Y: The Last Man leaves the White House and finds a potential new villain
Why are the Brown children unable to consider how they impact the world around them?
TV Reviews Y: The Last Man
So, Hero is terrible, huh? For readers of the Y: The Last Man comics, you know this character development for Yorick’s older sister is already far more than what we received in written form this early on. And I will not complain about Olivia Thirlby’s performance so far, which is believably communicating the exhaustion of her situation. But Hero is shockingly selfish, and if I were Sam, I would have laid into her like none other. First you’re sabotaging our ride, then you’re initiating a sexual situation that is only complicating our friendship, then you’re pulling us into a partnership with strangers whom we don’t really know? Hero… you’re a mess.
“But she helped a child in need!” Yes, sure, Mack needed assistance, and Nora seemed frantic/useless, and admittedly, Hero seems to be a pretty good EMT. “But those women had guns; how could Hero have denied help for their injured friend Kate?” Yes, sure, in this new The Walking Dead-like world order, everyone seems to be packing. I will acquiesce that writer Donnetta Lavinia Grays effectively raised the stakes in “Karen And Benji” by introducing new character Roxanne (Missi Pyle) and her crew of devoted followers, which helped us understand what the United States is like right now outside of Washington, D.C., and outside of the federal government bureaucratic structure.
As already has been established, food is scarce, camps are overrun, and people are turning against each other with backstabbing, thievery, and abuse. And so the response has been, as “Karen And Benji” fills in, a distilled version of the same old status quo. Recall that back in D.C., women like Kimberly are clinging to “conservative values,” while somewhere on the way to Boston, police officers’ wives step into their husbands’ vacated roles as the new police. Do they have training? Doesn’t seem like it! And yet they they’re just as pushy (and power-hungry, and impulsive) as their husbands were. They intimidate the vendors at the marketplace. They jump to attacking Yorick, pulling out their batons and their guns. And I initially thought that the vendor from whom Agent 355 takes the motorcycle and Kate, Roxanne’s follower who Hero helps, were the same woman. They both had gunshot wounds in their upper-right shoulders, and we saw one of those Nu! Cops shoot at the vendor while 355 and Yorick sped away.
From perusing the credits, though, I realized the vendor was Trish (Kelly Marie McKenna), so not Kate (Sarah Booth). But the physical locations of Yorick and Hero were fuzzy enough—Yorick and 355 are a day away from Boston, while Hero and Sam are in Pennsylvania, a day away from D.C.—that I thought the similar gunshot wounds and potentially overlapping locations were meant to be a “small world” situation for the siblings. The different characters of Trish and Kate clarify that they’re not. But just because Yorick and Hero aren’t very close together physically doesn’t preclude them from both being fairly bratty! Why can’t Yorick just do what 355 tells him to do? Why can’t Hero just respect what Sam needs? Why are the Brown children unable to consider how they impact the world around them, instead of just how the world is impacting them? (When Hero said her mother described her as “selfish and self-destructive”… I get it.)
“Karen And Benji” opens with the first fantastical touch we’ve gotten so far on Y: The Last Man, which has mostly stayed very grounded in its presentation of the end of the Y chromosome. On a stage, to an unseen—and maybe not even present—audience, 355 sings and dances with a stranger (Kris Grzella). She’s wearing a gauzy pink gown, popping her leg out of the dress’s long slit like Angelina Jolie, and really belting out the swing standard “Taking a Chance on Love.” “We’ll all have a happy ending now/Taking a chance on love,” 355 sings, but various elements of this scene are obviously strange. Who is the girl watching from the side stage? What goes wrong that the stage ends up flooded with light, and 355 loses her rhythm? Is this a manifestation of her anxiety and frustration at being seemingly the last remaining spy alive in the Culper Ring? Or is the real issue the uselessness of Yorick? (Between Ashley Romans’ committed physicality to the unexpectedness of this scene and her bemused delivery of “That’s unlikely” in response to Yorick’s near nudity, Romans remains this series’ MVP.)
Perhaps I am being mean. The psychological trauma of what Yorick is going through is probably a lot. And hey, he knew how to use a wrench! But I cannot get over wandering and being caught off guard when those two women just creep up into his and 355’s camp and start looking through 355’s stuff, and then ignoring 355’s attempt at ground rules, and then bailing on her as soon as he saw a woman who might look like Beth. Of course 355 was going to save him again. But offering to help him look for Beth after they meet up with Dr. Allison Mann in Boston? That was a little surprising. Maybe Yorick will eventually grow more competent, in the same way that he mastered those more complicated card tricks? (In the comics, Yorick was at least capable enough to get himself to D.C.) And maybe he will consider what 355 said about his privilege (“an entire life of just being given shit”) and will man up to be a better partner on this road trip? Only time will tell!
Similar questions are coming up in the Hero and Sam and Nora and Mack pairing, since at first, Nora seems like she isn’t offering much. She didn’t know how to fix Mack’s leg. She didn’t have a place to stay. She didn’t have anything good to offer Hero and Sam for trading purposes. So I am very curious what role Nora could play under the Roxanne world order—especially after Nora reveals to Hero that she worked at the White House and knows who her mother is, and then follows that up by telling Hero not to share that information with Roxanne. Roxanne seems principled in a potentially fair, but also potentially callous, way. She shoots Kate to “show some fucking mercy.” She puts the incredulous, resentful Laura (Jayli Wolf) in line once Laura tries to abandon Hero, Sam, Nora, and Mack: “A child doesn’t deserve our help?” She refuses any prejudice toward Sam. And notice the last thing she says: “It’s the least we can do.” That sounds like a quid pro quo situation to me, as if by helping Mack heal, Roxanne will expect something in return. But with that Costco-like warehouse full of food and supplies, what else could Roxanne need? I’m thinking of a moment from The Wire here: loyalty. And loyalty in this world might be a dangerous thing.
Stray observations
- This episode overall felt very reminiscent of The Walking Dead for me, in that it mostly felt apocalyptic rather than political. That’s what happens when you leave Washington, D.C., I guess! But along those lines, which Walking Dead villain do we think Roxanne most aligns with? I’m gonna with Jadis. Roxanne is giving me a strong “I am charismatic, and I will manipulate you, and I will make you feel like you owe me, and that alliance will mean you never step out of line” energy.
- Or, am I wrong for thinking that Roxanne will be a villain at all?
- Hero came this close to telling Sam what happened with Mike. Why do I think she’s eventually going to confess to Roxanne?
- Yorick is STILL letting Ampersand out of his carrier in unknown places? My teeth hurt from gritting them so hard!
- I will almost forgive him, though, for “They were quoting Anne Frank? That’s garbage!”
- The KLSYLDY car with the eyelashes was worthy of some mockery, but theoretically whoever drives that car worked at the women’s shelter and helps victims of domestic abuse, so thank you for your service.
- 355’s showdown with that rabbit took me right back to the top-notch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode “The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods.”
- I respect 355’s commitment to her “Those pilots? Who, me?” cover story, from saying that the pilots stole the helicopters to her deadpan “They got what?” when Yorick tried to lay their deaths in her lap.
- Coach Karen and Benji, the homeschooled horse boy, sounds like a rejected 30 Rock skit.
- Re: only the Dad-related cards being left at that grocery store that Hero and Sam were surveying—were a lot of women and girls loading up on greeting cards during their looting? I understand the thematic point of that scene, but it didn’t make much real-world sense.
- In a nod to the comics, we see Yorick pretending to be trans to divert questions about his gender identity. But in a solid update for the series, Sam standing up for himself and who he is, and having Hero’s support in that, was a pointed, purposeful moment.
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In the comics, Yorick did a lot of stupid shit that nearly got him killed because he had survivor guilt over being the last guy. Though, he was cured of it thanks to a spy friend of 355 and her bdsm therapy. Yes, that happened.
Ugh, the comics had so much….. bad in it.
I know nothing about the comics but I have seen a lot of the cover art and I see no resemblance to the show. It just looks like apocalypse porn with lots of bewbs.
Um… did you finish the comics? Because he… may not… have been as cured as you think.
Yeah. I probably should have added a “supposedly” in there.
The show definitely has a protagonist problem. Hero and Yorrick are by far the most unlikeable and selfish characters, and I’m worried it won’t be fun to watch nicer and more interesting characters get sidelined or even killed off to service their stories. At least the show is somewhat aware of this, unlike in the comic.I also don’t really get why they don’t just shave Yorrick’s beard, or lie and say he’s trans to make their travels a little easier? Especially when he’s running off every 5 minutes. I’m definitely interested in Roxanne and if her and her crew will be a more nuanced take on the Daughters of the Amazon from the comic.
The Daughters were my least favorite part of the comic. A bunch of misandrists straight out of a men’s rights activist’s worst nightmare led by a woman who was still butthurt about never getting to be a chess grandmaster. And Hero was thrown in with them just for the drama. Thankfully they weren’t around for very long.
“You’re name is ‘Hero’?”
“It was my dad’s favorite sandwich.”
Yorrick did say he was looking for testosterone to imply he was trans, but yeah, I wonder why they didn’t just push that cover story from the start. Also fervently hoping that the Daughters segment is heavily changed from the comic. There’s a lot of realistic issues among feminists they can show (like the TERF who insulted Sam) instead of the weird, unreal Rush Limbaugh fantasy the comic used.
That’s a problem the show’s created, because the comic explains that Yorick shaves and pitches his voice higher while wearing the gas mask.
I have a feeling that this is the proto-Amazons. Roxanne is going to be a stern but mostly rational leader that dies horribly somehow, and the more fanatical people in the group will turn the dial of the org to crazy, with Nora at the wheel.
I want 355 and Sam to join up and leave those two losers by the side of the road. I don’t know why Sam doesn’t leave Hero as soon as the car was screwed with. He knew who did it and he knew why. The show could leave Hero with the crazy gun women and never go back, I’d be fine with that.
I admit it’s been a long time since I read the comic, but I think it was very aware how awful Yorick was. He was terrible, and he was supposed to be terrible and selfish. It’s part of the general commentary on sexism that the story is about him, the only man left in the world, when he’s surrounded by kinder, smarter, more interesting, more interesting people.And the only reason the story is about him is because he’s a man.
The yorick of this show would absolutely cry and throw a shit fit at the prospect of having to shave his bitch goatee for some sort of non self serving reason. The yorick of the book was a lovable idiot. This one’s just a petulant moron.
I hope they tone down the Daughters of the Amazon for the show. I think they can and they’ll be pretty effective.
I probably shouldnt question it too much, but. All the men on planet earth, the one who survived just happened to be a white male from the US, who also just happens to be THE PRESIDENT’S SON???? To me thats the most far fetched part.
The Magicians did a great job of toning down Quentin enough that you didn’t want to strangle him every minute. Yorick and Hero are saving themselves with one-liners (and Hero by standing up for her peeps) but just barely. I told a friend “don’t wait for Yorick to stop doing dumb shit” but I hope they have modulated this some because otherwise I feel like people are going to tune out, he is pretty insufferable!Funny that this show has the same problem the MCU has: how famous are these people? Would people recognize a major Pelosi-like congresswoman’s daughter? Was there time after she became president for a single picture of her with her family to be aired somewhere? When did Marin Ireland recognize her, exactly?I super agree with the other commenter who points out that they could at least have Yorick shave. I really was surprised at how quickly they let Yorick be spotted in Mass. Good to see Missi Pyle in a dramatic role…my TV was really dark through this episode so I could barely see her, but good to see her.
I’m always happy to see Pyle, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen her in a full-on dramatic role and she fucking nailed it.
In the first episode at the party, Kim remarked to Jennifer how Hero was obviously tanked at past political events, so it’s possible Hero is more noticeable from the tabloids than a more publicly well- behaved child would be. Like a Bristol Palin scenario?
I think Roxanne is the stand in for Victoria and the Amazons, a more grounded leader of a fanatical group. Victoria was basically a charicature of militant feminism and no way could she be translated to the screen the way she was. Viewers would never take her seriously. And the way her followers mutilated themselves by cutting off one of their breasts was a choice that would work in the comic medium but if it was put in the show they would look as bugfuck crazy as any of the insane Walking Dead villain groups like the Whisperers.
Speaking of moments that support trans people, last episode Jennifer flat out said “We found lots of men, just none with a Y chromosome.” This show is all about trans rights. It’s been noted that Vaughn dropped the ball when it came to trans men in the comics and I’m glad the show is correcting that.
Yorick in no way is done doing stupid shit. That was kind of his whole deal in the comics, besides having a Y chromosome. 355 isn’t spelling things out for him because she is (wrongfully) assuming that she doesn’t have to, as he has been going through this semi-apocalypse like everyone else has. But I think she’s starting to come around to how entitled and dumb and unable to think things through that this dude is.
Having Roxanne’s group be from the battered women’s shelter makes me hope they’re tempering the Amazons with some at least more well- earned misandry than the comics? Fingers crossed. I am so done with Hero I can barely stand when she’s on the screen. I don’t think 355 was at all being honest with Yorick about taking him to find Beth after they visit Dr. Mann. I think she was absolutely just giving him a fake bonding moment to try and reign him in and give him a reason to behave. If the first thing Dr. Mann suggests when they find her is to strap Yorick down and dissect him, I’d like to think 355 would do it in a heartbeat.
I admittedly never read the comic, but I understand it at times missed the mark in regards to the trans community. I also understand that the existence of transmen necessarily has to be addressed in a show that has the Y chromosome so tied into it’s central premise. That being said it’s going to be tiring if they feel the need to bring it up every single episode.Also, in just trying to stumble around looking at information for this show I noticed that Elliot Fletcher is weirdly not in the cast list on multiple of his episodes on IMDb. He wasn’t listed at all for “Karen and Benji” despite having a featured role. What’s up with that? I’m hoping that this isn’t a sign that they’re going to kill him off.
The only times it addressed trans issues were one or two occasions where women didn’t present as men, but would take a traditionally masculine role.
IMDB is often wildly inaccurate.
Were it not for the character of Agent 355, I doubt I would be into this series as much as I am. Yorick whines & fails to see that he’s alive and his mom is productive because of her commitment to her job. Both him & Hero are 2 naive and entitled brats.
I honestly wouldn’t mind if the series were just President Brown and Agent 355.
They’ve nailed 355. The TV version is just as good as the comic. Yorick and Hero are fuck-ups, but they were like that in the beginning of the comic. Hopefully, they’ll improve like they did in the comic. Though, I’m looking forward to when they introduce Dr. Mann. She was my favorite character.
The actress playing her is great, so far the only other thing I saw her in was as an FBI agent — maybe she only plays agents. (She was good in that too but it wasn’t nearly as much screen time.)
After those first 3 episodes, the only things that mattered to me were 355, President Mom, and that monkey. Yorick and Hero seem kind of a mess, but at least Thirlby is a strong actor. I don’t need weekly episodes of Meghan McCain After The Apocalypse.And after reading the comments here, I’m not even sure if I should give the comic a try. Ehh.
Man, that subtitle is something when you take it out of context.
“That’s unlikely.”Uh huh. Did you read the comic?
Walking Dead but no one is likeable? Sign me up! Oh wait. No!
I think they got the food shortage wrong. More than half the country just died. There is way way lower demand for food. There would eventually be a shortage if the country remained at a standstill with all production stopped, but it would take longer than one month.
It also seems a bit weird that the power is off. There are plenty of women working at power plants, and most things are automated anyways. Other than areas where deaths directly caused the lack of power (plane crash into power plant, guy falls onto buttons and hits the kill switch?) I dont understand why the power would have been shut off at all.
No wonder he never had a career, worst scape artist ever if he cannot do one thing right to save his own lifeAnd to think that homeless people would be the most prepared for such catastrophic eventsI’m always annoyed on how little cycling they put in these kinds of series/movies, especially in the suburbs, it isn’t that rare for people to own bicycles especially if you cut half the population
They’ll diverge from Walking Dead fairly soon in vibe. Season 2 for sure. There’s a crash but it doesn’t stay crashed. And yes, both Hero and Yorrick are not supposed to be likable at first. That’s intentional.
There’s being unlikable but the problem for me is being unbelievable
Nothing about any of this make sense if you look too closely. If you’re into hyper realism, this genre isn’t for you. Every mammal with a Y chromosome died instantly (or over the course of a day on the TV show) for no reason. I mean, there was a reason, but we’re still not sure, but all of it is voodoo. All three of the ‘reasons’ given that the creator said one is correct, voodoo. The show updated 20+ years of change. I think they did a good job.The show’s biggest two obstacles is the Zombie genre has mined the post apocalypse landscape for so long this feels derivative even though it predated many of those adaptations. The second is, the show was greenlit pre-Disney merger so the Disney people won’t get credit for success and have no interest in using budget on something that doesn’t make them shine. Let us hope HBO Max picks it up and let’s it breathe. The show’s going to move faster from this point on, if it continues.
I meant that I found Yorrick and Hero unbelievable. I’m fine with suspending disbelief for the overall premise. Hero was maybe slightly credible in some kind of self-destructive way but I just couldn’t buy any of Yorrick’s responses to the situation or anything that happened.
Re: only the Dad-related cards being left at that grocery store that Hero and Sam were surveying—were a lot of women and girls loading up on greeting cards during their looting? I understand the thematic point of that scene, but it didn’t make much real-world sense.I can see this.I mean, it’s a bit silly that the non-men’s greeting cards section is taken. I mean, they’re greeting cards, would they even be useful as toilet paper?But treating the Dads/Sons/Boyfriends/etc related cards differently, I think it makes sense in a real-world sense, people can get weird about things that directly remind them of traumatic events, and “I recently lost lots of family members” sure as fuck qualifies.Also, Agent 355 remains my favorite. Its frustrating that she has to play nanny to White Behrad (Legends of Tomorrow fans, tell me he doesn’t look a lot like our favorite stoner!), but she’s stolen so many scenes so far…
Nah, Behrad’s a lot cooler than Yorick. Just the fact that Yorick does close-up magic is enough to put Behrad well ahead.
Why all the walking? Did bicycles disappear too?
I don’t get why reviewers complain about flawed protagonists. What would be the point of this show if Yorick and Hero were likeable, selfless people from the get go? It would be a very different (read: boring) show if Yorick was conversant in feminism and male privilege. Or if Hero was able to deal with her problems by talking about them and confronting them head on. The comic was never about a group of heroes discovering the cause of and cure for the end of the world…it was about showing how different people reacted to it and grew from their experiences.
Until this ep, Ashley Romans was the only reason I’m still watching this show; but depending upon how it plays out, Missi Pyle as Roxanne might be another.
If Hero and Yorrick don’t show signs of getting their shit together soon, I’m not sure I can keep watching. They are both so selfish, it’s impossible to root for them in any real way. Lord help us if the last man on earth was actually as terrible as this one. Also, the monkey can fall off a cliff for all I care. Having not read the comic, I am sure he has a key part in “saving humanity” but I hate him, too.
Maybe I’m just naive, but would the world go this far into Mad Max territory if less than half the population suddenly died? It was easier to buy in the comic because that was, well, a comic. But it’s hard to take seriously as a drama.
In job roles that keep the lights on and water running, men still vastly out number women. I fully believe shit would go into complete mayhem if all the men in the world disappeared overnight.
What’s the preoccupation with likeable protagonists? Both Yorick and Hero are selfish and petulant, but so are most people. Most apocalyptic pop-culture has people become either saints or barbarians, so it’s refreshing to see characters who still behave like their sudden trauma hasn’t cured them of assholery.
The first three episodes had me. Not perfect, but I was definitely intrigued to see where it went, despite a few eye rolls and groans. This episode shut that door. I haven’t read the comic, but I hear it has a dark sense of humor about the situation and some decent world building. This does not. It’s infused with identity politics talking points. I think these are the first things to go out the window in an apocalypse. For example, who the fuck is protesting? What possible good does that do in the impending winter when the power is out? I refuse to believe women would be so petty in the apocalypse and if the point of the show is to give us a world run by women, it’s playing into chauvinism. I have more faith in the women who serve in the military and in the government (as much as it pains me to say that). Also in Emergency Services and, though I can’t stand the character, in the intelligence community. I really don’t think things would be so dour and unorganized after the initial shock. High notes: Diane Lane is an excellent “president.” I’d follow Diane Lane. And much of her staff seem pretty darned competent as well. I can’t stand Amber Tamblyn politically, but she does an amazing job as the Meghan McCain-esque daughter of the former president. Despite our climate, they do a great job of humanizing her and not making her completely batshit (I mean, the world may not need men to run it, but they definitely need them to make more people and she sees that as a priority). Jess Salgueiro: I’ll watch anything she’s in because I have a huge crush on her. That being said, she’s great in everything I’ve seen her in. Not just a pretty face for sure.
The bad: The whole trans men thing. Hear me out, because this is not some transphobic rant; I actually think transitioning is one of the bravest thing a person can do in our climate. But in the context of this show, it’s a very selfish, self-centered, and reckless thing to be concerned about when your very survival, and the survival of so many around you, depends on your contribution. Gender dismorphia is not life-threatening. Finding T should take a backseat for any sane person, and I feel the show is just using this trans narrative for woke points and not really integrating it into the story. It feels tacked on, as with so many shows that try to depict trans people; they just don’t do it justice.Again, I don’t think women would be this petty. I just don’t. I think many would be super pragmatic and work towards survival and fixing the problems. Too bad, but episode four completely turned me off, and specifically the agent. She represents the core of my problems with the show. She is the survival instinct, cold and pragmatic, yet in this episode she drops her guard just to tell dipshit about his entitlement. That world is over and I would think a character that pragmatic and well-trained would not let some petty, leftover woke bullshit impact her ability to do her job.
I’ve gotten this far in the show and am seriously questioning whether to bother continuing. (I read the comics years ago but remember little and am not sure if I finished).
Hero and Yorrick are unbelievably horrible people – I get that this sets them up for character growth but they suck so much in the situation that it is hard to buy their behaviour as a realistic response. There is basically nobody in the show that I give a shit about.
The other big issue I have with the show is the extent to which society has crumbled. I don’t buy that women would be so utterly incapable of things like keeping power stations running. And yes, it is Amurrca, land of the free but the extent to which women don’t just get on with shit and work together seems unrealistic.
The most interesting part has been the political side, which this particular episode had nothing of.
Should I bother to keep watching? Does it get notably better? (I got bored with Walking Dead long ago too)