In its first season, TNT's The Last Ship was plagued by erratic pacing, a serious lack of character development and an over-reliance on apocalypse genre tropes. Although it had its strong points, the show's first year was largely uneven in terms of quality. Fortunately, the second season premiere rights many wrongs of the past. With this two-part episode, The Last Ship gives viewers everything they could want from an end-of-the-world drama series.
Here's What Happened:
The premiere picks up right where the first season left off. After being reunited with his children and father in Baltimore, Commander Tom Chandler finds himself on the run after learning that Avocet head Amy Granderson is not the benevolent leader she made herself out to be. Leaving his family with CMC Jeter in a safe house, Chandler (alongside LT Burke and LT Green) makes a move against Granderson by capturing the city's power plant. It is there, of course, that she is burning bodies to power the city. As such, this move on Chandler's part proves costly to her operation. While fighting his way through Granderson's forces, Chandler comes into contact with mysterious rebel leader Thorwald. Though initially hesitant to trust each other, the two agree to work together to take down Avocet.
Of course, Chandler doesn't get to have all the fun in this episode, as the crew of the U.S.S. Nathan James must contend with an attack on their ship by Granderson's lackeys, who are trying to seize the primordial strain of Dr. Scott's vaccine. In the midst of this conflict, Quincy makes a harrowing attempt to prevent the Avocet henchmen from learning where the strain is being kept. He allows himself to bleed out from the gunshot wound he received at the end of last season so that the secret location of the strain dies with him. Elsewhere on the ship, a group of crew members who manage to get free from the grasp of their foes raid the armory in an effort to take back the ship.
Unlike some of her Navy comrades, LT Kara Foster is unable to avoid capture by Granderson's henchmen. After their attempts to get Quincy to reveal the location of the primordial strain prove fruitless, a group of Avocet guards take Kara to their lab, where they plan to extract stem cells from her unborn child that will allow them to develop a strain of their own. Fortunately, Kara is quickly freed by Tex, who, learning of Avocet's misdeeds, returns to help the Nathan James crew after parting ways with them last season. In tow is Dr. Scott, whom Tex also frees after learning that Avocet is keeping her under their thumb.
In a needless D-plot, Chandler's family, along with CMC Jeter, must stay hidden from Avocet's forces while also trying to nurse Chandler's sick son back to health. When a group of Avocet henchmen get wind of their location, they must go on the run again.
Toward the end of the premiere, Chandler, Thorwald and the rebels stage a full-scale assault on Avocet headquarters, while the crew of the Nathan James makes a move to dispose of the people who have captured their ship. The climactic fight at Avocet HQ results in Thorwald's death and Alisha Granderson getting shot by one of her mother's guards. The elder Granderson attempts to escape Chandler and his forces. While waiting on the rooftop of the Avocet building for a helicopter to come take her away, Granderson is confronted by Chandler, who chews her out for valuing certain lives over others and killing people for her own nefarious purposes. Chandler demands that she surrender. At first, it seems as though she is ready to comply, but Granderson instead decides to take on a "they aren't taking me alive" philosophy. The cold and calculating villain injects herself with a serum that kills her, thus bringing the conflict between her forces and the Navy to a halt. The episode ends on a light note, as Chandler, reunited with his family once again aboard the Nathan James, looks out upon the city of Baltimore, ready to make his way back home to Norfolk after the hell his crew has been through.
Here's What Worked:
Although the first season of The Last Ship was somewhat tedious at times, this two-part premiere was anything but boring. These episodes had a cinematic quality to them, akin to films like Taken or Zero Dark Thirty. The pulse-pounding action never let up. Even during moments of levity (which were far and few in between), the threat of Avocet loomed, leaving you on the edge of your seat. As busy and action-packed as this episode was, though, the premiere never seemed to lose its way. The show's writers deftly juggled four separate story lines (Chandler and the Warlords; Tex, Kara and Dr. Scott on the run; Chandler's family in hiding; and the captured crew members).
As for the performances featured in this set of episodes, everyone in the cast put forth a great effort to make this premiere shine. As great as everyone was, though, Alfre Woodard was undoubtedly the premiere's unsung hero. Coming off her run on the short-lived NBC political drama State of Affairs, the Golden Globe winner returns to television with a vengeance. Throughout the two-part premiere, Woodard gives a stellar performance. She delivers each line with an intense and icy wickedness that trumps that of any other villain that has been ever been introduced on this show.
Here's What Didn't Work:
There was something about the story line that saw Chandler's family hiding out from Avocet that felt off to me. The action of this plot just felt so far removed from everything else that was going in the premiere. Another problem with this story line was that it lacked consistency, particularly where Sam Chandler's sickness was concerned. During part one of the premiere, everyone kept going on about how worried they were that Sam was going to die. By the end of part two, though, Sam is back on his feet with little to no explanation as to why he suddenly feels better. The premiere certainly would've benefited from opening up that aspect of this story line a little more by doing something as simple as dropping a line or two explaining his miraculous recovery.
The resolution to the Kara/stem cell extraction plot line also could have used a bit of work. They could have done so much with this plot, but it was resolved so quickly that it didn't even have the chance to come across the least bit consequential. Perhaps if this two-parter had aired over the course of two weeks instead of one night, the Kara-under-the-knife cliffhanger ending in part one and the subsequent resolution in part two could have packed more of a punch.
Although the show did a great job developing Granderson as a villain, I feel a mistake was made by killing this character off so soon. Woodard gave this role her all. With that ever-present look of disdain and her staccato line delivery, she was able to provide such depth to this already well-written character. She added something that was missing from this show: a worthy foe to Chandler and the rest of the Nathan James crew. Whether or not Woodard was even available to do more episodes beyond the premiere is not information to which I am privy. Regardless, getting rid of Granderson so soon seems like a grievous error.
Killing off Thorwald was another thing that didn't work in this episode's favor. Like Granderson, this character had so much potential. While viewing the brief scenes he shared with Chandler, it seemed clear that the underlying tension between these two characters could have produced some compelling story lines in future episodes. Why this tension was not mined further is beyond me.
Other Random Thoughts:
*Although Quincy was kind of a dummy, it was nice to see him redeem himself for his past crimes in the premiere.
*Too bad Titus Welliver and Maximiliano Hernández didn't get the chance to stage an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reunion. It would've been funny to see Agent Sitwell and Agent Blake together again.
*Now that Patrick Dempsey isn't charming the ladies of Grey/Sloan Memorial, now would be the perfect time to get McDreamy to come on and do a guest spot on this show. Wouldn't it be interesting to see Dempsey play the Lothario to Eric Dane's man of honor?
*Not only is the show's new credit sequence longer, it also does a much better job of letting viewers know what the show is about. Last year's sequence (which featured a Navy officer in a gas mask spray painting the screen red) felt a bit out of place. Although this year's sequence is simple (it features objects like a gas mask, a bible, a vial, and the American flag floating in the ocean), it is nicely animated and really ties in with the themes and happenings of the show.
*During the final battle between Chandler's crew and Avocet, there was a scene between Thorwald and a former police officer now working for Granderson. The scene was quick, but it was certainly a stand out. Most of the Navy officers featured on this show are honorable and unwavering heroes dedicated to the mission at hand. Rarely on this show do we get to see those characters succumb to the dark side so that they may survive in this brave new world. It is interesting to see the contrast between an officer continuing to fight for the greater good and one who has chosen to make a deal with the devil. Moving forward, I hope the writers continue to feature situations involving moral ambiguity that should be commonplace in settings such as this.
*Actress Faye Masterson, who portrays Andrea Garnett, chief engineer of the Nathan James, is deserving of recognition for her work in this episode. The character is stuck aboard the Nathan James alongside the rest of Chandler's captured crew. Despite the confining situation in which the character finds herself, Masterson's performance isn't pigeonholed because of the limited canvas with which she is able to work. She portrays Garnett as a true leader against Granderson's gun-toting henchmen. Garnett's role was rather limited in season one. She was merely a background character. Her role is still not as expansive as it could be, but this premiere did a pretty good job of letting her grow a little. Let's hope the show's writers continue to let this character flourish in season two. If this episode accomplished anything, it was to establish that Garnett (and, by extension, Masterson) is a force to be reckoned with.
*The episode's largely dialogue-less last scene was so well done. The music in that sequence did a wonderful job of illustrating the crew's ability to stand tall in the midst of all the adversity they have faced.
Overall Episode Grade: 9 Anchors Out of 10
The Good Stuff:
-Great pacing
-Edge-of-your-seat action
-Awesome performances by key cast members, particularly Alfre Woodard
The Not-So-Good Stuff:
-Decision to get rid of newer characters so soon
-Airing both parts of premiere in one night lessened the impact of the part one cliffhanger involving Kara
-Story line involving Chandler's family felt superfluous to the rest of the action of the show and wasn't resolved well
If you had any doubts about reenlisting with The Last Ship for season 2, let those doubts drift away. If this premiere was anything to go by, this season is going to be quite a ride! So, don't jump ship quite yet!
