The final episode of the first season jumps ahead from Neil’s death to a year after. The show gives us an update on what has been going on with each character and how they have changed as a result of their time off the island, giving us some insight into why many people enjoyed watching these characters navigate their lives outside of paradise
Join the podcast team as we recap The Last Man Season 1 Episode 3. We discuss our thoughts on what happened and how it relates to the bigger picture of this season so far.
The “y: the last man recap episode 4” is a recap of the 3rd episode of season 1.
Jennifer and Yorick reconnect in the Pentagon in episode 3, but they fight to keep Yorick hidden from the other 5,000 people who live and work there. They devise a plan for Yorick to work with a geneticist to figure out how he survived the Event, with the aid of Agent 355 and Christine. Kim has a growing distrust of Jennifer, while Marla’s mental health deteriorates. Nora and Mack have returned to their house.
This episode is won by Yorick’s blue sweater. That wonderful, huggable sweater makes us want to follow him everywhere and snuggle up next to a warm fire, no matter how much he moans and tries to reject his Hero’s Journey. This week, it seems like everyone in the Pentagon received an useful but attractive wardrobe change.
Recap
A few days after their dispute at the Pentagon, Nora and Mack return to their neighborhood in the dark. The posh suburb is a cemetery, with dead strewn around. Mack is told by Nora not to look at them, but she does so anyway. Like rocks and sticks, the dead are increasingly becoming a typical part of the natural environment.
Mack refuses to sleep upstairs with the other kids when they arrive at the friends’ home where they’ve been staying. Nora advises her to act as though she’s at a sleepover and go along with anything they’re talking about.
Nora needs Mack to learn survival via collaboration more than feminism right now, and this is probably not the counsel Mack’s father, who did most of the parenting, would have given her.
Nora sits by the fire in the living room with a few of other mums. They were hopeful that after meeting with her government connections, she would bring them good news. She informs them that she was unable to contact them and that the situation is dire. It’s grim in the neighborhood, too; they’re practically out of food, and they won’t have fresh water once the snow melts. They’ve been making preparations to go.
Heidi is the leader of a group that the other two mothers want to join, but Nora and Mack won’t fit in. Except for Nora, everyone else has something to give. She’s out, despite the fact that they wanted to remain together.
Nora isn’t quite part of the “in” gang for the second time in a week. Her and her daughter go hungry because of the popular females.
355 is held captive in an interrogation room with the helicopter pilots, who believe they are in for a routine debriefing. When they grumble about the lengthy wait, 355 strikes up a discussion with them, which turns out to be their debriefing/interrogation. They think she’s a low-level flunky and don’t realize that this chat will determine their destiny.
The pilots sympathized with the demonstrators outside the gates, who believe Jennifer planned the Event as part of a coup attempt, even before Yorick arrived. They believe it’s much more probable now that Jennifer directed them to the flat where her son was discovered. Yorick’s survival, they’re confident, can’t be kept a secret. They’re adamant about their viewpoints.
They aren’t persuaded by 355’s logical facts, and they aren’t intelligent enough to see that Yorick is more than merely the president’s son after the Event. Nora would have quickly grasped all of this, which is why she’s a valuable ally—when survival is tough, planning is essential, and Nora excels at it. She advised her daughter to speak about horses and be friendly to the other girls since they were better off as a group and needed to demonstrate loyalty. These pilots are oblivious to the fact that they are now posing a danger to Yorick’s life, as well as the survival of any animals with a Y chromosome. They’re unfaithful to their bosses and the government, challenging even the most basic directives.
These would not be severe offenses under normal circumstances. However, these aren’t ordinary conditions.
Jennifer and Yorick sleep snuggled up next to one other, possibly the finest sleep any of them has had in months. After all of the drama, it’s good to see them both being loved unconditionally for a little moment.
When Yorick stirs and realizes that Amp, his eternal toddler, has escaped, the enchantment is broken. Amp is one of those infants with superhuman abilities, able to sneak through any hole, scale any obstacle, and detect danger from a great distance. (A special shout-out to my son, who managed to stay afloat as a hyperactive toddler with a mother who couldn’t keep up.)
Amp makes his way out of Jennifer’s room and onto the main hallway. He walks through Marla’s suite, where she’s snoozing in front of the TV, watching MASH repeats. She notices a monkey in the corridor and gets up to investigate. Her door must be slightly open, or maybe the previous office had a glass panel. As she approaches the corridor, Yorick vanishes around a curve. Jennifer is startled awake by slamming doors and joins the pursuit.
Meanwhile, the pilots in the questioning room are becoming more irritated and perplexed.
“I’m not sure what to make of it.” Could you kindly explain it to me… No! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’d want to comprehend. Yes, I do. I simply… I mean, how did he manage to stay alive? “Why him?” you may wonder.
And there you have it. The response of the average American woman upon learning that Yorick is still alive—women who have lost every male and boy in their life, as well as a number of girls and women. Who have lost their jobs and houses and are fighting to keep themselves and their loved ones alive. President Jennifer Brown, on the other hand, is safe and sound in the Pentagon, surrounded by friends, and her son has miraculously escaped and returned home. That “fortunate” will make her someone who can’t empathize to the sufferings of the ladies who have lost everything. In the worst-case scenario, they’ll conclude that no one gets so fortunate by coincidence. As resentments within and beyond the Pentagon build, both eventualities are already in play.
When 355 receives a message from Jennifer, he rises to go. The pilots are enraged that she is allowed to fly but they are not. “We all accept our commands from the president,” she eventually says. She requires my presence, and she requests that you remain seated.”
She locks them in the room and continues to shout at her for abandoning them. They show no regard for her or the president, even now that they know she works closely with Jennifer. She runs across a corpse cleaning staff on her way to the residential wing. Jennifer phones her once again to get her to hurry up.
Amp goes past the Hall of Heroes, a tribute to Medal of Honor honorees. It’s also become a monument to the recently deceased loved ones, with a wall of images and souvenirs and candles burning on the floor, since the Event. Yorick pauses for a moment to take it all in, and he starts to freak out a bit when he sees his graduation portrait on the wall.
Just in case he hadn’t realized he should be dead yet, this proves it.
Amp moves on to a spacious office with cubicles and computers. Marla is following closely after him. He apprehends Amp and then turns to confront Marla in the dim light. They exchange shocked looks until 355 walks in and asks Marla why she’s there. Yorick hides when Marla turns her head. Jennifers enters and takes Marla’s attention away from her work. When she sees Yorick and Amp, 355 gives Yorick a priceless look, but tells Jennifer and Marla that no one is in the room.
Jennifer offers to assist Marla in returning to her room. “I see them most nights, too.”
That section, I believe.
Yorick doesn’t seem to be coping well with the situation. When they return to Jennifer’s suite, he is enraged that the corpses have remained at their workstations for so long. Between nearly losing Amp and being surrounded by humans again, like on the metro, and then being caught, as he did at the dry cleaners, where he was treated like property and threatened with being sold swapped, I think this was a triggering event for him. Then there’s the combo of seeing his picture among the dead images and really seeing the dead as if they were zombies that showed up at work that day.
It’s a lot to take in at the same time. Jennifer then informs him that he and Amp are the last surviving Y chromosomes. She points out that guys without Y chromosomes survived—apparently, it was just the DNA that was targeted, thus this was entirely genetic.
The monument was made using whatever materials the ladies had on hand. Jennifer just needed a keychain manufactured by Hero to symbolize her spouse. She informs Yorick that she has been on the lookout for Hero. He claims her flat was plundered before he examined it the first time, but he returned a couple times to double-check it. Jennifer sobs, resentful of herself for not sent someone to locate Yorick’s corpse. Yorick reassures her.
Even though he raged at his mother 5 minutes earlier over the nameless abandoned corpses in the Pentagon, he’s OK with his own body being abandoned by his mother.
He inquires about his father’s remains. Jennifer claims they discovered it in his hotel room. Yorick then brings up Beth. He believes she departed New York to see her mother, who was undergoing chemotherapy in Cleveland. Jennifer dismisses him by explaining that there was a train accident near his flat. She feels Beth hasn’t contacted her because she was killed in the accident and doesn’t want to pursue the matter further. Yorick is aware of the incident, but Beth was riding her bike and would not have used the train. Jennifer promises she’ll dispatch someone to find Beth as soon as she has the opportunity.
It seems like she won’t be able to spare anybody for years, based on what she says. Even after she was shown to be incorrect about Yorick, she refuses to put in any effort to help folks. Hero has been forgotten now that she has reclaimed her kid. She’s so accustomed to thinking on a grand scale that she can’t focus on her family’s needs or the truth that calamities strike one individual at a time.
Yorick must have picked up on her tone since he informs her that he and Beth have been engaged. He wanted to give her some good news as a surprise. Although this isn’t true, being Yorick’s fiancee makes Beth seem more like family and may raise Jennifer’s feeling of responsibility.
The irate, rebellious pilots; the hostile crowd that is rapidly blaming Jennifer; the near-miss with Marla; and the necessity to keep Yorick and an active monkey safe are all factors that 355 considers. She realizes she won’t be able to defend the Pentagon’s final two guys.
She informs Jennifer that the pilots are refusing to cooperate. If anybody finds out that Yorick is inside the building, they might have a “Russia issue,” especially with the 1500 demonstrators outside the gate, who are growing in number every day. Yorick inquires as to what this implies, but Jennifer departs for a meeting without responding. At first, 355 does not respond.
Jennifer tried to manipulate the amount of information Yorick and Marla received and their responses to it in the preceding sequence. Yorick is too much of a people-pleaser to go as far as Hero went in his rebellion. He only asks for more on rare occasions, and he is seldom granted it. Instead, he complains with humor and tales, then gives up and quietly accomplishes what he wants, assuming that any ruffled feathers will be soothed later. The escape artist’s techniques include diversion and banter disguised as action.
Nora watches as her neighbors leave to join Heidi in her car. She assures her daughter that the others would just delay them down. Mack knows it for what it is: bravado. She mentions that they have protein powder in their garage, but Nora has already checked and it is no longer there. Mack gives her a scathing look, one she’s become used to, as if to imply her mother is just as inept as she’d feared. Nora destroys a vase half-heartedly.
Yorick eats a huge serving of pasta while 355 informs him about the situation in Russia.
355: “The FSB, or whatever remains of it, issued a statement claiming that the Russian leaders had survived. There are 12 guys in all. The heavy hitters. The inner sanctum… The Kremlin was assaulted by a large mob. They were eager to see the guys, but it was all for show. It was a load of nonsense. They took over the structure. Now everything is in disarray. “We haven’t been in touch in a long time.”
It’s worth noting that the White House has been invaded as well, and the Pentagon is clinging to life. Even without the propaganda, the US is not in much better situation than Russia.
Amp gets a couple bites of food from Yorick. He begins to explain Amp’s name, but 355 already knows what he’s talking about. To be truthful, it seems that most people are perplexed by the name. She notes that the government is distributing food in New York and inquires as to why he is so hungry. He claims to have visited one of the locations. “It didn’t work out.”
Everywhere he goes, he creates a mini-Russia crisis. That explains his gas mask, as well as why the group of grumpy trans guys departed in the middle of the night, as I had suspected.
“So my mother, like, won the apocalypse,” Yorick says. That’s amusing. The most important position. She isn’t even a Democrat.”
“Well, the line of succession has been devastated,” 355 says. Secretary Abbott would be the next in line…”
“Is that Education?” Yorick asks.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, Except for the fact that she was born in Antigua. Regina Oliver was the only other lady, but she’s no longer alive.”
“Small miracles,” Yorick says. [355 disapproves with a toss of her head.] Oh, come on, are you serious? She’s the anti-immigrant, anti-government, anti-vaxxer who has a large following on Twitter. Didn’t she attempt to bring her pistol to a spin class, or something? She has no business becoming president.”
“Well, your mother was Speaker [of the House of Representatives] for an hour until they boosted her up,” 355 says.
The remaining women in the federal administration followed the line of succession exactly, which has nothing to do with political parties. Successors must fulfill the presidential eligibility requirements, which include being a native-born citizen. Even if Regina Oliver were still living, Jennifer would be ahead of her in line for the presidency, which flows from the vice president to the speaker of the House before passing to Cabinet members. We may debate whether Jennifer is the genuine speaker since we don’t know how she was elected, but as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, she would be more qualified than most for the president.
Yorick expresses his dissatisfaction with the building’s dead corpses once again. The area is generally walled off, so the health danger is minimal, according to 355. Jennifer is defended by her mother for putting more effort into caring for the living.
She then inquires about his name, which is derived from Hamlet by Shakespeare. She uses Hamlet’s most famous phrase about the character (“Alas…”) to illustrate her point. “A guy of endless humor, of most fine imagination,” Yorick finishes the statement.
“They named you after a dead clown?” realizes 355, who uses a number as a name.
Yorick doesn’t answer since there’s no good method to do so.
Jennifer is striving to prevent the northeastern nuclear power system from falling down. One competent female nuclear engineer is available to assist, but she is taking time off to mourn for her boys. Jennifer isn’t concerned that Sharon Jacobs wants to take bereavement leave since they need her and they’ve all been working nonstop. Get her on the phone, she says.
Marla has been angry since she ran into Yorick last night, so Kim takes Jennifer away. Kim, on the other hand, has no idea what occurred, and Jennifer isn’t going to tell her. Jennifer inquires whether Marla uses any sleep aids, implying that Marla was perplexed due to medicines, sleepwalking, or her failing mental condition. Kim defends herself by claiming that they sleep well, which isn’t true. Marla was in and out, using the TV for companionship while Kim was fast asleep. This indicates that she is having difficulty sleeping and may be experiencing nightmares and/or episodes of extreme depression during her nightly waking hours.
Jennifer returns to her bedroom, accompanied by Christine. Yorick ate too much, too quickly after staying hungry for a long period, and now he’s puking it up again. 355 claims she attempted to warn him about what was about to happen.
Another option is one that isn’t addressed. Yorick went for a swim in the disease-ridden subway waters around a day ago. No one notices the CDC warnings for waterborne diseases in the subways since he is unaware of them, and they are unaware that he swam in polluted water. It’s conceivable that his vomiting is a symptom of one of the diseases that the CDC has warned about.
This is just another incident in which he and Amp have escaped death from a fatal sickness. They shouldn’t have been able to battle sickness so easily given how beaten down they both were, especially suffering from exposure. Another piece of proof that they have super healing powers (and that Yorick is carrying super soldier serum but is unaware of it).
Christine is warned by Jennifer that Amp bites. And he is a man. However, they are unable to bring in a local physician. The information must be kept between the four of them. She wants to locate a government-approved geneticist to figure out why Yorick and Amp survived and place them in the Pentagon’s secure section.
The pilots, the mob at the gate, the 5,000 people who reside in the building, and the developing animosity against her are all brought up by 355 in her thoughts. They can’t risk the fact that her son is the lone male survivor being discovered by the broader population. She wants to get Yorick out of DC as soon as possible, but she has to act quickly before the truth is revealed. They must operate outside the system to defend Yorick and Amp. Jennifer feels hesitant to send Yorick leave when she has just discovered him.
Regina Oliver awakens in an emergency medical tent in Tel Aviv, Israel, after a coma. “I’m the president of the United States,” she says when the doctor informs her about the Event and her cracked skull.
355 searches the geneticist files in the War Room and is apprehended by Kim, who is optimistic that the focus on scientists indicates a breakthrough. 355 declares that she is clueless. Kim strikes up a conversation with her regardless, since she befriends all of the Secret Service “girls.” She notices that Jennifer’s favorite number is 355 and invites her to her usual card game with the other agents. “Having pals here is nice. President Brown can be a thorn in the side.”
Throughout the chat, both ladies are putting on their game faces. Kim was reared as part of a political family and intuitively knows how to employ espionage and networking, while not having been properly educated as a spy.
Kim’s next trip is the Pentagon day care/school, which is staffed by the spouses of Republican lawmakers who have passed away. She chit-chats about hair colour before getting to her point: Jennifer should give her and the other Republican women in her government greater clout. Elaine, the mother she’s meeting with, isn’t convinced by Kim’s victim attitude. She assures her that, whether you like Jennifer as a person or not, she is trying her best as president. Jennifer attacks Kim and claims that her primary purpose is to push Kim and her mother away. Jennifer should listen to Marla, she insists, since she was one of her father’s major counselors.
I guess Kim isn’t aware that Jennifer and Marla have late-night cocktails and heart-to-hearts talks.
Elaine attempts to persuade Kim that her mother is unqualified for the position of official presidential adviser, but Kim believes that Marla is fine. Elaine, she believes, also deserves a part since she assisted her husband’s campaign. Elaine scoffs at her, claiming that her presence at the Pentagon is already suspect due to her status as a stay-at-home mom. They also have Lisa in the War Room, despite the fact that she is a moderate Republican whom Kim despises.
Elaine leaps to her feet to chastise one of the children, then returns to Kim to express her frustrations as a single mother. She understands what she’s doing in a split second and apologizes. Kim grabbed a pack of crayons while her back was turned. She now forgives Elaine and wonders whether she can rely on her “when the time comes.”
Elaine is completely unaware that Kim is contemplating staging a coup. Elaine’s reasoning is logical, given that she recently told Kim that there aren’t enough experienced Republican women to lead a government. Kim’s mental health, like her mother’s, isn’t in the best shape and seems to be worsening. She’s putting on a brave front while on the inside she’s crumbling. The theft, which is the equivalent of stealing, as well as her many denials of reality and fixation with bringing Jennifer down, all indicate that she is in a poor place.
Nora and Mack return to their own McMansion once their other options have been exhausted. Nora takes up her husband’s vehicle keys off the counter, accidentally knocking one of her son’s Ninja Turtle action figurines on the floor. Nora’s patience is becoming thin since the turtle is missing one arm. She cries up as she looks in a basket for the arm and snaps it back into place. It’s the final, little thing she can do for Conner, even if it means nothing to him right now.
Mack dashes outdoors to scare birds away from their corpses, which are covered in blankets in the backyard, while Nora sits inside with the keys and action figure, emblems of her husband and son. She runs toward the corpses with a garden shovel, but stumbles and falls upon the sharp tool. Her lower leg suffers a serious cut as a result. Nora rushes up to her and bandages the wound with a bandage. She wants to get out of here as soon as possible to get Mack assistance before the virus spreads. Mack is adamant about not leaving while the corpses are still on display.
Those corpses are tightly bundled. The birds aren’t able to reach them. The cloth will eventually degrade and rip, but it will take months. Nora was supposed to be in charge of the cleanup staff.
“We’ll find out who’s the most qualified and send her here,” Jennifer says, referring to the National Science Foundation’s geneticist files. “Develop an antidote by figuring out how you survived.”
“An antidote to death,” Yorick says. Wow. Okay.”
Jennifer: “If a male kid were born, a therapy.” “It’s possible that frozen embryos are still alive.”
Yorick is handed a file by 355. When he opens it, he only sees one name: Harvard’s Dr. Alison Mann. The irony is not lost on him. In this chat, he’s all about irony. I believe his present options are to make jokes or to succumb to terror.
According to 355 on the NSF list, there were additional scientists who were poor picks for different reasons. She made the decision not to spend time with them. Dr. Mann isn’t tied to the corporate or government interests that most people are. In reality, since she was eager to cooperate with the Saudis, she was banned from government initiatives. That means her allegiance is unaffected; she just cares about the science; no one will expect them to pick her; and she will be unobserved, allowing her to join them.
Dr. Mann’s work is in line with what they need, and she is a self-starter. As an operative who is used to working off the books and independently, 355 understands the need of finding someone who can improvise and operate outside the system without the benefit of a functional university lab setup. Guerrilla scientists aren’t usually well-known experts in their fields.
Yorick notices that 355 isn’t your average Secret Service agent and inquires as to her true identity. Nobody responds, but he deserves credit for paying listening and not dismissing 355. Until she’s ready to expose herself, she relies on her ability to fit in and be overlooked.
Jennifer dismisses Christine and 355 before asking Yorick what he wants to do. He knows he should be a hero and leap at the opportunity to rescue the world, but all he cares about is getting Beth back. He believes that the man virus would eventually catch up with him, and all he wants to do now is make the most of the time he has left. Even though he has no idea how it would help, he’ll offer the scientist blood and sperm samples, but Jennifer must first assist him in finding his fiancée.
Jennifer ignores his responses when she asks what he wants. But why wouldn’t he believe he’ll die soon? Why shouldn’t he approach his mother for assistance in locating Beth before he passes away? There are mounds of dead guys and hundreds of women begging for aid wherever he goes. She can spare her or another agent for a few days to locate Hero if she can spare 355 for a few days to find Beth.
That, however, would go against Jennifer’s self-denial philosophy, which includes her family as extensions of herself. She doesn’t ask them any questions that she wouldn’t ask herself. The problem is that she’s almost refined herself into a diamond of self-control based on her own talents and restrictions, and she doesn’t change her standards to accommodate the needs or limitations of others.
Jennifer’s inquiry was pre-planned. She was never going to think about his response.
As if marrying Beth or dying aren’t definite enough plans for the apocalypse, she wonders what he’d do when they find Beth. Is he expected to have a plan for his post-apocalyptic career like she does? He’s probably going to have to perform several escapes, so he’s prepared.
She tells him she loves Beth as well, but that isn’t the plan. He responds that he isn’t as ambitious as she is, which she interprets as an attack, so he has to explain that although she is presidential material, he is just a regular person. He isn’t a hero in any sense of the word. Someone more suited to this post, he believes, must have survived. He wants to reclaim his life. She assures him that isn’t going to happen.
At the very least, she’s worked it out. Because she doesn’t comprehend the extent of the issue and how it’s hurting lives and mental health, especially Yorick’s, she has to get out of the Pentagon for a bit and see the damage for herself, as presidents usually do after a natural catastrophe.
Given how she dismissed Yorick’s warnings, it’s possible she’s in denial and her brain won’t allow her grasp the magnitude of the calamity. Perhaps her denial seems to be cold efficiency, similar to Marla’s surrender. She doesn’t grasp it for whatever reason, even on an intellectual level.
They do, after all, need Yorick’s assistance. Before he has to suck it up, he may be granted a nervous breakdown or another snooze and wash. He’d just spent almost two months alone in a horror film, and none of the ladies he cares about bothered to search for his corpse.
Now that they understand how much they need him, they want him to be selfless and honorable, with no personal demands. If he doesn’t be killed and his brain doesn’t burst first, he’s intended to transition from the family joke (he’s the dead, worthless clown) into a covert agent or follow along meekly after 355, so she can use him to rescue the world. He’s gotten by thus far by being loyal and accommodating to his family. Even the individual who goes out of their way to be tolerant of others ultimately runs out of patience. Then they either demand respect or they are completely and irreversibly finished. Yorick is getting close to that stage.
But don’t worry, Jennifer has to go run for president.
Kim detects more intentional activity in the corridors and asks one of her Secret Service pals for help. Regina Oliver’s whereabouts have been discovered.
According to the report Jennifer receives, a bus slammed into Regina’s hotel on the day of the Event, breaking a gas line and triggering an explosion that demolished the structure, killing hundreds of women in addition to the males who perished from the man plague. Regina wasn’t discovered until the following day, and she didn’t know who she was until she awoke.
The War Room personnel squabbles over who should be the next in line. This seems to be a constitutional gray area, as far as I can determine. A current Cabinet member takes priority over the speaker of the House, but it’s unclear if a speaker elected directly after the President’s death would take precedence over a serving Cabinet member. In general, elected officials are favoured over appointed officials, which favors Jennifer. Regina’s absence from the country for months, as well as her poor health, appear to disqualify her, according to the legal argument that a stable government is more important during times of crisis than a game of musical chairs with the presidency in the name of bumping lower ranking successors out of office.
Regina was unfit for the president before the Event, according to the majority of the inner circle, since she’s a fringe lunatic Campbell selected to please the Far Right. She’s much less qualified now that she’s had brain damage and missed the previous few months. They’ve all agreed to support Jennifer for the president.
Kim gathers the Republican ladies in the corridor for a confrontation. She wants to know when Jennifer and her entourage would inform them of Regina’s existence. Jennifer’s Republican representative in her administration, Lisa, openly supports her. They tell Kim that they just recently learned about Regina and haven’t had time to inform her. They’ll keep her informed about what’s going on. Kim claims that her father was elected and that his ideals are important.
Jennifer was also elected, but Regina was not. This never occurs to her. Or that, now that almost two-thirds of the population has died, the federal government will decrease. There is no longer a need for as many politicians.
355 pleads once again that she and Yorick should leave the Pentagon right now. Yorick’s presence will make matters worse for Jennifer and put his life in jeopardy if someone tries a power move. If Yorick is still looking for Beth, he should see Dr. Mann.
“What about the pilots?” Jennifer asks, dismissing Yorick once again.
355: “I’ll take care of the pilots.”
355 allows her to maintain believable denial. Jennifer did not issue an order and has no idea what will happen to the pilots, but she and 355 reached an agreement.
Jennifer is concerned about Boston’s amount of violence. 355 promises her that she will be able to keep Yorick safe. They talk about getting out of the building since there are security checks every 50 feet. 355 has a strategy in place, but they must act quickly. Yorick objects to everything, claiming that he just arrived from the outside and that things are far worse than they think. It has no effect on their decision. He’s a freighter (or like a woman with no status in the patriarchal world). Jennifer, at the very least, expresses her dissatisfaction with the situation.
With a motivating speech and two forged Medals of Honor in hand, 355 returns to the pilots. She informs them that Yorick is the key to resolving the man plague, and that they were the ones who discovered him, before presenting them with the medals. She then goes on to say that he isn’t safe at the Pentagon. He has to be transported to a Harvard scientist. They have been picked by the president to fly this crucial mission.
Yorick inquires once again about 355’s true identity; he is being sent away with her, so it’s a valid inquiry. He’s deduced that she’s a double agent. Jennifer would only claim that she is trustworthy and that she works for her, all of which she accepted 355’s word for when she disclosed her true identity. Jennifer has no way of knowing whether they’re accurate since she has no knowledge of the Culper Ring and is unable to evaluate 355. All she understands is that their goals are similar thus far.
There may be conspiracies inside conspiracies within falsehoods about the nature of an organization and parents who lied for years, as Alias demonstrated. This is why I have difficulty with trust.
Yorick inquires whether he has been relegated to the status of one of his mother’s workers, expected to obey commands without inquiry. When Jennifer informs him that she can’t keep him safe at the Pentagon, he can’t remain. Jennifer seems weary. He claims once again that someone else should have survived instead of him. Perhaps his father. She tells him that he is sufficient. Finally, he accepts it.
It’s possible that’s the first time she’s ever told one of her kids they’re good enough. She’s a lady who has high standards.
Christine interrupts once again, saying that they’ve located Sharon Jacobs, the only nuclear engineer capable of saving the New England power system. There were 355 responses. Jennifer tosses 355 a sat phone and tells her that Yorick is all she has left as she goes out to have the phone call with Sharon. 355 assures him that he will be secure.
In a vain effort to dig a grave for her husband and kid, Nora stabs at the frozen earth with a shovel. When a vulture lands next to her on the fence, she decides it’s time to call it a day and puts down the shovel. She puts Mack in the vehicle and encourages her not to think of it as the final time she’ll see her family. Mack switches on the radio and discovers a single functional station, which is playing Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris’ song After the Gold Rush. It just lasts a minute before cutting off, but it’s enough to give them hope.
Yorick is snuck out by 355 dressed as a corpse. It’s the only cargo that doesn’t get inspected before leaving the facility. Yorick protests, but when 355 reminds him that if he is caught, Jennifer’s life is at jeopardy, he caves in.
His day continues to deteriorate.
They meet the pilots in a parking garage and go in a vehicle to the two helicopters that will transport them to Boston. 355 claims to have flown supply missions in Iraq and is qualified to fly one of the helicopters. The second helicopter, piloted by two females, serves as a ruse.
Jennifer calls Sharon, the engineer, who tells her that she will not be able to return to work. Jennifer inquires about her boys and expresses her sorrow over their deaths. She then goes on to add that she wishes she could do more to aid others, but that she is ineffective. People like Sharon, who were sometimes the only woman in the room in the past, are now critical. She urges Sharon to put her sadness aside for the time being in order to serve the living. Sharon concurs.
Jennifer is to be commended for her victory, but her empathy is a touch hollow.
She later stands in the Hall of Heroes, staring at Yorick’s photograph. Kim startles her by mistake, then apologizes for the altercation earlier in the corridor. She describes to Jennifer some of the images on the wall and how proud the ladies in the building were of their husbands. She thinks about how much they’ve all lost and how it’s impacted them, implying that some have been hurt more than others. For a brief time, they stand in unity as moms who have both lost all of their children. Oops.
Yorick studied making knots instead of partaking in an Easter Egg Roll when he was a kid, Kim recalls. Taking Jennifer’s hand, she ponders why Marla’s previous night’s hallucination was of Yorick.
This may seem harmless, yet it felt like a show. Kim, in my opinion, never does anything without a reason. She wanted to see Jennifer’s response and inform her that she was being observed. So much the better if Jennifer’s attitude toward her softens as a result of the apology and connection.
Yorick’s hallucination may be explained simply by his picture on the bulletin board and Marla’s acquaintance with Jennifer. Hawkeye Pierce, from MASH, might have easily passed her by. It’s not necessary for dreams to make sense. Jennifer, on the other hand, was nasty in making Marla believe she was seeing things when she wasn’t. Jennifer has already compelled Marla to remain in the Pentagon against her will. She’s now making her doubt her own sanity.
355 and Yorick follow in the footsteps of the other two pilots. The first helicopter suddenly bursts, crashes, and burns. Neither pilot has a chance of surviving. Yorick inquires whether they should return. 355 informs him that they will continue on their journey and that he should fasten his seatbelt. “We keep going,” she says again, her voice trembling.
Commentary
Daisy von Scherler Mayer directed Episode 3 and Katie Edgerton wrote it. Kira Kelly did the cinematography. Melissa Lawson Cheung edited the film. Lauren Stephens did the sound editing. Alexandra Schaller was in charge of the production design. Olga Mill created the costumes. Herds Stefánsdóttir composed the music.
The song Nora and Mack hear on the radio, After the Goldrush, was composed by Neil Young, who I think is the Neil mentioned in the title. In the Event, he would have perished. The song is divided into three verses, each set in a different time period: the medieval past, the present, and the apocalyptic future. After an environmental crisis, selected people are evacuated from Earth aboard spacecraft in the third verse. The beginning of the song, the medieval celebration, was heard by Nora and Mack.
An skilled bomb builder rewarded the pilots with two blasts and two medals of honor. You’ll have to do the math. The deaths of the pilots seems to have upset at least 355 people. She isn’t a cold-blooded murderer.
In this episode, the Republicans and Democrats are represented by the colors red and blue. Because Jennifer and her party control the government, we see a lot of blue, but we also see a lot of red, notably in the hallway brawl. Even at the end of the world, some individuals can’t let go of old rivalries.
I’m aware that I’m being harsh on Jennifer Brown. Under normal conditions, I’m sure she was an outstanding Congresswoman and would have been an excellent president. However, we’ve seen from the beginning that she has a hard time connecting with people on a personal level and keeping connections. Because this is a component of the program that represents our poisonous society, I’m aiming to explain why, how, and what the implications of her emotional distancing are in my discussion.
Men and women are trained to put their emotions aside in the workplace, to drive themselves and others to the boundaries of their tolerance levels, and then beyond, to the point of disease, injury, and divorce. We honor exceptional achievers who have dedicated their life to their occupations to the exclusion of everything else, as well as those who labor until death. We despise those who prioritize their relationships above their employment, whether they are stay-at-home parents or people with lower-stress jobs that provide them more spare time. Government and corporate policies are tilted toward ablism, or a refusal to accommodate the requirements of individuals whose skills fall outside of a rigorous standard of normalcy, resulting in the exploitation of employees who can satisfy employers’ standards. These policies and attitudes have changed little as a result of the epidemic, but the most have remained unchanged.
On Y: The Last Man, the government is so focused on the big picture that it neglects to engage with ordinary citizens and listen to their problems. In addition to initiatives like the electrical infrastructure, they must look after people, but no one in the Pentagon has any idea what it’s like outside. The encampment, which has over a thousand individuals just outside the gates, is handled as if they are destitute homeless people who should simply move along to the shelters/camps, with no one asking why they don’t want to leave.
When Yorick attempts to inform Jennifer about his experiences, she dismisses him. He’s a great asset, not just because of his Y chromosome, but also because he’s been on the ground in New York for the last two months. He can be open and honest with her about how things are going in the world in a way that most people can’t, but she doesn’t respect him enough to listen.
Nora could have provided her with the same information on a different area of the country, but she turned her down. She also doesn’t listen to Kim, who has some legitimate concerns and speaks for lower-level personnel and their families who live and work at the Pentagon, as well as Republicans. Kim is not without flaws, but she takes the time to get to know the individuals she works with on a personal level and understands their issues. Jennifer was cynical when Kim told her about the NY cryobank. General Peggy didn’t appear in this episode, although she was unhappy in episode 2 because Jennifer didn’t pay attention to her.
Jennifer has a kind heart, but she can’t abide any evidence of weakness, whether it’s in herself, her spouse, her kids, or her approach. This makes her obstinate and causes her to have large blind spots. It makes her dismiss other people’s problems and overlook indicators of exploitation. Because she doesn’t want to show her weaknesses, she prefers secrecy and falsehoods over open conversation.
When she links up with 355, who is dealing with the same problems, the situation becomes much worse, and they create a secret club. Christine and Yorick lack the power to compel them to listen to reason. There is a happy medium between not informing anybody and telling everyone about Yorick. There are also other methods to inform the public than what the Russians did. I believe 355’s Culper Ring box told her to transport Yorick to Boston (the “Not yet!” location), which is why she urges Jennifer to do so.
Jennifer is no longer allowed to be honest with her inner circle advisers since she has admitted to lying about Yorick. That’s never a smart idea, particularly for a president who is clinging to power in the midst of a crisis.
Having said that, the shortages, outages, and time it will take to clean up the dead and waste are all plausible. The show’s creators conducted considerable study into how things function and discovered that males still control most of the world’s infrastructure. It would take time to rearrange the systems if the guys died.
It’s not that women can’t do things. It’s because there aren’t enough trained and qualified women in the correct places. If flights crash into the ground, ships sink in the seas, and roads and trains are shut down due to traffic jams, logistics become a nightmare. Food, resources, supplies, and staff are unable to reach their destinations. Then there are the billions of corpses that are decaying in their graves. Nobody is equipped to cope with such a situation, much alone the degree of sickness that would result.
‘Y: The Last Man,’ a post-apocalyptic series, is essentially a warning about workplace inequality: Although the new FX on Hulu drama is fiction, it is true that this is a man’s world (Washington Post)
FX on Hulu provided the images.
The “y: the last man episode 5 recap” is a recap of the fifth episode of the first season. The show airs on AMC, and it is based off of the comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra.
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