The Last Ship Review: 2×07 “Alone and Unafraid”

The Last Ship raises questions about how things could spiral into chaos. Were the Immunes and the Cured meant to coexist? Some say no and that makes them radically dangerous.

The Last Ship — With the realization that Jeff Michener (Mark Moses) may indeed be the President of the United States according to U.S. law, CO Chandler (Eric Dane) and his infiltration teams must act fast to extract him from Sean Ramsey’s (Brían F. O’Byrne) control. The escape plan is risky and everyone’s lives are put on the line for Michener, but is he being held against his will or is he a willing and complicit participant in the genocide of all those that aren’t the selected few Immunes?

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Elsewhere, Tex (John Pyper-Ferguson) and LT Green (Travis Van Winkle) discover that Niels (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), very much alive and well, is helping the Ramseys rid the world of those that aren’t naturally immune. When caught in the midst of a plan by Niels and Ned Ramsey (Nick Court) to infect unsuspecting survivors, both Tex and Green must act fast to stop further spread of the disease. Meanwhile, Chandler, LT Burk (Jocko Sims) and LT Bivas (Inbar Lavi) find themselves in the fight of their lives to secure Michener. The action heats up to a frenzy and not everyone escapes unscathed on this episode of The Last Ship!

Loyalty and Ambiguity.

While The Last Ship is guilty of filling the ranks of the Immunes with stock crowds that have no real substance, the characters that are pulling the strings definitely have meat to them. Sean Ramsey is quite frankly—a bit crazy. Ned isn’t quite as far along as his brother, in fact he’s questioned Sean’s every move, but he is still the loyal instrument of Sean’s insanity. The question then is exactly how newly-minted President Jeff Michener fits into the mix. Is he a true believer or is he playing the part?

This is where we have to give credit to Writers Jill Blankenship and Jessica Butler for working hand-in-hand with Director Nelson McCormick and give props to Mark Moses for keeping us guessing. The idea that Michener is being held against his will and is playing a part is certainly talked through early on. But Chandler, after listening to Michener, begins to wonder if this President is loyal to the Ramseys and the cause or just ambiguous enough to hitch his wagon to the wrong crowd in order to reach power he couldn’t by himself. When Chandler manages to insert himself into the President’s detail, we see this play out first hand as Michener practices his next speech.

“It is our responsibility as immunes to restore this great nation. And just as God chose Noah to survive the flood of the old testament, he has chosen us to survive this plague that washed away the sins of our world.” ~ Michener

“Do I sound convincing?” ~ Michener

“Do you believe it? “ ~ Chandler

“Why, yes. Of course, but I don’t have Sean’s charisma. I watched his videos. I’ve seen the translations into Spanish, Bulgarian. You don’t understand the language, but you believe what he’s saying.” ~ Michener

So the seed is planted. Does this man seek power by ANY means? Or does he truly believe in a radical view of natural selection and elitist rights? Is he complicit in the plans to wipe out those who aren’t naturally immune? We have no doubt that in Chandler’s hands next week we’ll see much more where Michener stands, but for the moment, an intelligent script and a purposefully unsteady and ambiguous physical performance by Moses leaves us wondering. Is this man a monster opportunist or a playable figurehead? Hopefully we’ll find out where those chips fall and perhaps even a third option will emerge.

When toothpicks and teddy bears are instruments of death, the end is indeed nigh!

Ethical and moral questions around purposeful genocide lingered in the minds of The Last Ship fans after the last few episodes and though this entry didn’t add many new queries to the list, it certainly spiced up the conversations already on the table with a diabolical new plan by Niels to infect children with virus soaked teddy bears. The writers’ room for The Last Ship is showing its hand as a sick crew (that’s both a multi-pun and a compliment by the way).

Niels and Sean have both clearly embraced their visionary roles as purifiers of the unworthy. And while Sean may be a bit off kilter, Niels, chewing on the deadliest toothpick in the world, has stooped to an entirely new low by working to come up with new and creative ways to infect the masses and “discover” new Immunes. Ebon Moss-Bachrach may want to avoid public displays of toothpick chewing for a while. He’s beautifully crafted an indifferent killer with a clearly sociopathic view of the world. Niels is a character to be loathed and using teddy bears to infect children is a brutal low we didn’t think even he would stoop to on this show.

“So remember, the gel, it soaks the fur so as long as the bear is wet, it’s contagious. So really encourage the child to squeeze the bear.” ~ Niels

“[Laughs] What the hell? I’m not doing your dirty work for ya.” ~ Ned

“I can’t do it. I mean, if I breathe on them, they’ll get the virus anyway. It’s not a controlled experiment. We need to see if the bear works.” ~ Niels

With Danny volunteering to take the bear to the trailer park, knowing very well it’s a delivery device for the virus to an unsuspecting child, the stage is set. When Danny saves the only child they find and turns the tables on his guards, he sets in motion the capture of a wounded Niels and leaves an enraged Ned behind minus a bit of his face and ear from the gunfight. One plan had been stopped and Niels contained, but will the incident convince Ned that his brother has been right all along? Only time will tell, but we’d say loosing part of your ear might be a small motivation to seek swift and brutal revenge. Plus we have to give props to the special effect department. Ned, was a glorious bloody mess in the end.

Don’t bring a gun to a pan and fork fight.

Week in and week out this show delivers a level of action and intensity that ceases to amaze us. As all the teams on land fight for their lives in a highly coordinated effort to extract the wounded Niels and the President, XO Slattery (Adam Baldwin) finds himself in an equally intense cat and mouse game with the Achilles to reach the safety of the St. John’s River for protection. It’s a race to use the river mouth to avoid sonar and launch the helo in order to retrieve all the teams on land.

Fantastic stunt work, music that intensified the pace and well choreographed interplay of all the action sequences through the last ten minutes made for a crescendo of thrills. This type of sequence is very much why we watch The Last Ship. Not only will we have the moral questions ahead as the truth about the Ramsey brothers’ plan is brought to light, but in the process, we had a thrill-a-second in the last third of the episode that didn’t let up until nearly the end.

“They’re organized, Mike, much more than you’d imagine.” ~ Chandler

“Our country’s been without a leader for months now. It was only a matter of time before somebody like Ramsey to come along and try to take power.” ~ Slattery

Through it all, the questions about Jeff Michener’s true position remain and in the aftermath of each loss for the Ramseys, a larger, more looming concern lingers—the Nathan James is but one ship against a larger, more equipped enemy. But the fantastic kitchen fight sequence to liberate the President was a telling microcosm of the larger picture. Out manned and out gunned, the discipline and courage of Chandler and his crew overcame superior odds at every turn. The Ramseys may have more men, weapons and materials, but precision, skill and ingenuity can win the day. Sometimes the gun is outmatched in a pan and fork fight.

FINAL VERDICT: Is this show exciting or what? The Last Ship just keeps rolling out great episodes full of action, character development and pieces of the larger puzzle. Season 2 has been a thriller and this episode was no exception.

No doubt all of us in the world that would likely NOT be on the list of Immunes see the deeds of the Nathan James and its captain as heroic efforts to preserve life and start to rebuild a world that’s fallen into chaos. But as with almost all apocalyptic views of the future in fiction, there are those that would oppose good works and seek to use the misfortune of the world to their advantage. And it usually only takes a few crazy people to stir the masses (well, small crowds in this case) into a lather and build support for radical ideas. That’s the kicker. The apocalyptic dystopia is the ultimate equalizer in society. The powerful fall and those who had no power to begin with fill the vacuum. The Last Ship has painted an interesting picture of that transition with the Ramseys emerging from obscurity to world domination.

We have no doubt that the larger strokes of those apocalyptic ideas were mapped out in the writers’ room before the season ever began, but Writers Jill Blankenship and Jessica Butler penned a tight script that left very few i’s undotted and t’s uncrossed. As intense as the moment was, the only glitch was likely Sean’s handing of the gun to Chandler and assigning him to watch the President. That seemed a bit naive and convenient, but all other avenues were so well crafted that it didn’t detract from the enjoyment and despite any plot weakness of the exchange, both actors brought grit and realism to the moment.

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From the detailed coordination of the various teams, to the interactions aboard the Nathan James and the Achilles, every situation was sharp and well written. Upon second and third viewings it was clear that the small details were covered very well and nearly every moment was set up neatly by a previous one. This made all of the plot points make sense, save the questionable trust of Sean toward Chandler. With so many moving parts, Blankenship and Butler did a good job of bringing them all together and Director Nelson McCormick did a solid job of bringing them all to life. We’d be remiss if we didn’t give a solid shout out to Editor Michael Fox as well. Praise for the editing was well-deserved for setting the pace with great sequencing.

With resounding victories at nearly every turn and despite the setbacks for Dr. Scott (Rhona Mitra) in her work to create an airborne delivery mechanism for the cure, we can almost feel the dark cloud looming. Chandler is right. There’s an ace up Sean’s sleeve that we’ve not yet seen. Something sinister is afoot and it’s just a matter of time before whatever Sean has behind the scenes becomes a much bigger problem for this crew.

Winning the hearts and minds of America can be a tricky thing to accomplish, but doing so is likely the only means of defeating an enemy hell-bent on scorching the Earth of all those not naturally selected to survive the virus. We may not know what Sean has in his back pocket, but given the nature of television we’d be remiss to bet against Chandler when the chips are down. They will fall where they may and we’ll be there watching The Last Ship next week when they do!

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…

• So .. is he being held against his will? Inquiring minds want to know @mrstevenkane (We know .. keep watching) lol
• I gotta say, this show has some really sharp looking good guys. #JustSaying
• I got that one. It goes to the scientist. Uh oh ..
• He’s got it. We got it. It’s pretty clear. Sean is a little .. nuts.
• Yeah, we’d be distracted by @InbarLavi too. #Gorgeous
• That’s the most deadly toothpick in the world Niels has been wielding all season.
• I tossed my hair, he gave up the goods. Did you “give” him the goods?” was the worried look from @jockosims @InbarLavi lol
• You yellow bellied, whining wankers! He’s always having to tell them to “shut it1” lol
• Niels definitely has used up several of his nine lives already. Be sure and shoot him several times guys to get the rest. 😉
• Damn. Did you have to hit me that hard Captain? lol
• Let the chips fall. Uh. That was rather intense. o.O Ugh… I’m sweatin’ here. Sheesh!
• He didn’t have to break it. Don’t be a baby. Damn .. so much for the TLC treatment.That was just an anesthetic. HA!!! We were distracted too! #Ouch
• What? “That vanilla thing?” Yep. He’s kinda smooth. 😉 @TVdub @Johnny_Pypes
• Encourage the child to embrace the teddy bear of death. Niels has really embraced this “angel of death” thing. #Bastard
• Well, I can think of worse things than vanilla and honey as the parents of a child. @MarissaNeitling @TVdub
• I feel like we’ve met. We’ve met before. Says the toothpick of doom.
• And @TVdub gives that look. Aw hell, now I have to kill these two.
• I like Tex’s counterpunch in that conversation. Do they know who YOU are?
• Did Niels just use up another of his nine lives? I hope like hell he did.
• And .. that’s why you don’t mess with LT Danny Green ladies and gentlemen.
• We need to take him out back. Well this just got dicey.
• And that’s why you don’t bring a gun to a pan fight says Burk
• Damn that was f**king INTENSE!
• I won’t look at a meat tenderizer the same way again @jockosims.
• I gotta say. @InbarLavi is deadly if you give her access to the utensil drawer. #Badass
• No actual teddy bears were harmed in the filming of that scene.
• Ooo that makes the helo Navy One. Nice. 🙂
• You think Burk is going to tell Bivas he needs some additional anesthesia?
• You better sit down. What? That’s not a souvenir because your kinda sweet on me? @rednaughtmitra @Johnny_Pypes
• That was one hell of a fantastic episode, but you owe us some @MarissaNeitling I think @mrstevenkane. #JustSayin
• Every “get in the kitchen” insult to women EVER is now null and void thanks to @InbarLavi. #GirlPower #Boom #HeWasForked
• It just struck me that #Ted would have a hard time watching this episode of #TheLastShip
  #TheHorror #NeedAThunderBuddy
• That’s a f**ked up ep of #TheLastShip @mrstevenkane. Why is the BEAR always the means of destruction? Where’s HIS equality? HIS fork? ~ #Ted