Y: The Last Man review, Episode 4: “Karen and Benji”

Life isn’t getting better for anyone on Y: The Last Man, but it’s not just because all the men are gone. Bad decisions reign supreme in Episode 4, but there’s hope that these bad choices might work out in the end.

Evidently, Jennifer Brown’s kids aren’t the brightest bulbs. Both Yorick and Hero make some big mistakes in this episode. “Karen and Benji” is well-written and features solid performances. But for the love of God, why do people in the apocalypse have to make such stupid decisions?

Y: The Last Man shows people making really bad decisions in the apocalypse

Hero and Sam are on the run, and when they find an empty house Hero is ready to rest for the night. They find a working car and Sam thinks they can drive all night and make it to Washington the next day. Instead of compromising, Hero decides to sabotage the car so they’re forced to stick around a little longer.

Meanwhile, Yorick and Agent 355 go to a market to trade for supplies. When Yorick sees a woman who looks like his girlfriend Beth, he takes off and risks being exposed. No, not risks…he is exposed when the market’s de facto police force stops him in an unauthorized area and forces him to remove his gas mask, exposing his face. He pretends he’s transgender, but they’re not convinced. Agent 355 is forced to step in and save the day, taking out half a dozen women in the process.

Here’s the thing: in the apocalypse, you can’t do stupid things. You just can’t. You have to be smart, and while it’s very upsetting that all of the men are dead, when you’re the last man alive you have to make smart decisions. You can’t think with your little head, as it were. And Hero’s decision-making is equally disappointing. She doesn’t want to see her mother again, so she blows a chance to escape.

Ultimately, these decisions have very interesting consequences. Hero and Sam end up helping Nora and her daughter, taking them to the house. A group of women return to their house looking for supplies to help an injured friend and Nora manages to convince them to keep them alive because Hero is a doctor. (Incidentally, the title of the episode comes from Hero using fake names to hide her identity from Nora, but Nora reveals at the end of the episode that she knows exactly who Hero really is.)

Missi Pyle’s character, Roxanne, is intriguing. She’s tough and she’s no nonsense. She shoots a comrade because she knows she won’t make it anyway. But she has nothing but softness and consideration for Nora’s daughter, reminding the other women in the group that they can care for a child; they simply must, this is the way. This is what the world needs: hard decisions, but good choices.

Y: The Last Man still hasn’t answered its central question

So now Yorick and Agent 355 are on the run, and the women who stormed the house have taken Hero and company into their care in a giant Costco-like warehouse full of everything you might need, including a few free-range chickens.

As I said before, there’s nothing wrong with this episode from a story or acting standpoint. The tension between Agent 355 and Yorick is palpable as her anger and frustration boils over at his entitlement and lack of consideration for how important he is. That’s a good thing for the show.

There’s one grey area of the show that continues to nag at me: yes, almost every woman alive has been touched by this tragedy, but for everything on Earth to stop so abruptly is bothersome. Now you have gun-toting law-women who patrol markets to keep them safe while claiming their share of the goods, at will. Houses have been abandoned because…well, I don’t know why. That doesn’t make sense either.

It’s still early for Y: The Last Man, but from my vantage point as someone who has spent an abundance of time in Robert Kirkman’s apocalypse over on The Walking Dead, it’s hard to understand why things have fallen apart so quickly. Life must go on. It simply must. It’s time for some tough love and smarter decisions and I’m hoping to see that in future episodes.

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