Tag: Rhona Mitra

Cry Havoc is the penultimate episode of The Last Ship season two. Last week saw the Nathan James lose four crew members and Sean Ramsey openly challenged his nemesis Commander Chandler. This week saw an increase in action and excitement as the destroyer and the sub face off at last. The episode also allowed Adam Baldwin as XO Slattery to get his hands dirty and prove that, like his character, Baldwin is not getting older, he is getting better.

*Sidenote* In terms of action, it is always annoying to see London born Rhona Mitra have to take a back seat to the action. One can almost see her gritting her teeth when the “menfolk” get all booted and suited to kick arse while she has to remain behind.

The crew of the Nathan James are bruised and battered this week, before they even start their face-off with the Ramsey’s and their group of international mercenaries.  Chandler decides that he is tired of playing hide and seek with the Achilles and he orders that the James flank the sub and end the whole thing “today.”

“Valkyrie” aka Valerie is being shadowed by Lt. Granderson who really does not like the technical wiz. When Val makes a joke about security Granderson jumps down her throat.  Chandler tells the president that he, Dr. Scott, the kids and a few crew members, along with the cure, will be off the ship until they have taken Ramsey’s bunch out of the picture.

President Michener is not overly pleased to be out of the action, but he goes along with the plan. Valerie points out where all the civilians are that have teamed up with the Immunes to blockade the destroyer. When it looks like the crew may have attack the civilians, something that Michener says is not acceptable, Valerie comes up with a  plan to divert the civvies to a fake sighting of the ship.

As the away team arm themselves and sort out supplies, Tex shows he is still attracted to Dr. Scott. Lt. Wilson and Lt. Green have a moment and Wilson tells him that he had better not make her raise their child on her own.

The XO tells his commander that it “really sucks” that he will not be there when Chandler sinks “that sub,” and similar to Wilson and Greens, “Lt., Lt,” greeting, the two men call each other commander after Tom hands his XO a letter for his family. Slattery calls the landing team away.

Once they reach the shore, the XO tells the group that they are on radio silence till the Nathan James tells them that the sub is dead. Back on the destroyer, Jeter and Garnett are setting up their jury-rigged sonar.

Valerie (Tania Raymonde) and Granderson share a comic moment. As Val swamps her system with false leads for the Immunes and the hostile civilians, she and the Lt. have a very short chat. Granderson does not trust their new friend and Val knows it.

“Relax,” Valerie says, “I’m not a double agent. I’m on the ship too.” 

“I’m not worried,” says Granderson, “The first sign you’re not on our side, I’ll kill you myself.”

 

Valerie smiles at the Lieutenant  who stares back at her, stony-faced, and the smile slowly disappears.

The bickering Ramsey brothers continue to disagree about almost everything. When they learn, via Val’s mis-information that the Nathan James has gotten out to sea, Ned’s response is scathing.

“So much for your bloody Armada…They let a 500 foot ship get right past em,” says Ned. Sean is not fazed, “Fear not, Bruv. I’ve got a contingency on land for this very reason.”

What the leader has is a rocket battery ready to be aimed at the destroyer the moment it appears.

While the crew try to outmaneuver the British nuclear sub, the landing team set up in camp. A couple with a child wander by the tents. The woman and child are obviously sick and Dr. Scott wants to treat the child as she is now a contagious cure. Against the wishes of  Lt. Green and XO Slattery, she approaches the trio. The man, Mace, points his gun at Rachel until his wife tells him to lower it.

Rachel touches the child and begins the healing process. The parents of the girl relay information that they got from the Immune camp (the Immunes infected their daughter by wrapping  her in  an infected blanket). They tell Slattery of the rocket battery that Sean’s men are manning and the XO takes Green and Tex to take the team out.

The last part of the episode has action aplenty with the ship and the sub competing for the upper hand. After a lot of tension, and naval jargon, the Nathan James ends up right on top of the Achilles. Each vessel then jockeys for position. The destroyer squeaks to a position to fire ahead of the sub and shoots four torpedoes at the Achilles.

The sub returns fire, which floods the magazine and limits the destroyer’s access to ammunition. With four rounds left in the five-inch guns, Chandler decides to force the sub to take the battle to the surface.

Meanwhile, back on land, Slattery, Tex and Green find the rocket battery. The XO briefs his three man team on their strategy. “Okay boys, here’s the plan. Win.”  Tex approves, “Good plan.” The men take on the seven mercenaries and a prolonged fire-fight takes place with all three of the Nathan James ground team taking hits.

Slattery heads to the mercenary manning the battery and the two go head to head. As the destroyer maneuvers for a shot, the trio on land overpower the mercenaries, “Aren’t you a little old for this,” says the one fighting with Slattery just before the XO shoves a knife into his opponent’s torso, killing him.

The XO fires rockets at the Achilles and all are direct hits. He also gets the last word, “Cheer’s a**hole.”

The Nathan James has won more than the battle with the Ramsey’s they have won the contagion war. Rachel’s touch has healed the little girl.

The sub sinks to the sea bed and we see the Ramsey brothers laying side by side. Ned is clearly gone, his glazed eyes stare at nothing. Sean sees his brother’s lifeless body and screams, “Bruv…”

Somewhat amazingly, The Last Ship took out the “big bad’ in the penultimate episode instead of the season finale. This can only mean one of two things. Either Sean Ramsey has a trick up his  sleeve, or the Immunes are still a vital threat. With one episode left in the season, there is not a  lot of time left to end the show with a huge cliffhanger.

*Sidenote*Kudos to Eric Dane, guest star Tanya Ramonde, Adam Baldwin, and Brían F. O’Byrne  as the mad leader of the mercenaries who wanted to take over America. All of the actors did well in their roles and only one bit of complaint is appropriate here, more Rhona Mitra please. Mad props to the writers again this week who got the slang and jargon so right with the British submarine crew. Well done chaps.

TNT have come up with a real winner. Something that is a combination of drama, action, and patriotic hodgepodge. The Last Ship airs Sundays and has only one more episode left in its second season. Tune in and get excited.

 

 

 

Just when it seems that The Last Ship has lost its bearings, Friendly Fire turns to a little hardcore Naval action. Last week saw the Immunes using a bounty system to get the crew of the Nathan James captured or killed. It also featured the brutal, yet satisfying, death of the most despicable man in the show, Niels.

If no other lesson can be learned from watching this post-apocalyptic series, one thing has been made abundantly clear, scientists are some cold blooded people. Firstly, Niels not only infected and killed everyone he came in contact with, except for the immunes, he then set about turning teddy bears into viral dispensers. Now we have Dr. Scott who, to be fair only did what most people wanted to do, cold bloodily kill Patient Zero in last week’s episode. She then turned around and gave herself the untested vaccine knowing full well that if she got it wrong, she would die.

As the mayor says in Slither, “B*tch is hardcore.”

Although this would be unfair. Part of what makes The Last Ship work so well is its attention to detail and a timely introduction of backstory. Last week we learned that Niels, for all his “Typhoid Mary” traits, was desperately lonely. It was this, combined with his “crush” on Scott, that doomed the walking contagion to die so horrifically.

Rachel Scott watched her mother die from Malaria because her father refuses to allow the woman to be vaccinated. An event that so traumatized the young Rachel that it obviously set her on the path to scientist. It was this information, so perfectly timed in terms of delivery, that makes her action of allowing Niels to die from his own disease ridden body almost a serendipitous event or at the very least poetic justice.

*Sidenote* Not to be too picky…But Malaria? Scott is not that old and surely, missionaries, which her father obviously was, must be required to have the entire family inoculated before “spreading the word.” While there are two churches who do not believe in using doctors missionaries must still, presumably, follow vaccination laws before visiting third world countries where Scott’s mother would have encountered the malaria. Final complaint; using such an stereotypical, almost cliche, backstory for Rachel was a bit of a let down. Just saying.

The storyline this week is split into two distinct threads with a common theme. Rules, aka codes, must be followed. The Nathan James is close to “the Big Easy” and Slattery and his team are working hard to “turn” any of the just captured Immunes. One, Flea, proves to be the weak link and he finally helps decipher the cell phones’ code so Chandler’s crew can intercept Ramsey’s messages.

Running concurrently to the main storyline is the focus on Niels’ death. As Scott has flashbacks to childhood while she dissects and “cannibalizes” the body to aid her development of a vaccine delivery system, she is under investigation for Niels’ murder. The crew are divided in their support of the scientist and Chandler is keeping away from Rachel while the investigation is going on.

*Sidenote* It should be pointed out that Rachel is plagued by her act. Apart from her two childhood flashback sequences, she keeps seeing “flashes” of Niels and his death. While she is not “suffering” per se, she is feeling the guilt of her action and one gets the impression that she will never forget this deadly act of retribution.

Lt. Granderson and her team work out that the cell phones use bluetooth technology to bypass the useless cell towers. Ramsey’s Immunes are using a bluetooth game to communicate, and spread damaging propaganda, but using the phones is somewhat problematic as they must be within a 90 yard radius to operate. Later, on the Nathan James, all the crew’s cell phones are paired long distance so a damaging video can be streamed on their phones. Someone on Ramsey’s team has boosted the signal somehow.

The Ramsey’s, who have been hiding like an unwound Jack-in-the-box, suddenly make themselves known and destroy the small flotilla of survivor vessels outside New Orleans. The Achilles then fires multiple torpedoes at the Nathan James and the destroyer has to deploy rounds and chaff to deflect the guided missiles. All but one are detonated and the one straggler explodes causing damage but not to the hull which is reported to be intact.

This must class as one of the more irritating episodes of The Last Ship. While this segment could be seen as necessary, to show that the crew must follow regulations and codes, it is frustrating. The amount of time that the crew had to spend investigating the death of the vile and despicable Niels kept them from making the more important discoveries necessary to crack the cell phone problem.

Could they have prevented the deaths of so many civilians at New Orleans? Possibly, but in all likelihood it would have made no difference. As a plot point, not to mention that the mercenary’s had to act against the ship, something bad had to happen, because despite the Ramsey’s being barking mad, they still have a plan. Taking over America and destroying Chandler and the Nathan James. Had the small flotilla not been blown up, the Achilles would have still attacked, using the ships above it as both hiding place and shield.

This week also saw the new president hitting his stride in becoming the guy in charge of the country. He even passes on some wisdom to Chandler about making unpopular decisions. Eric Dane, once again, stepped up to the mark and did some brilliant acting. His final scene with Rhona Mitra, as Rachel Scott, was spot on. He manages to convey with just his facial expressions the frustration, anger, regret and disappointment he feels about Scott’s murder of Niels.

The fact that the commander of the Nathan James grew attached to and respected Scott for her determination in finding a cure for the pandemic made his decree of what amounts to quarters arrest a hard one. Although he is angry enough that she killed the one man who could have been used to effectively fight the propaganda campaign against the destroyer that he tells her, “on land” he will turn her over to the authorities to be tried properly for murder.

For the time being, the Nathan James have been boldly portrayed as the bad guys in the Ramsey’s little “winning hearts and minds” scenario allowing them, as Immunes, to be the country’s saviors and the question of Chandler and Scott in term of “will they, won’t they” has been laid to rest. At least for the foreseeable future. One gets the feeling that even once passions have cooled over the issue of Niels’ murder, the commander will never forgive Rachel for scuppering their one chance to easily fight the Ramsey’s lies.

The Last Ship airs Sundays on TNT and continues to provide excellent post apocalyptic television.