The Last Man on Earth 3×13: “Find This Thing We Need To”

At the end of 3×12, Carol discovered that someone has been living nearby, and Todd discovered that Melissa has been off her mystery prescription since leaving Akron. In this episode, we maybe find some answers.

Carol calls a meeting to fill the group (sans Melissa, who is still in the interrogation room) in on the findings from her family photos. At the table, there are four hats – one for each person sitting. She advises that they may want to hold on to them. (Get it? Hold onto your hats? Because they gon’ be surprised.) The picture on the screen of Carol and Gail is met with compliments, but Carol points out the mysterious figure in the background. Tandy waves it off as an acorn that looks bigger because “the camera adds ten pounds.” To show that that’s not what happened, Carol shows a sequence of pictures in which we see the Yoda move its placement.

 

Tandy tries to stay optimistic about the Yoda, speculating that the person inside the suit may be a boards certified doctor. Gail is rightfully concerned that the person will end up being a nutbag like Pat. Erica agrees, saying that a friendly person would have already introduced themselves. Tandy decides that this individual must be shy. With Gail injured and Todd on Melissa-watch, the group can’t handle a manhunt. Tandy plays the “Lewis” card, saying that Lewis would roll over in his ashes if he knew that they weren’t doing everything they could to find this possible doctor. They all decide to do it for Lewis.

Todd sets up pictures from Melissa’s old house to try to make her feel more at home here. He wants to figure out what medication she’s supposed to be on, but all she just keeps repeating “Santa’s penis.”

Tandy, Carol and Erica spy across the lake to see if they see anyone. Erica spots a house, and they decide to drive their disguised van to it. Once there, Tandy volunteers to scope the house for Yoda, in case it isn’t safe. He suggests that he use the classic bird call as his signal that it’s all clear, but Carol points out that there aren’t any birds anymore (aw, that’s sad), and Tandy settles on a wind sound. He walks up to the house, opens the door. Seeing that no one is home, he turns around and attempts to give his signal, but Carol thinks he’s choking. Erica recognizes that this is the wind sound.

Back at the house, Gail asks Todd if he can get her accordion that she left in the elevator at the other building. He doesn’t really want to do it because he has his hands full with Melissa. He’s planning on going to the pharmacy and trying to find a match for the lone pill from Akron. Gail offers to help.

As Tandy, Carol and Erica look around the new home Yoda has found since leaving Dagobah, they see that whoever lives there is an enormous slob. (Hmm, maybe it’s me.) Most of the mess is made up of one board games (mostly single player). Tandy comments on some of the items: Hungry Hungry Hippo (with no balls for them to eat. Tandy believes this might mean the inhabitant of the house is a sociopath), a can of orange soda (filled with urine), Monopoly (interest in real estate, capitalist).

Erica believes that the Yoda must be a little boy. Having a lot of games doesn’t guarantee that the person is a child. It’s the end of the world, Erica, and this person is alone. Who doesn’t want to play some kind of game every now and then? They also realize that the costume is pretty small, which backs up the claim that it’s a child, but Tandy doesn’t want to rule out the possibility of a Benjamin Button scenario. On the wall, they see very childish drawings (not unlike my own artistic abilities) of Tandy giving month-to-month to the fish he and Carol found in the lake. Tandy sees it as the ‘child’ idolizing him. Carol feels bad that the kid is living by himself, and it reminds him of how he felt living alone before Carol found him in Tucson.

At the pharmacy, Todd and Gail compare pills to Melissa’s. They find a plain, white, round one, and add it to the pile of other maybes. Gail finds a Xanax and takes it, just to be sure that that’s really what it is. Todd asks her to hand him the original pill, but she accidentally put it in the main pile of pills.

To draw the kid out of hiding, Tandy puts candy into a t-shirt cannon. But just in case it is a Benjamin Button situation, he has other ‘goodies,’ such as fixadent and depends.

In the car, Todd is still angry at a drugged, apologetic Gail. She asks him if he can drop her off at the other building so that she can get her accordion from the elevator, since he doesn’t want to do it. He says that he’ll get it, though.

While Tandy was outside, Gail and Erica cleaned the cabin as an act of kindness. It occurs to Tandy, though, that whoever lives here might not want some random people to come in and clean it. The person probably even wants them to just leave, so that’s what the three of them do. They walk outside, and Tandy theatrically announces that they are leaving, but he does so in a way that he believes is inconspicuous. They drive down the road for a little while, and suddenly Tandy is telling Carol to take the wheel as he throws himself out of the vehicle.

Grudgingly, Todd goes to the other building for Gail. Once he’s in the hall, we see the broken-down roomba to which Gail had tried to attach a note, which catches Todd’s eye, but ultimately he ignores. He pushes the elevator to open the elevator, and as soon as he sees the mess that’s inside, his face drops. He had never really stopped to think about what Gail had been through. He returns the accordion to Gail and apologizes for being too focused on Melissa to see her pain. He presents her with another surprise — fake Gordon with his head reattached.

After waiting all night to catch Yoda, Tandy comes out of hiding and announces that he’s a human,  not a bush. Tandy tries many times to talk Yoda out of hiding, but at no point does the mystery person show up.

Back at home, Todd and Gail continue going through bottles of medication. Todd tries to get more information out of Melissa, but she only says “Santa’s penis.” Gail glances over and her eyes rest on a bottle of Clozapine and realizes that that is what Melissa has been hinting. Klaus-a-peen. Santa Klaus’s penis. (Such a mellow “omg” moment for all of us.) They open the bottle and the pills match the original one from Akron. Gail looks up Clozapine in the medical book in front of her, and reads: antipsychotic medication treating bipolar disorder, severe anxiety, some forms of post-traumatic stress.

Carol and Erica come back for Tandy in the morning. Tandy is feeling not okay after pouring his heart out to Yoda all night in the cold. Carol brought some homemade teriyaki cheetos to leave at the cabin, in case Yoda is hungry.

In the car, Tandy continues complaining about the kid/Benji Button, and in the person in the Yoda mask sits up behind him. He turns around to get lemonade and screams at that surprise. The episode ends with us still not knowing who is behind the mask.

So yet another episode ends without us finding out who the Yoda is. Will Pamela finally be joining the group, or is this some other person? I’m excited to find out. The Last Man on Earth airs Sundays at 9:30/8:30c on FOX!