THE LAST MAN ON EARTH
★★★★★
Hello, and welcome to my week-by-week review of everything in the world. Today I am reviewing The Last Man on Earth!
Actor and comedian Will Forte got his big break writing jokes for celebrated comedienne Jenny McCarthy, eventually transitioning to acting and appearing in The Immigrant (not the one with Joaquin Phoenix and Marion Cotillard). His latest endeavor is a television show that asks the question: What if everyone but Will Forte was dead?
Note: I set my VCR to record the show but something went wrong and it ended up recording a nature documentary, which I watched for 20 minutes before realizing it was the wrong show. When I called technical support for my VCR, Eric helped me figure out that the problem was I was still using last year’s wall calendar. (I thought those things were reusable.) At any rate, the show didn’t even air yet, so this review is based off what I’ve inferred about it.
It’s unclear how everyone but Will Forte dies, but it is certainly suspicious that he’s the last one remaining. They say the perfect crime is one where you can’t be caught, but an even more perfecter crime is one where there’s no one left to catch you. Why he would have been driven to kill off all of humanity is unclear. It may be pure evil or it may be that he had a secret to hide. Regardless of the reason, I imagine he must be suffering from the most acute survivor’s guilt imaginable.
While the show appears to be a lighthearted take on the apocalypse, if there are darker elements like that cannibalism scene in The Road, and Will Forte starts eating people, I’ll have to turn it off. I can’t support that even if the people are extras.
At first I thought the idea of being all alone could be fun. Any bodily functioned could be experienced without shame, but when really thinking about it, I felt bad for his character who must be desperately alone. I get lonely even with 7 billion people on earth with me. The poor guy must want to cry a lot. It show’s how strong he is that he doesn’t completely break down.
The only logical ending for this series would be for Will to asexually reproduce and make a second Man on Earth. That’s the perfect finale and also sets viewers up for a spin-off series called The Last Baby on Earth. Technically the offspring would be a clone, so the producers wouldn’t have to spend any money on an extra actor.
Please join me next week when I’ll be reviewing soup.
