Mikes Film Talk

Last week’s episode ended with ballistic missiles being released from the HMS Achilles and destroying most if not all of the labs. This week in The Last Ship: Long Day’s Journey the Ramsey brothers are still bickering and disagreeing about everything. Including, it seems, the “chosen” bit that Sean appears to believe wholeheartedly in. Ned, is not a devotee of his brother’s philosophy and it remains to be seen just how long these two can continue to work together.

At the start of the episode, the Ramsey brothers are outside of a shopping mall watching survivors straggle into the building. Once again they argue about what should happen next. Ned wants to kill everyone on board the Nathan James and Sean says that the sub is going nowhere till the silencing is repaired.

On board the destroyer, Dr. Scott tells Chandler that they are running out of everything needed to keep making the cure. The ship commander tells Scott that the mission has changed and that now the Achilles is the main target. He wants that sub and the crew on it punished and Slattery reminds Chandler that if they continue combing the waters for the nuclear submarine they will run out of fuel.

His response is that they can refuel at Norfolk or some other naval bases. Scott angrily reminds Chandler about the cell cultures she needs. After a few tense moments she leaves. Dr. Hunter, Scott’s mentor, sent her a message from the Florida lab, he had improved the method of delivery for the vaccine and was uploading the procedure via the server. A last minute message from the doctor shows the lab under attack from Ramsey’s goon squad and Hunter is obviously killed before he could transfer the information.

Chandler takes Scott and a team, including Wolf-man and Ravit who come along for the ride, to the lab. The team search the area and find dead doctors everywhere, including Hunter. The computers in his office have been destroyed and some of the men retrieve some “hard data” from the ransacked room. Scott takes pictures of what looks to be a formula on a whiteboard. Previously Chandler stated that one part of the team would take her and the data back to the Nathan James and he would go on to find the sub.

As she takes the pictures, Scott says to Chandler, “When you find the people who did this…Kill them.”

Meanwhile Ned drinks bottled ale while he and Sean wait for Niels to return. Ned still dislikes Patient Zero, earlier at the mall he referred to their private “Typhoid Mary” as the Grim Reaper and said that Niels disturbed him. Niels cheerfully tells the Ramsey brothers about his visit to town which will result in death for most who encounter the walking plague.

Ned and Sean get into a heated discussion where little brother accuses Sean of being afraid of the Nathan James and his responsibilities. Sean grabs Ned and holding up a knife, tells him to “tell me I’m afraid again.” Ned acquiesces and things calm down, but only after he makes a joke, Niels watches the exchange with interest. Part of Ned’s problem is that he wants to be back home in England. The younger Ramsey brother has stated repeatedly that he hates being in the “swamp.”

Chandler and his Vulture team follow directions to a heat signature found by the crew on the destroyer. As the team approach the area, it looks like a safe zone until they find mercenaries from the Solace mingling with the crowd. As the team study the area, they realize that the “mercs” are talking to the sub. The Nathan James picks up the comms signal and begins to decrypt the message.

Meanwhile, Dr. Scott struggles to uncover the secret of Dr. Hunter’s improved delivery system for the vaccine. Bacon brings Scott some food and as he discusses the recipe and the intricacies of the preparation, “sifting the flour,” the doctor has an epiphany and realizes that a food base is required for the delivery system.

Tex infiltrates the safe zone group and gets clothing. Coming back with the booty, he says the group of people are having a regular “love in.” Chandler decides to blend in with the safe zone crowd as they appear to be leaving en masse. He splits his team and puts Wolf-man in charge. His half of the team put on civilian clothes, dispose of their weapons and get on the school bus. Everyone else, including Tex and Wolf-man follow. Chandler talks to the woman beside him on the bus and learns that they are on their way to meet Sean.

Meanwhile, Scott is working with a confused Bacon to perfect the formula that Hunter died for. As Vulture team head to the meeting point with Sean, XO Slattery and his team are tracking the sub’s radio signal. Learning that it is not from the sub but a buoy, the XO decides to blow it up preventing the Achilles from talking to anyone. Ned is on the radio to Ian back at the sub and directing him to find the destroyer when the missile the Nathan James fires hits the buoy and cuts of transmission. Ramsey throws the radio in frustration.

Back on the ship, Scott has discovered that the missing ingredient is cornstarch and she asks the Chief to give her a couple of machinists to manufacture a device to make the stuff work. Tex and Danny go to work while Chandler and Burk are in the big complex and the commander recognizes the Irish voice warming up the crowd before Sean’s speech in the ballroom as the man in the Hunter message.

Back on the Nathan James, Slattery is concerned about Chandler and his three teams, Vulture, Tiger and Cobra. Talking to Wolf-man, the XO tells him to get things sorted so he knows what is going on.

In the ballroom, Sean Ramsey shows he can work a crowd and Chandler recognizes Ned from the Solace. As the mercenary leader whips the group up into a patriotic fervor, he announces Secretary Michener as the new president of the United States.

In The Last Ship this week there were several stand out moments. From the Chief warning Chandler not to become an “Ahab” searching for his white whale, to the cold blooded murder of the doctors in the lab the show impressed, as usual. Once again the writers have the Brit slang coming hot and heavy from the mercenary faction. No muppets this week, but still spot on in terms of military verbiage, i.e. git.

There was even another tense and quite exciting moment where the crew send out a “bird” to take out the buoy that the Achilles is using to transmit their radio signal. The other tense moment came when Chandler recognized Ned in the ballroom and had to shift position so the other mad-as-a-hatter Ramsey brother could not spot him.

This should be rather interesting. Sean Ramsey has pumped these immune survivors almost to a frenzy. Their belief that they have been “chosen” has turned them into a further extension of his soldiers for hire. What will happen when, or if, Ned notices Chandler could turn things very deadly for him and Burk. Even if Ned does not identify the commander of the Nathan James, Niels (“creepy git” mutters Ned backstage) definitely will.

The Last Ship airs Sundays on TNT. Do not miss this cracking blend of science fiction, drama and action.