BWW Recap: It's a Not So 'Silent Night' on THE LAST MAN ON EARTH

What sets THE LAST MAN ON EARTH apart from every other show on the air is its seamless mixing of rapturously funny comedy with its bleak, post-apocalyptic setting. The show is able to make that distinction and allow comedy to seep into a dark setting through distancing its characters from the tragedy that surrounds them. Sure, they're the last people on Earth. But, as Todd says tonight, "I didn't know any of them in the Morgue! I knew [Gordon]!"

Tonight's episode focuses entirely on the night following the events of last week. It directly follows the three cliffhangers that ended last week: Mike shooting himself out of the space station, Melissa proposing to Todd, and Phil collapsing to the floor in pain. All of these plots reach new heights, and THE LAST MAN ON EARTH elevates itself to a darkly comic heaven.

We open the episode on Mike, flying out into space, desperately trying to grasp onto the rope that connects back to the space station. He pulls himself back on board. The entire sequence is reminiscent of Sandra Bullock in GRAVITY, though Mike pulls himself onto the ship much quicker than the movie.

Mike sent himself out into space after his last worm died. It's a striking moment, but one that probably represents a lot of people left on Earth after the plague. I'm sure many people that were left, with everyone around them dead, killed themselves because of the horrors that happened. Mike saves himself, though, and when he gets back to the station, he sees that there's still one worm left alive. In a connection to his past life, Mike names the worm Phil, in reference to his brother. The worm acts as a symbol of hope.

Remembering he has a brother hopefully back on Earth, Mike finds a new will to live. Through talking to the worm, he convinces himself to finally deploy in the escape pod back to Earth. He takes Phil the worm, gets in the pod, and hurtles to Earth.

Meanwhile in Malibu, Phil 2 is on his deathbed. Erica, the mother of his child, and Tandy, the man who saved him from a suicide attempt, sit on either side of him. They both desperately hope he will be okay: Erica, because she doesn't want to raise the baby alone; and Tandy, because he truly cares about everyone in the group, though he hardly ever gets that point across.

Gail stands at the edge of the bed, reading through a medical book, trying to figure out what the problem is. She reads on, and figures out that Phil 2 had appendicitis, a lethal disease. The group demands she perform the surgery because she took command to figure out what the disease was.

Gail doesn't want to do it; she's just a chef from North Carolina. Erica goes to convince her to do the surgery, because "He's the father of my child." She wins Gail over and gets her to agree to do the surgery. In a way, this role of savior allows Gail to redeem herself for the death of Gordon in the beginning of the season. Gordon, Gail's lover, died, and she couldn't do anything about it. Through potentially saving Phil 2, she is able to put to rest her own worries in her mind over the death of Gordon.

Gordon hangs over the episode in many ways. He was the first person we saw actually die in this post-apocalypse, and it proved that the show was willing to be ruthless. It also showed this world is still very dangerous. While Gail is practicing for the surgery on pies, Todd and Tandy decide to get a body from the morgue for her to practice on. Only, all the bodies have since decomposed into skeletons. The only potential corpse for her to practice on? Gordon.

Tandy, in his typical hard-headed and oblivious, yet good-natured way, decides to dig up Gordon for Gail to practice on. Todd has a problem with it, which is when he says "I knew the guy!" Death doesn't bother him, or any of the survivors, except when it's personal. And this holds over to the show in total. Rarely does anybody refer to their lives before the apocalypse. We head to Carol's childhood home, but she doesn't depress herself; she's detached from the past. All the survivors are detached from their lives before.

While digging up the body, Todd reveals to Tandy that he is in a relationship with Gail now, that he's done with Melissa. Earlier in the episode, Todd and Melissa had a frank conversation where they cemented the end of their relationship, though Melissa still does not know about Gail. Melissa is visibly upset about this, though Todd has moved on.

Gail doesn't have to work on Gordon's body, because Carol and Melissa brought her a practice surgery body that students used. Gail practices, but is forced into surgery before she thinks she's ready. Through bad form, stress, and discouragement when things start to go bad, Phil 2 dies at the end of the episode. During surgery, his appendix filled with blood.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, tonight, reached very dark comedy. The entire episode took place at night, or in space. They dig up bodies and joke about death. Everyone on the show has reached a low point with the death of Phil 2 (except for Mike who is making his return to Earth). It'll be interesting to see if the show continues this dark turn in the aftermath of his death, or if it returns to a lighter brand of post-apocalyptic comedy. My money's on the former.

The Last Quotes on Earth

Gail: "Will you try to blow out a fart for me?"

Gail: "Inability to remove a ruptured appendix results in death like 100% of the time."

Erica: "Tandy, let him rest." Tandy: "i will, but not in peace."

Tandy: "I think i need some Clarice starling under the nose cream."

Tandy: "I brought your medicine. it's laughter."

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Leave your comments or thoughts on tonight's episode below or tweet me @gunnar_larson! THE LAST MAN ON EARTH is set to return this spring, though FOX has yet to provide a release date.

Photo Credits: THE LAST MAN ON EARTH official Twitter