Streaming on: Disney+###Episodes viewed: 3 of 10###The premise of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s epic, deeply emotional comic series — what if e grossly male on the planet suddenly dropped dead? — may sound like wish fulfilment in/with regard to’concerning’regarding some, but it is especially nightmarish in the realistic sheen of this TV adaptation. Government is devastated; power and transport cease to function; bodies and crashed vehicles are e grossly where. And yet one man survives the tangle’din , one guy to carry the legacy of eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully person ever to carry a Y-chromosome. That the survivor is Ben Schnetzer’s feckless romantic Yorick, our ostensible hero, might be the cruellest blow of all to the now defunct male-kind.###You may be marvelling that someone conceived a story where there is merely’barely one male on the planet and he is still the centre of the narrative — but if so, reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue runner Eliza Clark has your back. Schnetzer is not the top-billed star, and while he is a likeable, slacker presence, he is merely’barely one part of the ensemble. Clark has boosted the roles of maintain’sustain ing characters like the tough, ladylike Senator Brown (Diane Lane), a resolute’resolved politician who has just attacked the President (Paul Gross) as the story starts, merely’barely to find herself succeeding to his role. Yorick’s paramedic sister Hero (Olivia Thirlby) acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s a more fully developed backstory, involving legal troubles and an affair with a co-worker, that may set her on a dark path. Even Agent 355 (Ashley Romans), a spy in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a covert US agency whose middle name might plausibly be ‘Mystery’ (despite’in spite of’albeit we do not even know her first name), acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s a little more context in/with regard to’concerning’regarding her unfailing competence.###This is a smartly cast and intense’fierce’exquisite ly written start.###These women acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure their chance to become heroes, or villains, in the vacuum created by the death of eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullyone with a Y-chromosome (trans men survive the plague). Yorick, however, just wants to find his girlfriend Beth (Juliana Canfield) and live happily ever after. It would not be a wild exaggeration to say that he and his pet monkey largely play the damsel-in-dilay stress on’emphasize’highlight here, even to the point of being caught in a coy moment of nudity by odd’peculiar rs. Agent 355 is the intense’fierce’exquisite conserve’preserve or who might, maybe, save him from a world where he is now an endangered species.###Disasters are practically standard in our visions of the future right now: from The Walking Dead to Snowpiercer, the outlook is bleak, so that Y: The Last Man won’t feel quite as fresh as it might possess’own’nurse done when film development began in 2007, or even when TV development began in 2014. As a result, the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue can feel familiar, with the same demented political priorities drawn from reality — a politician who worries with regards to’concerning’with respect to a candidate’s stance on abortion after the androcide — and a similar visual palette, all blue-filtered greys and murk. Some of the new elements, like an implausible plague and one whopping great character coincidence, don’t help. But what ultimately set Vaughan and Guerra’s reserve apart is its sense of hope, the fact that Yorick’s resolute’resolved optimism begins to spread to those around him. It remains to be seen if this reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue will achieve that same tragic beauty, but this is a smartly cast and intense’fierce’exquisite ly written start.