Thread by @Fangirling_0nly

#TheLastOfUs #TheLastOfUsHBO Spoilers

🧵 Analysis of Bill & Frank's Lovers' Journey, based on Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés' #WomenWhoRunWithTheWolves

"Wise stories... describe love as a union of two beings whose strength together enables one or both to enter into communication with the soul-world and to participate in fate as a dance with life and death."

- Chapter 5, Hunting: When the Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Dr. Estés
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In her retelling of The Skeleton Woman, Dr. Estés describes the titular character as the third party in any romance, Lady Death, who represents the Life/Death/Life cycle with which the lovers must be in communion if they hope to have any longevity.
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murmurationsdance.org/skeleton-woman

She lays out the story's 7 steps to lasting love (though the order may vary):

1. Accidental Finding of Treasure
2. The Chase and the Hiding
3. Untangling the Skeleton
4. The Sleep of Trust
5. Giving the Tear
6. Heart as Drum, and Singing Up
7. The Dance of Body and Soul

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In #TheLastOfUs Ep3, we see Bill & Frank experience all of these stages together, passing from life to death and back again through their love for one another, and by accepting both life and death, they achieve a love that is eternal.

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The story starts with both lovers symbolically dead: Bill is living alone in his compound, effectively locked into his own tomb, and he discovers Frank in the pit he dug; in other words, in a grave. Bill approaches Frank like prey: the heart is a lonely hunter, indeed.
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Now the Accidental Finding of Treasure: Bill finds Frank in the <grave> and is not aware at first of what he has found. He is fearful of this stranger and wants to cut him loose, just as the story's hunter wants to release the Skeleton Woman when he catches her in his net.
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Next, the Chase and the Hiding: Because the hungry Skeleton Woman eats food of the mortal world, I also consider this step to be the sharing of food, which is a common way mythical lovers lay claim to one another. Hungry Frank eats of Bill's food, and thus becomes tied to him.
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Bill is quite literally followed home by this unexpected sack of bones and he feeds him, yet at the same time, Bill is hiding from Frank (and likely from himself, as it seems Bill has been deeply closeted all his life).
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The next stage, Untangling the Skeleton, is performed by both men as they try to tease out who the other is. Frank notices Bill's care with food and wine, as well as his piano, as Bill tries to determine whether Frank can be trusted. They arrange one another's bones in order.
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The Sleep of Trust symbolically occurs each time Bill chooses to trust Frank during their first encounter: first when he allows Frank to use his shower, again when he cooks for him, lets him play the piano, and finally when he showers himself, leaving Frank unattended.
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Giving the Tear is a more literal stage for these lovers, as they both become visibly emotional when they connect over music. Further, their desperate desire is a type of thirst, just like the thirsty Skeleton Woman who drinks the Hunter's gift of a tear.
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The next stage, Heart as Drum and Singing Up, is my favorite and the one most distinct to the Skeleton Woman tale. In the story, she takes the heart from the Hunter's chest and beats it like a drum, singing flesh onto her bones through the soul-song they share.
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And indeed, Frank correctly identifies the song of Bill's heart, his soul song, and beats the piano like a drum, singing flesh onto Bill's dried-up bones. It's clear when Bill plays that it is the first time he has done so in a... Long, Long Time.
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pandora.com/artist/linda-r…

All of this gradual acceptance of Life by two symbolically dead men leads to their eventual consummation, the Dance of Body and Soul. This is why their scene of intimacy is necessary to their story - we MUST see them return from death to life.
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But of course, their story is not yet over. They have accepted Life, but now they must also accept Death. The Lovers' Journey of their meeting is followed by the longer Lovers' Journey of their lifetimes, and they gradually pass through all the stages again.
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Briefly, this second journey goes:

Accidental Finding of Treasure = Frank chooses to stay
Chase and Hiding = Frank making his mark on their home, drawing Bill out of his shell
Untangling the Skeleton = Making friends, growing together
Sleep of Trust = Bill's gunshot wound
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Giving the Tear = Acknowledging Frank's inevitable death
Heart as Drum and Singing Up = Marriage (again with the soul song)
Dance of Body and Soul = Passing on together

In the second half of their journey, they accept that they will return to death from life, and embrace it.
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Finally, after their deaths, Bill passes the lesson he has learned to Joel, telling him that to love is to live. This will inspire Joel to protect Ellie with all that he has, ensuring the cycle of life will continue.

Thank you #TheLastOfUs for this beautiful love story!
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Addendum: Bill in this story was the successful mortal lover who held nothing back from Frank, unlike Joel who lost Tess because he kept parts of himself closed off from her:

https://twitter.com/Fangirling_0nly/status/1617518752404484097?s=20&t=xjrcnTLpfSbs_qanfUGYDQ

https://twitter.com/Fangirling_0nly/status/1617628974854852610?s=20&t=66F7oV3dJ_wUueZaeER1lw