oh, it’s such a perfect day
I’m glad I spent it with you
oh, it’s such a perfect day
you just keep me hanging on
tlmoe
Our Godawful Lazy Remake Culture
That Last Man on Earth fanfic. Ha, I did it! And mostly without crying!
Title: Our Godawful Lazy Remake Culture
Rating: God knows. PG-13? It gets kinda gross in its descriptions every now and then. Also, well, you’ve seen the show
Fandom: The Last Man on Earth (TV)
Notes: The opening line is from Fredric Brown’s famous story “Knock.”
Characters/ships: Mike, Erica, Mike/Erica (well, sort of)
Summary: Mike forbade his brother to watch him die, but he didn’t forbid Erica.
Find it on AO3, or-
*
1. Mike
The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.
Actually, most of that statement is inaccurate. Mike wasn’t the last man on Earth, although it would have been easier if it had been, and it wasn’t a knock, it was more like a pounding. He was in a room though. Hey, it’s a good opener, just go with it.
“Phil?” Mike asked. It came out as a sort of croak. It wouldn’t be Phil, he had promised. Maybe it was Death. Maybe it was the Terry Pratchett version of Death, which Mike had always hoped to be the real one. That would be pretty cool.
“Mike?” a voice called from downstairs. Whoever it was had opened the front door. Also, it was a woman. It was Erica. “Mike, it’s me.” A moment of silence. “Are you dead?”
“No,” Mike called back. It took most of his remaining strength to say that. Erica raced upstairs, taking the steps two at a time, and flung the door open.
“Christ!” she exclaimed on seeing him. “Oh, christ.”
“Sorry,” said Mike. He thought about making some joke about he wasn’t used to having that effect on a woman, but the words just didn’t come.
“Oh god, you do have it,” Erica said. She was wearing a hazmat suit; somehow Mike had missed this. “Oh god, I was hoping – I was hoping everyone was wrong. I had to come, I had to see-”
“Sorry,” said Mike again.
Erica was crying. “Oh god – you just look so terrible -”
“Thanks.”
“I gotta go.” And she ran out of the room.
“Thanks,” Mike said again. He actually meant it.
So, I sneakily watched the Last Man on Earth finale before it aired here, and….it was sad. You know, for a show that gets 99% of its comedy from toilet humour and all.
If that really is the last we’ll see of Mike, it was nicely understated, but a part of me refuses to believe he really died out there, all alone apart from a bag of balls. (Heh.) I sort of suspect that’s just a handy way to leave Jason Sudeikis in TV Cast Limbo in case they do decide to bring him back/scheduling allows for them to bring him back. I secretly hope they do, really, because that was majorly depressing, even with the fart jokes. Despite Mike begging him not to, you would expect Phil (or anyone really) to return to the house in a few months just to check/bury the body. Great, now I’m sad again.
God, I never thought I’d be feeling so sorry for Phil. I loathed him last season. (Honestly, if you’re thinking of watching this show, skip the first season. Just skip it.) But this show’s gotten really good now, has actual heart, has great characters, and has me constantly feeling things. God damn it.
(It’s bugging me, though, that surely Mike would have mentioned at one point he met another survivor. Although we don’t know who the other two are. They’re a surprise.)
