The Last Ship Review: 2×04 “Solace”

The Last Ship introduced major players for the remainder of the season in a heart-pounding thriller of an episode and we want to know more. Is it next week yet?

The Last Ship — When the crew discovers an adrift hospital ship with the potential resources to mass produce the cure, all seems too good to be true. As the boarding party discovers grizzly executions that prove the virus didn’t kill the hospital crew, it becomes all too clear to CO Chandler (Eric Dane) that something is amiss. When a firefight between unknown, but highly trained assailants, breaks out, the crew of the Nathan James finds themselves in a fight for their lives to escape and save what hospital crew remains before Ned Ramsey (Nick Court) and his motley band of mercenaries can blow the ship and everyone in it.

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With the help of newcomers SCPO Wolf Taylor (Bren Foster) and LT Ravit Bivas (Inbar Lavi), the boarding party, headed by Chandler, LT Burk (Jocko Sims), Tex (John Pyper-Ferguson) and LT Green (Travis Van Winkle) fight to defuse the bomb and keep the survivors alive amidst a firefight. As time ticks down and the tension ratchets up, everyone is put to the test of keeping their wits under fire on this week’s heart-pounding episode of The Last Ship!

We have new enemies with a new agenda.

Brothers Sean (Brian F. O’Byrne) and Ned Ramsey (Nick Court) who are the only apparent survivors of their submarine crew, have set their sights on stopping the Nathan James from completing its mission. Leaders of a radical group of idealists who believe they are the chosen few given their natural immunity to the virus that has killed most of the world, the reason for the agenda of the brothers is as of yet unclear. What we do know, is that these two characters don’t seem to have any qualms of committing violence en mass to reach their goals, whatever those may be.

We saw surprisingly little of the Ramsey brothers during the episode. Aside from their strange introduction with the death of their entire submarine crew and a sharp transition by Ned from a worried survivor into a slightly crazy killer with a bit of a death wish, we don’t know much more about them than they are extremely dangerous. With a sub at their disposal, the brothers clearly have the means to create havoc for the crew of the Nathan James.

“Everyone’s dead but us. We lost the captain. We’re all alone. There’s no answer from the base at Faslane. How we gonna get home? Sean!” ~ Ned

“We’ll get home, Bruv.” ~ Sean

“How do you know?” ~ Ned

“Because I do.” ~ Sean

We’ll have to wait a bit further to see more what their true agenda might be, but at first glance an elitist few chosen by a higher power to rule the world seems like a safe bet. We’d have liked to have learned more about why they think the way they do and what motivated them to kill so many in cold blood.

We’re hoping that’s revealed as the season goes on, but for now, both seem just bit like the stock radical enemies with an evil agenda that our good guys will need to kill to make the world safe. At least with Ned we got to see Nick Court transform him into something radically different, even though we don’t understand why. For the moment, Sean’s mindset is still a complete mystery.

While intense and well executed, the brief appearance by Ned especially will become more meaningful with a deeper understanding behind their actions. Knowing The Last Ship, we’ll see a bit of that play out and understand more, but some back story will definitely help understand why the crew of the Nathan James is in trouble.

New allies didn’t waste a minute getting into the fray.

We didn’t learn a lot about the new enemies the Nathan James will face, but we did learn that the new faces on the tactical teams aren’t afraid to mix it up one bit. Adding a bit of an international flavor to the mix, Australian SCPO Wolf Taylor (Bren Foster) and Israeli LT Ravit Bivas (Inbar Lavi) were both thrown right into the middle of the action and both delivered when the chips were down.

“Nice shooting, Miller.” ~ Wolf

“Thanks, Wolfman.” ~ Miller

“Hey, Wolfman. I like it.” ~ Wolf

Personable, handsome and packing one hell of a punch, Bren Foster jumped off the screen in his debut. We’d love to know how much of his own stunt work he does, but what little we saw was deadly. With a wit and charm, Wolf is likely to become someone fans, especially the ladies, root for in this show. Foster was solid and carried his part well in the opener even during the slightly awkward “first day of school” moment when everyone first meets.

A bit cold and aloof, LT Bivas didn’t strike quite the same impression right from the start even though she’s clearly caught the eye of LT Burk. That somewhat icy demeanor made for one of the more surprising moments of the episode when she slipped into a room in disguise and dropped three unsuspecting baddies without missing a beat while Tex and Burk looked on. If we had a beef with that moment, it would not be how bad ass she was, but rather how off script she went. That kind of thing will get people killed later and we’ll be interested to see if the writing team uses that or if it had less substance than it could.

Despite the boldness, her icy demeanor came in handy when it came time to defuse the bomb left by Ned Ramsey. Lavi actually lightened up and we got to see a bit more of who she may be inside once everyone’s lives lay in her hands. As things closed and LT Bivas had clearly demonstrated her value to the team, she let a little of the ice thaw which was good to see. Where her character felt out of place and off-putting to start, things rounded out toward the end and we’ll be interested to see how both she and Wolf fit into the crew going forward. Both had quality moments, but we need a bit more to become invested in both characters. At the moment, we were more worried about Burk’s willingness to take a bullet for her than Bivas herself, but we can also easily see where that can change over time.

“You okay?” ~ Bivas

“Yeah, it’d take, uh, more than a bullet to knock me out. I’m just glad we all got back in one piece, more or less. You, uh did real good out there today. I’m glad to have you on the team. [Bivas chuckles] What?” ~ Burk

“I like you guys. You’re crazy.” ~ Bivas

It’s a new ballgame for The Last Ship.

The Last Ship has set itself up for a dangerous cat and mouse game between the Nathan James and the sub helmed by the Ramsey brothers. While we don’t fully understand the dynamics of why these few naturally immune people seem to have gotten it in their heads that they are chosen to rule the world, it seems like they are working very hard to eliminate any inkling of the cure in order to maintain their “natural selection” status as those chosen to survive.

The introduction of a sub into the mix will certainly challenge the Nathan James and her crew with something completely new and inventive to face. We have no doubt there are some intense moments ahead as we now realize that two ships, one on the surface and one below it, now face off in a battle to either save or destroy the cure.

What was fantastically apparent in this fourth episode was that when the sub does surface, the crew of the Nathan James and CO Chandler in particular are up to the task. Through music, mood, lighting and sound the overall production value and tension of the moment was held throughout the final half of the episode. The Last Ship is anything but dull. But as we scan the horizon in the future for an enemy that can pop up just about anywhere, we’ll likely be left with a few frustrating moments just like XO Slattery (Adam Baldwin) felt.

“Find me something to shoot!” ~ Slattery

In the mean time, Neils (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) continues to find new ways to create havoc and embrace his role as the liberator of the world from all those not worthy. While that last thought might be a stretch, we see that glimmer in Moss-Bachrach’s eyes that suggests he’s thinking something along those lines and we can’t help but wonder what that will mean as he prepares to met “The Boss” from the deep.

FINAL VERDICT: The Last Ship reached home, but emotion overtook everyone through the highs and lows of a world that’s spiraled into chaos. Notes of joy, despair, frustration and conflict all rang through a melancholy return to families lost, found and broken. But valor and commitment paved the way for brighter days.

No show on television quite brings the intensity like The Last Ship. Week in and week out, we’re put through the emotional wringer with a guns drawn, life on the line sequence that makes us forget to breathe. That’s harder to do than it sounds, but with an outstanding combination of music, setting, lighting and situational writing, The Last Ship excels in thrilling us.

Writer and Executive Product Steven Kane has perfected the art of keeping us on the edge of our seats for most of an episode. We care about these heroes because we know parts of their pasts and lives at this point. What we need for the newest characters, both good and bad, is the same. While the introduction of SCPO Wolf (Bren Foster) and LT Bivas (Inbar Lavi) was without a doubt full of thrills, the next move is to give those characters layers and depth. Once that happens, we’ll become truly invested.

The same can be said for our adversaries that are emerging this season. The Ramsey brothers have proven their devout commitment to creating havoc, but why? As of yet, we don’t know. That piece is missing, which currently makes them disposable enemies to be feared and ultimately eliminated without much fanfare. What moved the needle for them from normalcy to elitist? Is it understandable? Can we relate to their decisions even if we feel they are wrong? If we understand the circumstances that drove them to this point, they become much more formidable. Amy Granderson (Alfre Woodard), flawed as she was, had layers and those layers made us at least understand why she took some of her actions. The Ramsey brothers need the same.

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There are few shows that exhibit the spectacle and polish of The Last Ship and Director Sergio Mimica-Gezzan delivered a quality episode. While the action was stellar and without a doubt entertaining, some of the best moments were simply seeing life on this ship reach a level of normalcy that we haven’t seen. We applaud Writer Steven Kane for giving us those moments and showing that routine and tradition still matter to this crew. As dazzling as the action set pieces were, those quiet moments might have been the most treasured thing from this episode by both Kane and Mimica-Gezzan.

The Last Ship reaches its full potential of humanity on occasion. Last week’s emotional display of the elation of reunion and bitter heartbreak of loss and frustration were needed for us to experience the reality of this tragic new world. There were small nods to those emotional moments this week, but largely this episode focused on the action at hand. Those action moments are incredibly well done on this show and when they are combined with the emotional adversity of life choices, this show has the potential to reach unparalleled heights. We’ll be watching in the coming weeks for all the characters to be rounded out in a way that helps us empathize with everyone, even if we don’t agree with their actions and decisions. When those lines get blurred, The Last Ship will have few equals for action and emotional intensity on television and we have our fingers crossed we’ll see it happen starting next week on The Last Ship!

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…

• Two brothers immune. Somehow I think that can’t be good later.
• Love the opening monologue. Hope is indeed in rare supply.
• Looks like the new team members have made an impression.
• Gooday mate.
• Love seeing the inner workings of a ship like this. Makes me proud.
• Is there a show better at creating tension than The Last Ship? Love this music.
• My heart is beating faster for sure. What the hell happened here?
• Holy shit that was bad ass by the Aussie!!
• And equally badass by the new lady of the bunch! Go Bivas!
• Wow. This is NOT good at all. Destroyed the lab? Prevent the cure?
• Nice shooting Miller. Hell yes. That was good stuff.
• Wolfman. I like that one too.
• Nice shot LT Foster. Minus one bad guy.
• But yes. These guys are good. Too good. Why haven’t we found a sub yet?
• Does anyone know how to diffuse a bomb like this? I’m sweating bullets here.
• Uh oh. I hope that’s hebrew for a-okay. lol
• That was brave as it gets Tex.
• I like you guys. You’re crazy. I was thinking the same thing. lol
• The newbies of this show just entered with a bang.
• I’d like Niles to stop talking too. He’s gone from selfish to a sniveling weasel that needs to die.
• The Boss. Just surfaced in a sub like a boss does.