The Last Man on Earth - Cancun, Baby - Review

In the series finale (Note: As this article was written the news dropped that The Last Man on Earth has been cancelled by FOX)) of The Last Man on Earth, the time came for the group to leave their horror house in Zihuatanejo and go on to find a new place to live. After Gail campaigned for a move to Cancun, the group decided to hit the road in Cancun, Baby. Let's review.

After saying goodbye to their house, the gang decided to go out with a bang! by attempting to blow it up (it didn't exactly blow up much). Leaving a self-driving car behind with instructions to go to Cancun for Jasper, the group loads a train wagon to an 18-wheeler and hits the road. Everyone is excited to go to Cancun but a stop needs to be made on the way: they need to get more goats from the farm where Mike and Tandy found them in the previous episode. But once they get to the farm in Tapachula, there are no goats to be found.

Mike and Tandy search around the property for the goats while the rest of the gang waits, but they can't find them. While the group wants to get back on the road, Tandy asks for more time to find the animals. He hangs out with Clancy, his robot dog, when it unfortunately breaks down. Saddened by the "death" of his "pet," Tandy decides to bury him and, much to his surprise, encounters an actual dog while he is digging the grave. There is much to say about Tandy's relationship to pets in this episode. It brings us back to the time where he was all alone, when he thought he was the last man on Earth and didn't even have the companionship of a pet to go on living. Seeing this wondering Labrador makes him hope for a new life, one where they don't go aimlessly from city to city, from ghost town to ghost town.

As the gang gets ready to leave the farm, they spot the dog again and Tandy decides to stop the truck-train. He explains to them that he is tired of living the way they do and that it might be time for them to settle instead of chasing a way of life that no longer exists. At the farm, they have everything they need to build a sustainable life. They don't need the beaches of Cancun (which are probably covered with corpses). They only need the oranges, the goats, and each other.

After the gang agrees, Tandy turns to his brother and gives him his blessing to leave and go one searching for more life. He cuts his rat tail and gives it to Mike (who gives him some of his armpit hair in exchance. You know, as one does.) So Mike leaves and the beginning of a new, great life seems to be on the horizon until...oh, farts... The bunker people show up by the dozens, wearing gas masks and looking more menacing than friendly, making the gang feel like nothing good is going to come out of these newcomers' appearance.

But now, we'll never know what happens next. FOX's decision to cancel the show is not much of a surprise. Still, it is a bit of a shame that we won't get to know how the adventures of Tandy and company would actually end. The Last Man on Earth has never been a complete success. It definitely had its flaws but it was also incredibly daring and weird. It was unusual, bold and entertaining. It was good and even if it's now over, let's relish in the fact that it existed.