The Last Ship: The First Season

I thought I'd check in with a general review of The Last Ship, which finished its first season on TNT Sunday, and I've been watching and enjoying since I reviewed the first episode two months ago, back in June.

The Last Ship had a tough, well-tread row to hoe - or, in its case, sail.  We've seen the onset and aftermaths of deadly pandemics before, from Helix to The Walking Dead.   And the post-apocalypse scenario, with government tottering, breaking or broken down, has been on the television screen as recently as Revolution.

But The Last Ship did a good job of telling its plague and post-apocalypse story in an original, often exciting way.  The ports of call and the encounters of the crew were all good narratives.  The conflict with the Russian ship and commander was well played, and packed at least one big surprise.  And, best of all, the pursuit of a cure/vaccine proceeded in a believable way, which left room for success as well as disappointment.

It was also clear, at the end of the season finale, that The Last Ship caught the wave of impending apocalypse just right, and in most ways better than Revolution.   This is probably due to the proximity of our story to the onset of the plague, which allows all kinds of people in all kinds of positions and power to still be around as potential and actual characters.

What's most of interest, now, is whether the second season will take the ship back out to sea, or if we'll see more action in the U.S.A.   Intrinsic to the first season was the running of a ship - chain of command, loyalty to the commander, all the things we've come to expect and appreciate in these kinds of stories.   But I won't miss that, overly, if the story spends more time on solid ground, with the last ship as metaphor as well as reality.

See also: The Last Ship Debuts: Helix Meets Last Resort


 not quite apocalypse, yet

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The Last Ship debuts: Helix meets Last Resort

Hey, I caught the premiere of The Last Ship on TNT last night, and it was pretty good, even if we have seen the pieces of the set-up before.

Helix on the SyFy Channel is the most recent disease apocalypse tale on television, and Last Resort on NBC a few years told the story of an American captain fighting the U.S. and a lot of the world on his rogue nuclear-armed submarine.

But The Last Ship is a little different.  The U.S. is not (yet) the ship's enemy, but rather seems all but wiped out by the plague.   Actually, the government is all but wiped out, but some number of Americans are still alive, including the CO's family, which makes for a compelling continuing story line.

The nature of the virus is of note as well.   It's a deadly virus, already doing damage, but apparently made even more deadly by some deliberate genetic engineering.   This gives the scientist on board an interesting hand to play.  As Dr. Rachel Scott explains to the CO Tom Chandler, she is more likely to find a cure, because she has the original, unengineered virus in her possession.

But the ship - a destroyer not a sub, which is also more interesting - is beset by at least two types of enemies.  One are the creators of the genetically engineered virus.  The other are the Russians - or a splinter group from what is left of Russia - assuming they are not the same as the evil genetic engineers.

So, while the premise is a bit trite, there are possibilities here for a good series, and I'll be watching.   Hey, if it's science fiction, I'm usually more than halfway there whatever the pilot.




another biological agent on the loose ... 

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