The show blasts through the virus apocalypse part implausibly fast: a single day in the first episode. But that's fine, to quickly establish the show's axiomatic question: what if all the men in the world suddenly die?!
... Except for one privileged slacker and his capuchin monkey. Which is perhaps a link to "Outbreak" [1995] which also featured a capuchin. "12 Monkeys" [1995] depicted a post viral apocalypse, but doesn't really feature any particular monkey, ironically.
 |
| [My collage] Y: The Last Man promo material also echoes some visual themes from virus movies. |
Anyway, more specifically, it's everyone with a Y chromosome who dies. So, refreshingly, we see plenty of trans men, including a central character. There's a recurring theme around the flip in how male-presenting individuals are perceived, but new issues for them. Having an overwhelmingly female cast is also fantastic, interesting and pretty much unique. Perhaps on par with "Orange is the New Black"?
It excels in doing what I loved "The Walking Dead" for: exploring fundamental social psychology, once social niceties and norms get stripped away. But with a focus on varied and opposed female perspectives, feminism and what that can mean to different women. Such ideals get subverted, in one of the scenarios, with anger against men stoked and exploited to control a group. Showing how the fiercest anti-man agenda can be as manipulative and damaging as any patriarchal hegemony.
