Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Last Man on Earth, Season Two, Episode One: Is There Anybody Out There?


Phil and Carol drive through the streets of Washington in a jet plane on a run to pick up some liquor.  Phil accidentally drops a bomb in the parking garage and drives away.  Naturally this upsets Carol but Phil doesn't know how to reinsert the bomb.  In order to make Carol happy, Phil offers to get the bomb and this satisfies Carol because he was willing to go back.  Phil then agrees to go back the next day and put warning signs around the bomb.  When next we see Phil and Carol they are floating in a inflatable child's swimming filled with vodka in the oval office. Phil and Carol then get about some general wreckage, as you do if you're in the White house.  Phil heads to the press room and gives a briefing to his collection of balls regarding his position on Tuscan, which apparently hasn't changed. Carol decides to try on all of the first lady dresses.  Later that night they have the most awkward sex in the Lincoln bedroom.  Once finished, Phil suggests that they move into the White House permanently but Carol isn't interested in settling there because it doesn't feel right. Phil lists the various locations that they have been to which Carol has turned down but agrees to continue the search when Carol says that this doesn't feel like home.  Carol looks through all the sketches she has made of the two of them on their travels but pauses at the one she did of Tuscon.

Phil's brother is in space and he is searching for survivors.  For company, he talks to worms which he has named.  He then decides to leave the room to go and masturbate.

Carol and Phil leave the stealth bomber and the White House behind.  They arrive in Delaware, at the site of Carol's old apartment. Carol gives Phil the grand tour and yes, it's as bizarre  and typically Carol as you are imagining.  Carol's room is filled with craft items she created to commemorate friends and family members who succumbed to the virus.  Later that night, Carol kisses Phil to thank him for the visit but once again Carol is not happy because there's no one there.  Phil reminds Carol that the only place he cannot go is Tuscon because the implication was strong that if Phil returned, he would be killed.  When Carol suggests that as the last people on earth they should all be together, Phil makes it clear to Carol that she chose him and that he is not going back to Tuscon ever. An upset Carol leaves to sleep in another room.

Astronaut Miller explains that he is a scientist and not a pilot.  He tells his worms that if he did get down there, he might very well die of the virus.  It's then that he notices that one of his worms is dead.

Phil and Carol are back on the road and still they still have hurt feelings from the night before. Carol decides to have a nap in the back of the RV.  Phil stops at a gas station for fuel and talks to his balls about Carol's refusal to settle down.  Carol, unbeknownst to Phil, is in the shop.  Carol decides to sit and decorate a t-shirt while Phil gets gas. Carol  calls out for Phil to wait but he does not hear her and drives off.  Carol runs outside frantically and shoots her gun several times to get Phil's attention but because he has the music so loud, he doesn't hear her.


It's not until the evening that Phil realises that Carol is missing.  When Phil drives by a sign for the world's largest plate, he decides to call out for Carol, sure that she would love it. When he gets no answer, Phil stops the RV, moves to the back and finds Carol gone.  Phil thinks about where he stopped last - a Speedy Pump in Oklahoma with a red truck out front.  Unfortunately for Phil, there are lots of Speedy pumps.  Two days later, Phil has still not found Carol and is incredibly sad.

In space, Astronaut Miller floats his dead worm into space, leaving him with one worm for a companion.

Phil finally arrives at the Speedy Pump that he was looking for.  Phil searches the gas station, frantically looking for Carol but gets no answer.  In desperation, Phil fires his weapon into the air, but still gets no answer. A depressed Phil heads inside the RV and looks at the pictures Carol drew of their adventures. Phil stops at the drawing of Tuscon, sure in his belief that this is where Carol is.

Phil arrives in Tuscon and has to talk himself into being brave enough to get out of the RV.  In the end, he puts on a ridiculous camouflage outfit and sneaks back into the old settlement. Much to Phil's surprise, no one is there.  Phil calls out for Carol but gets no answer.  This is when Phil notices that there has been a fire and one of the houses is badly burnt. Phil walks through his old house and picks up a picture of him and his family.

Later, a sad Phil sits by the old fire pit and Carol sits exactly where he left her in an EMCO gas station in Oklahoma and Astronaut Miller floats in space.

Well Phil has gone and done it now; he's all alone.  Having lost Carol, and no idea where to head next, it will probably be a N.Y. minute before he reverts to his disgusting ways of the first part of season one.

Carol seems to regret leaving Tuscon behind and who can blame her?  Carol may be irritating but she's kind hearted. I cannot blame her for not wanting to be alone with only Phil for company.  It's clear that she regrets her choice and now look where it has led her?

Obviously, at some point and hopefully soon, Phil is going to be reconnected with people.  When the second chance comes, it will be somewhat (and I say somewhat because we are after all talking about Last Man on Earth,) interesting to see if he he has learned anything from his first experience but somehow I doubt it.

This first episode was basically a reset.  I hope that we don't end up repeating the last season and that something new will happen.  I do at least wonder where everyone in Tuscon ended up.