Y: The Last Man

Starring: Diane Lane (10 episodes), Ashley Romans (10 episodes), Ben Schnetzer (10 episodes), Olivia Thirlby (10 episodes), Juliana Canfield (10 episodes), Elliott Fletcher (10 episodes), Marin Ireland (10 episodes), Amber Tamblyn (10 episodes), Jess Salgueiro (8 episodes), Quincy Kirkwood (8 episodes), Diana Bang (6 episodes), Laura de Carteret (5 episodes), Missi Pyle (5 episodes), Jennifer Wigmore (5 episodes), Samantha Brown (5 episodes), Tara Nicodemo (5 episodes), Jayli Wolf (5 episodes), Victoria Sawal (5 episodes), Sophia Walker (5 episodes), Sydney Ozerov-Meyer (5 episodes), Glenna Walters (5 episodes), J.D. Renemarie (5 episodes), Ajanae Stephenson (2 episodes)
Directed by: Destiny Ekaragha (2 episodes), Louise Friedberg (2 episodes), Daisy von Scherler Mayer (2 episodes), Mairzee Almas (1 episode), Cheryl Dunye (1 episode)
Rating: TV-14
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
2021

Seasons Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: When every male on the planet suddenly dies, the remaining population of women must deal with the fallout. In the midst of this upheaval, it's discovered that one man (Ben Schnetzer) remains alive.

Review:
Tim: I followed the development of Y: The Last Man for many years. I'd never read the graphic novels, but I grew more and more invested in seeing this story realized on the screen. So, I was quite excited when they finally broke through and Hulu brought the series to light. And then, after a decade of waiting to see this story on the screen, we got a completely average adaptation that got cancelled after one season. This is an absolute disappointment.

I really, really wanted this series to succeed. And, there's so much here that could have been better. I love the idea of Yorick being the "last man" on Earth. It's a fascinating premise. He has a monkey named Ampersand? Okay, that's super cool. The series itself was full of empowered women and it also featured trans men in prominent roles. It's a series that asks questions about gender and identity, mixed together in a post-apocalyptic scenario that strangely only affected half the population. We get to see the highest level of the U.S. government, working to hold society together after the widespread tragedy. There's shadowy organizations whose intentions aren't especially clear. I was really into the series for the first two episodes. By the third, though, it felt like something might have been wrong. We got introduced to these interesting characters, but they didn't do a whole lot. There's a lot of talking and most of it isn't that interesting. There's bickering and fighting, a lot of it. We're introduced to a few new characters as the season progresses, none of whom are especially great. It's kind of shocking to think back over the 10 episodes and while the characters were developed, not a whole lot happens.

Very quickly, I felt this disconnect. The characters were cool, but they weren't given enough to do. The showrunners made a mistake of meandering through the first season. It was like they fully expected multiple seasons to be able to tell this story. Instead, they should have told a more compelling, engaging story in this season. The series never gives us a reason to become invested in the story. The characters are decent, but the lack of forward momentum was troubling. By the halfway point of the season, it took a lot for me to keep pushing towards the end. When I heard the series was canceled, I was relieved. I still had four or so episodes to go, so I knew I could push through and I wouldn't have to sit through any more. That's horrendous when you consider how much excitement I entered the first episode with. Very quickly, any potential goodwill here was squandered. I do want to stress that this series isn't bad. It's never terrible. It's just always average (at best) or slightly below. It was okay, but it didn't connect of any meaningful level. I loved what the series was trying to do, but I was very disappointed in how it went about it.

The cast was hit-or-miss with a surprising number of misses. This miss starts with Ben Schnetzer. He's ostensibly the series lead and in reality, the fourth or fifth most interesting character. Yorrick and Ampersand seem like they should be such a great duo, but they barely register. Some of this is probably due to budget and trouble (I have to believe the monkey played a more prominent role in the graphic novel) and a lot of it is due to Schnetzer's lackluster performance. His Yorrick is grating, annoying, exasperating. I'm not sure we were ever given a legitimate reason to care about his character. Perhaps this was all character development, building a pathetic foundation and he was supposed to embark on his character arc in season two? Whatever the plan was, it didn't work. His character seems bumbling, slow, and worst of all, uninteresting. Some of this is the writing, but a lot of it is that Schnetzer was miscast and obviously in over his head. He doesn't have the presence that the right actor would have to bring this character to life.

Diane Lane, on the other hand, was incredibly strong- she actually knows what she's doing. She played her part well, made us interested in her character. While the writing often doesn't do her any favors, she delivers a strong performance. We've come to expect that from her, though. Ashley Romans delivered a surprisingly good performance. She was one of the standouts of the series. While her character became a bit overbearing as the season went on, she was still mostly enjoyable in her role. She made you wonder about her character, engaging in the mystery and wanting to learn more. I was surprisingly not as impressed with Olivia Thirlby. I was excited to see her here, but she never seemed to make her character matter. She has a very memorable name (Hero) and I had to look it up because of how little impact she made on the series. She has a large role and didn't deliver an appropriately strong performance. That hurts the series. Elliott Fletcher gave a really good performance. It's a good thing that more trans actors are getting roles and he makes the most of this one- he delivers an emotional performance, differentiating his character among the large cast. He doesn't have a huge role, but the series was better when he got screen time. Marin Ireland seemed like her character was just getting interesting towards the last few episodes. Her story started strong, then bored me for multiple episodes. Her performance is good, it's mostly what she is expected to do that holds her back. I bet she would have played a bigger and better role in the next season. Amber Tamblyn was memorable for just how unlikable she was. I mostly hated any scene with her in it, but that's actually a testament to her great acting and being so terrible to watch. Diana Bang didn't do much for me. She brought some needed energy, but not much else. Missi Pyle was very unlikable as well. She gives a great performance, she was just saddled with such a tough character. Jennifer Wigmore was similar- she does a good job making us hate her. There's so many unlikable characters throughout this show- not just the many characters we're supposed to not like, the ones we are, too.

I know there was some frustration that this series was canceled after one season. I'm not sure if the women-led, trans-featured aspects of the show weighed into it. Knowing what I know about Hollywood and the larger industry, that wouldn't surprise me at all. However, for me, I was glad the series was canceled because it just wasn't that good. It had so many strong elements in place, but it bumbled through the first 10 episodes. It was a relief that I wouldn't have to watch any more. I'm still intrigued by the story and may read the graphic novel, maybe that will give me more insight into what went wrong here.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Series, We Recommend: Jericho, The Walking Dead, The Passage