For a show that was supposed to be about one man’s time goofing around in a post-apocalyptic Earth, it managed to truly motor along in terms of building characters and developing story lines through its second season. So much happened last year on the show that it deserves a recap before the third season begins tomorrow.
The Return of the Tandyman.
The first season ended with Carol deciding to leave the group tobe with Tandy in order to give him company and help them start their lives afresh. After about six months together, Carol begins to miss the group and tries to convince Tandy to head back so that they can make amends.
A mishap at a gas station ends up changing their plans when Tandy and Carol get separated from one another.
After searchingfor days, Tandy decides to return to Tucson hoping to re-unite with Carol there. Carol also finds a message left by Tandy through a train and makes her way to Tucson where the couple finally reunites. Unfortunately for them, the group is no longer in Tucson and have now moved to Malibu for reasons unknown.
Phil finds a letter from Melissa addressed to Carol, which asks her to come to Malibu without Phil if she ever found the letter. Phil hides this letter from Carol at first, but ends up surprising her and taking her to Malibu after realizing that being with the group would make her really happy.
The death of Gordon.
Tandy and Carol find the group in Malibu but don’t approach them right away because of Melissa’s letter. They send in Carol to sweet talk the group into taking Tandy back, but Carol ends up making a surprise entrance that shocks one of their new members to death (a hilarious Will Ferrell cameo). In order to smoothen the blow, Carol tells everyone that Tandy is dead too, but no one seems to care.
She then changes her story in order to gain some sympathy for Tandy, but everyone is too busy mourning Gordon.
Just when the group is about to change their mind and forgive Tandy, he holds them at gunpoint and delivers an inappropriate monologue about how much they mean to him. Tandy is then punished andlocked in a pillory, where he faces up to his mistakes and accepts his punishment.
Shifting focus from Phil to Phil.
During the course of the next few episodes, Phil starts to antagonize the group by getting involved with Erica and then showing an interest in Carol. Eventually, Phil ends up becoming the new Tandy of the group and is even sentenced to time in the pillory. He brushes off the punishment and decides to leave to be on his own, when Erica tells him that she is pregnant with his baby. Phil changes his mind and tries to make amends, while Tandy tries to befriend him and help him get close to the group again. Unfortunately for Phil, he suffers from appendicitis, and the lack of any medical expertise within the group causes him to die during a surgery by Gail.
Mike Miller meets the group
Throughout the first season, we caught glimpses of Tandy’s brother – Mike, an astronaut stuck in space. This season, Mike ends up coming to Earth to find survivors and gets taken hostage by a loony conspiracy theorist named Pat Brown. He escapes from Pat and laterreunites with his brother Tandy.
Tandy and Phil however still have a lot of unresolved issues that play out during the remainder of the season. An epic prank war breaks out with each brother trying to outdo the other, and Mike always gaining the upper hand. Things start to cool off when Carol and Tandy try to have a baby, bringing the group close together for the first time. Mike then begins to fall rapidly ill, and is forced to leave the group because they suspect he is infected.
Tandy and Mike share a tender farewell, before Mike forces Tandy to leave him to die alone.
The season ends with the group finding out about the existence of more survivors because of a surveillance drone, but things get complicated when they see Pat and two other armed survivors making their way to the beach in an ominous way.
