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The Last Ship

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Paul Asay
Kristin Smith

TV Series Review

It’s been a tough few seasons for our ol’ planet.

A killer virus called the Red Flu swept across the planet like a cosmic Zamboni, coating the continents with disease and infecting about 80% of the population, killing most. And even though a cure was found and distributed at the end of Season Two, there’s still plenty of peril afoot. There’s another disease in play that kills plants instead of people and threatens worldwide starvation. Smugglers abound. And there’s plenty of petty power brokers who hope to parlay the post-flu chaos into a new world order—one centered on their own selfish, often deadly goals.

In this messy world, the USS Nathan James is still humanity’s best, and perhaps only, hope. Formerly helmed by steely eyed Commander Tom Chandler, who’s still very much a part of the action, the Navy destroyer escaped the initial pandemic through its isolation, loitering in the Arctic and observing strict radio silence when the virus went viral. It was the James and its intrepid crew that found the cure and has been distributing it around the world. And the nation, and the world, continue to place its hope in the little ship that can.

Passing the Naval Inspection

TNT’s The Last Ship follows the template of what summertime TV has traditionally been about: thrilling, frothing fun. Of course this is the 2010s, so the “fun” takes place on a jarringly dystopian cruise. Still, in a departure from today’s crop of tragedy-minded prestige shows, this actioner doesn’t want to impress you with its high-sheen craft or depress you with bleak, bitter storylines. It simply wants to entertain. (More Tom Clancy than Stephen King, the series is based on a novel by William Brinkley, a former naval officer.)

It also seems to want to inspire. These seaworthy heroes are usually, well, heroic. Indeed, The Last Ship swings wide of the prickly antihero trend so in vogue today.

How to Look at Harsh

Choppy waters come in the form of a new mini-crisis that pops up pert near every episode. Commander and crew often run headlong into perilous, violent situations. We see folks die, some from war-like conflicts, others from the disease itself. Sporadic bloody battle wounds or on-the-spot operations are obviously not for the squeamish. Foul language may be a growing issue for the series, too, with the occasional s-word surfacing (unbleeped on the iTunes’ and Amazon versions of the show we watched).

All that would make The Last Ship one of the harsher shows on cable TV—if, that is, it had aired in the Cold War era of the late 1980s when its source material was written.

Episode Reviews

Nov. 11, 2018: “Commitment”

In this series finale, U.S. soldiers and shipmen on the USS Nathan James, travel to Gran Columbia to take down violent revolutionary Gustavo “Tavo” Barros. But getting past the shore will be difficult as many men and women must lay down their lives to free the Columbian people, and the rest of the world, from the threat of a violent dictator.

Men and women are shot and killed as blood splatters and pours from open wounds. People are stabbed, punched, kicked and seriously injured. A soldier is shot in the eye and run over by a tank. A man’s leg is blown off. A shipmen catches fire after a ship is hit by torpedoes. Ships and vehicles explode. People die from explosions, both on land and sea. Dead bodies cover the seashsore.

Men are seen shirtless. A man caresses his lover’s face. God’s name is misused twice, paired with “d–n.” The s-word is heard once and other profanities include multiple uses of “h—,” “a–hole,” “a–,” “son of a b–ch” and “b–tard.”

The Last Ship: Sept. 4, 2017 “Nostos”

Mike Slattery, now captain of the Nathan James, has taken seeds that are immune to the crop-destroying Red Rust, but he’s been injured and may not make it back to the ship. Meanwhile, the evil Dr. Paul Vellek and his cadre of children followers mobilize the shadowy forces under their control to stop the crew.

Slattery sports a terrible looking wound in his side, and he leaves smudges and spatters of blood wherever he goes. Other crewmembers from the Nathan James seek to find and rescue him. They engage in armed confrontations in the process, killing perhaps dozens of adversaries. (Most of these deaths are relatively bloodless, but a few combatants get gunned down bloodily by a helicopter.) A woman who helps Slattery has her throat cut off camera. Her bloodied corpse lies in the middle of the floor in her house, and her killer wipes blood off his long machete as he bends over her. Another character gets shot in the back by an ally. Someone is stabbed. Other people are knocked out. Slattery punches a mirror with a bloodied fist, breaking it.

Slattery is drugged, and he has visions of life before the Red Flu. One memory recalls lying in bed with his wife. Both are fully clothed, but the dialogue suggests that the two had a sexually intimate moment earlier. (“I didn’t know a staycation could be so much fun,” Slattery’s wife says.) The woman who helps Slattery appears to be Christian (she wears a cross around her neck and has a makeshift shrine, filled with candles, commemorating her dead son), and Slattery temporarily takes refuge in a church. (Both good and bad guys shoot up the church pretty thoroughly, though.) Someone smokes a cigar. In flashback, we see Slattery drink a beer. Characters say “a–,” “d–n” and “h—,” along with misusing both God’s and Jesus’ name once each.

The Last Ship: July 31, 2016 “Sea Change”

The United States mourns the loss of President Michener, who committed suicide the previous episode. But those on the Nathan James have no time for tears: Chandler believes that the leader of New China is up to no good and is determined to find out what the guy is plotting.

Military personnel from the James kill several Chinese soldiers and operatives with surgical precision. One soldier has a massive fight with a Chinese interrogator involving hits, kicks, strangleholds and, eventually, a lethal neck break. A man being interrogated is hit several times and, when rescued, sits with a bloodied face and blood-stained hands. Guns are brandished and pointed. A new virus—something that appears to be a mutation of the Red Flu—seems to be designed to cause a new genocide. Chandler contemplates sending a missile to kill New China’s leader, but is cautioned against it. Some evildoers carpet bomb a city: We see the area engulfed in fire. (Paul, who did this?)

A pleasure yacht—actually a smuggling vessel—sports a flag depicting a curvaceous silhouette of a woman. A small, bikini-clad female figurine straddles a metallic rod. Scores of packets of cocaine and heroin are discovered aboard the yacht. (“I’m just meeting needs!” the smuggler says.) A woman drinks whiskey. Characters say the s-word twice. Other profanities include “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—” and “a–.” A woman talks about how she hasn’t prayed since she was a child, but plans to begin now to help protect a member of the Nathan James.

The Last Ship – July 12, 2015: “Achilles”

The cure for the Red Flu virus now safely in hand, the USS Nathan James runs into new difficulties—specifically, a rogue nuclear sub manned by half-crazed sailors immune to the bug who think they’ve been “selected” by some sort of cosmic force to survive. And, by extension, they believe that any sort of manmade cure is outside the will of the universe.

The crew captures one of those determined dissidents, and he suffers from scrapes and bruises and a bloody, bandaged wound around his middle. He starts throwing up blood during an interrogation, and it’s realized that he’s been implanted with something. To get it out of him, a bloody operation is hastily performed (where we see a scalpel slice into skin). A bad guy slaps a captive and sticks a gun in his mouth. Sub and ship fire torpedoes at each other, and the sub shoots missiles at land-based targets. The idea of torturing the captured sub crewman is hinted at, but all we see is him being denied water once.

Someone smokes a cigar. Others drink beer. The submarine is decorated with pinup posters of bikini-clad women. A couple of s-words are joined by a use or two each of “h—,” “d–n,” “a–“, “b–ch” and “bloody.”

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paul-asay
Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

kristin-smith
Kristin Smith

Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).

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