User Reviews

My take on the first season was "generally enjoyable, but that's a very goofy premise". This second season sort of tries to give some more context, sometimes successfully, sometimes not: the connection between virus and "hybrids" is given, and well, it's up to the viewer to decide whether that's enough.

The positive of the season is the more time afforded to the Last Men - the negative is that, try as it might, the show fails to convince you that the Last Men are the problem. I mean, I am sorry, but humanity is in palpable danger of extinction, and General Abbott, this Rob Halford of survivors, is literally the only one who gives a damn. Is finding a cure worth experimenting on and killing the hybrid children? No - there has to be a better way, but in the face of actual extinction, this is not a clear-cut dilemma. And if it is clear-cut for the zoo-keeper mother and Big Man, how is it so for Birdie? There are flash-backs that show you that Birdie, a scientist directly involved in the project that killed billions, is told from the very start of the pandemic that the special child is special and holds the key to a cure. And what does she do? NOTHING. She lies and hides. "Who the hell cares? I will allow hundreds of millions, billions of people, to die, rather than maaaaybe risk that one kid I decided is mine." And we are expected to like this character because it's "his mom"? HELL NO. She is 1000 times the Nazi that General Abbott is.

A similar problem exists with the doctor Singh storyline: he, at least, cares, even if his main motivation is not to save the species, but a blend of the cliches of 'scientist obsessed with a project' and 'guy does everything to save wife'. However, his wife doesn't care for a cure. And while it's perfectly understandable that she is tired and cannot stomach what keeping her alive requires, the entire issue is shown as if this is just about her - it's not. You do not want the cure, but does that give you the right to demand that a cure is never made? Also, all season long I expected that she would be shaken to the core by the presence of elephant boy, given how much we see that Ganesha statue, but nope, it wasn't even implied that this played a role.

There are some other issues too: like the bit at the start where Wendy tells us that part of the reason they have developed a sign language is that not all hybrids have the capacity of speech - logical given their animal heads - except that then every single one can, at least a little: elephant? Can talk; hedgehog? Can talk; groundhog(?)? Can talk; crocodile? Yep, even him. Or how an entire squadron of soldiers is defeated by a few Home Alone traps (there is an entire forest, but the bad guys step into every single booby trap) and very special deer boy is also able to summon bisons, because hell, he might as well, right?

4 stars for General Abbott, 1 for Big Man, who remains likeable, zero for the rest.