Phil Miller is nothing if not the most persistent man in the world and not just because he’s the next to last. For Phil, that’s exactly the problem. For Phil, the grass (or gal) is always greener on the other side, so to speak. In what’s arguably the most hilarious retake of the series’ running dream gags, Phil’s obsession with Melissa just can’t die and neither can his nightmares.
There’s a great laugh to be had about how elaborate Phil’s dreams are becoming, but the constant loop of “She Drives Me Crazy” that fuels Todd and Melissa’s dalliances is a clever reminder that Last Man‘s a broken record of playing the same joke over and over again. I’m also not sure why these characters insist on living so close to one another as it relates to noise problem. It’s depressing to think that the series has already overstayed its welcome and it’s all downhill from here.
And so our episode of the same name concerns itself with Phil’s fallout over being the fourth-wheel of the show. Will Forte’s facial contortions as he feigns manners for Todd when the latter fills him in on the details of his sex life are the kind of thing that still makes the show wonderfully kooky. But the premise feels like a pointless exercise in what we’ve already known about the characters and arguably what we don’t want to know any more of.
Phil can scream into his tequila pool all he wants, but it’s getting harder and harder to see past his increasingly jerky antics. His time-lapse revelation that he has to take Todd out somehow to get what he wants did bring some slight tension to the episode, as well as more weird humor as his inner struggle to ditch Todd played out in a game of on again/off again in his truck. But why should we even care about Phil’s petty crush at this point – or why, for that matter, should we believe that the series’ women should be so typically reliant on their men?
Of course, Todd’s constant good-naturedness stands in stark contrast to the world that revolves around Phil. Todd’s Phil’s genuine, loving antithesis. Perhaps the whole show is meant to test the viewer – how long can we be invested in a jerk like Phil? Todd, in effect, the bigger man in more ways than one and arguably more the everyman than Phil. I’m one to think of Todd as someone who already sees Phil for who he is and is just the guy to turn the other cheek. His constant faithfulness is impossibly endearing and its true test on a country road is really kinda heartbreaking.
But then the writers make sure to give us the slightest bit of sympathy for Phil right when we think we’re done with him. It’s safe to say that Phil’s genuinely driving me crazy by now. For better or worse, Phil’s essentially become a bystander in his own series and while it’d be fine to see Todd or Carol effectively replace him as the lead, Last Man can’t decide either way.
At the very least, the show’s of the opinion that Phil can’t wallow in his crap forever. The last President of the United States can’t be one to poop in his own pool and it’s nothing but a good excuse for Phil to clean up the literal and figurative sh*t in his life. Five-hundred pounds of poop and a good cry later, I’m tempted to think that Phil’s actually reached the epitome of his jerkdom. His scene with Melissa’s an honest one, if not the most honest he’s had.
The situation with the other woman in Phil’s mediocre life, meanwhile, is getting to be something of nag on more than just the scruffy he-man she married. It’s been long complained by many that Carol’s introduction was little more than a convenient foil to Phil’s incessant self-obsession and for the most part she’s been exactly that, if not a genuinely endearing one. It’s only more disheartening that her perpetual naiveté towards Phil’s antics should be used more to take advantage of the character by now than just condemning Phil, which’s been done enough times. The two’s chemistry is about as abandoned as her broken door is and I honestly wonder whether a switch-up is in order for our two last couples on earth.
The Last Man on Earth remains amusing in its off-kilter way, and Forte proves an adequately amusing trickster. The jokes, however, run thin in favor of an uncomfortably complacent narrative. By this point, the show’s admirably upheld its comedic efforts at equal opportunity, but at the cost of being nearly as funny. For a show about the apocalypse, Last Man seems too happy to tip-toe over the problem of lead protagonist.
The Last Man on Earth airs Sunday nights at 9/8 Central. Catch all the latest episodes at FOX.com and all the latest reviews here at BagoGames.