Beth returns and the First Lady remembers on an ominous Y: The Last Man
Is anyone more devoted to hating Jennifer than Kimberly? Can you blame her?
TV Reviews Y: The Last Man
What is the point of no return, and how do you know when you’ve reached it? In seventh episode “My Mother Saw A Monkey,” a few familiar faces return to Y: The Last Man to raise that question from a number of angles. There’s Kimberly’s mother, former First Lady Marla, who looks around at the people and world around her and doesn’t recognize—or seem to care for—much of what she sees. There’s Yorick’s sort of ex-girlfriend Beth, who reunites with onetime potential mother-in-law Jennifer, confirms that she loved Yorick but did not say yes to his proposal, and who does recognize in the Pentagon—with its electricity, running water, and food—the world as it used to be. Each of these women sees their currently oppositional reality and decides that enough is enough, and their subsequent choices will certainly reverberate outward, for worse and worser, I think. There is no real “for better” here.
Now that we’re firmly in the back half of this first season, “My Mother Saw A Monkey” reintroduces those characters as it also settles into a nice groove with Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann; really commits to Kimberly being a potentially quite dangerous true believer (although I am still iffy on how Amber Tamblyn is playing Kimberly’s sincerity); and continues to imagine scenarios in which the absence of Y-chromosomed individuals creates all kinds of narrative possibilities. A women’s prison is a perfect example, and seems like maybe the most naturally formed community of women we’ve met so far.
Unlike the women Roxanne seemingly recruited for her group or the government employees all thrown together, women prisoners serving time together before the Event already lived in a contained, controlled environment in which certain bonds and relationships built up, including an arguably rightful resentment and mistrust of men (cross-gender supervision in prison has widespread demoralizing and abusive effects, according to studies like this one from 2007). When the women who were previously powerless become the ones in power, what would they do differently? How would they govern? What needs would they prioritize? What kind of community would they build?
Compare that lovely little village of released prisoners, with all that barbecue and banjo and what I’m sure are a ton of Ball mason jars, with the dramatics going on at the Pentagon. Women on both sides are lying, and those lies are meant to be protective. And yet I cannot help but think about how Jennifer Brown was not obfuscating or hiding anything before Yorick arrived at the Pentagon, throwing all of her priorities out of wack because of blood and family and love.
What does Jennifer owe her son, versus what she owes the country? What does Janice (Mimi Kuzy), the seeming leader of the women’s prison community, owe her people, versus what she owes humanity overall? Does she continue to hide Yorick, or offer him up to whoever comes looking? And who, past anyone sent by Regina or by Kimberly, would actually be looking?
I appreciate how Y: The Last Man has me constantly guessing and constantly imagining an array of scenarios that put Yorick at the center, and then shove him away. We still have no understanding of why Yorick and Amp survived when everyone else didn’t, but I’m less interested in what Yorick represents and more so how others reveal more of themselves after they learn of his survival. And “My Mother Saw A Monkey” offers up an array of reactions. The concern from 355 and Dr. Mann when they’re separated from him and locked in the prison cell together.
The curiosity from double murderer Janice and the other women—including Victoria (Kristen Gutoskie), who both undressed Yorick without his permission and used the royal “we,” two galling missteps—when they meet and then interrogate him. The decisiveness with which Jennifer keeps news of Yorick’s existence from Beth, even when she didn’t know that Beth had turned Yorick down. The fiery purpose lit in Kimberly once she realizes Yorick is alive and Jennifer is lying, so hot that even Regina is like, “Whoa, chill.” And the bitter acquiescence from Marla, who lets Jennifer know that she knows about Yorick before writing a note to Kimberly and stepping off the Pentagon’s roof. Kimberly has now lost her husband, her sons, her father, and her mother, and at this point, I am not sure anyone is more devoted to hating Jennifer than she is. And, I mean, I can sort of get it?
“My Mother Saw A Monkey” begins with Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann, who haven’t yet reached a truce after Yorick and Dr. Mann tried to abandon 355, but who also aren’t outwardly fighting. Instead, while 355 pushes them forward, Yorick and Dr. Mann have a kind of constantly bickering sibling vibe going (her “They don’t know what an idiot you are,” his “… Hey!”), which is interrupted when 355 falls asleep and crashes the camper they just stole. After they are discovered by women in trucks with guns, the trio is separated, with Yorick being questioned by Janice.
The older woman isn’t the collective’s leader because they are, you know, a collective, but she seems to steer the group where she wants them to go. And although Yorick isn’t particularly inspiring during this interview, with Ben Schnetzer’s gleeful line delivery of “Holy shit. Toast!” conveying his boy-man status, maybe Janice responds to his loyalty as he asks over and over again where 355 and Dr. Mann are, or to his no-bullshit as he observantly notices they’re basically treating him like a hostage.
This village might be safe for now, for as long as it takes 355 to heal (and maybe for Yorick and Victoria to hook up, against 355’s directive). But will they let Yorick et al. leave? And what happened to the people who originally lived there, and the people who worked at the prison? I think at a certain point Y: The Last Man might need to ease off the “every woman has a hidden past” thing, but I’ll indulge it a little while longer.
Especially because the series is, to its credit, also doing an “every woman has a hidden future” thing, and that is a good segue to Beth, isn’t it? Because whatever Beth is up to seems not good, and although I don’t have a clear grasp on how much time it’s been since the Event—I think at least three or four months, given that second episode “Would the World Be Kind” gave us a Day 63 signifier—I am curious about how quickly Beth went from grad student moving to Australia and maybe dating other people to government overthrower conning the President, who happens to be her ex’s mom.
How much of what Beth told Jennifer is true is up in the air. Maybe she was in a bike accident that landed her in the hospital; maybe her mother did recently pass away; maybe she did try to see Yorick one last time but couldn’t bring herself to be in the same room as the corpse of the man she once loved. Portions of that seemed genuine. But I don’t think we’ve spent enough time with Beth to really know her yet, and I don’t think we can disregard how much people have changed, and how quickly, after the Event.
“To me, it feels like a person. Nature’s indiscriminate. This had intent,” Beth told Jennifer of what caused the death of nearly every being with a Y chromosome; “It’s a time machine, but it could all fall apart, and it wouldn’t take much,” Beth says to her comrades in that van. Equilibrium is an illusion, and Y: The Last Man won’t let us forget it. And man, if Beth and Yorick ever meet again, that’s going to be some “So… what have you been up to?” conversation.
Stray observations
- Anyone else find that prison cell scene with Yorick challenging 355, 355 kicking his ass with the least amount of energy possible, and Dr. Mann smirking at all of it … unexpectedly sexually kinetic? Or “You’re about to get your ass beat with a fucking shoelace” unexpectedly arousing? Whatever combination of these three characters could have started kissing at any point and I would not have been surprised at all!
- Related: I assume people are already writing 355/Dr. Mann slash fic; can you please incorporate Yorick’s bared forearms?
- I know we shouldn’t pit women against each other if we can help it, but who are you taking in a stare down, Janice or Roxanne? They both are fairly foreboding and seem unruffle-able; I cannot decide.
- Or, would they both quake in response to Marla? Paris Jefferson has a really powerful unimpressed gaze, and that disdainful look she gives Tamblyn’s Kimberly as her daughter insists on praying together was great stuff. Plus, her venomous delivery of “Suffering, really? Well, if you shed even half a tear, your boys would have to split it”—yikes.
- I am not too proud to admit that Yorick talking about being an escape artist is simultaneously deeply endearing and deeply silly, and I could listen to self-serious musings like “Life and death, it’s too theoretical” all day.
- Some more 355 backstory with that flashback to a car accident that killed her entire family when she was 12 years old, leaving her with that necklace and a childhood spent in foster care. When did Fran enter the picture?
- “God chose him. It is not up to us to question that. We have to bring him here and then we have to use him to bring back men!” OK, Kimberly, but how? Magic? I cannot see you being down with either stem cells or cloning!
32 Comments
Janice is played by Mimi Kuzyk (Hill Street Blues, Day After Tomorrow).
Thank you! I knew I knew her, but could not place her for the life of me.
Also, I noticed my subtitles showed the spelling as “Janis” instead of “Janice”. I noticed because one of those is my wife’s name and spelling.
Also a TON of Canadian TV and movies (as have a number of other actresses on the show in smaller parts—not surprising given it was filmed in and outside of Toronto, but for some reason I keep noticing more than is typical for all the made in Canada, American TV shows).
even when you consider the intense grief she’s dealing with now, Kimberly is an absolute terror.
At any given moment I half-expect her to defiantly shout “MY FATHER IS JOHN MCCAIN!!!”
I prefer fathers that didn’t write “American Pie”.
I stopped watching The View when Meredith Viera left, so I’ve only seen clips of the Meghan McCain years, but based on her writings, public statements and the fact that her father wasn’t known as a particularly religious man, I really don’t get why every recap someone says they see her in Kimberly.It may seem crass, but maybe it her figure and blonde hair, maybe it’s because she’s one of the few younger Republican women with a pop culture presence, but I really don’t see any similarities beyond those superficial elements and it strikes me as a disservice to Ms. McCain, Ms. Tamblyn and the character.I mean, in addition to the fact that John wasn’t known to be very religious, Cindy’s wealth came from owning majority interest in one of the country’s largest beer distributorships. That doesn’t really jibe with a super-religious person from Lynchburg, except both are blonde, daughters and Republican.
Right-wing woman, whose entire claim to fame is being a daughter of a high-ranking politician, which she springboards from into a high-profile media brand, and yes, she looks a lot like her in physicality and fashion. Obviously the character isn’t going to be EXACTLY like McCain in terms of the specifics of her right-wingery, but for a show coming out in 2021 and inventing this character, the inspiration seems pretty unmistakeable.
I don’t see it. I don’t follow Meghan McCain, but I have always considered her father more of a moderate and maybe because she talked more on The View, she has become known to be more harder right, but I would also put her just to the right of center and I would never imagine her talking so much about religion and god. I also can’t imagine McCain going on about “socialists”, “women-libbers” and being so focused on “home”.As for the “media brand”, I seem to remember Diane Lane or somebody making reference to “Kimberly’s” Twitter or Instagram pre-event, but I would hardly call that a “media brand” — Jenna Bush hosts the Today Show; Abby Huntsman has done a lot of TV; Ron Reagan, Maria Shriver, Mario Cuomo’s younger son, Mika Brzezinski, etc. — her mother’s cut aside, Tamblyn’s character seems to be much more about being a mother, a daughter, conniving and religious.I really just think that many of those who shorthand the Kimberly character to be representative of Meghan McCain are simply searching for some real-life counterpart that just isn’t there. I mean, if Tamblyn is playing McCain (even though the two characters have very little in common), then who are the two playing the President’s kids supposed to represent? Two sides of Amy Carter in her RISD days?
First of all, come on. No, she obviously is not a 100% carbon copy of McCain, as for one overly literal example, the world in which McCain exists still contains billions of men. You are insisting on being WAY too literal here, and it’s verging on purposeful density with this post.
“As for the “media brand”, I seem to remember Diane Lane or somebody making reference to “Kimberly’s” Twitter or Instagram pre-event, but I would hardly call that a “media brand””
Character literally introduced on a book tour for her latest right-bait masterpiece.
It’s very McCain. The clinging to father figures and men as part of her identity. The pretense of down-home folksiness in an effort to mask her upper class upbringing and repellent politics. The fake moderate views that cloak her right wing ideology. Her whole identity is bound up in the patriarchy, as is McCains.
she’s legit a copy of McCain, she even says she worked at the view. You haven’t watched the view, and Tamblyn’s mannerisms and bull headedness are very much McCain lol.
I think the actress needs to tone it down a bit. In this episode she veered way into intense parody mode.
“God chose him. It is not up to us to question that. We have to bring him here and then we have to use him to bring back men!” OK, Kimberly, but how? Magic? I cannot see you being down with either stem cells or cloning!I think she’d be down with whatever it takes to return things to what she dreams of as normal. Like many fundamentalists, when the rubber meets the road, anything can be incorporated into God’s plan.
I’m imagining a machine like in A Boy and His Dog. It’s all part of god’s plan!
I am not sure what sort of man happens to notice at the 1:31 minute mark
that Yorick has a very long tongue. Trick of the camera / angle of the
shot?
I find it absolutely hilarious that more and more Yorrick keeps trying to care for 355 in some way. Last episode he frets about her sleepwalking and try’s to to lead her away from the balcony and in this episode there is all that concern about her being injured and putting her to bed. Every time he shows even the the bare minimum of caring, she attempts to shut it down. He managed to get her into the bed and the blanket half way up before she gave him a look like he was in danger of being throat punched. It is interesting to see that dynamic.
“OK, Kimberly, but how? Magic?”
She LITERALLY believes in an all-powerful magic sky-man.
Yeah I keep trying to tell people who are put off by Yorick that it helps to realize that he’s more mcguffin than protagonist. He’s there to keep the pieces moving but it’s not all about him.
He’s annoying, but he’s not the focus so his annoying is sparse enough it doesn’t bother me that much. This episode helped too since he showed legitimate concern for his friends.
I find him charmingly stupid, and mostly overshadowed by Agent 355 and the other main characters. I was surprised that other people had such strong negative reactions to him!
It’s so true.Also, part of the reason he’s so annoying is that he knows he’s a loser and doesn’t think he should have this responsibility either.
Changing him from dudebro to, as Kimberly said, a betacuck was a pretty good choice imo. while this iteration is kind of mopey and bland (very similar to quentin from the Magicians) he’s better than the dudebro yorick from the comics mansplaining the constitution to the president and telling women to smile.
It’s a small detail, but I like President Brown calling out their ability to tell a man just from (distant) sight, which is a callout to the comic where everything from an adam’s apple to a large bootprint to the shape of a skeleton was indicative of a person’s gender.
Wow I totally disagree. I think Yodrick is “the charmer” as 355 says. He is way more than this though.
Marla’s stare at her daughter who is plotting exuberantly with Regina—it’s like she finally realized that her daughter has lost it and is absolutely loony tunes. Personally, I felt Kimberly, the fervent right winger, was played in an “over the top” operatic fashion, with Kim ranting about God and securing Yorick & about dethroning Jennifer, but just like in Y, this world I live in has changed as well, with people acting like they’ve lost their minds. So i can accept the portrayals.I think this was the best episode so far. Intense
This episode felt better to me. I hope the show is remembering not to be so dour. The comic certainly managed not to be, despite the subject matter.
something I noticed is how much the show is trying to fix the flaws of the comic, but it isn’t necessarily replacing it with anything interesting. yorick being, like 90% of the focus in the comics meant even in a world of women all the focus was on the men. even hero and his mom’s stories were just bits and pieces. they’ve veered away from that by giving more plot to the other characters, but until this episode they weren’t exactly interesting. The show took out the transphobic slurs and some of the dumber plotlines, but kept the gender essentialism. Further it’s not clear if the plotlines are going to go in the absurd but fun direction the comics did or stay in the more melodramatic vibe we have here, which has strong The Leftovers vibe (and no AVclub, this is NOT a good thing).
Great review, but Kristen Gutoskie’s character is named Sonia, not Victoria. They refer to her as Sonia in the scene when Yorick asks the Marrisville women why he woke up not wearing any clothes. For background, Sonia appears in the comic book, and while the show deviates plenty from the source material, showrunner Eliza Clark confirmed the name with a post a picture on her Instagram.Coincidentally, Victoria is the name of another character in the comic book, and may appear down the line…just wanted to briefly chime into the discussion, but thanks again for the great analysis!
How much of what Beth told Jennifer is true is up in the air.Let’s not forget Beth slips out of the observation room into the “situation” room at the Pentagon when Marla storms in to unload on Jennifer for lying to her the night she actually did see Yodrick and Amp. It is a small detail, but the point is Beth hears all of Marla’s speech and any anyone who dated Yodrick for years could piece together the clues from Marla’s rant. It’s obvious she is talking about Yodrick. So it is sort of impossible Beth is telling the truth. She almost certainly knows Yodrick is alive. She does not question Jennifer afterwards. Also, if Beth’s story is legit and she really did walk her way out of the city, as she says, she had to see some of Yodrick’s spray paint “love notes.”
I tried to find Beth’s jacket in the earlier episodes. I had no luck. Maybe this week we will find more clues.
Anyone else find that prison cell scene with Yorick challenging 355, 355 kicking his ass with the least amount of energy possible, and Dr. Mann smirking at all of it … unexpectedly sexually kinetic?Also yes. The prison scene was sort of a 355 fever dream. I almost thought for a moment it was her having a day dream again. Instead everyone seems to have feelings for 355. Kenetic is a very good word for the vibe.We still do not know why Dr. Mann has visible scars on her stomach. We do not know why Beth wats to find Hero. It was the first question she asked. So we watch and wait.