The culture war, cloning, and Dr. Allison Mann enter the world of Y: The Last Man
What “Mann Hunt” demonstrates by its A story is that 355 and Dr. Mann are already developed in a way that Yorick isn’t.
TV Reviews Y: The Last Man
“People are going to have to pick sides,” Kimberly says to Regina when the woman who should have stepped into the presidency per the line of succession is returned by the Israelis to the Pentagon, and “Mann Hunt,” the fifth episode of Y: The Last Man, expands that idea outside of the Pentagon, too. Per the reports Jennifer is receiving from around the country, rioters are spreading to statehouses, government mansions, and food banks. The power is still off. As we see in Boston, clashes between the U.S. Army and the protestors who think that the government is hiding information, and who specifically accuse Jennifer, are commonplace. Jennifer keeps saying that she wants to protect and work for all the people still alive, and she’s loath to hand over power to Regina. And yes, Regina seems like an absolutely awful human being. But: Is Jennifer actually doing a good job? Could anyone in this role do a good job? Difficult to say!
“Mann Hunt” leaves Hero, Sam, Roxanne, and their Costco of canned goods behind to return to Jennifer, Kimberly, Christine, and the other women at the Pentagon as the B story this week, and Tian Jun Gu’s screenplay incrementally ratchets up the tension the series’ preceding four episodes have already established. I’m not sure there are enough narrative details about all these people’s varying grievances (what do people think the “hoax” is, exactly?), but there’s widespread chaos, and people want answers. Conspiracy theories are spreading about what caused the loss of those with the Y chromosome and who was responsible for it, and so maintaining the secrecy of Yorick’s identity remains extremely important. Does that mean Yorick keeps his mask on the whole time? It does not! The need for lead actor Ben Schnetzer to show his face supersedes the narrative logic of keeping Yorick hid. But there are people all throughout “Mann Hunt” acting foolishly, so I cannot necessarily direct my ire only at Yorick.
There’s Jennifer, who allowed 355 (whom she knows as Sarah) to leave with Yorick, which seemingly was important and necessary because Yorick was already wandering hallways and revealing his existence, like an idiot, and because 355/Sarah very persuasively argued that geneticist Dr. Allison Mann would be able to help. But was the relief of seeing Yorick alive so overwhelming that Jennifer did this without at first reading up even a little on the Culper Ring? And without considering that 355/Sarah might have an agenda of her, or the Culper Ring’s, own? Everyone is operating here with a piece of information, not all of it, but I would expect a little more from the President and all of that position’s resources. (Must be said, though, that Diane Lane does solid, subtly pained work once Jennifer thinks that Yorick could have died in the helicopter crash.)
Yorick’s existence and the chopper cover-up are two secrets in which Jennifer’s aide Christine is involved, and the other is her own pregnancy. In a moment of fear and desperation, Christine chooses to trust Kimberly with this information—creating perfect blackmail conditions for the First Daughter toward the President’s aide. Why wouldn’t Christine immediately tell Jennifer this? Do not tell me that premiere episode scene in which Jennifer was embarrassed by Christine’s bad nails somehow caused a schism between them that makes Christine unwilling to share this detail! At the very least Christine should be smart enough to know that Kimberly is going to use this information against her, and to actress Jess Salgueiro’s credit, she looks appropriately chastened (and uncomfortable) when Christine passes Kimberly in the hallway after the sonogram appointment.
But this does not bode well, not at all—especially not when Kimberly is trying to curry favor with Regina Oliver, who rolls up to the Pentagon in a not-very-subtle “gone hunting” outfit. Jennifer Wigmore’s Regina exudes menace from the moment she arrives, from her black-American-flag baseball cap (used both by the Confederate Army and evoked by Blue Lives Matter), to her perpetual sneer whenever she has to regard Jennifer, to how she ricochets herself up out of that wheelchair. Costume designer Olga Mill does a good job dressing Kimberly, Regina, and Jennifer as three different kinds of women in the political space: Kimberly in her tight bun, cozy cardigan, and Laura Bush dress; Regina’s take-no-prisoners L.L.Bean by way of Marjorie Taylor Greene; and Jennifer’s longer utilitarian jacket, jewel tones, and American flag pin. These are three different representations of power, and recall that graffiti that Yorick sees in Boston: “Sexism didn’t die with the men.” Women disagreeing with each other isn’t inherently sexism. But the way that Kimberly and Regina do it, and Regina’s ominous “as long as you’re in charge” to Jennifer? “Vanilla” Jennifer might look pretty good in comparison.
“Mann Hunt” spends most of its time in the “terrifying hellscape” that is Boston, where Yorick and 355 (I’m dropping “Sarah” here since she doesn’t use that name with Yorick) are tracking Dr. Allison Mann. What they don’t expect when they get to Harvard is a war zone, with barbed wire and fences, burned-out cars and barricades, Army vehicles patrolling the streets, and soldiers speaking completely casually about using tear gas and violence on protestors. While 355 ingratiates herself with the military holding Harvard, Yorick meets the protestors, and, well, their aims seem valid. (Are they supposed to be leftists? Their political identification felt nebulous, and not nearly as clearly defined as the big neon “REPUBLICANS” signs flashing over Kimberly and Regina.) The protestors sense that Jennifer is lying about something (she is), and they worry that the government is incapable of handling the current situation (they might be), and they mourn their losses that day (understandable). Yorick clearly feels for them, and Steph (Vanessa Sears)—who assumes that he is trans, and who offers him a place to stay and a source of testosterone—might be the only person who has been nice to him in a long time.
Because 355 and Dr. Allison Mann (Diana Bang) are both consumed with more important things than being nice. On 355’s part, she seems to still be figuring out exactly what the Culper Ring wants her to do. That 72 Warren Street, Winthrop, Massachusetts, address left for her by the Culper Ring ends up being a boarded-up safehouse, where Agent 525 (Lou Jurgens) has been waiting for weeks. Both were recruited by a woman named Fran—who has seemingly since abandoned them—and both notice that 525 was newly assigned to the State Department and 355 was newly assigned to the Pentagon the day of the Event. Coincidence? Maybe. “We’re not supposed to ask questions,” 525 says, but that doesn’t exactly seem like 355’s style. She grabbed that tracer to follow Fran, I assume, and maybe a long journey from Boston to San Francisco will be the way to find her recruiter.
Will 355 and Dr. Mann be able to keep from bickering the whole trip? Up in the air! They certainly disagree on who “the crazies” are, and on the level of loyalty the U.S. government requires. The sarcastic, cynical Dr. Mann doesn’t seem to really care about helping Jennifer, or any American institution. Her research is what matters, and 15 years of it was lost when her lab at Harvard was destroyed. The only place to recreate some of it is in San Francisco, at a lab that has the software and tools she needs. But Dr. Mann doesn’t have any kind of romanticized longing for the men who died after the Event: “The idea that I’ll be working to bring back men is reductive and ridiculous and beyond stupid.” Instead, Dr. Mann clarifies, the loss of people (including women) and animals with the Y chromosome is a massive blow to biological diversity, and a massive blow to human civilization and society as we know it. So many other characters have treated the Event as a means of grabbing power or an opportunity for personal reinvention, but few have seemed to feel the loss as deeply—and as existentially—as Dr. Mann.
What “Mann Hunt” ultimately demonstrates by its A story is that 355 and Dr. Mann are already developed in a way that the show still has not really accomplished for Yorick, who remains somewhat lacking in terms of his own agency. To be sure, some of Yorick’s waywardness is intentional on behalf of the show, to signify a disconnect between how others view Yorick and how he views himself—think of how he bristles when 355 says that being charming is “your thing”—but I wish Yorick would make a decision for himself already that isn’t entirely dumb. Still, something to keep in mind, as Allison says very bemusedly to Yorick, is that he “won’t have much of a life from now on, will you?” Once the group gets to San Francisco—on a journey that 355 seemingly lies about Jennifer approving—and Yorick is theoretically poked and prodded on the way to cloning, he certainly won’t be in control anymore. “It’s kind of been a stressful few months,” he says to Dr. Mann. Seems far from over.
Stray observations
- “I could eat just about anything. As long as it isn’t hummus,” Regina says, and on behalf of myself and Martin Short’s Oliver Putnam from Only Murders In The Building, how dare you.
- “This place is a Rachel Maddow fever dream.” Please, no Rachel Maddow cameo, I beg.
- When Kimberly swiped crayons from the makeshift daycare center the other day? Looks like she’s collecting all kinds of kids’ things as a sort of homage to her three sons, and I must admit that I felt a real pang of sympathy when all of that spilled out of her purse.
- If you didn’t immediately think of American Vandal season one when Yorick asked, “Did you draw all these dicks?”, then I must suggest to you a perfect season of television.
- Do we ever meet Fran, who recruited 355, 525, and some of the other agents for the Culper Ring? I’m going to say no. But if we do, my dream casting is Carla Gugino.
- What is the deal with Allison’s crib?
- Legit LOL at the Yorick/355 exchange, “Do you care about me as a person?” “Not even remotely.”
- The 355/525 fight was noticeably Black Widow-esque, and very briskly shot thanks to longtime TV director Mairzee Almas.
- Diana Bang’s brusque, disinterested delivery of “No, thank you” when Dr. Mann initially turned 355 down was a solid entry point into her character.
- I appreciate how deliberate Y: The Last Man as a series has been about exploring the gap between the cis conceptions of “man” and “woman,” and Dr. Mann’s explanation of androgen insensitivity syndrome, and how “millions of women dropped dead that day, some of whom had no idea they even had a Y chromosome,” was undeniably affecting.
- Related: “The U.S. government is especially puritanical” is an observation that can apply to a lot of things, actually!
- When will 355’s sleep walking come up again?
- If 355 thinks that Yorick’s “thing” is being charming, does that mean she is charmed by Yorick? That is my chicken-or-egg question of the day.
43 Comments
I only see Mccain in Kimberly. Aside from the advisor position I don’t see any hints of Ivanka who doesn’t actually give a fuck about traditional republican values unless it’s playing into her dads voter base. I think McCain would be a bigger threat to women in a world without men, whose patriarchal values still wouldn’t waver. And Tamblyn is really good.
Yeah she reads as pure McCain to me too. Ivanka is much more vapid instagram influencer than the fake folksy charm of Kimberly.
Yeah. Kimberly has the true believer vibe of a McCain, not the “whatever belief is convenient” of a Trump.
The comics point out that while running around as a guy is obviously noticeable, running around with a gas mask after it’s clear that it affects Y chromosome carriers is also drawing attention to yourself. Given that trans men exist, and this show is putting in work to update the understanding of gender and sex from the comics, it seems odd that wouldn’t be the go-to cover story.Also, I too thought of American Vandal and now I’m really sad once again we’ll never get a third season of one of the best mockumentary series ever.
Or just like, shave the beard, dude. No one is looking at him that closely unless he’s got food or something like that. Even then. When we focus in on a lot of these situations in movies, I think sometimes we tend to forget just how unobservant people actually are. There’s a lot of people who would just assume that Yorick is trans and move on with their day. But unless he’s running around with a full genetic makeup tattooed to his body, he’s probably going to be able to hide for a bit.
THANK YOU. Every little thing helps and shaving would make a big difference.
The comics, and presumably the series, later introduces clubs were women in drag make a living catering to women’s desire for male companionship. It might be too early in the crisis for that sort of thing to have started being widespread, but it’s gotta start somewhere.There’s also XX male syndrome, where the SRY gene transfers over to the X chromosome during meiosis. Y’know the XY women that Dr. Mann was complaining about? There’s a similar number of XX men. If there are millions of one, there would be millions of the other. Approximately 1 on 25.000 men are XX men. So with a world population of of 7.7 billion people, there would be approximately 308,000 XX men worldwide.So where are they?
In the comics he does try to just pose as trans for a awhile, I specifically remember an actual transman giving him advice on making his beard look more realistic. It was almost a running gag that he kept cycling through different attempts at disguises.
Given that trans men exist…Given that XX men exist. XX male syndrome – Wikipedia It’s very rare, but it does happen. Just like rare XY women exist. Just like rare trans men exist.Except, of course, that Dr. Mann, in her rant, only cares about the effect of the worldwide androcide on women. After all, women are the primary victims of men’s deaths.
Dr. Mann is here! She was my favorite in the comics, and she played a big role in the comics’s mythology as (SPOILER ALERT!!!!) she and her father were involved in a professional rivalry to create the 1st human clone, which was suggested as a possible cause for The Event in the comics.
They cloned a sheep once and I don’t remember seeing all this hullabaloo!
The choice to introduce her much quicker in the show seems like a good one.
“Sexism didn’t die with the men.” I do think killing all men would end sexism.
I don’t know why you’d think that. Women can and often are sexist toward other women, and all of the women alive have grown up in a sexist culture. Their attitudes toward women won’t necessarily change overnight just because there aren’t men around.And that’s without even getting into the complications that would come with trans and intersex people.
While we can be sure killing off all men would not suddenly remove all forms of intra-female conflict I’m pretty sure it would eventually stop such conflict being termed ‘sexism’. It would just be the ‘classism’, ‘racism’ etc that human beings bring with them.
Not if women have truly internalized misogyny, which many of them have. We’re not talking eventually, we’re talking about the immediate aftermath of the disaster, in which sexist culture survives in folks like Kimberly and Regina.
TERFs would like to remind you that men do not have a monopoly on sexism.
Gods… they’re really gonna do the BDSM storyline for Yorick, aren’t they?
“F*** You!”“Buy all means”“Get Off!”“I’m trying!”
I kind of hope they do just to see how they would film it and to see the reactions they get from it. Because a live adaptation of that plot would be a glorious train wreck.
Yorick’s Kleenex story he tells to explain his hang-up for sex has stuck with and bothered me for YEARS.
I was disappointed with the Dr. Mann character who I thought rather young & hyper to be such a renowned geneticist. I don’t care how smart you are but wisdom usually doesn’t kick in until you’ve acquired years and years of experience.
I’m not sure there are enough narrative details about all these people’s varying grievances (what do people think the “hoax” is, exactly?), but there’s widespread chaos, and people want answers. Do conspiracies really need any kind of logic? I’m guessing people think the virus was deliberate and the hoax is the story about it being an accident. Who released it probably varies widely and depends on how your conspiracy theories lean. That’s why keeping Yorick’s relation to the Prez secret is important. It would prove to conspiracy minded people that she planned the plague to seize power while sparing her own son.
Yorick’s Neo-bohemian, self absorbed/entitled attitude
millennial/Z-gen attitude is so annoyingly unrealistic! I can buy it several hours or days, but 9-10 weeks later?? No way! How in hell did he wander around NYC for weeks with only two Asian women holed up in a
– SMH – dry cleaners noticing him? Plus there’s no change in his
appearance from the time his fed up Aussie girlfriend ditched him until
now? Still perfectly groomed/coifed, even after plunging into the
flooded subway system then mucking his way to D.C., no one the wiser. It
doesn’t add up; the production of this story is s**t. I’m hanging on to my patience by my fingernails, mostly due to boredom and a lack of other shows that interest me.
The actress that plays 355 is just not convincing and the writing in this show is just really, really mediocre. I think I may just be hate watching at this point.
I actually find her really convincing, at least in the regard that in scenes where she’s supposed to be controlling the situation, she seems in complete control, and when the scene is supposed to be a mess, she’s sort of a mess too. I think it helps that the non-lead actresses in every scene with her are all pretty vanilla.
Allison’s crib? Well, some of her not-so-legal research area was human cloning, and she really wants to get to that San Fran lab, and she did have some marks on her stomach when she was changing her shirt. Add it up. 😉
I already had a warning signal blink when the show began diving into politics, but I just NOPE’d when it became about a dirtbag just stumbling upon the presidency. I don’t need to watch a fascist fantasy right now, and I certainly don’t want to.
It’s been forever since I read the comics, but that didn’t happen with the presidency, right? There seemed to be a lot of other plot stuff to focus on that giving Diane Lane more to do.
Man, I sure wish there was an “Experts” version of these recaps that took the existence of the comic into account.
Yeah, I kept getting confused on past reviews when they constantly referred to “Sarah”. As soon as she said it, I immediately erased that name from my memory because it’s not 355.
Did they do that during the first season of GoT?
Was the “anything except hummus” line a dig by Regina against what she thinks of as bougie food, or more reflecting the fact that she just spent months in the middle east? Or both?
“I appreciate how deliberate Y: The Last Man as a series has been about exploring the gap between the cis conceptions of “man” and “woman,” and Dr. Mann’s explanation of androgen insensitivity syndrome, and how “millions of women dropped dead that day, some of whom had no idea they even had a Y chromosome,” was undeniably affecting.”As we’ve covered in previous comment sections, this should also mean there’s thousands upon thousands of XX men with no Y chromosome also possibly alive but they’re probably all in Canada so they won’t affect the plot.
As a side note, it drives me nuts when these post-apocalyptic shows ignore the rest of the world. I guess we know that Israel exists and Russia had a coup of some sort but I would love to know how a place like Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan turned out after all the men died, even just in a few passing remarks.
Going by the Rwandan experience, it took a monstrous genocide to have a country with a (slight) majority of women in parliament (54% or something like that at one point, I believe?).
Other than remarkable Dianne Lane this show is simply awful. They have to concoct the stupidest characters possible constantly mired in the absurd coincidences to make their dumb plot work. And the mile wide foreshadowing and hit you over the head metaphors. I mean “Yorick?” GTFO.
I actually thought this was the best episode of the show yet, but maybe the part of me that spent a good chunk of time living in Beantown was just tickled to see Boston depicted (I thought rather well) as the post-apocalyptic hellscape that we all know it actually is just underneath its thin veneer of civilization. Yes, it may seem to be filled with boutique pastry shops and fancy biotech firms and lots of Dunkin locations, but we all know that the real Boston lies in wait, fetid, violent, lurking, a morass of incipient fascism and violent struggle.
The reference to the hunt for the marathon bombers worked for me. It did feel back then like the whole city had been occupied by cops, with no restrictions on them whatsoever.I also liked the Cambridge radicals in their printing press hideout. I too feel that, when confronted with an apocalyptic situation, my first thoughts would be of what kind of elegantly kerned and screenprinted anit-government posters I should make.
“I actually thought this was the best episode of the show yet, but maybe the part of me that spent a good chunk of time living in Beantown was just tickled to see Boston depicted (I thought rather well)“Does it matter that Toronto is actually playing Boston? As a Torontonian, I’m finding it takes me out of the show when I start to recognize locations.
At least it wasn’t Vancouver.
This may sound naive (and I am not familiar with the graphic novel), but do we really think a world that was (mostly) without men and largely run by woman (and others with no Y chromosome) would be this physically violent?
With Dr. Manna’s crib.. What I took out of that scene with her and Yorik is that she had a wife, maybe who was pregnant or just gave birth, and both had a Y chromosome and died. I thought it was pretty obvious, no? Did I read that scene wrong?
As one who served in the military, my LOL line of the episode was absolutely the Private who, when asked by 355 why they were going to do their “anti-protestor” run RIGHT NOW, replied, “…it might rain later.”I’ve got to tell you, I felt that in my BONES, ladies and gentlemen. :D(Because, honestly, FUCK fighting/training in the rain.)