Jump to content

Y - The Last Man


Werthead

Recommended Posts

I checked out the first three episodes which dropped on Disney+ (on the Star subchannel) today (it's on Hulu in the USA, I believe). I read the first graphic novel but wasn't completely grabbed by it, but from what I remember they've stuck reasonably close in some areas but veered off in different directions in others.

I felt the immediate moment of crisis and the build-up to it was handled really well, and then skipping days or weeks at a time to fast-forwards to a point when people are still dealing with the crisis but not going "OMG what's happening" every second was a reasonable move. Diane Lane is definitely the MVP on the cast and is excellent. Olivia Thirlby is a very good actress who feels like she's never quite blown up the way she should (especially after her very solid performance as Judge Anderson in Dredd), so maybe this will be her big chance. 

I saw some complaints about the CG monkey, but I found him pretty much 100% believable in how he was rendered and sat in the environment. However his sole story function so far has been to get Yorick to do mind-bogglingly cretinous things that no human being would do in those circumstances, which got pretty old quickly.

I am impressed that they're taking the infrastructure and social issues of what would happen if 50% of the population, but more than 90% of the people who work in engineering, power generation and sanitation, very seriously, more seriously than the comic did which seemed to lowball a lot of these issues. Also, they remembered that the issue of who has Y chromosomes and who doesn't is more complicated than what the original comic suggested.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Caught up to Episode 5 and Ashley Romans remains the outstanding highlight. Olivia Thirlby is also good, but her character is making some really weird choices which they don't explain very well.

Yorick is really fucking annoying in a way that makes me really dislike him as a character. I get that's deliberate, but they're being a bit too strong about it. If it was the choice between the utter extinction of the human race or it surviving thanks to this dipshit, extinction I think would be preferable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Underfoot said:

I watched the first episode and am not sure if I'll continue but am really curious - how if at all do they address trans / nonbinary people?

Nonbinary and intersex people have X or Y chromosomes. If they had a Y chromosome, they died. If they didn't, they survived. 

There's a trans man named Sam Jordan who is a part of the regular cast, a new character who was not in the original comic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/11/2021 at 4:10 AM, Underfoot said:

I watched the first episode and am not sure if I'll continue but am really curious - how if at all do they address trans / nonbinary people?

Yorick claims to be trans to try to avoid detection. There are several other trans characters (one a regular, as Ran said) as well.

The fourth episode goes into the situation in more detail, noting how certain rare genetic conditions mean that all women with XY syndrome died during the Event and I think there was some allusion to some men with XX syndrome surviving (but because XX syndrome-carriers are infertile, that's not much help to the survival of the species).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

I'm enjoying it well enough so far - not great, but better than a lot that's on.
But...

It's already got that feel of one of those shows that will go on for at least 4 seasons after its use-by date.

They just really need to follow the graphic novels and finish it when they end. There are ten original collections. They're currently somewhere in the middle of the first collection, so I hope they're not aiming for 10 seasons. That said, following the story fairly closely would still have a vastly much better story than The Walking Dead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's...bizarre. The season hasn't even finished airing yet, and the marketing push they've given this on Disney+ in the UK is huge, and reportedly across Europe.

I'm wondering if this is a miscommunication as they're moving the show out from FX and to a different part of the Disney empire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a wierd decision - it's good enough, and interesting enough for a well-plotted 2-3 seasons or so.
It's just the impression that they'll keep throwing up new questions while never satisfyingly answering previous ones that gives me the feeling they're aiming at only ending when forced (or Wert's "we can do 10 seasons of this")

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Spockydog said:

If you're going to make a tv show that doesn't get cancelled after season one, perhaps try and include one, just one, character who isn't an unlikeable arsehole.

Who's the likable character in Succession?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, Which Tyler said:

Who's the likable character in Succession?

No idea, never watched it. But I do see your point. 

My brother has read the comic. He reckons they're doing Yorick dirty, as he's quite likeable in that. In the show, he is just a whiny, entitled brat, and, along with his sister, an object lesson in why you should never, ever name your kids Hero and Yorick. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, sifth said:

A bit off topic, but is Succession a bad show? I was thinking of starting it, after I finished Squid Game. 

Yeah, way off topic

But I enjoyed the first 2 season immensely - they're a bunch of glorious, backstabbing, sociopathic bastards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Spockydog said:

No idea, never watched it. But I do see your point. 

My brother has read the comic. He reckons they're doing Yorick dirty, as he's quite likeable in that. In the show, he is just a whiny, entitled brat, and, along with his sister, an object lesson in why you should never, ever name your kids Hero and Yorick. 

He's probably as much of a prick in the comic, but I think that he also has a natural charisma and charm that kind of overcomes that. The actor in the show - who was a last-minute replacement for the original actor from the pilot - doesn't do that.

I do think Agent 355 and Hero are characters who also do unlikeable and dubious things, but they are interesting because the actors are excellent (so is Diane Lane, but she's not being given strong material in her storyline). Less so Yorick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...