It would've been too easy for Mike to land safely on the first ship, and by deflecting the convenience of that option, the writers instill their savvy to the episode at large. It's a bold move to completely shift focus away from the main story, and to trust that the audience will patiently wait until next week to resolve a cliffhanger that's been dangling for months. But as the final moments of "Pitch Black" reveal, this Mike Miller digression revitalizes a set of dynamics back in Malibu that threatened to stagnate. There are only so many times the writing staff can return to the "Tandy is trash, realizes this, becomes a little less trash" well before it runs dry, and throwing Mike into the mix — along with a new baby — opens up lots of exciting narrative avenues. "Pitch Black" hits a few unexpectedly strong emotional beats, with Mike's insistence upon going to Tucson to see for himself the most poignant. His eventual reunion with Tandy is sure to be an eye-moistener.
Their tenuous partnership isn't long for this world. Mike sees a sign left by Tandy — which, by now, must be several years old — and Pat turns on him when he makes a move to set off for Tucson. They couldn't have stayed together for too long anyway: Pat wants to survive, and Mike wants to live. It wasn't uncommon for many settlers during the 19th century to take off from frontier towns and live on their own, finding stability and security in their solitude — to Mike, however, this barely constitutes a life at all. After a rocky descent from the heavens and a few days out at sea, clean underwear and saltines feel like lavish luxuries to Mike, but he lacks whatever personality trait it is that enables Pat to make himself an island. He can't live without the belief that somewhere, there's something more. (Incidentally, he shares this belief with his brother; in season one, Tandy only considered suicide when he believed he really was the last inhabitant of Earth.). The Last Man on Earth Recap: The Final Frontier
Why return with an episode solely focused on Mike?
Well, from the beginning, one of the things that got us most excited about the show was the isolation, and the opportunity to really do whatever the heck you want to. Obviously, last season, we showed a little bit of that. And then as time went on, more and more characters were introduced, so the stories became a little bit less about the isolation. Going into [Season 1], we had no idea what people’s patience level would be with just seeing one dude muck around in this world. Looking back, we probably wished we [rolled things] out a little more slowly. So that was why, at the beginning of this season, we spent some time just with Phil/Tandy and Carol alone. And then we thought this would be a good chance to explore it again with Mike, who has a totally different experience when he [arrives on Earth].
The episode also gave us some insight into the apocalypse itself.
There are a couple questions that we always wanted to deal with like, where are all the bodies? That was something we really wanted to get to in the very first [episode] of Season 1. But as we were doing the writing of the episode, I think Fox was not too excited about showing a dead body in a comedy. I understood that, because, like, you’re making this first impression. Last Man on Earth: Will Forte Dissects the Winter Premiere's Big Surprises
On the fall finale of The Last Man On Earth, things got quite crazy (crazier than usual). The other Phil Miller (Boris Kodjoe) got appendicitus, and Gail (Mary Steenburgen) had to perform surgery, even though she was NOT a surgeon and was tipsy. Phil flatlined. In the meantime, Mike Miller (Jason Sudeikis) changed his mind about suicide after a new worm was born, so decided to kamikaze to silent Earth. The show ended as he plummeted towards the planet screaming.
“You’re so stupid you don’t even know your own brother you friggin’ turd!” Classic Phil-ism. That is not the last we see of mini-Phil Miller.
Mike finds a sailboat, and just like his brother, he is not the last man for long. He meets Pat (Mark Boone Junior of SOA) who says that HE is The Last Man On Earth. Pat’s a little crazy though (ok, a lot). Pat has virus-phobia, understandably. He finally agrees to take him to land, and they cruise in an ice cream truck.
Mike: “I mean, where are all the bodies?” Thank you! He shows him a staging area of bodies upon bodies, and describes in detail the symptoms of the virus – “every hole” (blood and brain juice). TV Review: The Last Man On Earth 2.11 “Pitch Black”
Though Mike manages to safely crash-land his space capsule, he winds up stranded in the middle of the ocean. And since Mike believes he's the last man on earth, he'll have to figure out his own way to make it back to land, where his brother, Will Forte's Tandy (née Phil) unknowingly awaits. The Last Man on Earth Exclusive: See Jason Sudeikis Finally Make It to Earth!
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