It’s so gorgeous, and just true. And then the look on Bella’s face, as Ellie, realizing the enormity of what he’s saying, and the fact that it hadn’t even occurred to her. That this whole time, he’s been this person that she looks up to, and this person that saves her, and this person that she wants to save, because she wants that father in her life. She needs this connection.
But never did it occur to her what she meant to him. It was always, “What do you mean to me?” And when a child hears something like that, it is overwhelming to them. And you can see her struggling to process it.
I think we wrote this in the script, like literally, “This is how they say I love you.” They don’t say I love you. How they say I love you is they talk around it. Without saying I love you, she says, “Well I’m glad that didn’t work out.” - Episode 9, "Look For The Light" | The Last of Us Podcast