Wednesday, September 27, 2017

The Last Ship 4x06, "Tempest" / The Last Ship 4x07, "Feast" - as the action heats up, the rest of the show seems to cool.

There is a type of myopia in this season of The Last Ship that hadn't become entirely clear until this point. Part of the charm of the evolution of the show was that as it continued, the world building (one of the show's key strengths) followed along. But despite the fact it is in its fourth season, the show seems to struggle with it. Not to go back to the highs of the better regarded third season, but that season featured much more detail and use of setting and world building. It feels as if the fourth season wishes to return to the setup of season one, where it was the one last American naval ship against a singular enemy, racing to save humanity.

The problem I seem to have is what little world building that has come forth in season four cannot ever infer more than what it says and has little to no face value other than in the scene it resides in. For instance, there is only ever one mention of St. Louis and the U.S. government despite the fact that the world is again on the brink of annihilation, or that any little hints towards the state the rest of the world is in are so minimal that the world building feels clumsy and undercooked.

"Tempest" faced the Nathan James off with escaping an enemy that vastly outnumbers them in the Greek navy. Part of the exciting action contained in the episode is the cut between the ship enduring the waves of the storm as the crew works to survive it, while Fletcher engineers a plan to get the seeds off the ship. There is a confusing moment as the Nathan James charges the Greek naval line and no one exchanges fire. I suppose that regardless of discipline, if anything happened everyone would retaliate, safety of the world's last hope be damned. Regardless, by the end of it, Fletcher absconded with the seeds, so it seems that Nathan James is not as safe any more.

"Feast" helps bring the disparate elements of what little world building there is in season four to help elucidate Paul Vellek's plan for a Red Rust resistant crop. I am a bit reticent about the reveal, as part of it seems to veer too far in to the edge of "supervillainy" with the plan to also introduce nostos DNA into the proceedings so he can turn even the most violent and warmongering person docile. The show had previously done a much better job of turning away from outright "supervillainy", although I guess one could argue the entire conceit and premise of the show was based off a scientist trying to make the Red Flu in the first place. It will be interesting to see how the season will try to conclude, as it seems to signal the Vellek children moving into their places in the finale. Giorgio, the black sheep seems likely to rebel, whereas the fairly competent Lucia (despite the show's writing basically whoring her out to a man at nearly every opportunity) will remain in the foreground. Not sure about the last Vellek son, who hasn't done much but smirk pleasingly because he decided to follow his father in the same career path.
  • Not quite sure why Jeter wants to hide his injuries sustained in "Tempest", except to create some artificial drama and then probably later to become incapacitated when the plot requires it.
  • When the show wants to do small character moments, the show does deliver. Danny and Kara's small interaction in "Feast" is as loving as it is sweet and nice to see.
  • It's always a shame to see background characters that have lasted so long get finally killed off, O'Connor being the notable casualty this season. But at least he went out with a fight.
  • Omar returning felt a little silly even by the standards of this show. Shot in the back and returns healthy as ever a few episodes later? And then to be blown up.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

The Last Ship 4x05, "Allegiance" - For clarity and morale, a new direction feels needed at the right time

At the halfway point of the season, The Last Ship finally feels like it has its bearings again. The initial adventure that took place as Tom Chandler found his way back to the Nathan James felt like an overdue and long-winded exercise that could have sacrificed some runtime for the sake of brevity. But nevertheless, now that the crew is effectively back together, an invigorated energy that seems to have been lacking has in some ways returned.

There's a lot to process despite that most of the episode was contained in the Nathan James. The main crux is Tom Chandler wondering if he can basically re-enlist, and despite the foregone conclusion, his indecision does chafe at the crew that took slights to his disappearance, which help to add some depth to the proceedings. The other draw in the episode is the slightly late reveal that the El-Alamein's captain (so the speak) is British intelligence, and urges Fletcher to turn his back on the Americans and steal the seeds to make sure the Brits are the first to benefit from any new Red Rust-resistant crops.

It makes for an interesting choice for Vellek to remain a background force, so seemingly influential and powerful - and his supposed expertise being much needed - that he can sway an entire nation away from whatever allegiances they hold. Part of the charm of The Last Ship is that it doesn't forget the seemingly larger picture or global scale it finds itself in. With the UK still reeling from their own internal struggles (referred to and glimpsed at back in season two), it shaped their nation in ways the USA of this show in vastly different ways. It will interesting moving forward to see how the UK acts as a secretive antagonist against the Nathan James and what demands it will place on Fletcher. It's an age old and well worn plot to demand someone's loyalty between their home and newfound friends, but it'll be interesting to see how it unfolds nonetheless.

And lastly, it doesn't seem like 'nostos' will be done with just yet. The show seems to give the impression it will somehow return in some form or other, with Doc Rios trying to research the origins of the plant while it seems like even a single dose has hooked Slattery in some respects. The final scene seems to imply the habit is not kicked, and the allure of it might be too strong.

But regardless of where some of these threads might end up, for now it seems like the show has at least set a course that looks like the right direction.

  • Burke is still reeling from the effects of the attack in Rota, as he becomes more paranoid and unhinged. He is finding it problematic that the enemy is not so clear cut, so it will be interesting if and when his path coincides with Fletcher's.
  • Not sure how I feel about Kandie's speech about Chandler, the Nathan James, and destiny. It seemed a little too on the nose in regards to the whole exercise of the show than anything else.

Monday, September 4, 2017

The Last Ship 4x03 “Bread and Circuses” and 4x04 “Nostos” don't feel like we're being taken anywhere as far as I can see.

The Sardinian adventures of the Nathan James leads them right to their expected goal, but in doing so, some new truths are revealed. It’s a bit odd for the show to move to a 10-episode season after the previous two had been 13, so it means there might be some fat cut at the expense of the moving target that is the main plot. At which point it seems like any world building will be lost at this expense.

Since the season is near the halfway point, it will be interesting to see where the future will lead. Obviously the first order of business will be for our heroes to put the seeds to use, but just how Peter Weller’s Paul Vellek will do so – with his newly revealed, and favoured son – will look to be ominous indeed.

Part of the charm and suspension of disbelief involved in The Last Ship is to simply toss their command structure off the ship and into harm’s way at any possible opportunity. I remember hearing a lot of comparisons to Star Trek’s away teams (though I must admit I have very little Star Trek experience). It’s obviously a creative need to place the main cast in some form of participation that isn’t just shouting orders in a bridge or CIC set, but again, the post-apocalyptic setting works well to warrant the need, and the show is generally better as a result.

The show makes me wonder how much more world building is possible at the moment however, when so much is still left in the air as the crew leaves Sardinia. Every faction introduced is still in play, but really only the Greeks are given any depth at the moment now that they have been firmly placed in the spot where they stand to be any true threat to the Nathan James.

Bread and Circuses felt like a fairly myopic episode however, lacking much focus on anything specific to cling onto. By the episode’s end it was clear it was waiting for its conclusion in the next episode while many of the roadblocks put up lacked any interest or immediate stakes. It was incredibly disjointed to see Chandler reason to his newly reunited team that he should remain a double agent, only for literal moments later to have to ghost out Giorgio's group to avoid being lynched by the mob.

Nostos proved to be an interested but also long-winded conclusion for the Sardinia adventure, trading time between the crew searching for Slattery, and his attempts to evade capture, followed up by some drug-induced hallucinations. It’s at this point it’s a little jarring to see though, some of the imagery was interesting (Miller and Burk shooting in the campground hallucination, Slattery’s son walking past the breached door – with a bad guy taking a headshot to boot) but it just really raised the hilarious notion that Slattery’s background was a known but non-specific fact through the show’s run. It was interesting to see specifically why ‘nostos’ itself seemed to be such a powerful magic pill to those starving at the hands of the Red Rust, but I hope it will be interesting to see if they continue the thread by having Slattery face any lingering effects from it.
 
It will be interesting to see where the show moves on from here. The Mediterranean will likely be the setting this season will find itself in, but now that everyone is reunited, the burden of world building now lies with Weller's Vellek and his family to do the heavy lifting.
 
  • Funny to see Tom Chandler invading everyone’s life again, but by the end it seems to send a different message; his crew have in many ways, moved on without him. Which in odd contrast, we see the ground team seem to fawn over him, with Sasha almost occasionally forgetting about Fletcher at moments.
  • Equally funny to see that Giorgio and Lucia are essentially the black sheep of the family since their father has a son that actually wants to follow in his footsteps.
  • Part of me thinks the genetic sample 'problem' is fairly easy to solve – maybe two episodes tops – that I wonder what obstacles the show will have to throw at the Nathan James to keep them from getting their homework done.
  • In that same vein, I wonder what is the goal of keeping Omar alive will be, if anything more than a last ditch effort to recapture the seeds, given the 10-episode run.
  • And Tom has abandoned his children again, but now that everyone knows who he is, it might be the last play Giorgio has.