Why I'm a Mel Stan
Thought I'd give a run-down on why I'm a Mel Stan lol (a term that is relatively new to me)!
I loved the The Last of Us, but the Part 2 resonated with me in a much deeper way. Originally, I was very much an Abby Stan. Like both Abby and Ellie, I lost someone very close to me in real life to murder and had to watch their killers escape justice, in my case because of intrenched homophobia and a morally corrupt criminal justice system.
In 2017 my little brother was pummeled into the ground by three men outside a nightclub. They kicked him, punched him, and turned bottles on him. His sin was kissing another man in front of a group of bigoted thugs. He died in hospital a few hours later and my mother died of a stress related stroke two weeks later. I was overseas at the time on a deployment and no one knew how to contact me, so I didn't find out til after they were buried.
This was a very cathartic game for me.
I very much empathise with both characters, but the more I played it and the more I came to terms with my own life and loss, the faster my love of them waned. Vengeance isn't justice (even in the apocalypse) and both characters went through a comprehensive arc and I think they both realised this by the end of the game. Of the two player characters, I'll probably always empathise with Abby more as she repeatedly tried to make good and atone in a much more concerted way than Ellie.
Part 2 is full of rich and beautiful characters. In particular Dina is fantastic, Lev and Yara are exceptionally brave, and Owen is a kind and gentle soul (if a bit thoughtless). I always felt for Mel, even in my very first play-through. She spent the whole game putting aside what she needed/wanted to help/please other people and getting treated kind of poorly for it and then dies pregnant and terrified (which as a dad, repeatedly hit me right in the gut)
Then I read a lot of pretty un-nuanced discourse. Mel bad because she called Abby a POS. Yes, she could have directed more anger at Owen (and she eventually did), but it's also worth bearing in mind that Mel does not have the knowledge about Abby's motives and her development as a character that we the player do, and Abby was meant to be her friend.
Mel probably wanted Joel brought to 'justice' for her own reasons. She was Jerry's student and probably pretty close to the man. She was also close with Abby and probably wanted it for her as well. You can see how uncomfortable she is with what actually happens to Joel in her body language, facial expressions and her hesitation to apply the tourniquet (more on this in the link below). She says in the game that Jackson shook her. Violence of that level has a tendency to do that to all involved (Abby is clearly no exception).
A friend of mine (you can find more of this kind of stuff on their instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/ellies_switchblade) took these
On their way to the FOB, Mel extends an olive branch to her friend, who she's avoiding and tries to reconnect. She knows Abby is suffering as well, offers her sleeping pills and tries to share that trauma with Abby. Abby takes that attempt as an attack and responds pretty snidely (have a look back at that scene, they both have amazing actresses behind them and the way Mel kind of crumples emotionally is pretty sad).
Below is a bit of an analysis of this conversation from reddit user BrennanSpeaks
Then Owen and Abby both go AWOL on the same day, Mel loyal to her friends, doesn't give them up, despite Isaac being pretty hard on her according to Nora and goes after Owen, through a dangerous city with only Alice for company. Then she finds Abby there as well, with a couple of seraphite kids (remember the day prior, Abby saying she was A-ok with murdering Seraphite kids), in a place she thought was Owen and hers. With the incomplete information she had, her mind goes in a certain direction - Abby is only helping these kids, to appeal to Owen's gentle side and get back with him. It's a bit of a stretch from the player's perspective, but Mel has every reason to think the worst of Abby.
It's also worth bearing in mind what Nora tells Abby at the hospital. When Abby left the FOB, Isaac interrogated them about where Abby and Owen went, and says that Isaac was particularly rough with Mel and we know that Isaac is a bit of a psycho. Mel didn't give them up. Now she’s left the FOB, and like Abby and Owen, is now a deserter, and the WLF do not take kindly to deserters as we learn. So she’s in an incredibly vulnerable position, she’s not a fighter like Abby, she’s a tiny little heavily pregnant doctor, and she’s kind of at Abby and Owens mercy. Not a comfortable position for her to be in. To top all that of, Owen has been ghosting her for weeks, on Seattle day 1 she mentions he hasn’t even seen their new quarters in the family section and seems genuinely stressed out about this when she asks Abby if she’s talked to him.
But she puts that aside to help Yara (a Scar, who she is meant to hate, but doesn't, as like good boy Owen, she seems a lot less tribal). But all that hurt she's bottling up finally boils over and she directs it at Abby first, a big personality who until now she's seemed reluctant to confront. To her credit, Abby actually takes it on the chin, maybe realising that she had kind of been a shitty friend, despite the fact that she doesn't really deserve to be the entire focus of Mel's ire (she still very much cares for Mel I think and tells Owen to get his priorities straight).
And the whole you've always been a piece of shit thing I'm going to put down to the heat of the moment.
To be clear. Mel has misread the situation, Abby is becoming a better person than Mel knows.
I don't think any of that warrants the dislike she seems to get.
Then there's the No Loose Ends thing. Not her finest hour, but she has just witnessed what awful things people will do in the name of vengeance and does not want that for her, her loved ones and her unborn child.
Again, don't think this means she deserves to be a D or E on all those character tier list things people make.
Then there's the She Was Going To Give Abby Up thing and yeah, she was terrified, didn't want to die and wanted to save herself, the man she loved and their unborn child from the person who was pointing a gun at them. Owen should have let her, it probably wouldn't have helped Ellie find Abby at all.
So basically the more I played the game, the more I thought she was one of the best human beings in it. She wanted to keep her loved ones safe and she wanted to be a mother, but was fearful for what that would look like in the world she lived in.
I also see reflected in her character a lot of someone who is very near and dear to me: She's got a low bullshit tolerance, but is very bad at confrontation so bottles it up. She seems to be one of the most empathetic and kindhearted characters in the game. From her bodily language and mannerisms I always got the impression that she has crippling anxiety and as mentioned before, she always seemed to put other people first. She loves dogs, and kids, and making use of her surgical skills to help people. She's just a wholesome little bean.
I also tend to favour the underdog, so given there are so few Mel Stans in the fandom I thought I might as well be.
Naughty Dog are geniuses.
Apologies if that was an incoherent mess. As always I blame the fact that English isn't my mother tongue.
P.S.
I see a lot of people hating on her for getting in that truck with Manny and Abby. Here's what I say to that. Pay attention to the context and what everyone says. They're not going out to fight Scars, they're travelling along what is deemed a very safe route, to a heavily fortified Forward Operation Base (FOB) where Mel will be working as a surgeon. That FOB has huge walls and hundreds of soldiers. It's a safe place. There are also wounded WLF soldiers pouring in, so it's understandable that Mel, a talented surgeon, is going there. She's literally commuting to work. When they get ambushed, she fights, because she has to.
People have weird hang-ups when it comes to pregnant women. They're allowed to live their lives, do their jobs, contribute, etc. You can't lock someone up and wrap them in cotton wool for nine months, especially when it's the apocalypse and they're a talented surgeon.
P.S.S,
Please enjoy this REALLY good and probably more articulate essay from Brennanspeak:
Long story short, Mel is a very underrated character. We're primed to dislike her in-game because she's practically always an antagonist to our player-character - whether we're playing as Ellie or Abby, Mel's motivations will clash with "ours" in some way, shape, or form. But, her actions were absolutely understandable.
First off, she was Jerry Anderson's student. It's clear that his mentorship meant a lot to her. In some ways, she might have known him better than Abby did, because she related to him as one adult to another. He was her Obi-Wan, and then he was murdered, and she had all the reason in the world to be angry.
She and Abby were very close, once upon a time. She writes a letter to Abby (found in Abby's backpack in "The Park") where she thanks Abby for her help in arranging her mentorship with Jerry. She even suggests they go get drunk together to celebrate. She had reason to want to support Abby's revenge quest.
When it actually happens, it doesn't go like she expected. She doesn't get any catharsis from it. Abby coerces her into participating in torture, which she's never done before and never intended to do. She's so shaken that she can't watch for most of it - she and Owen leave the room. As Manny later points out, she's never hurt anyone like that before, and Abby almost forces her into it.
Because Mel understands just how fucked up their torture of Joel is, she's able to see Ellie with clearer eyes. She realizes that the wolves absolutely are not the heroes, here, and that Ellie, or anyone from Jackson, would have ample reason to want to track them down and make them pay. Abby (and Owen) don't really understand the threat that Ellie poses to them because it never occurs to them that someone would love Joel enough to avenge him. No one mourns the wicked, right? But, Mel couldn't help but see him as human, so she recognizes Ellie (and Tommy) as people who loved him. And, then, the ruthless, survival oriented part of her brain kicks in and she recognizes these "loose ends" for the threat that they are.
When we see her through Abby's eyes, much later, we see the toll that Jackson took on her. Mel's anger towards Abby is simmering but constantly stifled. She doesn't feel confident enough to confront a strong personality like Abby's and tell her that she was wrong. So, she tries to find subtle, non-confrontational ways of expressing how she feels. "I guess Jackson shook me, too." Abby is dealing with her own repressed guilt and doesn't appreciate this mirror being held up to her actions, so she lashes out, and the distance between them grows. Mel is feeling this intense conflict between her ideals as a medic and the actions that she's participated in - or been goaded into. She had lots of reasons to believe the worst of Abby.
Meanwhile, because Girlfriend just can't catch a break, she's in love with (and pregnant with) a guy who just can't love her back. We don't know why Mel and Owen got together, but it probably had something to do with Owen looking for something brighter and more innocent after seeing the growing darkness in Abby. But, he's still in love with Abby, and he can't let that go, even after more than a year with Mel. And now they're pregnant, and Mel is ready to just settle down, establish a family, and maybe move on from violence. But, Owen isn't on board. He ghosts her for weeks, so she can't even plan for what their life together will look like.
And now, suddenly, things are happening. Maybe Mel was "Melissa" and was considering leaving with Ji-Soo, maybe not, but once Owen is AWOL, her priorities shift. She sets off alone, accompanied only by her dog, and follows him deep into hostile territory, finds a way to get to him . . . and finds him post-coital and expecting Abby. Now, she's been betrayed by both the man she loves and the girl who used to be her friend. She had every reason to believe the worst of Abby and to look for a cynical motive in her every action. Abby had treated her like shit, so it was totally reasonable for her to see Abby as a piece of shit.
The real tragedy of Mel is her last moments. Owen uses their relationship to try to pressure her into risking her life on a suicide mission to the island. She puts her foot down and finally stands up for herself, at which point he promptly dumps her, telling her to "go back," as if she could just waltz back into the FOB after going AWOL for him. A moment later, Ellie confronts her - a living reminder of the worst thing she's ever done. She wants to bargain with her - to give up Abby, the toxic influence on her life, in exchange for just survival and escape for her and her baby, but she's thwarted by Owen. In the end, he'd rather put her and their child in mortal peril than risk any harm befalling Abby, no matter how unlikely it is that Ellie could have found her. Owen escalates things and gets himself shot and Mel, trying to defend or avenge him, dies too.
tl;dr: Mel gets screwed over more than any other character in the franchise. Meanwhile, she shows more moral fiber than most, but she's ultimately punished for doing what she needed to do from the start: standing up to the people in her life when they try to control her.
This concludes my TED talk; subscribe to my fanfic for more.
