I read your reply.

Joel was made to look stupid

Joel is painted like the bad guy

This is exactly emblematic of the simplistic language and kneejerk reactions that the video game culture needs to outgrow. Naughty Dog isn't implying that Joel is "stupid" or "bad." Exploration of a character's motivations and the consequences that arise from their actions is not the same as damnation. A major theme of The Last of Us 2 is that these characters' stories are inextricably intertwined by their actions and motivations in a complex web, and nobody can really be boiled down to a single adjective descriptor like "stupid" or "bad."