‘The Last of Us’: Creators Break Down Tess’s Haunting Kiss Scene: ‘We Landed on This Nightmare Fuel’
HBO‘s The Last of Us series is doing the job of effectively scarring its viewers. The series first shook fans to their core with its opening scene of a 1960s interview with two Epidemiologists who foreshadow the horrid Cordyceps virus. The chilling reality of the fungal virus took on an even darker turn in The Last of Us Episode 2 with Tess’s tragic storyline and kiss.
[WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us.]
Tess sacrifices herself in ‘The Last of Us’ to save Ellie and Joel
The Last of Us Episode 2 begins in Jakarta, Indonesia. A leading professor investigates a dead body. When removing a piece of moving fungi from the victim’s mouth, she is shaken to her core and runs away. In a military commander’s office, she learns the truth about where the virus came from in The Last of Us. She reveals there is no cure and no vaccine. The only option is death.
The episode continues where Joel (Pedro Pascal), Ellie (Bella Ramsey), and Tess (Anna Torv) traveling through Boston on the grid. Tess and Joel are wary of Ellie after learning she tests positive for the virus in The Last of Us. They soon learn she was bitten while exploring an abandoned mall but never turned. While in the hotel, they realize their original route will not work.
There is no option but to go the dangerous way through a previously infected museum. But they soon run into a Clicker. While Ellie is bitten and heals, The Last of Us begins the end of Tess’s story as she is bitten. As they make it to the rendezvous point where they would meet with the Fireflies, they learn all of them are dead.
They likely got infected and shot themselves to stop the spread, but it proves futile as some begin to turn. The commotion alerts the other Clickers nearby. With limited time, Tess sacrifices herself. She says her heartfelt goodbye to Joel, puts gasoline on the floor, and urges them to leave. As the Clickers invade, Tess is frozen with fear as one of them casually walks closer to her. Fans watch as Tess has a creepy and horrifying tendril kiss with the Clicker in The Last of Us before she drops the lighter, killing them all.
‘The Last of Us’ creators explain Tess’s kiss was to depict the different functions of fungi
There is no denying that Tess’s last moments with the squirming fungi tendril kiss is a thing of nightmares, even for a series like The Last of Us. Fans may notice that the particular detail sways from the video games. According to Variety, creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckman wanted to explore the multiple layers of how fungi work beyond a simple zombie bite.
Mazin explains the idea came from an image an artist “created of somebody that had become subsumed by fungus and in their mouth there were mushrooms.” While already having the idea of tendrils in mind, they asked themselves, “Why are infected people violent? If the point is to spread the fungus, why do they need to be violent?” We landed on that they don’t. They’re violent because we resist, but what if you don’t? What does it look like if you just stand perfectly still and let them do this to you?”
It is safe to say that Mazin and Druckman wanted to develop a multi-layer horror scene. “Then we landed on this nightmare fuel. It’s disturbing and it’s violative. I think it’s very primal in the way it invades your own body. To use an overused word, it’s triggering,” explained Mazin. Druckman describes how they took it even further by taking Tess “all the way to the edge of horror before we finally give her an out.”
Fans watch as Tess is secure in sacrificing herself, knowing Ellie might be the cure to the global nightmare. But it falters as she cannot ignite the lighter. She is frozen either from fear or not to alert the Clicker. She feels the tendrils invade her before killing them all.
What other changes were made to the Clickers?
Besides the tendrils in Tess’s kiss in The Last of Us and the timeline, there are a few other changes from the game. Druckman mentions “the network of the infected” was an added detail for the series. “They’re connected, and it’s scarier when it feels like they’re working as a unit than as individuals,” explains the video game creator.
He explains the idea was created in the conversations he had with Mazin. It implies that touching or affecting one Clicker could alert another one miles away. The added detail, Druckman admits he wished had been a part of the original video games. Mazin jokes, “Shoulda hired me, Neil.”
Fans can expect some of the changes to the series compared to the original video games. Some include Ellie’s learning how to swim and the introduction of her mother.
