Future Man: Final Season Review

All eight episodes of Future Man’s third and final season will air Friday, April 3 on Hulu.

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It’s time, once again, to wreak some hilarious havoc on the spacetime continuum as Hulu’s Future Man debuts its final season to wrap things up. At only eight episodes, Future Man’s last hurrah feels a little flat on the landing, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a ridiculously clever ride most of the time.

While Season 2 best represents the show’s apex with regards to diabolical dystopian dopiness, Season 3 has more than a few ferociously funny elements to tout. Josh, Tiger, and Wolf find themselves on a Bill & Ted style chase through history in an attempt to evade time cops out to capture them for seriously screwing up the universe.

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Seth Rogen, who executive produces the series along with longtime cohort Evan Goldberg, returns as the far-off future TV deathsport host, Susan Saint Jackalope. In a more prominent recurring role here, Rogen helps ease the series into its endgame as the show leans heavily on futuristic absurdities at the start and then slowly becomes a sci-fi series that’s mostly set outdoors in sunshine-soaked woods and fields. This isn’t exactly new to Future Man, as the saga’s always relied heavily on a rustic aesthetic – whether it’s portraying a ravaged, primitive timeline or, in this case, whooshing our heroes into the past.

So how do you successfully deliver sci-fi in a mostly tech-free environment? Well, by being insanely amusing – and also snarkily smart about the types of crucibles you put your main characters through. With the Biotic Wars aspect of the series done, and Haley Joel Osment’s Stu thwarted at the end of last season, this final season is able to focus more on the main trio and the “undoing” of their grave galactic errors. Cosmic punching bag Josh (the outrageously game Josh Hutcherson) will find his way into a more confident and reliable role, Tiger (the insultingly talented Eliza Coupe) will tempter her wrath by finding inner peace, and Wolf (the show’s best surprise, Derek Wilson) will discover a humble selflessness – all while making massive mistakes that directly swerve and twist humanity’s trajectory.

Future Man shines brightest when it really pushes the boundaries of existential torture. Yes, it regularly “goes there” in terms of vulgarity, but it’s the show’s imaginative and warped sense of cruelty when it comes to beautiful bats**t abuse that makes it a cut above. Whether Josh is trapped for months in 18th century America with a rotting leg or everyone spends the insane equivalent of an eternity in a pocket universe with Abe Lincoln and Jesus, the story, even when set in a no-frills/low-fi setting, can mess with your head in a humorous, haunting way.

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Future Man, though set up for binging, also nicely embraces the “episode.” While the final season as a whole can be sort of split into the “time cop chase” part and the “stranded in celebrity oblivion” segment, the show still creates very compelling chapters. It’s something that a lot of streaming shows don’t focus on anymore in the quest to feel like a 10-hour movie. This series has always had a keen creative eye for keeping things moving in blocks.

It’s also fun to watch how the main trio’s dynamic changes with each new installment, whether they’re trapped in a version of domestic hell or Wolf’s going mad while living in something akin to The Good Place. Things might end with a bit of a whisper, considering all the chaos the show has unleashed in the past, but this final season is still aggressively entertaining.

Oh, and make sure you watch the post-finale credits!