Our episode-by-episode interview series of Last Man on Earth season 2 continues…
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DEN OF GEEK: We learn that its 2023 in this episode.
Was that debated around at all?
Did you consider making it substantially earlier or later at any point?
Season one takes place over a couple months, getting us into early 2022.
We intended to imply that Tandy and Carol drove around for 6 months or so.
I think it was even stated in a script at one point, but probably didnt air.
So by that logic, Gordons death would still be in 2022.
Kind of kicking myself for that.
But we could just say that Tandy and Carol were on the road for a year.
I love that when we actually hear things about Gordon, he sounds like a fairly terrible person.
Yeah, the real purpose of Gails speech was just to make life unfair for Tandy.
And Gail says, He was a collector, not a fan.
Weve also talked about Gordon having a secret room filled with creep shots of Todd.
But I think its safe to say thats just for us.
Maybe, maybe not.
I think were attracted to it because its something other sitcoms dont get to do.
And also, we want to stay real true to the feeling of loss and alienation in this show.
Up until this season, all the death was just referenced in dialogue.
None of it was on camera.
So an on-camera death is a way to reset everyones clock and say this shit is affecting these people.
I mean, that said, Gordos death and funeral were about as funny as death can be.
Carols eulogy was spectacularly awkward.
And it was written so much longer.
And it was glorious.
I wish we could make 26-minute episodes.
So Gordo was played more for laughs.
And I really love it as an existential observation.
Any human being who wants something has the potential to alienate another human being in pursuit of it.
Tandy and Carol nearly leave the group and go back to Tucson in this episode.
And I think that certainly could have worked.
But Im glad we didnt do it that way.
It was very carefully scripted by Will.
Im sure we shot it as written because hes a perfectionist.
But at the same time, thats a real strong comedic premise.
Thats like a bullet.
You tell any funny person the first two lines of that bit and they can riff on it.
So yes, Will played with it on camera.
He could have gone for hours.
The rest of the cast had a hard time keeping it together.
After seeing how good he is at this empathetic, did you begin writing to it more?
Tandy pretty much goes through a gauntlet of an atonement tour for the next few episodes.
Part of it was logic.
We thought it should rightfully take a more than one episode for everyone to come around on Tandy.
But another part of it is just the comedy angle.
If the stocks were the only punishment, we wouldnt have had the fun of the shock collar.
And if everyone loved him after the shock collar, we wouldnt have had the chips.
The episode ends with the introduction of the stockades.
You werent going to chain him to a giant rock or anything?
The stocks were the first and only thing that came up.
That gun bit was fully formed the minute it came into existence.
It had to end with a hard cut to a guy in stocks.
I dont even know where that image comes from, but its in our collective sub-conscious.
If feels like its from theThree Stooges.
Or Warner Brothers cartoons.
Wherever it came from, its the universal sign for dumbass done fucked up.
It cant be anything else, can it?
I mean, why the fuck do these people have stocks?
This episode more than any other feels like a showcase of Fortes physical comedy ability.
It just fell together that way.
And would he screw something else up?
He thinks in set pieces.
That episode was ridiculous fun.
Not terribly fun to shoot, though.
It was ridiculously hot that week, and we had a ton of outdoor scenes.
It feels like Phil is beginning to snap here and become fairly unhinged.
His gun stuff with Phil is pretty intense.
Was this an intentional move?
We worried if we had really earned that emotion from Phil 2.
And when that happened, it felt good and right to us.
The topic of expiration dates come up here and how nearly all the preservatives have expired.
These real moments when the severity of their situation is sinking in are my favorite.
We keep dipping our toes in it because it interests us a lot.
Better get on that.
Will just completely commits here to looking his absolute grossest.
Was it always cheese?
Is there like a five-minute cut of the scene hiding out there?
That scene is actually hard for me to watch.
But Wills commitment is sublime.
They went through all the cheese that props brought that day, which was probably five mozzarella balls.
Of course, we sent that footage directly to the Smithsonian because it is of such cultural significance.
I believe theyre storing it next to the Alan Lomax folk recordings.
The whole fire scene is beautiful in so many different ways.
So fire it was.
Now, want a huge scoop?
We shot it and we cut it for time.
We revealed at the end of the episode that her limp was fake.
The old Keyser Soze ending.
We cut that for time too.
So there is a history of Carol Pilbasian being manipulative that only us writers know about.
Did you want to end with a cliffhanger?
Was the reveal ever held off more so people might have really starting guessing what his secret could be?
Yeah, you exposed a slight flaw.
I agree the Todd mystery beat just didnt play as well as we thought it would.
We had written more tease material earlier in the episode, but we cut that stuff for time.
Our walkthrough onLast Man on Earthssecond season will continue tomorrow.Click here for the previous entries.
