‘The Last of Us’: Creators Explain That ‘Kiss’ From Chapter 2 And Anna Torv Reacts To Unpleasant Scene

‘The Last of Us’: Creators Explain That ‘Kiss’ From Chapter 2 And Anna Torv Reacts To Unpleasant Scene

Warning, SPOILERS

*This article contains spoilers for the second episode of “The Last of Us”. Don’t read on if you haven’t seen it.

The second episode of ‘The Last of Us’, titled ‘Infected’, takes us beyond the quarantine zone to officially kick off Joel and Ellie’s journey. However, the great heroine of the episode is another: Tess. The character of Anna Torv accompanies the protagonists in the first phase of their odyssey, but, following the plot of the video game, she sacrifices herself so that they can continue. A death that, despite knowing – or sensing – that it was coming, strongly affected the audience, sparking widespread applause for the actress for the excellent work she did by building a layered character in just two chapters.

‘The Last of Us’: Creators Explain That ‘Kiss’ From Chapter 2 And Anna Torv Reacts To Unpleasant Scene

As we said, Tess’s death, like Sarah’s (Nico Parker) death in the first episode, was something that those who played the video game on which the series is based knew would happen. However, events do not happen in the same way as in the game. The creators of the series, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann (main creator of the video game Naughty Dog), explained these changes in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

In “Infected”, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Tess take Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to the destination marked by Marlene (Merle Dandridge) and the fireflies, but there is no one to receive them. When a horde of runners are alerted to their presence and head towards them, Joel finds himself at a crossroads, but Tess decides to sacrifice herself so they can escape, revealing that she has been bitten and infected. In the game, however, those who invade the place are the soldiers Phaedra and Tess dies trying to hold them back, while Joel and Ellie escape. This change provided an opportunity for Mazin and Druckmann to introduce themselves one of the most commented scenes of the series so far: the “kiss of death” what one of the runners says to Tess. Why does he do it instead of violently attacking her like the rest of the infected?

“These creatures must not become violent unless you are fighting them so they don’t continue to spread the infection.”Druckmann explains to EW in reference to this surprising detail. “The idea develops in that wonderful but terrifying way with Anna”. Also new are the filaments that come out of the mouth of the infected who corner Tess to transmit the Cordyceps fungus (and which we saw in the old woman in the first episode or coming out of a wound on a corpse in this second) compared to the video game and have a specific purpose: “Craig very cleverly asked, ‘What can we do to further separate our infected from the zombies?’ It’s more than just a bite.”Druckmann explains. “I would have loved to have a ‘Eureka!’ straight away, but we suggested a lot of ideas. Some of them quite outlandish.”.

The introduction of the filaments gives rise to the idea that the infected are connected through a sort of hive mind that alerts everyone when the presence of a possible victim is detected, an idea based on real science. According to Druckmann, taking into account how the infection grows on the walls and the environment, it was “appropriate” so that they also leave the bodies of the infected. Finally, Mazin makes it clear the speech on the filaments took place in a totally separate way from that on the spores, a means of contagion through the air in the games that does not appear in the television adaptation for practical reasons. Though Mazin teases that they may end up introducing them to the series at some point: “I don’t think we’ve necessarily removed the spores from our show’s universe. We’re just not there yet. It’s possible they’ll be back. We may have a plan.”.

Anna Torv: “It sucks”

Tess’s death has left audiences devastated, but Anna Torv’s work, brief as it is, remains for posterity. The actress reacted to the sacrifice of her character, thus reasoning her decision in an interview for GameSpot: “They bit her and Ellie, and she was like, ‘Oh my God, this is real, this is what people are talking about.’ Surely there has to be a cure, there has to be an antidote.” “That’s true, Joel. This is real, and it could be your chance to make the world atone for all the shit we’ve done. It’s over. Save what you can save’. […] I think Tess really believes she’s doing her part to save the world.”.

At the scene of the kiss of death, Torv reacts like this: “It’s just disgusting. I thought it would be different. When I read that scene, I thought it was going to be something else. Everything is effects, except the actor. The infected wears a lot of makeup – and it’s amazing makeup – but all the filaments and everything else is special effects.”.

Source: E Cartelera

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