Y: The Last Man: 5 reasons why the show had a great start
By Mark Lynch
Y: The Last Man is a slow build
Sometimes, a slow build can take away from the story that a show or a movie is trying to tell. This is especially true if there’s no reward for it. In the case of Y: The Last Man, things are going to happen fast and out of nowhere. There won’t be a lot of time to get introduced to the characters’ personalities. Instead of trying to do that in the middle of chaos, Y: The Last Man did it early, substituting an explosive non-stop opener with a slower one in order to build character.
We now know the key parts of each character’s personality. Yorick is immature, Agent 355 is professional and serious, and Beth seems to be unable to control her emotions. Now, when certain situations come up, we can see how they react, change or remain the same as the story progresses. Without this, we wouldn’t be able to see their growth or lack thereof.
The premiere episode built these characters up slowly so that the quick and the unexpected plot developments can happen later when we already know who each of the survivors are.
The set up
Y: The Last Man set the stage for the extinction level event before people knew what the event was. It was something as simple as kicking off by showing a dead animal with blood in its eyes. Those who read the comics undoubtedly knew what was happening but for those who didn’t, it was still a very foreboding intro, especially when the opening continues and showcases the result of the bedlam.
The animals are the ones hit first; Rats were running in the streets, police horses were unmanned, and more. The only thing left was to show the actual incident. Speaking of which…