Who would have thought that the US broadcaster HBO could still shock us with anything after Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon? Not me, but the new episode The Last of Us taught me otherwise: Zombie Tentaclescalmly mouth-to-mouth, making their way into their fearful victim.
I wasn’t the only one who writhed on the couch in disgust. Many The Last of Us fans were shocked.
The Last of Us delivers the promised horror highlight with this scene
In case you’ve already forgotten it: At the end of the 2nd episode The Last of Us, Joel (Pedro Pascal), Tess (Anna Torv) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) make it to the agreed meeting point, where they want to hand Ellie over to the Fireflys. However, they only find infected corpses. Since Tess is also infected, she sends Joel and Ellie on alone to buy the two of them time with their last breaths.
Tess hands out petrol and, paralyzed with fear, pulls out her lighter an infected presses its mouth over hers, forcing its mushroom tentacles into her body. Many debate this scene with the circumscription “Kiss”, but it is not in any way. It is a maximum scary and uncomfortable assault and reminded me more of the brutality of the facehuggers from the Alien movies than anything romantic.
The scene also offered a surprise for fans of the games. In the template, Tess is shot by soldiers at the same place. However, the series uses it for World Building. We learn more about the “Character” of the threatwhich this episode specializes in.
The assault also adds something new to the well-worn zombie genre. Rather than shuffling and brainlessly pouncing on the next victim, the fungus works through Tess’s helpless stillness cold and overpowering. He sensed a chance to take a victim without resistance. Body horror meets pure fear.
HBO
The Last of Us: Tess shortly before her death
This is all the more depressing because we got to know Tess herself as an unstoppable doer. The bitter realization is that even the biggest badass of the series so far only human is. In her final moments, she is just as motionless and paralyzed with fear as we would be in a situation like this. If she had said a cool line to the mushroom guy before the explosion, this scene would never have this one Goose bumps and nightmare effect.
Horror films and series always score particularly well when when we become aware of our own vulnerability and Anna Torv’s acting in the face of the disgust attack masters that brilliantly.
But instead of claiming this victory and moving on, series creator Craig Mazin casts the controversially recorded death scene in a questionable light.
“The mushroom can also love”: The series makers talk the scene mad to me
The last thing I would associate the killer mushroom with is emotions. That would open up a dimension that the scenario does not need. And yet, the episode’s showrunner and director, Craig Mazin, addresses exactly that on the official Last of Us podcast (via AV Club).
He argues that the assault scene originated from the thought that the fungus could love. But read for yourself first:
The mushroom can also love. He wants more of his own kind. That’s what we do when we love each other. Many of us make more of their own kind. This is how we procreate.
On my own, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to sexualize the scene in any way, but for Mazin it seems obvious. He compares taking over Tess’ body to human reproduction. In doing so, however, he conspires love, the sexual act and the invasive attack of the fungus together.
I’ve seen way too much sexualized violence in the Game of Thrones universe and I don’t need a mushroom version of it from HBO. Hopefully this rash comment will stick and the “loving mushroom” approach will continue in the series not further pursued. Especially not when I detect a hint of romanticism.
Craig Mazin told Variety that he and his team came up with this scene through some thought experiments:
We asked philosophical questions. Why are infected people violent? […] The infected are violent because we fight back. But what if we don’t fight back? What happens if you just stand very still and let yourself be taken care of? After all, he concedes to the scene afterwards that the mushroom “disturbing” and “hurtful“ behaves and that the end product behaves when viewed “real and terrible” feels. That makes Mazin’s comparison with human reproduction and love even more uncomfortable.
HBO
Mushroom Infected in The Last of Us
Unfortunately, Neil Druckmann, director of the episode and creator of the game templates, doesn’t do it any better either. Interviewed by Entertainment Weekly he romanticizes the mushroom attack and calls him, among other things, “beautiful“:
[Der Pilz] doesn’t have to become violent unless you’re trying to stop it from spreading. We learn that in such a beautiful yet terrifying way with Anna [Torv].
While I’m looking forward to The Last of Us episode 3, I hope that the zombie humanization comes to an end immediately with these strange comments. Anyway, the threat of the killer fungus is best conveyed when it’s allowed to be an overarching, unstoppable force. Completely without feelings and with a single goal: spread.
Our podcast on The Last of Us: why non-gamers need to watch this series highlight too
In the Moviepilot podcast, we discuss why the series on The Last of Us is worthwhile for gamers and everyone else.
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In the spoiler-free podcast review For the complete 1st season of The Last of Us we talk, among other things, about the incredible closeness to the video game template and the differences to the zombie hit The Walking Dead.
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