i've seen her before a thousand times. a lonely orphan kid in the middle of an apocalypse with a foul mouth who had to grow up too fast in this harsh, harsh world. no one trusts her to do anything on her own because she's just a kid, but she can prove herself damn it!! and maybe find family somewhere along the way. yawn. there was nothing about her that made her stand out from all of the other characters exactly like her. the part at the end with her survivor's guilt was actually pretty interesting, but bringing it up one time at the very end of the game in a minute-long conversation doesn't redeem the whole rest of the character from being boring.

it also probably doesn't help that i have less than zero maternal instincts, so that made me care about ellie even less. you're supposed to grow into the role of her caretaker (along with joel) and that kind of shit just isn't in me. i do not care.

marlene was the best character in that game, and she got shafted in terms of screen-time. i think even henry had more lines than she did.