Content Warning: The show “Creamerie” tackles a lot of dark topics that may be a bit much for some sensitive viewers, like pandemics and bodily autonomy. If the sight or the mention of bodily fluids and functions squicks you out, then you may want to watch something else. Here are some recommendations!

“Creamerie” is the best, darkest, funniest show I’ve seen in years.

The show opens on a strange note. As a chorus sings the song “Wonderful World,” men in a locker room begin violently coughing and sneezing blood. A global pandemic has begun, and it is attacking a specific portion of the population: men. Or, as the second season clarifies, anyone with a Y chromosome.

Soon, this mysterious virus kills the world’s male population, leaving only women to run the ashes. Except, instead of ashes, things seem pretty fantastic. Flowers bloom everywhere, people sing, and there are mandatory holidays for menstrual leave. It’s surprisingly idyllic for a show where half of the population has died a gruesome death.

“Creamerie” is set in New Zealand, in the fictional state of Hiro Valley, governed by a GOOP-style form of government called “Wellness,” headed by the heavily pregnant Lane. In the first episode, we meet our main characters: Pip (Perlina Lau), Jaime (J.J. Fong), and Alex (Ally Xue), who live together on a Dairy Farm. Pip is an ambitious, rule-following member of Wellness who readily embraces the organization’s ideology and dreams of rising in the ranks. Jaime is Pip’s best friend, and she works on the Dairy farm while mourning the loss of her husband and infant son, both victims of the pandemic. Alex is Jaime’s sister-in-law and believes that there are male survivors of the pandemic and that Wellness is an evil organization that needs to be taken down. Naturally, Alex and Pip constantly butt heads.

One of the main conflicts of the series is propagating the species. As there are no men left to father children, the remaining women are reliant on pre-pandemic sperm banks to keep the species alive. For some women, all they dream of is being allowed their allotment of sperm so that they can become mothers. Jaime is one of those women. Although she’s still heartbroken over the loss of her family, she dreams of being a mother again and sees it as her ticket to happiness and fulfillment.

By the way, if you find the word “sperm” offputting, then you’re not going to like this story.

Each of the main characters has their own focus at the beginning of the series, all of which seem somewhat independent of each other. Except their fates become entwined when Lane decrees that Jaime is ineligible for sperm, causing Jaime to despair, and then when they hit the greatest discovery of all time with their car: Bobby (Jay Ryan), the last man, a survivor of the virus, and a total smoke show.

So you may be asking, what makes this show unique from other shows with similar premises? For instance, “Y: The Last Man,” based on the famous graphic novel series, debuted in 2021 and enjoyed a whole season before it was canceled. Or the 2015 Canadian mockumentary “No Men Beyond This Point,” in which women become capable of asexual reproduction and men are no longer born? Or really any of the creative content that includes the storyline, “X is the sole survivor of a science fiction event that’s decimated most of their sex.”

Now please note that I wouldn’t include post-apocolyptic stories like “The Last Man on Earth,” “The Omega Man,” or “I Am Legend,” in this genre for a reason. All those movies I just listed are literally remakes of the novel “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson, so that would be needlessly repetitive. But more importantly, stories about the Last Man on Earth are more about the struggles that come with being the last of your species and the knowledge that once you are gone, so is the incredible legacy of all those who came before you. It’s also a rumination on the dangers of loneliness and isolation and how humans need other humans to be complete.

However, stories that take a gendered approach to the apocalypse scenario have the ability to closely examine gender roles and bodily autonomy through a science fiction lens. I think a great example of this might be Margaret Atwood‘s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which depicts a horrifying patriarchal society in which fertile women are a valuable commodity and thus subsequently enslaved by the government. The book and the TV Show explore women’s, and occasionally men’s, loss of rights in a society that suffers from a declining birth rate. While the TV show goes off the rails after the first few seasons, the original concept is still incredibly interesting, as it shows the radical reactions to what appears to be a civilization in decline (in addition to all the other important themes the book addresses that I hope you covered in your High School English class).

Despite the dark opening, “Creamerie” is not quite “Children of Men” or “The Handmaid’s Tale.” While there is an ever-present concern about humanity’s ability to continue as a species, the show is more focused on the relationship between the three female leads, and how they’re impacted when they’re reintroduced to a man.

One of the aspects that makes “Creamerie” so special compared to “Y: The Last Man” or “No Men Beyond This Point” is that “Creamerie” has a distinctly feminine perspective. You see this not just in the show’s bright lighting and pastoral aesthetic, but also in how it treats the main characters. “Creamerie” was created by Roseanne Liang and the actresses playing the main roles. The show focuses heavily on each character’s place within the new society, as well as their relationship with each other, and the importance of their friendship. It’s worth noting that these women previously collaborated on the New Zealand web series “Flat3,” which explains why the cast has such great chemistry.

On a different show, in the hands of other writers, I could see the introduction of Bobby’s character playing out much differently. In “Creamerie,” the three women all want to use Bobby for their own ends. Pip wants to turn him into Wellness (but she’s also distracted by Bobby’s Grade-A Hunkiness), Jaime wants to use some of his sperm to get pregnant (like borrowing a cup of sugar from your neighbor), and Alex hopes that his existence will prove that male survivors of the pandemic exist, and that her scientist mother was right all along.

In an alternate reality, there’s a version of this show in which Pip, Jaime, and Alex would discover Bobby, and then fight with each other over who gets to date him. And he would likely be the main character of this story, because for some reason, in a lot of these post-apocolyptic tales, even if every man is gone, the story still finds a way to make it all about them.

“Creamerie” is first and foremost a story about friendship. When the women meet Bobby, they don’t exactly treat him as a precious commodity, but more like E.T. And on his end, all Bobby wants is to find a safe place for men like himself. His last concern is trying to score. He’s just a regular guy trying to survive in a world where he’s vastly outnumbered by people who would use him as an object.

This is another interesting concept that “Creamerie” addresses. What are Bobby’s rights in a world where men are extinct, reproduction is closely controlled by those in power, and sperm is suddenly a precious resource? While I won’t spoil the ending of the first series for you, the answer provided by Lane and other members of Wellness isn’t pretty.

“Creamerie” succeeds in being a touching story about female friendship that also manages to address tricky questions about reproductive rights. In just six episodes, “Creamerie” manages to build an immersive world with relatable characters and exciting plot developments. The ending to the first season only manages to raise more questions, and with the recent premiere of the second season, I have so many questions that I hope will get answered.

Is there a cure for the virus that killed the male population? How many men actually did survive the first plague? Where have they been hiding? What about trans men in this society – what place do they have in this society, and will we meet any of them in the cast? Will Jamie have another baby, and will that ever soothe the pain of losing her first child? Will Alex and Constance, the well-intentioned Wellness Guard, have a happily-ever-after? How does Bobby feel about Pip after the events of the first season? Will they ever smash?

Too many people are missing out on this hilarious, creative dramedy. So if you haven’t already started watching this show, then this is your sign. Stop what you’re doing, set your Teams status to “Do Not Disturb,” get yourself a snack (although maybe not anything diary-based), fire up Hulu, and I’ll see you in a few hours.

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