In the series “Y. The Last Man”the world is ruled by women. But it's not fun to watch

The authors of the adaptation retained an unusual idea from the original story, but partially changed it to suit the current realities. The result is an ironic post-apocalyptic story of political strife, gender inequality, and post-pandemic world problems. In a word, about everything that the audience is already tired of.

The world of the series turned out to be more important than a dynamic plot

Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer) is a common loser. He wants to become a famous magician, but while he teaches children tricks, trains a Capuchin named Ampersand and can hardly find the money to rent an apartment. That, however, does not prevent the hero from proposing to his beloved Beth (Juliana Canfield).

Yorick's sister, Hiro (Olivia Thirlby), works as a medical assistant and has an affair with a married man. But their mother Jennifer (Diane Lane) is a congressman who dreams of influencing the president's policies.

But the life of all heroes changes overnight. For some unknown reason, all male creatures in the world die at the same time: both humans and animals. Except for Yorick and Ampersand. Now Jennifer must lead the government of the country, and her son must go into hiding so as not to become a victim of panicking people. And they will all try to figure out the causes of the apocalypse and find a way to save the future of the world.

The previous paragraph can be considered a partial spoiler for the first episode of the series: as in the original comic, the viewer is slowly preparing for a global catastrophe, showing turning events only in the series finale. But without this description, the very idea of the story will not be clear.

Y. The Last Man”consists of many storylines. In addition to the main characters, there are stories, for example, of the survival of the former presidential press secretary Nora (Marine Ireland) and her daughter. And Hiro travels with transgender man Sam (Elliot Fletcher). The latter, by the way, was not in the comic, but his appearance in the series is a very successful idea. The plot tells about the extinction of carriers of the Y-chromosome, which transhumans may not have.

The story of the fate of different characters, each of which experiences personal drama, is reminiscent of the first seasons of "The Walking Dead" or "Left Behind" - the most popular post-apocalyptic TV series. There, in the same way, a complete picture was formed from individual stories. But in this case, this approach fails. In the above projects, everything changed completely and irrevocably, so the heroes simply learned to live in new conditions. Here, Yorick's line hints that the problem may have a solution, and the viewer is interested in this particular part. But, in response to her colleague's phrase "There is no future without men," Jennifer will say: "We're just trying to survive in the present." And this seems to be the main problem of the plot: the main events are simply pushed into the background, focusing on the world itself.

The plot is dedicated to women, but the main character was forgotten

In the comics, Vaughn deliberately placed the simple guy Yorick at the center of the action, who unexpectedly became the most important creature on the planet. At the same time, the author showed the feelings of a person who turns into an object of study for others.

The second idea in the series is handled very well. But with the first there are problems. And the most obvious one is that Yorick is no longer the main character. This is confirmed even by the opening credits of each episode, in which the name of Ben Schnetzer is mentioned only the third. Jennifer comes to the fore with her political struggle. In part, this is even not bad: the series reveals the theme of intrigue in the post-apocalyptic world and at the same time makes you think about our reality. Namely, that in a huge number of areas, everything is too tied to men. And this is perfectly revealed by another phrase (of the new president): "We need women who were the only ones in their profession."

In this case, it is difficult to call it a purely feminist message, although the overwhelming part of the project team consists of women (we are talking not only about the showrunner, but also about directors and even cameramen). Rather, the research potential is noticeable here, akin to the work "Earth: Life without People" from National Geographic. Only there they thought about the fate of the planet after the disappearance of all mankind, and in the series - about the extinction of one sex.

And it is all the more offensive that in some elements the authors still break down on flat thoughts. Yorick in the original was the most awkward and indecisive guy who from a certain moment survived only thanks to a secret service employee codenamed Agent 355. In the series she is played by Ashley Romance, and this is one of the most striking characters. But in the film adaptation, the protagonist was turned from a funny dumbass into a passive teenager. In the comic, he at least had the sense to get to his mother, but here the young man just walks around the neighborhood in search of Beth, and then goes to bed. And then he is dragged along by strong women, and he is simply capricious.

In addition, all men before their extinction, as well as women-conservatives, are added some silly negative traits. So, lover Hiro turns out to be a deceiver, and Jennifer's opponents are too concerned about their appearance.

Of course, comparing the film adaptation with the original is not the most honest method, because any project based on a comic book or a book is better considered an independent work. And yet it’s hard not to mention that in the original story, it was Jennifer who was opposed to abortion and partly a retrograde. But in the television version, it was as if they removed all the ambiguity of the heroes, making the weak characters even weaker and more ridiculous, and the strong and brave - the ideal of the future world.

All the main themes of the series are already tired

In fact, almost all of the claims to the series are related to the fact that it was released in 2021. Recently, more and more often in the reviews of film premieres, you can see the word "late". And in the case of The Last Man, this is especially evident. Moreover, the project has a really long history.

For the first time, they started talking about the film adaptation of Vaughn's comic back in 2008. New Line Cinema and DJ Caruso planned to direct a trilogy of films, and Yorick could be played by director's favorite Shia La Baff. Then the production changed hands, and since 2015 the owners of the FX channel have thought about the serial version.

Full development started in 2018. Then the showrunners left the project, and after the merger of Fox and Disney, he moved to the streaming service Hulu. Even the leading actor has changed - Barry Keogan originally claimed it. And that's not to mention the delays due to the coronavirus.

Why is this so important in the context of the show? Suffice it to imagine that it would have been released in 2017, anticipating the Me Too movement, would have appeared before the pandemic began, or at least not late for the US election race. After all, gender inequality, post-apocalypse and the struggle for power are the three main components of the plot. And it is precisely in recent years that too many projects have been filmed about this. There is already "Morning Show", "The Boy with Deer Horns", "The Politician", "The Handmaid's Tale", "I Can Destroy You", "Confrontation" and almost dozens of other stories. Against their background, the ideas of “Y. The Last Man”seem to be a crunching of already boring topics.

Of course, one cannot blame the authors for such a long production, but the viewer does not become more interested in this.

Y. The Last Man”turned out to be a one-time project, which clearly lost its time. He attracts with an unusual version of the apocalypse and a good disclosure of the world, but slips in the development of the plot and once again repeats the truths already known to everyone. Therefore, it remains only to follow a couple of interesting characters and guess about the true reasons for the extinction of men. But this story is unlikely to be remembered in any way after watching it.