Last Resort (ABC) - season 1 thread (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

The second episode held up better than I was expecting. My knowledge of submarines begins and ends with Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October, so none of the inaccuracies that plague that part of the show stand out to me. One thing I find that the show's doing real well is the information vacuum, the fact that none of the key players know all of the information. The people who engineered the nuclear attack on Pakistan didn't anticipate Marcus going AWOL with a missile sub. Marcus only knows what reaches the NATO station, the US government is in disarray and not all of the key players are playing for the same team, that nuke the detonated off the coast of D.C. has everybody freaked out, and the wife doesn't know anything that the government isn't letting her know. The control of information is a very powerful thing, and it's nice to see that taken into account.
I also like that Robert Patrick's chief of the boat isn't an out-and-out evil man. He just has a different understanding of duty than Marcus; when an order comes in, you don't question it. I hope they don't play up the sexism stuff too much, because it makes it too easy to hate him. And it should be hard to hate him, because his position is the position we expect of our sailors every day here in the real world.

 

[David Weicker]

I liked this episode as well.
I do agree with Adam about the information thing. Even the video that was shown to the wife - how the questioners conveniently withheld showing her the final few moments where he explained why he didn't tell her (of course, I don't expect that in real life, soldiers openly tell their spouses all the horrors they've seen).
And the government seems to be in flux. It sounded to me like the Assistant Secretary from episode 1 is now a Secretary.
The only scene that rang false for me was when the wife of the Insider started blaming the Inventor Girl. 'my husband was suspiciously poisoned by secret conspirators so I am going to yell at you for making him do the right thing'
While I agree with "his position is the position we expect of our sailors every day here in the real world.", I also feel that a Captain's duty is to use his judgement (question and confirm orders that don't make sense).
Plus the Chief didn't follow his own philosophy - both the Captain and the XO (who was made temporary Captain) outranked him, and he disobeyed them.
David

 

[Quentin]

I liked this episode as well.
I do agree with Adam about the information thing. Even the video that was shown to the wife - how the questioners conveniently withheld showing her the final few moments where he explained why he didn't tell her (of course, I don't expect that in real life, soldiers openly tell their spouses all the horrors they've seen).
And the government seems to be in flux. It sounded to me like the Assistant Secretary from episode 1 is now a Secretary.
The only scene that rang false for me was when the wife of the Insider started blaming the Inventor Girl. 'my husband was suspiciously poisoned by secret conspirators so I am going to yell at you for making him do the right thing'
While I agree with "his position is the position we expect of our sailors every day here in the real world.", I also feel that a Captain's duty is to use his judgement (question and confirm orders that don't make sense).
Plus the Chief didn't follow his own philosophy - both the Captain and the XO (who was made temporary Captain) outranked him, and he disobeyed them.
David

Agree with you both.
That hospital scene DID ring very false...and, clumsy. An attempt to humanize her and guilt her into not just being money driven badass robot.
The government is clearly very much in disarray, and we (the audience) are suffering from the "information vacuum" in this aspect. We don't know WHAT is going on with them.
I also liked the lawyer/double agent/I-don't-know-what who looks like he's going to 'break' the wife. But, is he really? He's certainly in a position to play all sides.
I also have a problem with the COB. Even in Crimson Tide, the COB chose to follow the officer who seemed to be following procedure best. But, ultimately, he was following HIS orders. This COB, in some regards, is marching to his own beat even more than the Captain.
I'll add another 'issue' with this episode - boy, Captain Chaplin sure is connected!!!! His old pal just happens to be a high ranking politician/military leader in Russia - perhaps close to a DoD chief - who can immediately get information on a TOP SECRET plan to steal a U.S. nuclear sub. A bit convenient. But, it was still enough fun that I enjoyed it.
What I most enjoyed beyond the playing with information was the way the main characters are being developed. That Andre Braugher scene when Speedman sits with him to console him over his son? Powerful. And, I'm REALLY starting to like both Lt. Grace and the SEAL dude.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

While I agree with "his position is the position we expect of our sailors every day here in the real world.", I also feel that a Captain's duty is to use his judgement (question and confirm orders that don't make sense).

I agree with you completely. I'm not saying the captain and the XO were wrong to do what they did, or that I'm siding with the COB on this one, just that it's nice that the antagonist position is a legitimate one and he's not evil for the sake of being evil.

I also have a problem with the COB. Even in Crimson Tide, the COB chose to follow the officer who seemed to be following procedure best. But, ultimately, he was following HIS orders. This COB, in some regards, is marching to his own beat even more than the Captain.

I think he looks at it this way: a nuclear missile sub has only two strategic purposes: 1) to act as a deterrent against a massive first strike nuclear attack by ensuring that the nation it serves can effectively retaliate even if the entire homeland has been wiped out; 2) to launch the nukes once the president has given the order. While the order to launch was given in an unorthodox, suspicious fashion, it was technically a correct order. The COB takes in the situation and all he sees is that the captain and the XO failed to obey a properly authenticated order and, in so doing, failed in one of their primary duties, #2. If the captain and XO don't recognize the authority of the National Command Authority, then he doesn't recognize the authority of the captain and the XO. Presumably if he got an order from a navy officer still loyal to the president, he would follow it.

 

[mattCR]

I guess I just don't get it. The storyline with the perky, upbeat young arms dealer / military hardware designer is also so weird that I can't make heads or tails of it.. is she the owner of the company? The sales rep? How does she have so much damn time to just trapse around.. and her assertion "oh no one will notice now" in the bar was totally crazy considering she had just schooled them in a giant "look at me" diatribe about how they were wrong about military hardware, showing she had inside knowledge..everyone would pay attention when she outted her inside source.

I don't know, I don't get this show at all. And if we're going to pick off two or three people a week, then this show will end quick, because it's not like a sub has hundreds of people on it.

 

[joshEH]

Yes, I would agree with most of those feelings too. As mentioned prior, I still think this smacks of a political soap box type of statement they are going for (especially in a real life election year). When I watch a show, I want to be entertained like with Elementary or 666 Park Avenue, not this drivel of a show.

There are one or two slight executional elements that I might take issue with on this show, but calling this series "mindless drivel"? I hardly think it's at that level, and I think most people here would agree with that assessment. There are many other shows (most of the CW's lineup, for instance) that I would far more quickly apply that label to before I'd ever use it to describe Last Resort.
Was I the only one who smiled and laughed when they heard the voice of Secretary of Defense Dutch Wagenbach? Wonder who else from The Shield will show up here?
I'm really hoping they got into this series with an endgame and a timeframe in mind, because a show like this could only suffer from being dragged out. Either way, this show is high up on my watch-list this year, and unless it majorly screws the pooch, it's probably going to be my go-to major-network drama once Fringe signs off.
(That said, that gunfight has to be one the worst-directed action setpieces in the history of television. I want to get ahold of this episode's director and give him papercuts between his fingers with the storyboards from Strike Back.)

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I believe the sub's completment is 134, we just haven't seen them.

And I'd make a statement, but I don't 100% know so I'll post it as a question. It's it consistent for a person to ignore an order if they get a conflicting order from a superior officer? The captain is absolute authority on his ship, but the DoD supercedes. Taken as an extreme case, you wouldn't ignore a presidential order because your captain says so. So I think he was consistent in that he was ignoring the captain because of higher orders (in his mind).

The captain's situation is different. He's ignoring the highest order he has received. We know why, but that's still what he's doing.

 

[Dheiner]

There is a vast difference between "orders" and "lawful orders". If someone you are convinced is crazy or evil gives you an order you believe to not be "lawful", you are required to resist it. Just because he received an order to launch does not mean it is a lawful order.

I would expect, and hope, that anyone in the situation the Captain was in would verify that he had a lawful order to launch prior to vaporizing millions of innocents, and condemning millions more to a horrible death from radiation poisoning.

The Captain of the other sub is either a mass-murdering co-conspirator, or an idiot who has been duped into killing millions.

Prior to a lawful order to launch an ICBM there would be either a build-up or an alert status.

 

[Stan]

"Glee" has completely ruined any scene Scott Speedman is in for me.
Ever since the Sue Sylvester called Will Schuester "Butt Chin" I can't watch Speedman without laughing. Just one of those silly things that sticks in your mind and will never fade away.
Most guys with cleft chins I barely notice, but something about him, his goofy smile and overacting just always take me out of the scene.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Enjoyed this week's episode. I think it gave us a better glimpse of what a typical episode, at least for the first season, will look like.

 

[Stan]

Enjoyed this week's episode. I think it gave us a better glimpse of what a typical episode, at least for the first season, will look like.

It was a good episode, very suspenseful.
I'm just curious as to why the sub still survives (other than it has to for the series to continue). They were down in the underwater canyon avoiding depth charges, yet they park the sub on the surface a few hundred feet from the island.
Not sure if they have anti-aircraft protection or if I might have missed something, but wouldn't they be a big sitting duck on the surface for a bomber or other plane to fly over and obliterate them?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Not sure if they have anti-aircraft protection or if I might have missed something, but wouldn't they be a big sitting duck on the surface for a bomber or other plane to fly over and obliterate them?

They're tracking everything from the NATO station on the island. If the US breaches the perimeter they'd (in theory) launch one of their 17 remaining nukes toward the American homeland. When they were out underneath the blockade, it was different; if one of the depth charges had hit them, they'd have been destroyed before they could launch.

 

[Quentin]

I thought the 3rd episode was so-so. I'm still not sure where the show goes or how it structures a season.
Of course, it may not matter...the ratings are not good and the show is a prime cancellation target at this point.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I'll be surprised if it makes 6 shows. I love Andre Braugher, but this show was terrible

 

[Patrick Sun]

The "brig" subplot just kills the show's momentum in each episode, makes me just roll my eyes as it's not really working to provide dramatic tension between Braugher's character and Robert Patrick's character.

 

[Stan]

The "brig" subplot just kills the show's momentum in each episode, makes me just roll my eyes as it's not really working to provide dramatic tension between Braugher's character and Robert Patrick's character.

The Robert Patrick character is strange. Seems to question any order given to him and he's got a terrible attitude, but he does it anyway. Maybe just a setup for him to cause problems later on, assuming the series lasts.

 

[Hanson]

Loved the pilot, liked the second episode more than I thought I would, but episode three lost a full head of steam. By the end of the hour, it was just riding on Andre Braugher fumes. I don't know if I'll last beyond episode four at this point. Too much quality TV on my DVR to spend my time with this.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Wow, quite an hour tonight. This show is like Tom Clancy at his most pulpy. Not everything's plausible, but it's laid out clearly enough that you're painfully aware of the stakes at every moment. I liked the female lieutenant finally earning the COB's respect. My favorite beat, though, was the wife revealing that she had her husband's "friend" dead to rights; that he'd been so amazing and helpful ... but he's a government agent sent to seed doubts about her husband. And it wasn't the strengths of her marriage that guarded her against him, it was the primary weakness: her husband really does live country first, and that means she comes second. The fact that we'd just seen him accept a shady deal to be reunited with her, thus proving her wrong, was just icing on the cake.
What a roller coaster thrill ride. That being said, the next episode where the whole island gets gassed has the potential to be a real jump the shark moment.

 

[David Weicker]

I thought tonights episode was very entertaining.
I did like the wife and the consultant scenes - the earlier singular scenes, and then when they got together.
I'm still wondering where the President is in these negotiations. You would have thought by now we'd have seen some interaction between the Captain and the President. His absence is quite conspicuous. A News Conference to the people of the US, or a call to the Captain. Something.
David

 

[Quentin]

Fun episode, I guess. I enjoyed the sub stuff.
I am wondering about two things:
First, why the meetings with the SoD? Why do the Capt. and/or ANY member of that crew think that there can be a 'going home' that doesn't involve them dying in some way? Any government willing to shoot its own sub to cover up a covert attack on Pakistan is willing to clean up any way necessary. The truth only comes out with a public display and no one currently in power would allow that. So, I find it weird no one has even THOUGHT this.
Second, are we going to get a sea fight every couple weeks that they narrowly escape from and then threaten to launch the nukes to get their foe to back off? There are two problems with this: first, they will soon run out of torpedoes. In fact, if I were the US Navy, I'd keep fighting them and get them to expend torpedoes until they're ll gone and then kill them. But, story wise it is the problem of how do they raise the stakes beyond what the pilot gave us? I hope they figure out a new way...