On the show, Ellie essentially never forms any kind of connection to David at all, so it feels like less of an up and down emotional rollercoaster for the viewer.Ī lot of things about this episode are too telegraphed and heavy-handed to create the kind of slow-burn tension the showrunners and director Ali Abbasi are striving for. He and Ellie even survive an infected horde together, so there’s at least a modicum of trust built there before his true, evil nature is fully revealed. In the game, when we meet David, we as players, just like Ellie, don’t know whether to trust him or not (Nolan North’s performance is just incredible).
But by this point, we kind of have a feeling that he’s not what he appears to be.
If this had been the first time we as the audience met David as well-which is how it plays out in the game-the reveal of his messiah complex and laundry list of revolting character traits would have been far more compelling. Later, when Ellie meets David and James (aka Buddy Boy) out in the woods, he comes off like a reasonable, compassionate person.