It’s always something with Phil Miller – err, I mean, “Tandy” Miller. Everything that Phil’s spent so hard lying, cheating, and stealing to get’s been ripped right under him, even his own first name, all to the first chiseled chin that walked into town. But let’s face it, he’s chiseled in a lot more places than that. No amount of pushups or hypothetical penis plaque will ever put life back to the way it was for our poor ‘ole Phil Miller, because our new Phil Miller’s just too cool for this post-apocalypse. If misery loves company, at least it has a friend: Todd.
Mild Spoilers Ahead
Just 24-hours after Phil 2: The Hunky Sequel drove into town with Phil 1: The Sunburned Mess in his arms, Phil 2’s already Tuscon’s hunkiest handyman. Fixing generators, moving cows down stairs, giving hot showers, challenging Phil 1’s (technically democratic) presidency – what a snob, right? It’s enough to make a dreadfully insecure man child go crazy, i.e. the city’s only other two guys. Even with the world’s population now at four women to three guys, it’s all on Phil 1 and Todd to be yesterday’s men while Phil 2 auditions for the world’s last men’s calendar. But granted, this is Arizona, and how long has everyone gone without air conditioning?
As for New Phil, he has the attention of all the ladies, though he innocently enough decides to move in with Tandy Phil when presented with the creme de la creme of homes. I mean seriously, why do these people care about what they trash up? They’ve got a whole city to play in! Alas, it turns out that familiarity between Phils only breeds contempt and genital competitions by OCD roomies, apparently. A misfire indeed, Phil 1. Stick to jenga contests.
Granted, it’s nothing new to see Phil 1 in a stew over the messes he always makes for himself and it wasn’t long ago that he could’ve struck gold with three different women if not for his own ego. It’s a much worse sign that that our resident Mr. Sunshine, Todd, has started cracking.
As the series most arguably “human” character, Todd’s humbly taken a backseat to most of Phil’s antics and it’s rather revealing to see his own jealousy of Phil 2 tear at the seams of his and Melissa’s seemingly solid relationship. Without the omni-benevolence he once had, Todd’s become more of an actual person, one naturally jealous when his woman’s riding another man’s garbage truck. Todd’s clearly been watching too many movies, though, to know when your girlfriend really means she loves and totally believe her. He’s so afraid Phil 2’s washboard abs that he plays up the “I forbid it” card and gets dealt the door. Ouch.
In fact, it’s a minor competition among Gail, Erica, Carol, and a newly available Melissa for Phil 2’s affections that spurs some hormones of the opposite kind. With reproduction being the sole focus of the series thus far (and ironically, not food), it’s disappointing that sex be the plot device that the show continually drag out, much less at the cost of its female cast members. I suppose it’d be insulting if not for the manner in which they’ve already portrayed Phil 1 as the same, hormone-crazed idiot. And while it’s for the sake of equal opportunity that the show maintains some sort of comedic balance (Carol’s knitting really does rock), it seems like it’s dancing over too many toes at all times to be as creative as it once was.
Nevertheless, Last Man on Earth continues to surprise in smaller ways. It’s probably the obvious question by now why the post-apocalypse would be better survived in the arid sands of Arizona of all places and since Phil 2 asks it, of course it’s Phil 1’s job to answer it via a “sustainable” jalapeño farm. That the series is self-aware enough to poke some fun at its own plot-holes is a refreshing touch for an otherwise gloomy genre. I do wish that its lead character could catch a break from himself every once and a while. But everyone’s probably going to be eating their words (and those jalapeños) if they did sprout.
Unlike the painstaking time Phil 1’s courtship/stalking took, the “Phil 2’s just too damn hot” show comes to an end among our ladies rather quickly and the end result’s about what you’d expect based on Last Man‘s sense of irony. It does, however, come at the expense of everyone else’s sleepless nights, and maybe one of the show’s more tasteless *ahem* “off-color” bedside jokes. You know, the kind that Erica got? If that’s where the show’s going to be going for gags from now on, I’d rather they come out of stupid Phil 1 and not one of Last Man‘s more upstanding characters. You’d think it further unlikely that the show’s notions of monogamy would buckle under zero social pressures. I mean, whose to say who gets around with whom for how long now?
It’s on all of these notes that Phil 1 and Todd, downtrodden and womanless, find themselves unlikely allies for the first time since they met. Staring into a fire in only the way Walter White probably knows, they fashion the only sensible plan that Phil 1 could come up with: they’re gonna have to put Phil 2 on ice. With Todd’s nodding approval, any and all scenarios are running through my head. How dark can Last Man go? Certainly not too dark – after all, it’s still a comedy. Isn’t it?
As many scenarios as the show’s run through, it’s hard to know just what The Last Man on Earth has left up its sleeve. In a better show, it might’ve been refreshing to shift gears from the Phils and focus on another character for a while and I can’t help but think it’s where the series has to go in a second season. But Phil and Todd’s dark ultimatum is too good to ignore and I’m dead-set if I (and Phil 2) am dead wrong about what two horny gentlemen are capable of with a cow and a dairy monopoly.
The Last Man on Earth airs Sunday nights on FOX at 9/8 Central. Catch all the latest episodes at FOX.com and all the latest reviews here at BagoGames.