If you’re one of the last people on Earth, eventually, food is going to become an issue. And on the latest episode of The Last Man on Earth, titled “Crickets,” it was certainly at the forefront, but with a little dose of trust-building built in.
As the episode began, everyone had the realization that crickets somehow survived the apocalypse. There aren’t farm animals or fish, but the crickets made it. So Carol begins to catch and cook them in some stunningly disgusting ways.
Meanwhile, Tandy stumbles upon Todd’s big secret teased in the previous episode. He’s found a freezer full of bacon next door and he’s keeping it all to himself. Instead of telling on Todd, though, the two begin to eat the delicious food together in secret. Tandy thinks is the beginning of a bonding process with Todd, but Todd disagrees. “This is just about the bacon,” he tells Tandy.
And eat bacon they do. While the rest of the group is sipping cricket juice, and injuring themselves on year-old canned soup, Todd and Tandy are mixing bacon with cheese whiz, Twinkies and just having a grand old time. Quickly, 42 remaining packages of bacon become three (which seemed like a huge leap but, okay). Tandy then proposes they give the final packages to the group but Todd doesn’t want to admit to his guilt. No matter. Tandy, being Tandy, forces the issue anyway, and everyone is thrilled with their three packages of bacon.
Just then, after 85% of the episode, The Last Man on Earth pulls its patented move. It reverses an otherwise noble move by Tandy (discarding the 39 empty bacon packages out to sea) and everyone finds out someone ate all this bacon. Todd confesses, Tandy tries to take the blame, but Todd won’t let him. The episode ends with both Todd and Tandy in the stocks and, at their lowest moment, Todd admits it was never just about the bacon. And they air fist bump.
In an overall sense, “Crickets” wasn’t a particularly grand episode of The Last Man on Earth, but it was funny—as usual—and important. Tandy is slowly building back the trust he lost last season. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next few episodes each deal with Tandy doing the same with another member of the group.
The Last Man on Earth is off next week, but will be back November 8.
Contact the author at germain@io9.com.