Miscommunication with the sound turned down

Uh, oh!  Graduate student tempted to distraction from studies by legitimate assignment to watch a television program!  Exercises self-control before reinstating cable t.v. account and subscribing to Hulu and Netflix!

For this week's blog assignment, at the recommendation of my 20 year old daughter, I asked my boyfriend to DVR an episode of "Last Man on Earth".  It is on Fox.  The episode I watched was called "Moovin In", the 7^th episode from season 1.  It originally aired on March 29, 2015.

Watching the episode with the sound turned down was really quite enjoyable.  It probably would have been more frustrating if the show had more than 4 characters.  I was able to determine that one man and one woman on the show were a couple.  They were sitting very close on a couch together.  The other woman pointed to a bracelet on the first woman's wrist.  I could tell from the women's facial expressions that the first man had gotten it for her.  I could also tell that the other man was annoyed about it from his grumpy facial expression and the way he crossed his arms.  Then he "accidentally" broke the first man's sculpture that he had just presented to the group.  I could not tell the relationship of the second couple although they were both wearing wedding bands and interacted a lot throughout the show.  I could tell that woman annoyed that man by the man's throwing up his hands, rolling his eyes and stomping his feet.  I decided they were probably brother and sister and that they had lost their spouses when most of the people on earth disappeared.

After watching the episode with the sound turned on, some of my questions were answered and others were raised.  I found out that the second couple are married but not living together.  The woman, Carol, is annoyed about this, apparently having true feelings for Phil, the main character.  Phil seems to be more attracted to the other woman, Melissa, and resents that she likes, Todd, the other man.  I still don't know why the show is called "Last Man on Earth" when there are four people on the show and one of the other people is a man.  I don't know why Phil and Carol are married to each other when they obviously do not have mutual feelings for each other.

Several thoughts about communication came to mind as a result of this experience.  I thought about what it must be like for deaf people who have limited words to understand a situation.  Even if they read lips, they are limited by their ability to see the person face to face.  Foreign language speakers would have similar difficulty, understanding even less of the words being spoken.  It shows me that oral language and body language must work together or the possibility for miscommunication is huge.

Upon researching more about this show I learned that the main character, Phil, thought he was the last man left on earth after a virus epidemic killed everyone else.  He goes to great lengths traveling around the country and writing billboards to find other people.  He makes characters out of balloons and balls and talks to them just like Tom Hanks' character did in the movie "Castaway".  Human interaction is essential to a person's emotional well-being.  Loneliness can cause a person to feel they are losing their mind and surely could cause them to die if it went on too long.

I am now intrigued by this show!  However, I will do the wise thing and put it on my bucket list, to watch when I am through with my graduate studies.  Meanwhile, I get to read about other interesting shows, with the help of my classmates!