Bill Tetzeli

The plot, script, and acting can all be expressed in two words: Reheated leftovers.

This is a really good thought experiment for what the world would be like without men. There are two things that strike me about the show, one being plausible, but just barely, the other being absolutely baffling. The first is that contrary to being some utopia, in this show a world without men absolutely sucks. Possible, but once the science whiz kids ramp up the cloning facilities and everyone gets over the shock and mourning of losing loved ones, I'd venture it would be a hell of a lot better. Second, and this really strains credibility, is how empty the world looks after only half its population has died off. Assuming something between 500 million and a billion people die of secondary causes, flights falling in midflight, road accidents, rioting and general lawlessness, hunger and gender-agnostic diseases, that would leave between three and three and a half billion people - or roughly the global population during the 1970's, when overpopulation was already a big concern. I grew up then, and I don't remember block after block of unoccupied homes and empty workplaces. Either the showrunners were too influenced by watching The Stand, or everyone's keeping a really low profile. Or, more likely, they just couldn't afford the extra actors.