The Last Ship Season 3 (TNT) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Premieres Sunday, June 12th at 9/8c

First trailer:


The Race to Save Humanity Heats Up as TNT's "The Last Ship" Returns for Season 3 with Two-Hour Premiere on June 12

The Last Ship Finished Season 2 as One of the Summer's Top 5 Scripted Series on Basic Cable

The wait is nearly over. TNT's epic drama The Last Ship - one of last summer's Top 5 scripted series on basic cable among total viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 - is preparing to set sail again in its quest to save humanity after a devastating pandemic with a two-hour premiere this summer. Eric Dane (Grey's Anatomy), Bridget Regan (Agent Carter), Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Chuck), Travis Van Winkle (Heart of Dixie), Marissa Neitling (Leverage) and Jocko Sims (Masters of Sex) star in the high-impact series, which is produced by Platinum Dunes, with its partners - blockbuster filmmaker Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form - serving as executive producers. Co-creators and showrunners Hank Steinberg (creator of Without a Trace, The Nine) and Steven Kane (The Closer) are also executive producers, along with executive producers and directors Paul Holahan and Michael Katleman.

Based on William Brinkley's popular novel, The Last Ship chronicles a global catastrophe that nearly decimates the world's population. Because of its positioning, the Navy destroyer U.S.S. Nathan James avoided falling victim to the devastating tragedy. But now, Captain Tom Chandler (series star Eric Dane) and his crew must confront the reality of their new existence in a world where they may be among the few remaining survivors.

Following the epic second-season cliffhanger, the highly anticipated third season finds the crew of the Nathan James shifting their attention to Asia after President Michener hears rumblings that the Chinese leader, President Peng, has been hoarding the "Scott cure" instead of distributing it to the people in the region. Michener sends Chandler to a global summit to investigate this allegation, as well as rumors of a possible mutation of the original virus that has caused a fresh outbreak in Japan. If the mutation has occurred, and Asia has not been protected, the consequences for the world are dire. And with Rachel Scott shot in the season two finale, and her fate as yet unknown, hope is in low supply.

The Last Ship also stars Charles Parnell (Pariah), Christina Elmore (Fruitvale Station), Bren Foster (Days of Our Lives) and Kevin Michael Martin.

Fans can catch up with TNT's The Last Ship: The Complete Second Season, debuting May 3 on Blu-ray and DVD and stacked with hours of bonus content, including exclusive featurettes, behind-the-episode clips, cast interviews and more.

 

[Stan]

Really enjoy this. I'm so glad that last summer it ended with "Season Finale", rather than "Series Finale", so knew it was coming back.

I thought "Falling Skies" could have gone on another year or two, but they decided to end it.

 

[NeilO]

I thought "Falling Skies" could have gone on another year or two, but they decided to end it.

Falling Skies probably went on a bit too long for my taste. I am glad they wrapped it up.

I am glad the press release states that they are going to new territory in the upcoming season. I am looking forward to that.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The third season premieres this Sunday, with the first two episodes airing back to back starting at 9/8c.

Bren Foster (RAN Chief Petty Officer Wolf "Wolf-Man" Taylor) has been promoted to series regular, while Bridget Regan has joined the cast as a former Navy intelligence officer who is working as a spy out of the American embassy in China and has past ties to CNO Chandler.

TVLine has a good Q&A with the show's creators about the new season. Don't worry, the article doesn't spoil whether Dr. Scott lives or dies. I like that the show will keep a storyline going with the domestic politics in St. Louis. The rebuilding of America is one of the most interesting stories this show has.

If anybody's looking for a refresher on the first two seasons, I recently watched them again on Blu-Ray and posted my thoughts on each episode as I went:
Season 1 - 1x01; 1x02; 1x03; 1x04; 1x05; 1x06, 1x07 and 1x08; 1x09 and 1x10
Season 2 - 2x01 and 2x02; 2x03; 2x04; 2x05; 2x06; 2x07; 2x08 and 2x09; 2x10; 2x11 and 2x12; 2x13

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The premiere has been pulled by TNT in the aftermath of the horrible events in Orlando, due to a nightclub shooting in the premiere. Unfortunately, the scene is apparently crucial to the plot, as it sets up a number of season-long arcs. So the entire third season will not be airing until further notice.

 

[Stan]

The premiere has been pulled by TNT in the aftermath of the horrible events in Orlando, due to a nightclub shooting in the premiere. Unfortunately, the scene is apparently crucial to the plot, as it sets up a number of season-long arcs. So the entire third season will not be airing until further notice.

Hate to be callous, what happened was awful. But any word on when the season will start?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Hate to be callous, what happened was awful. But any word on when the season will start?

Not yet. I'll post as soon as I have a new date.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I should have waited a couple hours to reply. TNT has rescheduled the premiere for this upcoming Sunday at 9/8c. I'm glad it's only a week. "Buffy" pushed back its school shooter episode months, after the Columbine massacre.

 

[Patrick_S]

The premiere episode has already aired once, didn't any of you see it?

 

[Tony Bensley]

The premiere episode has already aired once, didn't any of you see it?

Without knowing your whereabouts, if you're viewing this program outside the U.S. (IE. Space in Canada), it is possible the station/s carrying the show internationally might have retained the original scheduled date for the season 3 premiere episode.

CHEERS!

 

[Stan]

The premiere episode has already aired once, didn't any of you see it?

I'm in the US, with Dish Network. Both of the episodes showing June 12th had crawlers about the shootings, saying the season premiere had been postponed.

 

[Patrick_S]

I'm in the US, they aired the premier episode as a special event after a playoff basketball game. (I think that was two or three weeks ago) In fact they aired it and then they did an encore airing right afterwards.

In light of Orlando I can see why they postponed it last Sunday.

 

[NeilO]

My DVR's guide has the first two episodes airing this coming Sunday.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Those of you who caught the premiere after Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals: Thanks for not spoiling anything! That was definitely a premiere that rewarded viewers going in cold.

After watching it tonight, I can definitely understand why TNT postponed the premiere. The parallels in the night club attack that resulted in the capture of the Nathan James's entire senior leadership were eerily close to the horror that occurred in Orlando. When the guns kept firing round after round in the Vietnamese night club, I couldn't help but think of Orlando and the way real people were gunned down in that fashion.

Epic two-hour premiere. I appreciated that there was a five month time jump between the second season finale and the third season premiere. It allowed time for Michener's domestic initiatives to take sustainable foothold, for the cure to spread satisfactory through much of the contiguous United States, and for the international situation to organize and develop sufficient complexity to provide a fertile storytelling ground.

Given how hesitant the movie studios are to show China in anything less than a flattering light, given the box office dollars at stake, I was pleasantly surprised to see them as the full-on villains in this premiere. It does appear that there are other players afoot, though. Peng clearly orchestrated the attack on Chandler's plane and the efforts to keep him escaping, but based on his comments to his security chief, it sounds like his hands were forced. He clearly doesn't want a full-on shooting war with the United States. My guess is that he has something to do with the "mutation" in Japan. I wouldn't be surprised if China has swapped out the real cure for a dummy cure to keep its neighbors weak, and it wants to prevent the secret from getting out. I really hope that the mutation, if there is one, hasn't completely invalidated the cure. Otherwise, it's like a big fat reset button on the progress made over the first two seasons.

Obviously, some of our recurring players in the crew met their end in brutal fashion in this premiere. The two biggest deaths, Dr. Rachel Scott and Valkyrie, though, we didn't see. I'm not convinced either is actually dead. Dr. Scott's shooting might have provided a cover to use her in a covert way that wouldn't have been possible when everybody assumed her to be alive. As far Val, we know the plane she was in was blown up, but we didn't see her die. I'm hoping she was able to parachute out. She clearly discovered something essential about the comms interference, and I'd hate to see that thread dangle until someone else figures it out.

I'm not the big Bridget Regan fan that everybody else seems to be. That being said, she was good here in this role. I just hope they don't push the relationship between her and Chandler too much. His wife's been dead less than a year, and he (and the viewers) just lost Dr. Scott.

Given her pregnancy, it was inevitable that Lt. Foster would have to leave the ship. Given that, making her senior official in Michener's civilian administration was a smart move. It gives the capital in St. Louis someone with a strong navy (and military generally) background.

It's fun getting to see Dichen Lachman using her real Australian accent here, especially since she's in close quarters with Wolf, our existing Australian character. It's also serendipitous casting, because she played one of the main characters on the previous high-concept Navy drama, "The Last Resort". The show never really developed characters for the Navy pilots for the Nathan James's helicopter, so this was a way for the show to fill that hole while providing a more colorful character that it could get away with with someone within the chain of command.

It was amazing how powerful the end of the second hour was, with Chandler back aboard the Nathan James.

Poor Captain Slattery, though. He finally gets his own command, only to be taken as a POW (or blood bag?).

On that note, I wonder why they were bagging the blood at the end? Is it part of what ever caused the cure to fail in Japan?

Amazing how the scope and production quality continues to improve with each year.

 

[NeilO]

Obviously, some of our recurring players in the crew met their end in brutal fashion in this premiere. The two biggest deaths, Dr. Rachel Scott and Valkyrie, though, we didn't see. I'm not convinced either is actually dead.

At the moment the executive producers are saying she is dead and why:
http://tvline.com/2016/06/19/the-last-ship-season-3-premiere-rachel-scott-died/

I was surprised that so many people died in the premiere and it could be that some of the blood bags will also die later.

It could be that they don't trust the actual cure and think the blood is better or at least will bring money.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Exotic foreign locales are not one of the things the show does best. Much like "El Toro" in the first season, it tends to feel very "TV" and drift into stock characters.

Sasha Cooper was right to call the captain out on leading the ground teams, even if on the bridge in front of the crew wasn't the right place to do it. It was kind of ridiculous that he went out during the first two seasons, but some allowances could be made given the extreme circumstances. Those circumstances have changed, though. As the president said, even though he's CNO (to keep him in uniform), he's the de facto Secretary of Defense. He's back on his ship as a result of new extreme circumstances, where he's the only senior officer left. His TAO is questioning himself about decisions he was forced to make after the last time the entire leadership was off the ship at the same time. The person he's made his second in command in lieu of the TAO is 28-year-old lieutenant who has a lot of experience to gain before she earns command of her own vessel. The fact that they ended up pinned down by the MSS, with a last minute helicopter rescue that they couldn't count on their only salvation, proves how foolhardy it was for him to leave the ship. And the dangerous thing is that, much like MacArthur during the Korean War, he is such a hero at this point that very few people are in a position to tell him "no."

The storyline that most intrigues me continues to be the domestic front. Michener's presidency was built on a lie that Chandler championed. He has earned Chandler's faith in him, and he is the rightful person to discharge the powers and duties of the presidency. But he was wrong to lie about the situation in East Asia, especially since so many of the pieces are outside of his control. A "no comment" would have been better. And now that POW hostage video with Slattery and the other five has blown up in his face.

Speaking of that video, it's telling that at a moment in time when the U.S. government's own video communications have been compromised, a video made it from a remote village in rural Asia directly onto the government-controlled television stations. All of which points back to Peng's regime in China.

I hope we get more clarity next week about the blood and how it relates (or doesn't relate) to the supposed mutation in Japan.

 

[NeilO]

. The fact that they ended up pinned down by the MSS, with a last minute helicopter rescue that they couldn't count on their only salvation, proves how foolhardy it was for him to leave the ship.

......

Speaking of that video, it's telling that at a moment in time when the U.S. government's own video communications have been compromised, a video made it from a remote village in rural Asia directly onto the government-controlled television stations. All of which points back to Peng's regime in China.

Yes, it was hard to believe that Chandler really insisted on leading the ground sortie. The character has more sense than that.

Was the video actually forced onto their communications network or did someone change their feed to this broadcast once they knew it was going on? I can't recall the wording. If it was forced then I hope they do give some explanation,

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Was the video actually forced onto their communications network or did someone change their feed to this broadcast once they knew it was going on? I can't recall the wording. If it was forced then I hope they do give some explanation,

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Mr. President! This is streaming on our local feed.

Cmdr. Slattery [VIDEO TRANSMISSION]: ... Michael Slattery, captain United States Navy. Serial number 171811120. I, and five members of my crew, are prisoners of war.

President Michener: Oh God!

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Well, our secret's out.​

So depending on how the local feed operates, I guess it's vague. If it's privately operated with airtime made available to government, then I guess the free press could have run it. Certainly, based on the press conference the president held, there is at least a fledgling free press again, with a dozen or two reporters assigned to cover the president in Missouri.

But either way, the video made its way to the United States when the government is having trouble transmitting video of any kind from Asia.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I was glad the show acknowledged how troubling it is that they can't get any video into or out of Asia, while the pirates are transmitting in high-def.

My problem with the president's subplot is similar to a problem I have with the CW's miniseries "Containment": Given the extreme circumstances, I just don't believe that a respected journalist would undermine the government's efforts like that. His suspicions triggered by the administration's lack of transparency, I completely buy. But, as Kara pointed out, the alternative to Michener is a return to the chaos the preceded the establishment of the Michener administration. In normal times, when one administration is brought down, there's another one waiting in the wings to take over. The end of the Michener administration means the end of any government that can claim a legitimate basis under the constitution. Any of the five regional leaders would have an even more tenuous hold on power than Michener does. If there was evidence of wrongdoing, I could still see the story being reported. But in these circumstances, especially with the fate of American sailors hanging in the balance, no responsible reporter would deliberately inflame tensions with half-cocked reporting. In every major past crisis, the Fourth Estate has accommodated the operational needs of the government. Voluntary press censorship occurred throughout World War II. Most reporters remember that they're Americans first. At least on "Containment", it's a blogger that's the rabble rouser. That a reporter for a TV station broadcasting using government-provided infrastructure is frankly inconceivable to me. Even if the reporter wanted to broadcast the story, his producer would never put it on the air. Because, setting aside patriotism, a giant "fuck you" like that jeopardizes all future cooperation with an administration that the station is dependent on. There's a reason the real-life Washington press corps is so cozy with the government officials they cover.

On the other side, not immediately reaching out to the families of the POWs is the kind of unforced error that strains credibility. It would have been nice for the show to take 10 or 15 seconds to get into why there was such a delay in contacting Miller's mother. Given the realities of post-plague America, I can believe that it would have been difficult to track her down. I did like the regional leaders standing by the president in the time of crisis, though.

The Mission: Impossible-esque set piece of invading President Peng's residence was well done, but it seems like there needed to be more at stake than just refueling access to justify such a bold move.

After Takehaya's conversation with Slattery about the cure not working but the blood transfusions from cured people working, I'm fairly convinced that the virus hasn't actually mutated. Instead, it looks like Peng swapped out the cure with a placebo to weaken his enemies in Japan. Hopefully, the truth can come out so that Takehaya can be swung around as an ally.

 

[Stan]

All the new episodes are still on my DVR. Will do a mini binge-watch later this week. First two seasons were great, Hope they've kept up the quality. Never have been bothered by spoilers, so reading this thread just makes me want to watch it even more. Shows like this always push the boundaries of believable story lines, but they make for good "popcorn" summertime viewing,