If there’s one thing I’m known for here at Polygon, it’s being a fan of big boys fighting on screen. One of the first things I wrote here was a review of the Sherlock Holmes But the Hulk process. reachers (it is fun!). And while I did not like The Rings of PowerI loved the big orc that appeared in one episode so much that I wrote an ode to him and gave him a name.
So when I heard there was going to be a giant infected in episode 5 The last of us, I was excited. The show had exceeded my expectations so far, being able to recreate some of the mushroom horror effects from the video game, particularly the clickers, with a stunning use of practical effects and prosthetics, complemented by CG to create monsters that are just as terrifying are because they are so tangible.
Unfortunately, I was prepared for disappointment. The Great Infected – let’s call it Big Mushroom, but it looks like a version of the Bloater from the games – appearing in an inky, frenzied battle scene as hordes of infected pour out of the ground to attack the Kansas City resistance and our terrified heroes. The action scene alone is disappointing and can’t even compete with the gas station shootout in the fourth episode. While this one was razor sharp in its chaos, showing audiences clean and clear all the action and relevant parties, this one suffered from a poorly lit night setting where it was hard to see anything and also the camera focused mostly on which focused humans hiding or running away, rather than one of the few human-infected fights on the show. But as a Big Fighters On Screen scholar, I was very disappointed with the way they massacred my bloated boy.
When Big Fungus emerges from the ground, it’s meant to be a moment of awe and terror, given the boy’s sheer size (he should have been bigger, but that’s another point). But what undermines that moment is how obviously he doesn’t fit into the world around him.
In a world surrounded by more convincing prosthetics and makeup for infected, Big Fungus sticks out like a big sore thumb. It’s not just how it looks – although it looks pretty bad – but how it moves. However, when Big Fungus stomps, you don’t feel the interactions with the world around him There were practical effects and an actor enhanced with VFX. Somehow Big Fungus still doesn’t have a tangible presence and doesn’t seem to take up any real space. Instead, it moves like a weightless ball, lumbering clumsily towards human characters and suffering severely from the juxtaposition of the superior effects around it.
There was a chance to make Big Fungus’ awkward move work – The last of us is a video game adaptation, after all, and isn’t afraid to lean into some video game decisions. A great example is the stellar kid’s clicker in the episode, also a mix of hands-on and digital effects that was terrible precisely because of the inhuman way it moved, like a jumble of limbs and joints crawling toward something without fully understanding how those limbs and joints are supposed to function. But the show doesn’t play off Big Fungus’ clumsy and unreal movements for added terror, instead trying to sell them as a real presence. Unfortunately, nothing about Big Fungus reads remotely real.
I don’t want this to be misconstrued as a screed against digital effects. You can be great! Some things are only possible with digital effects, and there are excellent, innovative filmmakers doing great work in digital. Some of my favorite stunts and action beats are Combinations of practical and digital effects.
It’s instead another example of a broader problem from HBO The last of us sometimes treats the infected: as opportunities for Easter eggs rather than moments of genuine excitement or tension. There are definitely moments when the infected are used in good and interesting ways – Joel trying to reload his gun while holding a flashlight as a clicker approaches in Episode 2 – but Big Fungus felt like a monstrous one Example of playing the hits and evoking big TV moments without adding substance.
We recognize Big Fungus’ looks and the way he fights from the game, and that it’s meant to be a big deal, from the musical cues and just from his sheer size. But the show isn’t interested in doing much else with it. He shows up looking weird and out of place and then he’s done. It’s not enough to just point to a recognizable person and say, “I recognize that!” If you want to do something, it pays to do it right. And it breaks my heart that Big Fungus missed the mark.
