The Last Ship (TNT) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season 1, Episode 5 - "El Toro"

Reading back through this thread, Doug Zdanivsky's post on this episode began with "Ouch.." and that about sums it up. I vaguely remembered this being the nadir of the first season, and after watching it again, I hope that this is indeed as bad as it gets. José Zúñiga actually did a pretty good job as El Toro, the druglord turned warlord that serves as the episodic villain. El Toro was cocky but not too cocky; he understood that pressing the Navy sailors too far would not end well for him.

On the other hand, the episode's narrative depends on Captain Chandler (and at various occasions his crew) acting like idiots. First, on a show that's normally good about not having the captain and the XO in the same place when they're off the ship, this episode sends them both into an unknown, highly dangerous situation out of radio contact. Then, having been taken captive by El Toro's men, the captain continues to antagonize him even after he treated his sailor's leg. Even after El Toro lets them go with everything Dr. Scott needs, they decide to head back to intervene even though they were significantly outnumbered and had been deprived of their weapons. Yes, El Toro is an awful individual who rapes children and has instituted a system of de-facto slavery. But they're putting the fate of the entire world at risk to put a stop to one horrible situation in a world that is overrun with horrible situations.

I was also troubled by the xenophobic undertones of the episode, in which both the villain and his men and the nameless victims of the virus on the other side of the river are portrayed as the Other. While the leader of the enslaved villagers and his eldest daughters are allowed a small degree of nuance, generally the villagers are there to be victims so that our protagonists can look good and noble by saving them. And having El Toro be especially evil by raping young girls plays into elemental fears and feels straight out of a Steven Seagal movie. Given the realities of the post-civilization world, this kind of thing is probably happening all over the place. But it was troubling that they went to Central America to find it.

On the other hand, I did appreciate that, in the first episode to deal with a civilian population, the show took the time to portray the extent of the virus's devastation, and the powerlessness of the crew of the Nathan James to do anything about it. And the combination of visual effects and careful location shooting do a more plausible job than one might expect of turning Los Angeles into Central America.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season 1, Episode 6 - "Lockdown"

It was inevitable that we'd get an episode where the ship was locked down due to a scare that the virus had slipped free of the controls in place to contain it. Given the reality of their situation, and given the lack of information coming from the top, it was believable that paranoia would tear through the crew. Lt. Green contracting Dengue Fever as a result of their excursion in Nicaragua was a plausible way to trigger the lockdown and spark panic without the show having to resort to a contrived means of containing the threat (since the dengue virus is transmitted by mosquitos and requires body fluid-to-body fluid transmission between humans). Likewise, the captain's decision to overpromise on the vaccine's progress and then hold his mistake against Dr. Scott was unpleasant but rang true, given the pressure he's under. His solution at the end, laying all of the cards on the table and trusting the sailors whose enlistments were done to reup, was an inspiring one.

My main criticism of this episode was the ease with which Quincy got Bacon wrapped around his finger. It helped that Quincy's factual conclusions were largely correct, even though his spin on them was far bleaker than the facts warranted. But it seemed to rob Bacon of some agency that he didn't push back against Quincy more than he did.

Season 1, Episode 7 - "SOS"

This was the episode that really started to drive the two overarching plots of the first season -- finding the cure and confronting the Russian admiral -- forward. The discovery of Bertrise on the Jamaican fishing vessel was a game changer, giving Dr. Scott a crucial piece of the puzzle for producing a vaccine. It also featured a doozy of a bait-and-switch ending, as what appeared to be the rescue of the captain and Tex turned out to be their capture by the Russians.

A few things stood out to me with this episode. The first is that it's the first time the show dug a little deeper with Tex, as the desperation of their situation and his disbelief at the captain's strategic decision cracked the jovial wisecracking persona a bit. It's the first time on the series where John Pyper-Ferguson had an opportunity to demonstrate some of his considerable range. The second is that Quincy's daughter Ava is fully aware that her mother is sleeping with the Russian admiral in order to keep them alive. Some solid work from the young actress Jade Pettyjohn (now a series regular on one of the Nick shows, I believe) that brought a lot to that scene, and colors the whole thing in an even more unpleasant light than if the girl had been in the dark. Third, everything about Bertrise (except the failure to quarantine her after she'd been a boat chockful of the virus) rang true. Good writing, good performance from Hope Olaide Wilson, and a wonderful scene in the lab where Bertrise expresses immense survivor's guilt at being the only one left when so many on land and then on sea have died all around her. Normally, there's no satisfactory answer when someone asks, "Why me?" But in this case, Dr. Scott has one: Because you're immune, and you're immunity provides a real shot at the cure.

Obviously, the plot thread of immunity introduced in this episode plays out in a much more significant way in the second season.

Season 1, Episode 8 - "Two Sailors Walk Into a Bar..."

When this episode originally aired, I wrote: "Big episode last night. My biggest criticism of it was that it was too unqualified of a victory. The show made the Russian sailors look like Imperial Stormtroopers; all of that firing and only one bullet struck home."

This second time around, I was more forgiving toward it. It was a big episode, and sort of defied expectations by conclusively eliminating the season's Big Bad with two episodes left to go. And while only one Russian bullet struck home, that bullet took out Cossetti, a supporting player that the show had spent several episodes (and especially the prior two episodes) developing. And the neatness and completeness of their victory helped provide cover to keep the audience from suspecting the twist when the show pulled the rug out in the season finale.

One thing I'm really appreciating this second time through is the discipline in the narrative. Sure the Gitmo episode and the Nicaragua episodes were overindulgent at times, but every episode has a specific and important purpose toward contributing to the overall story of the season. Eight episodes in, and the show hasn't spent a single one spinning its wheels.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season 1, Episode 9 - "Trials"

This is the episode that the whole series pivots on, because it's the episode where they found the cure. It's also notable for being the first episode to cut away from the U.S.S. Nathan James and its immediate adversaries, following Chandler's family in rural Clearwater, Virginia as they try to survive amongst the Red Flu.

Something I missed the first time -- but was blatantly clear this second time -- is that Titus Welliver's resistance leader Thorwald is the man Chandler's wife witnesses shoot the infected woman. If I had realized this the first time through, I would have been more likely to accept Amy Granderson's explanation of who he was, and more blindsided by the ultimate reveal at the end of the finale. But it does raise logistical questions: We know Thorwald operated out of Baltimore, but this episode made it sound like Chandler's wife was just headed into town for the capacitor. But anywhere rural enough to provide protection against the virus would be at least two hours from Baltimore. Even assuming that the town in question is on the western fringe of the Baltimore metro area, it's a stretch.

Poor Maya Gibson, who probably had five lines before this episode. We got just enough of her tragic backstory so that her death as the one casualty of the human trials had some weight. The locket with the girl's photograph is the first hint we have about Tex's daughter. The fact that he didn't mention her when the captain and him were adrift at sea made me think that she was a late game retcon. But this episode shows they were already laying the groundwork. On the other hand, the show continues to utilize Bertrise well despite her brief amount of screentime.

It continues to impress me how quickly the show's burned through story this first season. Who would have though when the show premiered that they'd have the cure within nine episodes?

Season 1, Episode 10 - "No Place Like Home"

I was impressed the first time, and I'm even more impressed the second time: This is one of the best season finales I've ever seen of any show. Partly that's because of how lean of an episode it is; in its way, it's as jam-packed as the pilot was. Over the course of this hour: the crew is vaccinated; the Nathan James travels up the Eastern seaboard from the Carribean to Baltimore; they're introduced to a civilian government; Alisha Granderson is reunited with her mother; Chandler makes contact with his family; Tex kisses Dr. Scott; a massive conspiracy is introduced and unmasked; Chandler is reunited with his children and his father; the ground team is forced on the run; and the Nathan James is captured by the enemy.

Meanwhile for a show that had until this point been largely clear-cut in its definitions of good and evil, it unveils a vision of the world of staggering cynicism. This episode is like going down the rabbit hole. At first Baltimore seems to be the answer to their prayers. But as the episode goes on, things just get darker and darker, until Chandler's standing outside a sports stadium that has been converted into a Nazi-style death camp where the sick are euthanized so that their bodies can be incinerated to power the government's facilities.

Particularly disturbing is what happens when the dump trucks loaded full of bodies take off for the incineration plant. Chandler's father covers Chandler's sons eyes to shield him from the sight. But Chandler's daughter Ashley stares right at them, doesn't cry, just does the math and tells her father that they need to get out of there. That coldness from a kid who can't be much older than fifth grade really shows how this plague has robbed children of their childhoods.