Editor's Note: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us, Season 1 Episode 2, "Infected."Love for The Last of Us infectiously spread when the highly anticipated HBO adaptation premiered earlier this month. The pilot brilliantly introduced fans and non-gamers alike to the horrors of this tragic post-apocalyptic world that Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are forced to inhabit. It was an endlessly tear-jerking episode, but if you thought the tissues would end there, Episode 2 proved you dead wrong. It was another emotionally thrilling hour of television that saw Joel, Ellie, and Tess (Anna Torv) travel through an infected riddled Boston. The story in Episode 2 featured new haunting wrinkles to the Cordyceps virus and saw the end to Tess’ journey. Now “The Last of Us: Inside Episode 2” breaks down what the show added to both the infected and Tess’ storylines.
One of the biggest things this episode introduced to the masses were the dreadful looking Clickers. A form of infection that has overtaken someone for so long that they’ve become blind and can only see through sound. They provide one of the scariest sequences in recent horror memory with a night at the museum that will make you want to swear off those educational institutions for good. The Clickers’ designs are very game-accurate, which co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann point out, but you might be surprised to know that those traumatizing infected were done practically. Actors who were fans of the games themselves and knew the Clickers frightful movements wore prosthetics designed by Barrie Gower. In today’s world it’s safe to assume that all the infected were done completely or enhanced by CGI, but knowing that these Clickers were done practically only adds to their fear-inducing nature. They brought Druckmann, who made his directorial debut with Episode 2, to tears. It’s very easy to see why as their looks are fantastically haunting.
While the Clickers are game-accurate, Episode 2 changed upped the way the Cordyceps Fungus spreads. In the game it was all through biting and spores, but Mazin goes into the challenges of making spores work in the context of the show. Instead of spores, they made the infected spread the virus through “threads” while the infected have also become chemically connected. Basically you kill one infected and the whole hoard on the opposite side of town is coming after you. Both concepts, like the virus itself, are based in reality with fungus having this “wood wide web” that lets it communicate from miles away.
That's such a scary concept which culminates in Tess' death at the end of this heartbreaking episode. Tess was bitten by a Clicker during their battle at the museum, just like the game. However, unlike the game, Tess is not gunned down by FEDRA. Mazin and Druckmann use Tess’ already tragic death as a showcase of what makes these infected scarier then their gaming counterparts while giving Tess a more epic yet very somber send off. The eerie “Kiss of Death” sent shock waves through social media and put the fungal threads terrifyingly front and center. The creators and Torv talked about how they used the moment to expand on Tess’ hopeful reawakening. She was the “perfect survivor” with no real connection to the world around her, but Ellie reminded her that there’s something still worth fighting for. Hope and love which Tess puts on Joel’s shoulders before her explosive death.
Both the horrifying Clickers and Tess reminded us that Sarah’s death wasn’t the exception. It has become a devastating rule in this dark world. While we wait for Joel and Ellie’s journey to continue this weekend, you can watch The Last of Us: Inside Episode 2 down below.