The Last Ship Review: 2×02 “Fight the Ship”

The Last Ship upped its game and roared to the end of its season premiere in grand fashion. We’re expecting the renewal announcement for Season 3 already. Buckle up sailors.

The Last Ship — In the second hour of the season premiere, all hell breaks loose as Chandler (Eric Dane) and Thorwald (Titus Welliver) take on Granderson’s (Alfre Woodard) tower in the clouds and the crew fight to take back their ship. Not a moment is wasted throughout as room to room, Granderson’s goons are taken down or rounded up both inside Avocet and aboard the Nathan James. With the Olympia power plant shut down by LT Green (Travis Van Winkle), all teams move in and with a little inside help LT Foster (Marissa Neitling) escapes with Tex (John Pyper-Ferguson) and Dr. Scott (Rhona Mitra). Meanwhile, Jeter (Charles Parnell) manages to help young Sam Chandler (Aidan Sussman) recover with meds, but when the city goes dark, he too must put up a fight from Avocet troopers to keep the children alive.

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Aboard ship, XO Slattery (Adam Baldwin) and the crew find themselves in a brutal fight as gunfights and take downs erupt all over the ship. Not one to admit defeat, Amy Granderson encourages everyone to fight back against the Navy personnel to keep things intact, but the encouragement turns sour when her own daughter, Alisha (Christina Elmore) is shot amidst the fray. As Thorwald and Chandler each confront Granderson standing in the ruins of her failed social experiment, the insanity of a world thrust into chaos comes to the forefront and not everyone lives to see a better day as the Season Two premiere of The Last Ship comes to a close!

Please place your lips firmly on my ass cheeks. Press the # sign.

If that line didn’t get a roar from fans, we don’t know what would have. LT Green, not knowing his actions turning off the power saved Kara and the baby, let his swagger out and we were fist pumping and dancing. Thank you Hank Steinberg and Steven Kane for writing in a bit of humor among all the action sets. Hell yes didn’t quite cut it for our true reaction, but we’ll keep this review PG and let everyone speculate on what we actually said.

“Yeah, that oughta get a rise out of her!” ~ LT Green

Larger than the moment, that line set the tone for the next hour of Amy Granderson watching her world she’d built upon the spirits and ashes of the less fortunate fall apart. Alfre Woodard was impressive in her portrayal of Granderson’s rejection of failure and as things went from bad to worse, her moral compass was finally exposed to the light of day. With little regard for human life, she pushed her troops to stay the course and many paid the price. We do know this much, we’re glad we weren’t on Avocet security payroll that night. Body count anyone?

Darkness is your ally in the belly of the beast.

After the lights were out in Baltimore, the action never let up. Nearly the entire episode was one thrill after another and about as intense as things can get. Truthfully, we didn’t mind one bit. After the setup of the first hour, we were primed and ready for Avocet troops to drop like flies as long as our heroes made it out alive. Wondering who might make it, or who might not, created the greatest tension, and even though we “knew” some certainly would, it didn’t make it any less fun to watch. Having made it this far we didn’t want to watch anyone we cared about lose out on what is most assuredly going to be a good season ahead.

“I didn’t come all this way to die in Baltimore.” ~ Chandler

Amen Chandler. We certainly enjoyed this episode as it unfolded. With the entire crew led by Slattery rising up against the guards holding them down while Chandler, Thorwald, Burk (Jocko Sims), Green and Tex took on Avocet, the intensity was non-stop. After the reveal of the Season One finale that Baltimore and Granderson held a dark secret and the build up from the first hour, the second, though a little lean on plot, was exactly what we’d hope for from our crew righting a grand wrong.

The pace was one of constant movement and tension and when done, we actually felt exhausted. That’s a testament to a writing team that realized the payoff of a season cliffhanger and an hour of setup deserved a hell of an ending. And boy did we get that. As the darkness continued to our advantage, we were rooting for every one of our group as they fought to take back the freedom they’d lost and to grant a better future to Baltimore.

It was only when the lights came back on that things truly became tenuous with the shooting of Alisha Granderson and the turn of the Avocet populace against the Navy personnel. Though things ended with the crew and city liberated, having dissension among the population will create an interesting set of challenges as the season progresses. Everyone makes their choices as Thorwald pointed out. That same “do what it takes to survive” conflict is likely to be played out in almost every location the crew encounters and we’d expect no less from this show.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the Apocalypse.

Courage, precision and valor won the day. Much more will be needed to win the world. As all fronts begin to crumble for Amy Granderson, reality simply didn’t seem to set in that with the cure she could become the savior of the world instead of its oppressor. Alfre Woodard was outstanding in her conviction. Even in the face of certain defeat Granderson hardly wavered. Her grand social experiment was a horror. Some part of her must have known that, but part of her humanity burned up in the decision to incinerate others in order to keep the lights on. Her true colors came through in the end.

“I don’t want them out of the crossfire.” ~ Amy Granderson

Granderson taking her own life was an interesting choice by the writing team. True, she wouldn’t have had a fair shake in the new world after the night’s events changed everything, but to quit so easily seemed a cowardly way to go. The fact that we detested Granderson so is a testament to Woodard’s stellar performance. Granderson believed in what she was doing was “right” for the world to survive, but a world without a soul is one not worth living in at all. If only she’d made her choice to exit stage left before so many lives were ruined.

“We didn’t have to be enemies.” ~ Amy Granderson

“Yeah, we did.” ~ Thorwald

Thorwald understood what it meant to retain the soul of a world and his untimely demise will mean that he will be missed on this show. Titus Welliver is one of our favorite actors for a reason and his charisma added a nice touch of sarcasm and levity in places. We’d have liked to see him be the rock that could make Baltimore a place worth saving again which made his death did matter to us. Welliver, though he wasn’t a huge part of the show, made his presence felt as he nearly always does and we were sad to see him go.

FINAL VERDICT: The Last Ship rocked into its second hour with not a moment to pause and catch our breath until the emotional end. This is why we watch television—to see our heroes overcome all odds and make right the wrongs of the world. Plus kick some serious ass doing it.

As the dust settled and the aftermath of freedom earned was on full display during “To The River” by Down Like Silver, all the emotion held in check during the entire two hours could finally be felt in a powerful and collective exhale by an audience that had weathered the intensity of a rock-solid premiere. After the bar the opening episode set, we expect great things from The Last Ship in Season Two. There is tremendous potential for character growth as everyone reconciles themselves from the aftermath of fighting for their lives. Alisha Granderson (Christina Elmore) will have to come to grips with what her mother had become and everyone will struggle with finding out good or bad news about family as the season progresses.

Writers and Executive Producers Hank Steinberg and Steven Kane completely understood what would make us cheer and pump fists in every way as the back half of the premiere unfolded. Action and intensity were culminated in that collective sigh of emotional relief that our heroes had weathered the storm. With such a tightly connected two-episode opening, it made perfect sense for Director Jack Bender to helm both episodes and he brought his “A” game constructing a second hour that lived up to the hype and then some.

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All in all, the first two hours of The Last Ship Season Two was some of the most gripping, intense and satisfying television we’ve seen from this cast and crew. With tight dialogue, a pulse-pounding pace and outstanding performances by the cast and guests alike, the bar is set high for what the second season can become. Baltimore may have been liberated from the grip of a tyrant that had lost sight of her humanity, but an entire world is still in chaos and we don’t plan to miss a minute of the The Last Ship this season!

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…

• Please place your lips firmly on my ass cheeks. Press the # sign. I just did a dance!!! @TVdub That chapped her ass I bet!
• Avocet? I think we know who has a set. #JustSayin
• At least someone can do the right thing in that room.
• Fitting end to a prick like him [Evil Doc] I think.
• Word to the wise. Never trap sailors on their OWN ship. #BadPlan
• We got guns. Shit’s about to get real because it’s about that time.
• I didn’t come all this way to die in Baltimore. Damn right @RealEricDane
• Bad day to be on Avocet security payroll I think. lol
• Someone’s got the high ground. Bad news for bad guys. @TVdub
• Lights out. Night night bad guys.
• I think Slattery is loving his view of the show just as much as we are ours. Let’s take back our ship!
• Is this a completely epic and badass night of TV or what?
• You gonna pay me? How many of these Avocet dudes are there? They just keep coming.
• Right through the old window pane! Way to go Jeter!
• Crazy witch doctor tried to get the cure from her. I killed him. Another badass woman on this show! @MarissaNeitling
• You really don’t get it. I think he gets it just find buddy.
• United States Navy. We’re gettin you outta here! That’s our captain!
• I like how all those baddies grouped up for that grenade
• Was that an maniacal laugh @AdamBaldwin? No worries. I did it too. lol
• Wow. That crowd turned quickly. This must be how rock stars feel. Run Alisha!
• Oh shit! You did NOT just shoot her!
• Hell of a reflex shot Master Chief!
• They aren’t fighting! They’re running away. I don’t want them out of the crossfire. She’s lost her shit. Totally.
• Get back! “Don’t listen to his dumb ass” ~ Tex lol
• #Boom Light em up O’Connor! Smokin and sinkin!
• I can’t go back to the ship. More than just her [Alisha] gut is bleeding.
• We didn’t have to be enemies. Yes. We did. Oh well. Will someone kill that woman already?? #TheLastShip
• Just chopping wood. You’ve been axed! Bout damned time too. @AdamBaldwin
• I like the sound of “the full force of the United States Navy” honestly.
• Panic? You were calm? We’ll take your panic over this.
• Your grand social experiment is over. #SuckyExperiment
• A trial. Or a funeral. Or that. Okay that was a completely cop-out move Queen B.
• Has everyone remembered to breathe through all this? I’m emotionally exhausted!
• That look. Kiss that woman dammit! @TVdub @MarissaNeitling
• Wow. This song. All the emotions I’ve kept in check til now are flooding out. #GotChills #Beautiful
• The price of freedom is high. #FreedomIsNotFree
• Okay @mrstevenkane, you and #hanksteinberg absolutely KILLED it in this 2-Hr Season Premiere!
• That was 2 hours of absolutely amazing TV. Where’s that Season 3 renewal announcement? #TheLastShip @TheLastShipTNT!