Yeah, it's the Larian sense of humor -- over the top, farcical. And it's party of the DOS2 surface system. Like 1varangian said. You are supposed to freeze it or electrify it.
I remember that first teaser Larian made for BG3 convinced many they will abandon their cartoony style. In fact it was thought it was made as a statement they were going to.
All this surfaces stuff strongly reminds me of casual mobile games.