Do we actually wish to watch a thriller a few devastating virus that kills off half the planet and condemns the survivors to life in a chaotic hellscape? Surprisingly, after watching the primary 4 episodes of FX on Hulu’s Y: The Final Man, my reply is: Sure, truly, we do.
Y: The Final Man — debuting subsequent Monday, Sept. 13 on the streamer — does have eerie parallels to as we speak’s headlines that reduce somewhat near the bone. However it’s additionally a wise twist on the post-apocalyptic style, spiked with intense motion, intriguing philosophical quandaries and slivers of darkish humor. The mission has been in growth hell for half a decade and suffered via a number of false begins, however the lengthy gestation interval appears to have been price it: That is good.
Based mostly on the acclaimed Brian Okay. Vaughan and Pia Guerra comedian e book collection — Eliza Clark (Animal Kingdom) serves as showrunner — Y: The Final Man plunges us into an alternate future the place a mysterious virus has killed off each dwelling creature with a Y chromosome throughout the planet. The aftermath depicted right here is genuinely chilling, with lifeless our bodies and wrecked vehicles lining town streets. Someway, for causes unexplained, a younger man named Yorick (Ben Schnetzer) and his pet monkey Amp (quick for Ampersand) are the one organic males left alive. Yorick is sort of a goofball: He’s an aspiring escape artist — he sees mere card tips as “beneath my talent degree” — and when his girlfriend ditches him after a botched proposal, he spends his first few post-virus days trying to find her, spray-painting messages to her throughout city. Schnetzer doesn’t have many display screen credit, however he shortly establishes himself as a breakout star right here: He’s humorous and interesting, and appropriately bewildered at Yorick’s unusual destiny.
However Yorick isn’t the primary focus of Y: The Final Man, and admittedly, he shouldn’t be. (It is a world now run by girls, in any case.) Diane Lane performs Yorick’s mom Jennifer Brown, an influential Congresswoman who turns into President of the USA after the road of succession is decimated. The ensuing energy vacuum creates an influence battle, resulting in petty political squabbles with very excessive stakes, and Lane brings nice gravitas and emotion to a tough function. Yorick additionally has a sister named Hero, performed by Goliath‘s Olivia Thirlby; in a intelligent twist, the virus provides her a free move on a catastrophic mistake she made, however the immense guilt nonetheless haunts her. She’s paired up along with her finest pal, a trans male named Sam (The Fosters‘ Elliot Fletcher), as they seek for a protected haven in a instantly hostile world.
Y: The Final Man kicks off with a very robust premiere: The hour effectively lays the groundwork by letting us get to know the characters earlier than the virus strikes, and the entire thing has a low-key, shaggy-dog allure to it. It throws a whole lot of disparate story threads at us, however they’re all compelling in their very own method: Agent 355 (Shameless‘ Ashley Romans), an enigmatic covert agent with superhuman preventing expertise; Kimberly (Amber Tamblyn), a conservative crusader and the (soon-to-be former) President’s daughter; Nora (Homeland‘s Marin Eire), a savvy political advisor… and their entire world modifications straight away when all the boys of their lives begin spitting up blood and falling over lifeless. The premiere is an impressed weaving collectively of creeping dread and catastrophe film spectacle, laced with a unusual humorousness.
The following episodes don’t fairly reside as much as that promise, although. Oddly, the truth that solely males had been killed by the virus isn’t spoken aloud or thought of. (That’s the present’s entire hook!) It frustratingly dodges attention-grabbing questions on gender and turns into generically post-apocalyptic at instances, slipping into Strolling Useless territory with people looming as the largest risk. It additionally has hassle sustaining narrative momentum: There are too many characters on too many separate facet missions, and it depends on just a few unlikely coincidences to drive them to intersect. (Thirlby makes an enormous impression as Hero within the premiere, however then she inexplicably disappears for a whole episode, simply once we had been beginning to get emotionally invested in her.) There’s a very good present someplace in right here, but it surely retains getting slowed down by the load of its personal ambitions.
Nonetheless, Y: The Final Man has a whole lot of potential. The opening episodes current us with a number of mysteries that I’m trying ahead to untangling. (Why is Yorick nonetheless alive? And what’s Agent 355’s deal, anyway?) Plus, the post-virus world hits on some unexpectedly well timed points. Due to widespread energy outages and meals shortages, everybody’s below siege and in survival mode, giving rise to rampant paranoia, conspiracy theories and offended rioting. (When Lane’s new President provides a stirring speech about responding to powerful instances, she would possibly as nicely be talking on to us.) It could not have meant to, however this present successfully harnesses the ability of our collective COVID-era trauma, with everybody simply craving for issues to return to regular. “With out males, there is no such thing as a future,” Kimberly reminds Jennifer, however she has a agency reply: “We’re simply making an attempt to outlive the current.”
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Y: The Final Man places a intelligent spin on the post-apocalyptic style with darkish humor and an unexpectedly well timed premise.