If you’re someone who has missed out on the first five episodes of The Last Of Us, you are truly missing out. Not only is the series easily one of the best live-action adaptations of a video game property in history, but it’s also already getting buzz as an Emmy-worthy show. Not just for its visuals but its acting across the board. Moreover, the team has proven that it’s not afraid to change things from the game to the show if it helps make the show better. A great example came from the most recent episode when we met “The Bloater.” One of the infected monsters who was impossible to kill.
In the game, you meet The Bloater early via your encounter with Bill. However, in the show, the infected weren’t part of Bill’s episode, so the showrunners had to create a new circumstance to introduce it. Thankfully, episode 5 had the perfect intro for it as the infected were forced underground in Kansas City and decided to “pay a visit” to people when they happened to be all in one spot. Oops.
The shot of The Bloater coming out of the ground was menacing, and its first act upon hitting the surface was to take bullets without flinching and then rip a guy’s head off. The suit of The Bloater was very expensive, and while parts of the creature did have VFX, there was a stunt performer within the suit via Adam Basil. He talked with Entertainment Weekly and said the creature has become a “sex icon.” That’s a quote right from him.
But the reason he made that reference is that he’s gotten a lot of attention after the episode went live:
“He’s captured a lot of people’s imaginations,” Basil said. “Someone asked me if I’d come to their wedding. I’ve had people sending me love messages. He really brought out something in people that I don’t think even they knew they had. He’s the big daddy mushroom, I think there’s been a [meme].”
Given the love that the first season has gotten, we wouldn’t be surprised if people are trying to have an “experience” in their own lives that reminds them of The Last of Us. We do doubt that Basil does weddings, but you never know!
As we head into the back half of the first season, there’s still plenty that we don’t know about what will happen with the infected and what other major changes to the story will be had. Episode six arrives this Sunday.
