The Ballad of the Last Men

**The Ballad of the Last Men** is the eighth episode of Season 2 of the Netflix series  *Sweet Tooth* and sixteenth episode overall. It aired on April 27, 2023, and also serves as the season finale.

## Synopsis

*Warned about General Abbot's plans, Gus and his friends prepare to take a stand and defend the hybrid kids, no matter what it takes.*

## Plot

An emotional Aditya stands forlorn in the empty zoo. He ends it all and heads into the hazardous room containing the purple flowers. Their potency causes him to collapse instantly. Aditya then has a vision of himself carrying Gus through the snowy Alaskan landscape.

The scientist wakes again in the same room. Before him, he sees the fallout from the battle between the Last Men and the Animal Army, with many fatalities. He can’t believe he survived but seems to have been protected by the room and Gus’ antler talisman.

Back at Gus’ cabin, Tiger warns the others of an imminent attack. The Last Men killed all of Tiger’s army, and she soon dies as well. Becky feels guilty for not fighting by Tiger’s side. Jepperd and Aimee decide to make a stand against the Last Men, tired of constantly hiding. Gus wants to help too.

Aimee spends time with her children, knowing the virus is rapidly killing her. Becky thanks Aimee for protecting the hybrid children.

Aimee then suggests that Becky takes the children to safety to take on Aimee’s responsibilities. The kids say an emotional goodbye to Aimee and head toward a new shelter.

Johnny sees the bloodshed from the battle at the zoo and promptly packs to leave. Abbot stops him from escaping, though. He persuades Johnny to take a flight with him, lying about going to Evergreen, but they are actually headed to Gus’ cabin and war. During the flight, the brothers discuss their abusive father, whom Abbot killed.

Once they arrive at the edge of the forest, Johnny tries to stop his brother, pointing a gun at Abbot’s back. He fires, but the gun isn’t loaded. Johnny asks Abbot to let the children go, but he refuses. Abbot lets his brother leave but then shoots Johnny in the back, killing him.

Meanwhile, Aimee, Jepperd, and Gus prepare for the coming attack. They set traps and strategize. Gus finds two syringes and needles hidden in the cabin, which may be useful. They set off a signal fire.

Becky leads the hybrid children to the Andersons. They take the children up into the mountains to safety via a cable car system. Wendy wants to fight alongside her mother and runs back into the woods. Becky chases her and tells Wendy that they are sisters. She only created the Animal Army as a means to find Wendy.

The Last Men enter the woods and fall for the hidden traps. Jepperd, Gus, and Aimee tackle the army, defeating the first wave. Abbot then enters, fighting Jepperd. He tells him that his family returned to Jepperd’s home and died waiting for him to return.

Abbot distracts him with this story and injures Big Man. Jepperd warns Aimee and Gus that the General is coming.

Aimee forces Gus into the hiding spot and starts to shoot at the ensuing soldiers. Abbot barges into the cabin and pins Aimee to the ground. She reveals that she has the H5G9 Virus and then stabs Abbot in the neck with the needles, adding that he now also has the virus.

Gus manages to escape from under the stairs and grabs the vial containing the cure. Abbot chases after him. He shoots Gus in the leg and prepares to kill the boy. Suddenly a stampede of bison appears, trampling Abbot to death. The bison avoid Gus, though.

Both Jepperd and Gus believe that Gus inadvertently summoned the bison. With Abbot’s last breath, he shoots Gus in the back with a cross-bow.

Sometime later, the gang surround a grave, which actually turns out to be Aimee’s grave and funeral.

Inside the cabin, Gus recovers from his wound. Jepperd listens to Birdie’s tape. Gus has a dream of Birdie in trouble and decides that they must travel to Alaska to find her. Becky and Wendy have also found a map that pinpoints where she might be.

They all want to help Gus find his mother. Leaving the other hybrids with the the Andersons, Gus, Jepperd, Becky, and Wendy begin their journey to Alaska.

Meanwhile, Aditya arrives at the abandoned cabin and noticing a map to Alaska, heads there in pursuit.

Elsewhere, Zhang hears from her men about Abbot’s death. She’s also informed that they couldn’t find the cure but now has Aditya’s recordings to help with their own research. Heading out of the room, she declares that she'll need to take care of things herself before feeding her "boys": unseen feral creatures locked in cages.

## Cast and characters

### Starring

* Nonso Anozie as Thomas Jepperd
* Christian Convery as Gus
* Adeel Akhtar as Dr.Aditya Singh
* Stefania LaVie Owen as Becky Walker/Bear
* Dania Ramirez as Aimee Eden
* Aliza Vellani as Rani Singh
* Naledi Murray as Wendy Eden
* Yonas Kibreab as Finn Fox
* Christopher Cooper Jr. as Teddy Turtle
* Marlon Williams as Johnny Abbot
* Neil Sandilands as General Douglas Abbot
* James Brolin voices the Narrator

### Guest-Starring

* Rosalind Chao as Helen Zhang
* Amy Seimetz as Birdie

### Co-starring

* Amie Donald as Maya Monkey
* Elin Minchin as Jojo
* Apii Pukeiti as Otto
* Harvey Gui as Max
* Ravi Narayan as Earl
* Zoey Javierto as Junior
* Ruby Dawn Hall as Haley
* Aeon Lin Scott as Anna
* Cyan Lin Scott as Hanna
* Eden Hart as Batista
* Mia Artemis as Tiger
* Jared Turner as George Anderson
* Anna Jullienne as Beverly Anderson
* John Rawls as Soldier