Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / SMNTY Classics: Feminists Around the World, Marlene

Transcript

SMNTY Classics: Feminists Around the World, Marlene · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and welcome to stuff when never
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: told you production of ByHeart Radio, and yes I am
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: still by my lonesome. All of Spiny's doing some traveling
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: right now, and of course there was a lot of
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: moving pieces where we didn't quite manage to do it
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: all at the same time necessarily. But I will tell
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: you I have just gotten back from Seattle and I
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: had a great time. I was there in part for
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Samantha's birthday, large part of it, of course, but also
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: for the Last of His Day happens to share the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: same day, and the second Last of Us takes place
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: in Seattle, so I was living my best nerd life.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: I will talk about it in an up coming Happy
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Hour probably, but yeah, I wanted to bring this episode
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: back about one of the characters from the Last of Us, Marlene,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: in part also because they just released a pretty sizable
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: trailer for the second season of The Last of Us
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and I'm curious no spoilers, but I'm curious if she'll
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: be in it because in the game she's in it
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: in flashback form, so I don't know. I don't know.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: We will have to see. But in the meantime, please
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: enjoy this classic episode. Hey, this is Annie and Samantha
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: and welcome to Stefon Never Told You, a production of iHeartRadio.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: And welcome to another sub sub segment of fictional women
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: around the world. We are continuing with our Last of
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Us content. This will have spoilers for the most recent
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: final finale episode of the HBO show, The Last of Us,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: which yes it's not a sponsor, but just a heads
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: up on that there will be spoilers, some brief mention
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: of the second game, but not much. No spoilers, no spoilers.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I would also suggest listening to our Riley episode for
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: more on the interaction between Riley and Marlene. And Marlene
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: is who we're talking about? I realized I didn't say, yes,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: we were talking about Marlene, So let's get right into it.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Marlene is played by Merle Dandridge in both the twenty
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: thirteen game, the twenty twenty sequel game, and the HBO show.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: She was the only one who is a voice actor
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: and motion capture of her character in the game and
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: played her the same character in the show, so it's
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: very very cool. You can see her get emotional about
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: it in the behind the show bit after the most
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: recent episode, and also a little bit in the kind
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: of making up The Last of Us. The characters also
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: featured in the comic American Dreams, as discussed in Our
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Riley episode. She is the leader of the Boston Quarantine
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Zone Fireflies AREQS Fireflies. She was a good friend of
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Ellie's mother Anna. She was Ellie's protector from Afar and
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the final quote antagonist I saw her described of the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: game Slash movie. I have my beef with that, but whatever.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: There are some key differences between her background and the
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: game and the show, and I'll go over them. But
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: let's start with the game Slash comic. Marlene is, yes,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the leader of the Fireflies in Boston, and the Fireflies
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: are this organization or some call them a terrorist group,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: depending on who you ask, in the world of the
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Last of Us that are fighting against what they view
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: as this totalitarian fascist rule and control of this government
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: organization called FEDRA and some places across the country, the
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Fireflies have succeeded in taking over the CUZI, but they
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: are being cracked down on and killed in most places.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Boston in particular, has suffered a lot of recent losses.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: At the story's beginning and on top of leading this organization. Yes,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: she watches over Ellie because of this promise that she
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: made to Ellie's mom Anna, who had been her friend
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: since before the outbreak, since they have known each other,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: like what did they say, We've known each other forever essentially.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: At one point, Marlene was close with Joel's brother Tommy
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: when he was a member of the Fireflies, and when
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Tommy left the organization, he told Marlene she could go
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to Joel if she was ever desperate. During the events
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: of American Dreams, Marlene saved Ellie and Riley from and
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: infected and denied Riley's request to join the Fireflies. After
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a confrontation with smugglers and this like intense exchange between
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the trio, mar gives Ellie her mother's switchblade and a
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: letter from her mom. Eventually, Marlene does allow Riley to
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: join the Fireflies, but only if she promises to never
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: see Ellie again, because Marlene wants Ellie to be safe
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: at this military school, and it even goes as far
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: to decide to send Riley to another QZ. But Riley
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: is desperate to see Ellie one last time, so the
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: pair sneak out to the mall and Ellie convinces Riley
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: to leave the Fireflies and stay with her, but unfortunately
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: they get bitten and Riley dies and somehow Ellie doesn't
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: turn and this is when Marlene realizes Ellie is immune.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: So Marlene makes a deal with a smuggler named Robert
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: to get enough weapons to smuggle Ellie out of the QZ,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: but the military attacks her and her squad, killing everyone
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: but Marlene, who sustains a shot to her side. And yes,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: that's slightly different than what happens in the show, but
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: essentially the basics are there. Meanwhile, Marlene finds out that
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: it was Tess and Joel who have killed Robert. And
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: by the way, Marlene and Tests knew each other before
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: the outbreak as well, and they were like, were't friends,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: but they weren't enemies. So Marlene's out of options and
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: she offers these weapons that she was supposed to get
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: to transport Ellie across the country to Tess and Joel
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: in exchange for them getting Ellie out of the city
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: and to a rendezvous point where they'll meet up with
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: other Fireflies who will take her the rest of the
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: way to their final location, which you don't know what
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: it is. At this point, Ellie doesn't like this plan
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: wants to stay with Marlene, but Marlene tells her this
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: is the only chance that they have, and so Ellie
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: does go with the smugglers. Marlene recovers and she and
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: the rest of the remaining Fireflies make the check across
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the country to Salt Lake City, where the Fireflies have
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: successfully taken over the Quz, but they suffer a lot
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: of losses along the way, her and her group and
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: it really demoralizes them, and so their spirits kind a
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: rise when they join the Salt Lake City Fireflies, but
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: it doesn't last long when they learn that the group
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: that was supposed to transport Ellie died at the rendezvous
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: point and they have no idea where she is if
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: she survived, and Marlene in particular, goes really depressed and
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: starts questioning her leadership skills to the point she stops eating.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: She thinks about running away from the Fireflies, and that's
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: where we see some big differences between the show and
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the game. All Right, So her patrol reports spotting a
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: man and a little girl in the city and they
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: bring them in. At first, Marlene is thrilled that Ellie
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: has survived, but then she is informed that while they
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: can reverse engineer vaccine from Ellie's unique mutation, the procedure
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: will kill her. They asked for Marlene's permission, which she
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: thought was kind of a formality. They were going to
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: do it no matter what. So she does give them permission,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: but it greatly pains her, and she records two messages
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: to Ellie's mother apologizing. And here's a quote I wanted
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: to include. Apparently there's no way to extricate the parasite
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: without eliminating the host. Fancy way of saying, we got
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to kill the kid. And now they're asking for my
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: go ahead. The test just keep getting harder and harder,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: don't they. I'm so tired, I'm exhausted, and I just
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: want this to end. So be it. Oh, I miss you, Anna,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Your daughter will be with you soon. Pretty intense. Marlene
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: insists that they tell Joel. That they tell him because
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: they owe him the truth because he got her here.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: The others disagree. Some even tried to persuade her to
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: kill Joel, or that they should kill Joel.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: But she I need to go back. Where did just
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: was this in the game where she's recording these messages
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: that I miss this.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well you find them. You find them throughout
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: like the it's the way you pick up You pick
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: up like these like hand recorders and you listen to
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: these messages.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Wow, I definitely believe that during that gameplay, well.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: It's kind of in the uh in PlayStation five. It
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: comes through your controller, so it sounds different, so it's
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: kind of hard to hear. In the first one, it's
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: kind of like one of the most annoying mechanics, which
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: they fixed in the second one. But when you're playing it,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: you can't move and something could attack you, so you're
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: like listening to it like you don't attack on attack.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Oh oh yeah, I completely didn't know. Okay, that was new.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So they're trying to convince her to kill Joel,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: but she refused to kill the one person who might
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: understand how she felt. So in the show they have
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: this line. In the game, they have this line where
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: she's like, oh, you were you got her across the
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: country and it's sort of realizing like, oh, he actually
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: cares about her now because he did not at the beginning.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: So she thanks Joel for transporting Ellie and tells him
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: about the vaccine and how it will kill her, and
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Joel of course objects, but she tells him that this
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: is bigger than either of their feelings for Ellie. She
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: tells her squad to give Joel back his supplies and
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: lead him out, instructing them to shoot him if he
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: tries to intervene with the operation. Of course, Joel escapes,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: kills everyone stops the operation. Marlene follows Joel to the
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: parking deck and tries to stop him from taking Ellie
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: at gunpoint, asking how long before Ellie faces something horrible
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: in the future, how long before she dies, and tells
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: them it's what Ellie would want and he knows it.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: In a show of peace, she lowers her gun, but
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Joel shoots her. Marlene survives at first shot and begs
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: him to let her go, and he says, you'll just
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: come after her and shoots her again, killing her, which,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: interestingly enough, I've seen a lot of arguments about whether
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: or not Marlene is dead. Yeah, she is dead. Everyone
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: she could die. I mean, it's one of those things
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: that when people were fighting about Riley, I was like, no,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: she did well.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they do feel like if I hadn't watched you
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: play through and knew what was going on.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: It would feel like today.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Just leave that up for maybe something to come about later.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Mm hmmm.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: No, So Joel lies to Ellie about Marlene's death, about
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the fireflies, about the vaccine, say that they have given
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: up on finding a cure, and you do that is
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: not the end of Marlene. Just because of flashbacks, I
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: wanted to include some quotes from Dandridge to close this
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: up about this character. She did say that Marlene has
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: a heavier stillness in the show because they wanted to
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: be more quote realistic about the weight of the apocalypse
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: or something. That's not a direct quote. And I don't
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: know why I did that, but that's basically what they
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: were saying. A paraphrasing quote. I guess there you go, okay,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: But here is an actual quote from an interview with
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: her about the differences, because this is part of the
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: big the big fight. If you want to learn more
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: about this here most recent last of his episode about
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the finale between Joel and Marlene. So danger said, well,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I would say there might be a question mark around that.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I know that Marlene didn't explicitly offer that information to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Ellie because she didn't want to alarm her, but I
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: do think that they have a more pragmatic relationship. She
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: might have even alluded to it, which gives Ellie even
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: more conflict in not having had the agency that Joel
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: has taken away from her. Ultimately, black and white, Yes,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: they are both taking this choice from her, but I
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: do think that Marlene has given her a little bit
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: more information. I don't think she's explicitly lied to her.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: She may be omitted some truth, but she would not
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: explicitly lie to her. Also, in the midst of this,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the relationship between Marlene and Joel is fraught with a
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: lot of history between them. As Marlene put it, they're
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: both capable of so much, and they have abided with
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: each other in parallel lines. But there's a chasm and
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: animosity between them because of Marlene's relationship with his brother
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Tommy as a firefly caused a physical and emotional rift
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: between them. So there's another element of him not giving
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: any too about what Marlene wants in this situation, even
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: though she's throwing out every argument in the kitchen sink
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: at him, trying to negotiate with him. Oh my, I
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: love it. You can tell, she puts so much thought
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: into this character. Really, Yeah, this is her character.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's the thing is like when you
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: see the behind the scenes and when you have each
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: of the different actors who portray someone else obviously but
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: part of the show. They all love this entire story
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: and they feel like they are a part of it,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: and I think because they are included, they love it
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: a little more. But they do get to have a
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: big say, and then the show and the writers acknowledged
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: them in the aftermath to able to like process not
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: only what they did in the game, but also what
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: they did in the show. So it was lovely. But yeah,
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: having her play this character was so on point. She
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: did an amazing job because I don't know, I don't
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: think anyone else could have done that character the way
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: she did it, and she did She's already practiced it
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: through like she's a pro, So this probably only came
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: like other than the few changes that they made, this
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: was just like an old hat for her.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And she's such a great complex character because
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: she is the leader of this organization. She has this
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: connection to Ellie, she has this connection to Joel, and yeah,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I'll have a lot more to say about it in
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the most recent.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I do wish that they had played up their relationship,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Marlene and Ellie's relationship rather than just being like, oh,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: I knew your mother. Like I really wish they were
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: like where she was kind of a caretaker, you know,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: whether it's like in secret or whatnot, because she wasn't
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: a show in the game, right, So I kind of
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: wish they were able to play that up because that
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: distance makes it seem like she is an antagonist instead
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: of being a complex character. Yeah.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, she's got a lot going on, which we
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: you know, we did talk about we'll talk about, but
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: they did. They started like as as the character said,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: as the actor said, they made her. There's more of
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: a harsher kind of stillness with her in the in
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: the show. But I mean it's it's a painful thing
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: of like her promising Anna, I will take care of
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Ellie and then being the one that's kind of like,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: I gotta make this decision because she's got this like
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: leadership thing going on. It's tough. It's tough. Yes, yes,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: well I do love this character. Yeah, we had a
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: plenty to say in our most recent Last of Us episodes,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: So go check that out if you haven't already, this
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: will be the end of last of us content for now,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: for now, for now, But in the meantime we are
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: moving into Star Wars territory. But if you have any suggestions,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: please it's always let us know. You can email us
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: at Steffani your mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: on Instagram and TikTok at stuff I Never Told You,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: and also check us out on YouTube. Thanks as always
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: to our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: our contributor Joey.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, yes, and.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Thanks to you for listening. Steffan Never Told You is
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: protection of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: you can check out the Heart Radio ap Apple podcast
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: or red you listen to your favorite shows.