Y: The Last Manhas officially ended its run on Hulu. The first and potentiallyonly season ofY: The Last Manwrapped up with several bangs and quite a few literal whimpers. Whether or not it was good enough to make it clear that another streaming service should pick it up, is quite an open question. That’s sort of weird considering it appears as though this premiere season was written as though there would definitely be a second and maybe even a third. That is the gamble that other shows have taken, but it feels like that was a much bigger gamble with this show, considering how hard it was to get it on any platform at all.
The risk wasn’t just about whether or not there was going to be a second season for the FX onHuluexclusive. There was also the fact that the show had a real problem when it came to moving forward. It seems more than ever that quite a bit of that problem was rooted in wanting to hold stuff back not just for the season finale, but for a second season. It turns out that the effort might have been a big detriment for a series that could have been done with a bit more story to keep it rolling.
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Amazons On The Move
Season 1 ofY: The Last Manhad three main storylines that viewers were meant to follow. Episode 10 had a little bit of all three, though it mostly focused on the diverging of two of those. As the season has gone on, the rise of the Amazons and just where that was going to go was certainly something the showrunners wanted the viewers to be interested in. It’s just not clear if they were actually worth the interest they were begging viewers to have in them.
Certainly, there were some compelling plots woven in there from time to time. The way that Hero was indoctrinated into the cult was interesting, well done and allowed for a bit more of a look at how that kind of thing could happen than it did in the graphic novel. The nice thing about Episode 10 is that while the big showdown in the finale showed that they weren’t nearly as impressive as they thought they were, it feels as if a new organization could rise from the ashes. There was also a nice tough to have that rise be accentuated by the fall of what was basically a faker in their midst.
It turns out that the version of the Amazons that watchers got to see through the back half of the season wasn’t as interesting as it seems like a Season 2 version of the group would be in the long run. That’s one of thebiggest problems ofY: The Last Manand its treading water or running in quicksand so often. As the cult finally really became the cult that readers saw in the graphic novels, at least right there at the end, there was also some compelling spots. The big showdown, for one, showed not one but two groups of women who decided they needed to become warriors and take others' lives and neither side seemed all that happy about it.
That has certainly been one of the more interesting aspects of theentire season ofY: The Last Man. Whether man or woman, when society collapses, people aren’t just going to be nice to each other. There isn’t going to be alive and let live approach to just trying to survive to the next day. That’s especially shown off earlier in the episode when there is a drawdown between the Amazons and two other women over nothing more than a swimming pool. Certainly, it’s got to be fun and refreshing to take a dip every now and then, but it seems a bit outlandish to think that someone would be willing to kill another person over an indoor swimming pool.
To be clear, this wasn’t about having a huge body of water to drink from. That much swimming made sure that water was not something anyone would actually want to drink. And yet, no one got in the middle of the showdown and said “ladies, why are we pointing guns at each other over a public pool?” They all wanted it, so they were willing to do what they had to do to take it. The show never tried to sugarcoat what the world, or at least America would be like if everything collapsed all at once, and for that, it deserves a pat on the back.
The Great Crisis Of Confidence
One of the other things the show has done very well and did again in Episode 10 is that every once in a while it brings up some of the biggest and most popular parts of the graphic novels and make sureY: The Last Manshows thatto viewers on the screen. This time around, it was more than just a single scene or event. This time around it was Yorick finally feeling the weight of the world come crashing down on his shoulders. It was also perhaps the first time in the series that Ben Schnetzer was able to really show off what he could do. The idea that he might be a bit suicidal was touched on in more depth in the books. However, when talking about having to speed up the moment, it was still riveting and well done. It also seemingly set the stage for “what comes next.”
Of course, what comes next might be nothing at all. It’s hard to really give a great take on just what this episode ofY: The Last Mandeliveredif it was the series finale. While Huluhas already said it’s done with the series, there is hope among those in the production that another streaming service might give it a go. If this is the end, then it feels rather hollow. If the show can get one more shot, then this was the kind of season finale that could end up bringing people back for Season 2.
