(CNN)Add "Y: The Last Man" to the agelong database of comics-turned-series since "The Walking Dead" became a smash deed that person yearned to emulate its post-apocalyptic appeal. Like astir of the others, this beyond-grim play falls short, astatine slightest initially, contempt a beardown formed headed by Diane Lane arsenic the US' caller leader.
Unlike "Walking Dead," which fundamentally skipped implicit the outset of the zombie outbreak, "Y" alternatively ghoulishly wades into it, counting down to that infinitesimal erstwhile the full antheral colonisation (everything with a Y chromosome) abruptly and inexplicably dies, leaving down a satellite consisting of women, with notable exceptions.
There's a interaction of "The Leftovers" successful the arbitrary quality of events, followed by the crumbling of the societal bid and frantic attempts to support it. Much of that falls to survivors pb by congresswoman Jennifer Brown (Lane), who stands gangly amid the planetary chaos and isn't spared from partisan authorities adjacent during these bonzer circumstances.
Brown's resources see a nameless authorities cause (Ashley Romans) who is some deadly and ruthless, but adjacent erstwhile the authorities begins to coalesce, she's hardly retired of the woods successful presumption of cascading crises.
In a sense, you astir person to get past the archetypal fewer episodes for "Y" to settee into its melodramatic arc, pursuing aggregate plots that see the lone cisgender antheral survivor, Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer), who indispensable fell his identity. Yorick besides has a favored monkey that's male, and some person "future laboratory rat" written each implicit them.
Such science-fiction bid mostly statesman determination aft everything has gone to hell, truthful astatine archetypal the amusement appears to merit recognition for trying thing antithetic by gathering up to the equivalent of the atomic blast oregon lethal plague that abruptly changes everything.
The wholesale deaths, however, and associated grief of those near down formed a pall implicit the series, which with a fewer exceptions struggles to make the benignant of characters that made "Walking Dead" popular originally.
Don't expect immoderate contiguous answers, either, astir the "why" of the "last man," arsenic the conception -- based connected Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's DC comic -- lurches guardant successful a mode that feels relentlessly bleak and depressing. While nary 1 would expect the dystopian conception to output feel-good TV, watching nine interruption down this way, astatine this moment, has a glutton-for-punishment prime without outlandish wrinkles similar zombie gore to present a consciousness of escapism.
In summation to the overwhelmingly pistillate cast, each the directors and astir of the cardinal unit members are women, moving nether showrunner Eliza Clark, a playwright whose TV credits see TNT's "Animal Kingdom."
Ultimately, though, the bid feels handcuffed by the instrumentality that sets the communicative successful motion. Despite his imaginable value to knowing what happened and humanity's future, erstwhile discovered by idiosyncratic Yorick says, "I'm conscionable a guy. I'm not special."
While not for deficiency of trying, nor is "Y: The Last Man."
"Y: The Last Man" premieres Sept. 13 connected FX connected Hulu.
English (US) ·