‘Y: The Last Man’ Ep. 5 – Boston at War and What Lies Ahead
Five episodes into the series and the original trio are finally together.
In this week’s episode of Y: The Last Man, the audience finally meets Dr. Allison Mann. With her presence comes a change in direction– and a look at the city of Boston at war.
This is a recap episode! I can’t very well do a recap of ‘Y: The Last Man’ episode 5 without SPOILERS!
Yorick & 355
We meet our odd-couple as they carefully travel the streets of Boston. The city is full of protestors facing off against U.S. soldiers, who are protecting, among other landmarks, Harvard University. The city is covered in signs and graffiti about government conspiracies and violence.
355 sits Yorick down and gives him a firm “DO NOT MOVE”. She makes her way over to the soldiers, posing as general in order to get information. The soldiers inform her that they’ve been regularly tear-gassing rioters, but someone in Washington wants the university protected. Once she finds out that Allison Mann isn’t on the list of scientists they’ve found, she returns to Yorick.
The escape artist has, however, picked a lock and gone inside the building he was told to hide behind. Inside, he quickly realizes that it’s a station for the protestors, and he runs into one of them. She assumes he is sympathetic to their cause, and convinces him to put 355’s knife on the ground.
Yorick jumps into action when a tear-gassing victim runs into the building, and he’s even able to take his gas mask off when Steph assumes he’s a trans man. She mentions testosterone, which we know is in limited supply across the country now.
As more protestors come in, Yorick slips back out– just as 355 is returning. He insists he did not move, although he can’t explain why he doesn’t have her knife anymore.
Courtesy of FX
Dr. Allison Mann
The next place the pair check is Dr. Mann’s apartment. Covered in old, rotted food and clothes, they both notice a baby crib in the corner of the room. Allison Mann’s file doesn’t mention a child, which they both find unusual.
In her apartment, they find a clue to where she may be hiding. Sure enough, Dr. Mann is holed up inside the lodge, but assuming they mean her harm, the doctor immediately moves to defend herself, stabbing Yorick in the shoulder (lightly, he’ll be fine.)
Courtesy of FX
Allison is every bit the foul-mouthed skeptic we were promised. As 355 tries to brief her, she talks over her, piecing together their story based on observable details. She almost instantly deduces that Yorick has a y-chromosome, and throws a wrench in 355’s plan to inform her that they’ll need access to her lab in San Francisco.
An argument threatens to erupt between Three-Fifty and Dr. Mann about the validity of the protests outside. As Allison makes the point that governments often lie to people, Yorick bursts in with a joke to break the tension. 355 takes the opportunity to step out, saying she’s going to call President Brown.
The Culper Ring
But 355 is a liar, liar, pants on fire. Instead, she breaks the antennae on the satellite phone. She uses the broken phone as a reason to venture out to the address she found at the Culper Ring office.
When she arrives, she crawls in the window, only to find another woman staying there. As the two fight, it becomes evident they’re both agents. They stop and introduce themselves, and Agents 355 and 525 discuss their missing mentor, a Culper recruiter known as Fran.
The two discuss their backgrounds– how the Culper Ring recruits kids who don’t have anyone to care about them. Just before the event, both agents were suddenly pulled out of cover missions and placed into government facilities. Did the Culper Ring know what was going to happen?
Courtesy of FX
355 also finds a collapsable baton, a weapon she’s famous for wielding throughout the original comic.
An Inclusive Tribute to the Y-chromosome
While this is happening, Allison goes about her daily business with Yorick. She changes her shirt, causing Yorick to look away– but not before we notice some scars across Mann’s abdomen.
Facing the wall, Yorick notices that all of the artwork has dicks drawn all over it. When he asks Mann if it’s her handy work, she tells him that people grieve in their own way.
As Yorick attempts to make small talk, Mann tells him that she teaches because it allows her to do her work with minimal government and corporate interference. When he presses about a boyfriend is San Francisco, Mann tells him that she’s gay. Then the two get chardonnay drunk together.
It’s this moment that I find to be the most impactful of the episode. Delivering a message the original comic book failed to convey, Allison laments the loss of the silent Y’s. A geneticist and gay woman pays tribute to every intersex person and trans woman who also died, during the event, and who have been erased from the communal conversations about loss.
It’s also at this moment that Yorick sees past his own narcissism and makes a genuine observation. He remarks that she seems sad after he asks her about the crib, a question she dodges.
The conversation is cut short when 355 returns, lying about a conversation with Jennifer. When Yorick notices 355’s injury, he’s concerned. When he asks what happened, she maintains her strict boundaries, providing no answer.
President Brown & Christine
While all of this is happening in Boston, things are no less tense in Washington. As Jennifer and her Cabinet prepare for the return of Secretary Regina Oliver, General Reid informs her that two of their helicopters have crashed, and that the people flying them were almost certainly dead.
Courtesy of FX
The President struggles to keep a her facial expression cool while she considers the possibility that her son is dead. She also becomes suspicious of Agent 355, who she correctly assumes is responsible for the death of the two helicopter pilots who knew Yorick was alive.
In the ladies room, where clothes are hung to dry on a clothesline, Kimberley accidentally drops her purse on the floor, revealing small kids’ toys and crayons. When Jennifer Brown’s aid Christine comes in, she launches into her thoughts about Jennifer sending the helicopters after Hero, who she assumes Jennifer was searching for.
But she quickly realizes that Christine is not okay, and she comforts and cares for her while the aid experiences what she believes in a miscarriage.
At the doctor’s office, Christine finds out that she’s 12 weeks pregnant. Despite the bleeding, her baby still has a heartbeat– but she doesn’t seem as emotionally moved as Kimberley and the technician administering the ultrasound. She asks that Kimber keep her pregnancy a secret.
Later, Christine and Jennifer share a moment of anxiety as the aid comforts the President. Clearly upset that she hasn’t received a call from 355 and Yorick, Jennifer asks for any information they can gather about the woman who has her son.
Secretary Regina Oliver
At the end of the episode, Secretary Oliver is brought in to the White House. Jennifer joins the crowd in applauding her, though many in the room recognize the tension her presence will bring.
Kimberly wastes no time in welcoming the returning Republican, joking with her that the White House has become a Rachel Maddow fantasy. When Jennifer Brown arrives to personally greet Oliver, Olive points out that Jennifer is only being diplomatic because she wants to maintain power.
Regina doesn’t outright say it, but she doesn’t have to. These incredibly conservative women are about to take control of the White House.
Courtesy of FX
What did you think of episode 5? What effect will Regina Oliver have on a world in shambles?
‘Y: The Last Main’ airs exclusively on Hulu/FX every Monday night at midnight.
