Neil Druckmann really wants you to hate Joel Miller
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Yeah them being able to "make a cure" is almost the least unlikely part of the step. At least for that they have doctors and an immune patient.
Them actually fixing anything even with one has always been the big "question 2" of why question 1 barely matters. Especially as their actions of "knock you out, take her without a word, and dump you" shows how morally fucked they already are, and likely will be worse once they have the only cure to abuse to their liking.
The idea that they would think it would be a good idea to kill their only source of fresh material is laughable and shows the writers did very little research into how these things are made.
With only the first game's lore, it was both implied or stated that they were mostly hacks. A bunch of almost terrorists holed up in a hospital with a guy who knows something medical, so clearly that made them doctors and researchers. You could find an item that said it wasn't even the first immune patient they got, and they butchered the previous one with nothing gained and were about to do the literal same procedure on Ellie.
Literally, with all information given both to the player and Joel, there is zero reason to trust they know what they are doing. They skip every single attempt to ingratiate themselves to instead be assholes, brutes, or rush something.
There is a reason why Part 2 had to spend a huge chunk of its runtime on flashbacks, because they were literally all necessary for the huge retcon needed to even remotely make it a "grey" choice, let alone the "correct" one Neil keeps trying to say.
And I hate the argument becomes Joel took Ellie's choice away. The Fireflies never gave Ellie a choice, they lied to her. I'd still defend Joel if Ellie gave her consent and Joel went apeshit saving her.
Yeah, she literally years later after a shit ton of trauma "consents" to it, but I can guarantee if she was asked when they got to the hospital she would at least hesitate if not refuse.
Its why they had to create a DLC to give Ellie a bunch of suicidal guilt to try and justify it, which is still not acceptable "consent" in any other discussion.
They literally have to break all their various rules and principles regarding informed and enthusiastic consent just to say "let the teenage girl be butchered for the greater good maybe."
Ellie's consent should never have been a factor. She was borderline suicidal at that point, convinced that it wasn't worth living in such a rotten world where everyone she ever knew and cared about died. The last thing she needs is to have people start drilling it into her head that she needs to die, that she has to die, and that the whole world depends on her dying. People who, likely only a few hours ago, were ready to kill her anyway just for her boots.
As someone who cares for her, it was indeed Joel's moral obligation to save and protect Ellie, both from the Fireflies and from herself.