content. This will have spoilers
for the most recent final finale episode of the HBO
show The Last of Us, which, yes it's not a sponsor,
but just a heads up on that there will be spoilers,
(01:42):
some brief mention of the second game.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
But not much. No spoilers, no spoilers.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I would also suggest listening to Our Riley episode for
more on the interaction between Riley and Marlene. And Marlene
is who we're talking about? I realized I didn't say, yes,
we were talking about Marl, So let's get right into it.
Marlene is played by Merle Dandridge in both the twenty
thirteen game, the twenty twenty sequel game, and the HBO show.
(02:12):
She was the only one who is a voice actor
and motion capture of her character in the game and
played her the same character in the show, so it's
very very cool. You can see her get emotional about
it in the behind the show bit after the most
recent episode, and also a little bit in the kind
of making up the Last of Us. The character is
(02:32):
also featured in the comic American Dreams. As discussed in
Our Riley episode. She is the leader of the Boston
Quarantine Zone Fireflies are QS Fireflies. She was a good
friend of Ellie's mother Anna. She was Ellie's protector from
Afar and the final quote antagonist I saw her described
of the game Slash movie I have my beef with that,
(02:54):
but whatever.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
There are some key.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Differences between her background and the game and the show,
and I'll go over them, but let's start with the
game slash comic. Marlene is, yes, the leader of the
Fireflies in Boston, and the Fireflies are this organization or
some call them a terrorist group, depending on who you ask,
in the world of the last of us that are
fighting against what they view as this totalitarian, fascist rule
(03:19):
and control of this government organization called FEDRA. In some
places across the country, the Fireflies have succeeded in taking
over the CZI, but they are being cracked down on
and killed in most places. Boston in particular, has suffered
a lot of recent losses at the stories beginning, and
on top of leading this organization, yes, she watches over
(03:41):
Ellie because of this promise that she made to Ellie's mom, Anna,
who had been her friend since before the outbreak, since
they've known each other, like what did they say, We've
known each other forever essentially. At one point, Marlene was
close with Joel's brother Tommy when he was a member
of the Fireflies, and when Tommy left the organization, he
(04:03):
told Marlene she could go to Joel if she was
ever desperate. During the events of American Dreams, Marlene saved
Ellie and Riley from and infected and denied Riley's request
to join the Fireflies. After a confrontation with smugglers and
this intense exchange between the trio, Marlene gives Ellie her
mother's switchblade and a letter from her mom. Eventually, Marlene
(04:27):
does allow Riley to join the Fireflies, but only if
she promises to never see Ellie again, because Marlene wants
Ellie to be safe at this military school, and it
even goes as far to decide to send Riley to
another cus. But Riley is desperate to see Ellie one
last time, so the pair sneak out to the mall
and Ellie convinces Riley to leave the Fireflies and stay
(04:48):
with her, but unfortunately they get bitten and Riley dies
and somehow Ellie doesn't turn and this is when Marlene
realizes Ellie is immune. So Marlee makes a deal with
a smuggler named Robert to get enough weapons to smuggle
Ellie out of the QZ, but the military attacks her
and her squad, killing everyone but Marlene, who sustains a
(05:10):
shot to her side, and yes, that's slightly different than
what happens in the show, but essentially the basics are there. Meanwhile,
Marlene finds out that it was Tess and Joel who
have killed Robert, and by the way, Marlene and Tess
knew each other before the outbreak as well, and they
were like wort friends, but they weren't enemies. So Marlene's
out of options and she offers these weapons that she
(05:35):
was supposed to get to transport Ellie across the country
to Tess and Joel in exchange for them getting Ellie
out of the city and to a rendezvous point where
they'll meet up with other Fireflies who will take her
the rest of the way to their final location, which.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
You don't know what it is at this point.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Ellie doesn't like this plan wants to stay with Marlene,
but Marlene tells her this is the only chance that
they have, and so Ellie does go with the smugglers.
Marlene recovers and she and the rest of the remaining
Fireflies make the check across the country to Salt Lake City,
where the Fireflies have successfully taken over the Quz, but
(06:13):
they suffer a lot of losses along the way her
and her group, and it really demoralizes them, and so
their spirits kind of rise when they join the Salt
Lake City Fireflies, but it doesn't last long when they
learn that the group that was supposed to transport Ellie
died at the rendezvous point and they have no idea
where she is if she survived, and Marlene in particular,
(06:33):
goes really depressed and starts questioning her leadership skills to
the point she stops eating. She thinks about running away
from the Fireflies, and that's where we see some big
differences between the show and the game. All Right, So
her patrol reports spotting a man and a little girl
in the city and they bring them in. At first,
(06:53):
Marlene is thrilled that Ellie has survived, but then she
is informed that while they can reverse engineer vaccine from
Ellie's unique mutation, the procedure will kill her. They asked
for Marlene's permission, which she thought was kind of a formality.
They were going to do it no matter what, so
she does give them permission, but it greatly pains her,
and she records two messages to Ellie's mother apologizing and
(07:16):
here's a quote I wanted to include. Apparently there's no
way to extricate the parasite without eliminating the host. Fancy
way of saying, we got up kill the kid, and
now they're asking for my go ahead. The tests just
keep getting harder and harder, don't they. I'm so tired,
I'm exhausted, and I just want this to end. So
be it. Oh, I miss you Anna, your daughter will
be with you soon. Pretty intense. Marlene insists that they
(07:40):
tell Joel, that they tell him because they owe him
the truth because he got her here.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
The others disagree.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Some even tried to persuade her to kill Joel, or
that they should kill Joel, but she.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Relas, I need to go back where did just was
this in the game where she's recording these messages that
I missed this? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, well you find them. You find them.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Throughout like the it's the way you pick up you
pick up like these like hand recorders and you listen
to these messages.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Wow, I definitely blame that doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Gameplay well, it's kind of it's in the uh in
PlayStation five. It comes through your controller, so it sounds different,
so it's kind of hard to hear in the first one.
It's kind of like one of the most annoying mechanics,
which they fixed in the second one. But when you're
playing it, you can't move and something could attack you.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So you're like listening to it like you don't attack
on attack.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Oh oh, yeah, I completely didn't know. Okay, that was
new to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So they're trying to convince her to kill Joel, but
she refused to kill the one person who might understand
how she felt. So in the show they have this line,
and the game they have this line where she's like, oh,
you were you got her across the country, and it's
sort of realizing like, oh, he actually cares about her
now because he did not at the beginning. So she
thanks Joel for transporting Ellie into him about the vaccine
(09:01):
and how it will kill her, and Joel of course objects,
but she tells him that this is bigger than either
of their feelings for Ellie. She tells her squad to
give Joel back his supplies and lead him out, instructing
them to shoot him if he tries to intervene with
the operation. Of course, Joel escapes, kills everyone stops the operation.
Marlene follows Joel to the parking deck and tries to
stop him from taking Ellie at gunpoint, asking how long
(09:24):
before Ellie faces something horrible in the future, how long
before she dies? And tells them it's what Ellie would
want and he knows it. In a show of peace,
she lowers her gun, but Joel shoots her. Marlen survives
at first shot and begs him to let her go,
and he says, you'll just come after her and shoots
her again, killing her, which, interestingly enough, I've seen a
(09:46):
lot of arguments about whether or not Marlene is dead. Yeah,
she is dead.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Everyone she could die.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
I mean, it's one of those things that when people
were fighting about Riley, I was like, no, she did well.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, they do feel like if I hadn't watched you
play it through and knew what was going on, it
would feel like today, just leave that up for maybe
something to come about later.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Mm hmm, nosters.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
No.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So Joel lies to Ellie about Marlene's death, about the fireflies,
about the vaccine, saying that they have given up on
finding a cure, and you do that is not the
end of Marlene. Just because of flashbacks, I wanted to
(10:45):
include some quotes from Dangridge to close this up about
this character. She did say that Marlene has a heavier
stillness in the show because they wanted to be more
quote realistic about the weight of the apocalypse or something.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
That's not a direct quote. I don't know why I
did that.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
That's basically what they were saying, a paraphrasing quote. I
guess I go okay, But here is an actual quote
from an interview with her about the differences, because this
is part of the big the big fight. If you
want to learn more about the cere most recent last
of those episode about the finale between Joel and Marlene.
(11:26):
So Danger said, well, I would say there might be
a question mark around that. I know that Marlene didn't
explicitly offer that information to Ellie because she didn't want
to alarm her, but I do think that they have
a more pragmatic relationship. She might have even alluded to it,
which gives Ellie even more conflict and not having had
the agency that Joel has taken away from her. Ultimately
black and white, Yes, they are both taking this choice
(11:48):
from her, but I do think that Marlene has given
her a little bit more information. I don't think she's
explicitly lied to her. She maybe omitted some truth, but
she would not explicitly lie to her. Also, in the
midst of this, the relationship between Marlene and Angel is
fraught with a lot of history between them. As Marlene
put it, they're both capable of so much, and they
have abided with each other in parallel lines, but there's
(12:10):
a chasm and animosity between them because of Marlene's relationship
with his brother Tommy as a firefly caused a physical
and emotional rift between them, So there's another element of
him not giving any two f's about what Marlene wants
in this situation, even though she's throwing out every argument
in the kitchen sink at him, trying to negotiate with him.
(12:31):
Oh my, I love it. You can tell she puts
so much thought into this character.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Oh yeah, this is a character.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I think that's the thing that when you see the
behind the scenes and when you have each of the
different actors who portray someone else obviously but part of
the show. They all love this entire story and they
feel like they are a part of it, and I
think because they are included, they love it a little more.
But they do get to have a big say, and
then the show and the writers acknowledged them in the
(13:02):
aftermath to able to like process not only what they
did in the game, but also what they did in
the show. So it was lovely. But yeah, having her
play this character was so on point. She did an
amazing job because it was I don't know, I don't
think anyone else could have done that character the way
she did it, and she did She's already practiced it
through like she's a pro, So this probably only came
(13:23):
like other than the few changes that they made, this
was just like an old hat for her.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, and she's such a great complex character because she
is the leader of this organization.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
She has this connection to Ellie, she has this connection
to Joel, and.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, I'll have a lot more to say about it
in the most recent.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, I do wish that they had played up their relationship,
Marlene and Ellie's relationship rather than just being like, oh,
I knew your mother, Like I really wish they were
like where she was kind of a caretaker, you know,
whether it's like in secret or whatnot, because she wasn't
a show in the game, right, So I kind of
wish they were able to play that up because that
(14:09):
distance makes it seem like she is an antagonist instead
of being a complex character.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, I mean she's got a lot going on, which
we you know, we did talk about, we'll talk about.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
But they did.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
They certainly like as as the character said, as the
actor said, they made her. There's more of a harsher
kind of stillness with her in the in the show.
But I mean it's it's a painful thing of like
her promising Anna, I will take care of Ellie and
then being the one that's kind of like, I gotta
make this decision because she's got this like leadership thing
(14:42):
going on.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
It's tough. It's tough. Yes, yes, well I do love
this character. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
We had a plenty to say in our most recent
Last of Us episodes, so go check that out if
you haven't already. This will be the end of Last
of Us content for me for now for now, but
in the meantime we are moving into Star Wars territory.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
But if you have any suggestions, please, as always let
us know.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
You can email us a Steffani your Mom Stuff at
iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on Twitter at
mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram. And TikTok at Steffan
Never Told You, and also check us out on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Thanks as always to.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and our
contributor Joey.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Thank you so much, yes.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And thanks to you for listening stuff. Never Told You
is protection of iHeartRadio. For more podcast from my Heart Radio,
you can check out the Heart Radio ap Apple podcast
or red you listen to your favorite shows
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm often stuff I've Never told you Protection iHeartRadio, and
welcome back to another classic Today, we're bringing back a
fictional Women around the World that we did on Marlene
from the.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Last of Us. I mentioned it in this episode.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
In the second game, she is in it in flashbacks.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
We don't know if that's gonna happen yet. We'll see, but.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm very, very interested. That was kind of in a
strange place right now because there's only so many characters
we can talk about without spoiling what comes further.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Down the road. And so I have a couple that
I'm like dying to talk about, but we have to wait.
We have to wait, but we can bring this one back.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes, So please enjoy this classic episode. Hey, this is
Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stefan Never told you
a protection of iHeartRadio, and welcome to another sub sub
(01:21):
segment of fictional Women around the World. We are continuing
with our Last of Us content. This will have spoilers
for the most recent final finale episode of the HBO
show The Last of Us, which, yes it's not a sponsor,
but just a heads up on that there will be spoilers,
(01:42):
some brief mention of the second game.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
But not much. No spoilers, no spoilers.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I would also suggest listening to Our Riley episode for
more on the interaction between Riley and Marlene. And Marlene
is who we're talking about? I realized I didn't say, yes,
we were talking about Marl, So let's get right into it.
Marlene is played by Merle Dandridge in both the twenty
thirteen game, the twenty twenty sequel game, and the HBO show.
(02:12):
She was the only one who is a voice actor
and motion capture of her character in the game and
played her the same character in the show, so it's
very very cool. You can see her get emotional about
it in the behind the show bit after the most
recent episode, and also a little bit in the kind
of making up the Last of Us. The character is
(02:32):
also featured in the comic American Dreams. As discussed in
Our Riley episode. She is the leader of the Boston
Quarantine Zone Fireflies are QS Fireflies. She was a good
friend of Ellie's mother Anna. She was Ellie's protector from
Afar and the final quote antagonist I saw her described
of the game Slash movie I have my beef with that,
(02:54):
but whatever.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
There are some key.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Differences between her background and the game and the show,
and I'll go over them, but let's start with the
game slash comic. Marlene is, yes, the leader of the
Fireflies in Boston, and the Fireflies are this organization or
some call them a terrorist group, depending on who you ask,
in the world of the last of us that are
fighting against what they view as this totalitarian, fascist rule
(03:19):
and control of this government organization called FEDRA. In some
places across the country, the Fireflies have succeeded in taking
over the CZI, but they are being cracked down on
and killed in most places. Boston in particular, has suffered
a lot of recent losses at the stories beginning, and
on top of leading this organization, yes, she watches over
(03:41):
Ellie because of this promise that she made to Ellie's mom, Anna,
who had been her friend since before the outbreak, since
they've known each other, like what did they say, We've
known each other forever essentially. At one point, Marlene was
close with Joel's brother Tommy when he was a member
of the Fireflies, and when Tommy left the organization, he
(04:03):
told Marlene she could go to Joel if she was
ever desperate. During the events of American Dreams, Marlene saved
Ellie and Riley from and infected and denied Riley's request
to join the Fireflies. After a confrontation with smugglers and
this intense exchange between the trio, Marlene gives Ellie her
mother's switchblade and a letter from her mom. Eventually, Marlene
(04:27):
does allow Riley to join the Fireflies, but only if
she promises to never see Ellie again, because Marlene wants
Ellie to be safe at this military school, and it
even goes as far to decide to send Riley to
another cus. But Riley is desperate to see Ellie one
last time, so the pair sneak out to the mall
and Ellie convinces Riley to leave the Fireflies and stay
(04:48):
with her, but unfortunately they get bitten and Riley dies
and somehow Ellie doesn't turn and this is when Marlene
realizes Ellie is immune. So Marlee makes a deal with
a smuggler named Robert to get enough weapons to smuggle
Ellie out of the QZ, but the military attacks her
and her squad, killing everyone but Marlene, who sustains a
(05:10):
shot to her side, and yes, that's slightly different than
what happens in the show, but essentially the basics are there. Meanwhile,
Marlene finds out that it was Tess and Joel who
have killed Robert, and by the way, Marlene and Tess
knew each other before the outbreak as well, and they
were like wort friends, but they weren't enemies. So Marlene's
out of options and she offers these weapons that she
(05:35):
was supposed to get to transport Ellie across the country
to Tess and Joel in exchange for them getting Ellie
out of the city and to a rendezvous point where
they'll meet up with other Fireflies who will take her
the rest of the way to their final location, which.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
You don't know what it is at this point.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Ellie doesn't like this plan wants to stay with Marlene,
but Marlene tells her this is the only chance that
they have, and so Ellie does go with the smugglers.
Marlene recovers and she and the rest of the remaining
Fireflies make the check across the country to Salt Lake City,
where the Fireflies have successfully taken over the Quz, but
(06:13):
they suffer a lot of losses along the way her
and her group, and it really demoralizes them, and so
their spirits kind of rise when they join the Salt
Lake City Fireflies, but it doesn't last long when they
learn that the group that was supposed to transport Ellie
died at the rendezvous point and they have no idea
where she is if she survived, and Marlene in particular,
(06:33):
goes really depressed and starts questioning her leadership skills to
the point she stops eating. She thinks about running away
from the Fireflies, and that's where we see some big
differences between the show and the game. All Right, So
her patrol reports spotting a man and a little girl
in the city and they bring them in. At first,
(06:53):
Marlene is thrilled that Ellie has survived, but then she
is informed that while they can reverse engineer vaccine from
Ellie's unique mutation, the procedure will kill her. They asked
for Marlene's permission, which she thought was kind of a formality.
They were going to do it no matter what, so
she does give them permission, but it greatly pains her,
and she records two messages to Ellie's mother apologizing and
(07:16):
here's a quote I wanted to include. Apparently there's no
way to extricate the parasite without eliminating the host. Fancy
way of saying, we got up kill the kid, and
now they're asking for my go ahead. The tests just
keep getting harder and harder, don't they. I'm so tired,
I'm exhausted, and I just want this to end. So
be it. Oh, I miss you Anna, your daughter will
be with you soon. Pretty intense. Marlene insists that they
(07:40):
tell Joel, that they tell him because they owe him
the truth because he got her here.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
The others disagree.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Some even tried to persuade her to kill Joel, or
that they should kill Joel, but she.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Relas, I need to go back where did just was
this in the game where she's recording these messages that
I missed this? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, well you find them. You find them.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Throughout like the it's the way you pick up you
pick up like these like hand recorders and you listen
to these messages.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Wow, I definitely blame that doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Gameplay well, it's kind of it's in the uh in
PlayStation five. It comes through your controller, so it sounds different,
so it's kind of hard to hear in the first one.
It's kind of like one of the most annoying mechanics,
which they fixed in the second one. But when you're
playing it, you can't move and something could attack you.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So you're like listening to it like you don't attack
on attack.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Oh oh, yeah, I completely didn't know. Okay, that was
new to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So they're trying to convince her to kill Joel, but
she refused to kill the one person who might understand
how she felt. So in the show they have this line,
and the game they have this line where she's like, oh,
you were you got her across the country, and it's
sort of realizing like, oh, he actually cares about her
now because he did not at the beginning. So she
thanks Joel for transporting Ellie into him about the vaccine
(09:01):
and how it will kill her, and Joel of course objects,
but she tells him that this is bigger than either
of their feelings for Ellie. She tells her squad to
give Joel back his supplies and lead him out, instructing
them to shoot him if he tries to intervene with
the operation. Of course, Joel escapes, kills everyone stops the operation.
Marlene follows Joel to the parking deck and tries to
stop him from taking Ellie at gunpoint, asking how long
(09:24):
before Ellie faces something horrible in the future, how long
before she dies? And tells them it's what Ellie would
want and he knows it. In a show of peace,
she lowers her gun, but Joel shoots her. Marlen survives
at first shot and begs him to let her go,
and he says, you'll just come after her and shoots
her again, killing her, which, interestingly enough, I've seen a
(09:46):
lot of arguments about whether or not Marlene is dead. Yeah,
she is dead.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Everyone she could die.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
I mean, it's one of those things that when people
were fighting about Riley, I was like, no, she did well.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, they do feel like if I hadn't watched you
play it through and knew what was going on, it
would feel like today, just leave that up for maybe
something to come about later.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Mm hmm, nosters.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
No.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So Joel lies to Ellie about Marlene's death, about the fireflies,
about the vaccine, saying that they have given up on
finding a cure, and you do that is not the
end of Marlene. Just because of flashbacks, I wanted to
(10:45):
include some quotes from Dangridge to close this up about
this character. She did say that Marlene has a heavier
stillness in the show because they wanted to be more
quote realistic about the weight of the apocalypse or something.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
That's not a direct quote. I don't know why I
did that.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
That's basically what they were saying, a paraphrasing quote. I
guess I go okay, But here is an actual quote
from an interview with her about the differences, because this
is part of the big the big fight. If you
want to learn more about the cere most recent last
of those episode about the finale between Joel and Marlene.
(11:26):
So Danger said, well, I would say there might be
a question mark around that. I know that Marlene didn't
explicitly offer that information to Ellie because she didn't want
to alarm her, but I do think that they have
a more pragmatic relationship. She might have even alluded to it,
which gives Ellie even more conflict and not having had
the agency that Joel has taken away from her. Ultimately
black and white, Yes, they are both taking this choice
(11:48):
from her, but I do think that Marlene has given
her a little bit more information. I don't think she's
explicitly lied to her. She maybe omitted some truth, but
she would not explicitly lie to her. Also, in the
midst of this, the relationship between Marlene and Angel is
fraught with a lot of history between them. As Marlene
put it, they're both capable of so much, and they
have abided with each other in parallel lines, but there's
(12:10):
a chasm and animosity between them because of Marlene's relationship
with his brother Tommy as a firefly caused a physical
and emotional rift between them, So there's another element of
him not giving any two f's about what Marlene wants
in this situation, even though she's throwing out every argument
in the kitchen sink at him, trying to negotiate with him.
(12:31):
Oh my, I love it. You can tell she puts
so much thought into this character.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Oh yeah, this is a character.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I think that's the thing that when you see the
behind the scenes and when you have each of the
different actors who portray someone else obviously but part of
the show. They all love this entire story and they
feel like they are a part of it, and I
think because they are included, they love it a little more.
But they do get to have a big say, and
then the show and the writers acknowledged them in the
(13:02):
aftermath to able to like process not only what they
did in the game, but also what they did in
the show. So it was lovely. But yeah, having her
play this character was so on point. She did an
amazing job because it was I don't know, I don't
think anyone else could have done that character the way
she did it, and she did She's already practiced it
through like she's a pro, So this probably only came
(13:23):
like other than the few changes that they made, this
was just like an old hat for her.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, and she's such a great complex character because she
is the leader of this organization.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
She has this connection to Ellie, she has this connection
to Joel, and.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, I'll have a lot more to say about it
in the most recent.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, I do wish that they had played up their relationship,
Marlene and Ellie's relationship rather than just being like, oh,
I knew your mother, Like I really wish they were
like where she was kind of a caretaker, you know,
whether it's like in secret or whatnot, because she wasn't
a show in the game, right, So I kind of
wish they were able to play that up because that
(14:09):
distance makes it seem like she is an antagonist instead
of being a complex character.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, I mean she's got a lot going on, which
we you know, we did talk about, we'll talk about.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
But they did.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
They certainly like as as the character said, as the
actor said, they made her. There's more of a harsher
kind of stillness with her in the in the show.
But I mean it's it's a painful thing of like
her promising Anna, I will take care of Ellie and
then being the one that's kind of like, I gotta
make this decision because she's got this like leadership thing
(14:42):
going on.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
It's tough. It's tough. Yes, yes, well I do love
this character. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
We had a plenty to say in our most recent
Last of Us episodes, so go check that out if
you haven't already. This will be the end of Last
of Us content for me for now for now, but
in the meantime we are moving into Star Wars territory.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
But if you have any suggestions, please, as always let
us know.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
You can email us a Steffani your Mom Stuff at
iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on Twitter at
mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram. And TikTok at Steffan
Never Told You, and also check us out on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Thanks as always to.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and our
contributor Joey.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Thank you so much, yes.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And thanks to you for listening stuff. Never Told You
is protection of iHeartRadio. For more podcast from my Heart Radio,
you can check out the Heart Radio ap Apple podcast
or red you listen to your favorite shows
Stuff Mom Never Told You News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Samantha McVey
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.