The last people on earth finally start acting like a family.
We go back inside the writers' room of Last Man on Earth season 3…
This part of the walkthrough looks at episodes seven through nine fromLast Man on Earthsthird season.
Previous installments of this walkthrough can be foundhere.
As much as I want to see Tandy is a sparkly jumpsuit, it was the right call.
So yes, this is the conservative version.
Family has always been such a huge part of the show, but its an overwhelming theme this season.
Why did now feel like the right time to really start highlighting that idea?
KIRA KALUSH:We end season two with Carol and Tandy finding out theyre going to be parents.
So now with two babies on the way, were starting to see this makeshift family literally expand.
ANDY BOBROW:Im glad we didnt do it earlier than this, actually.
Any ensemble show is about a family or an ersatz family.
Ive seen lots of shows make the mistake of calling themselves a family before the audience really believes it.
Our show is unique because we spent the whole first season introducing characters.
For me, they really got solidified as a family when Phil died.
Theres a lot going on in this episode.
Did any of these plotslike the photo one, for instancehappen to be longer originally?
Were plots getting pushed together in this one?
KIRA KALUSH:This episode is definitely a doozey.
Every story is important so it was tough to whittle everything down.
We actually had a whole arc for Lewis and Erica that ended up getting cut.
ANDY BOBROW:It was about Lewis and Erica bonding over the flight simulator.
She gets caught up in the idea of one day going back to Australia.
Ill admit, this show isnt well suited for C stories.
We typically take our sweet time watching Tandy scheme and overthink everything.
The Erica piece of that was good color, but not as crucial, unfortunately.
Lewis trying to teach himself how to fly is some significant stuff.
Its nice to see someone actually using this time to better themselves in some way.
KIRA KALUSH:Thank God for sensible Lewis!
Hes the only one who is smart enough to do something useful and has the drive to do it.
The disappearance of either Gail or Melissa on their own would make for a big cliffhanger.
Why double down on this and have them both up in the air?
ANDY BOBROW:Kiras lying.
The reason we doubled down was because were friggin idiots.
Do a Gail elevator arc, and then do a Melissa missing arc.
We were like, What would a smart person do?
Lets do the opposite.
In the meantime, Gail has her own adventure.
ANDY BOBROW:Not a coincidence!
We do a lot of things by accident but that is not one of them.
This nonsense going on with Tandys dinosaur suit issoridiculous.
Whats the story there?
ANDY BOBROW:We had seen it on YouTube.
We were looking for some wish-fulfillment stuff, something physical for Tandy to do.
We showed the YouTube to Will and he was way into it.
There was a brief discussion with our producer as to whether we should buy the dinosaur or rent it.
Our default response is always: Well, were probably gonna want to destroy it at some point.
So we own this thing now.
Theres a very interesting structure to this episode where ostensibly nothing happens.
Youve done a few episodes at this point about trying to find someone.
Why did this one seem to be anything done?
ANDY BOBROW:I suppose you could say were attracted to the futility of their existence.
Thats certainly part of it.
Its possible some people will say it was too slow until that point.
So its tricky to tell stories like that, and hopefully it wasnt a negative for people.
Theres a really beautiful Todd and Carol story at the core of this episode.
Theyre not a pair that usually get to share a storyline.
Was it nice to get to play the two against each other here?
ANDY BOBROW:Yes, absolutely.
The last two people who would ever have harsh words for anyone.
But Mel and Kristen are both so good at playing fights in a lovable way.
Its really fun to watch them build it and especially to watch Mel blow up.
I think were always a little worried about taking a nice character and making them angry.
It has to be earned, and you worry it will stick out in a bad way.
I think in Todds case, his anger was completely appropriate.
Meanwhile, Lewis finds new success with his pursuits in aviation and Melissa is contained.
It made sense that he write the episode that capped it off.
He wanted to do it.
The honeymoon storyline very much feels up Fortes angle.
ANDY BOBROW:Yeah, that entered the story after the first outline I think.
But we knew we would need something to balance it out.
We were like, What?
A ton of shit!
Of course, we would you even ask that?
But we hadnt figured that out yet ourselves.
It felt a little familiar, maybe because we had already done Tandy building a house on a floor.
When you got Gail in that elevator, did you know what the conclusion would be there?
ERIK DURBIN:Yes, that was always the plan.
ANDY BOBROW:Some things, Will gets an image in his head and it does not waiver.
That final moment was in his head and I dont think we ever considered anything else.
We were scared of it, thats for sure.
Was that an important factor here, too?
ERIK DURBIN:Yeah, theres always the desire to be honest about how heavy their situation is.
Its important not to cut corners on that stuff.
I would have bought that Roomba solution.
You set the unit up in earlier episodes and I could believe it reachingsomeoneeventually, for what its worth.
ERIK DURBIN:Im glad you bought it!
ERIK DURBIN:Who knows, really, but I dont think there was danger of her jumping.
She got up on those hay bales in the road trip episode, and then the roof.
So its a little Easter egg.
The crazier she gets, the higher she gets.
Especially when Fish Gail finds a second life.
ERIK DURBIN:Glad you liked that.
Last season of the show had a Fall Finale as well.
Did you block this season out as two halves or have a specific cliffhanger in mind for this moment?
Or do those touches come later?
ERIK DURBIN:Yeah, we think of the season in two halves.
So we took advantage of that by doing the fall finale.
We knew people would view the Christmas episode as a finale of sorts no matter what.
The famous example was Who shot JR?
which kept the whole country talking aboutDallasfor an entire summer.
Thats really the only way to understand any of this.
Similarly, when starting out the season, how much of this climax had you figured out?
ERIK DURBIN:None.
ANDY BOBROW:Zip.
I mean, we knew we wanted a climax.
Does that count as having a climax?
(If so, Ive had several today, boom).
But to clarify, when we started writing the season, we had nothing.
But I think by the time we started shooting the season, we had a few possibilities.
It was probably around the time we were shooting episode 303 when we decided on episode 309.
Our walkthrough onLast Man on Earthsthird season will continue when the season resumes!