The Last Ship - Military pr0n in the apocalyptic world

S03E03 Disappointment. My suspense of disbelief was nagging all the way through this episode, and it makes me believe this is last season of Last Ship for writers doing a really bad job. Please, put a bit more effort to make this more believable.

Oh, it's not as dire as all that, surely?
I wouldn't say the writing is any different than n prior seasons.
It's holding my interest as sort of a guilty pleasure.
With the amount of utter crap on TV I relish my interesting plot-lines where I can.

Did they ever say what happened to Tex Nolan?
 
I wouldn't say the writing is any different than n prior seasons.

Are you saying that the vampire angle was a good pull from them? Or the whole excursion around the place was excellently written? Or that the writers had to use the outhouse angle in a shack, because series needed something like that to make it more ooomph?

To me this episode was a low point in this series. Maybe others will feel differently, but the way I see, the last ship won't get another season, because of the writers seem to convert back to the usual tropes to write out the episodes.
 
3.03 Shanzhai
I agree that this episode was not up to par for the series. The balance between shoot-em-up action and character development was way off, and the show suffered for it. I would hope that a better balance is restored as the season progresses.

I was surprised by Chandler's decision to make Granderson XO over Burk. I thought that Burk had done a great job in a high-pressure situation. Chandler might have been a little more grateful that Burk didn't immediately blow that Chinese military helo out of the sky.

"Vampirate" Takehaya is a bit much, I concede, but it's not as if he's being depicted literally as a Count Dracula-type vampire. Might his need for American blood over that of his merry men have some sort of medical basis? Can't figure that one out. He could get the cure directly.
 
Might his need for American blood over that of his merry men have some sort of medical basis?

You can't mix blood types. It doesn't work, because you will only cause immune system response. Additionally there is no reason for adding blood to one body, if everything is already fine. You could easily balance lack of blood by drinking fluids or having saline dripped/pumped into your veins.
 
Maybe he is an AB blood type suffering from acute thrombocytopenia?
No doubt they'll explain Takehaya's condition in next episode or two. Somehow I don't think it will involve spending his daylight hours in a coffin. He appears to have no aversion to sunshine. :D
 
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Are you saying that the vampire angle was a good pull from them? Or the whole excursion around the place was excellently written? Or that the writers had to use the outhouse angle in a shack, because series needed something like that to make it more ooomph?

No, I think I'm saying the show is sort of good *despite * the writing, which to my mind has always been a little clunky and gimmicky.
It's sort of (to me) the TV version of a Crichton novel. The story and the acting helps, but I don't know that I've ever loved the writing.
 
I'm half way through season 2 and am liking it. I avoided this when I saw Michael Bay was involved. Me of little faith.
 
3.04 Devil May Care

Not the most riveting episode of the season.

I thought that the "away team" successfully getting into Pang's residence and holding him hostage was a stretch, especially when the goal was to get a fuel refill for the Nathan James. At least Chandler and crew learned that Pang was also after the Dread Pirate Takehaya.

Takehaya's need for the American blood didn't make sense to me. The cure in the bottle didn't work, but wouldn't one transfusion do the trick?

Looks like someone is manufacturing and distributing a fake cure. We saw the dying family in southern Japan in the opening episode with a close-up of the cure bottle reading "Made in the USA."
 
Why Nathan James doesn't have ROV's? They are becoming pretty standard tool on anti-mining operations and there is no need to use divers, when things can be assessed remotely. Besides the point, ROV's can stay in the water for longer period than a combat diver. Although I understand this is one of SEAL core operations, if you look into the history, the operators aren't exactly highly trained EOD people. They are combat operators. And the plan with the rear rig is fool hardy.

Maybe they did it because of the high drama, but in the reality, their operation is very highly risky at best. In the meanwhile POTUS is doing the same thing. Diplomacy is better than straight out dictatorship. Although sometimes you have no other choice but stand on your ground and declare everyone else idiots. And instead of showing force by using land forces, everything should be done to keep things from escalating.

Still what The Last ship lost earlier in the season, it gained back with so much by focusing on the ship operations and raising tension through the roof. This series is still full on military-pr0n even if the plot is a bit flaky.
 
3.05 Minefield
I think you're right @ctg -- lots of action but not all that believable.
Wouldn't the boat set off the mine instead of waiting for the thing they were dragging? The helicopter made more sense, but wouldn't the first mine explosion have destroyed the "bait" in both operations? It was a feel-good moment when they found the boat crew alive, but I doubt they would have survived a direct torpedo hit anywhere but TV.
I was struck by how Takehaya, even as the American prisoners struggled to save the lives of his wife and unborn child, continued his efforts to destroy the Nathan James.
I'm curious as to what type of better life Takehaya has planned for them. Does he have his eye on a nice three-bedroom home with room for a nursery and his captive blood suppliers?
 
I think they need back off. The showrunner should focus on the mission and forget the home, because the distant horizon worked better than having POTUS angle cutting in as a running commentary. Multiple perspectives isn't working as well as it did last year, or in the first season.

In fact, first two seasons were written from a very limited perspective. And this year, when they had a chance to go big, they went too big instead of focusing in on what makes TLS watchable. Military is separated from the politics for a reason, and there is enough of that for own series. So instead of being a total military pr0n this series tries to become something else, and that something else is done really poorly.

It's half way point of this season and the second half looks somewhat iffy. And in the background you can fear this pancaking on its own impossibility. I don't know how much politics play into making of this series, but at the moment, this is hardly exciting, or something worth of promoting. If they have hands on, they should back off, and let the showrunner either burn bright or crumble on the dust.
 
Well, LOL.

I thought they had hired actual military advisor's in this show or then Uncle Sam doesn't want people to learn certain things. Or they think people don't know how actual artillery ballistics work, or that they haven't ever figured out that half-rotten wooden blanks aren't exactly bulletproof.

In this day of age, when fantasy series shows us brutality of the war, and science shows educate us about hollywood magic, The Last Ship is doing really poorly. It is in laughable condition, and it's not because of the actors, because they're doing their job. They know how to act, but they aren't capable of showing up their hands and say: "This is enough! Viewers aren't going to take this bs."

Why is that we cannot have a real proper military show that has realism tied around the plot and scenes? The only thing this show is doing reasonably well at this stage is military pr0n. They look really cool. But using direct fire to calculate ballistic trajectory for a dump round and then hitting the ground exactly at the point, where is does maximum damage to opposition force...

Man, if Uncle Sam has that tech on sale I know many eager people to throw money at them. LOL

PS. Don't get me started on the helicopter.
 
3.06 Dog Day
At least one nod to reality.
The crew took casualties, including series regular, Cruz (Ness Bautista), not just a few "redshirts." No idea why his character was chosen for the ax.
 
What was an ok show for the first two series is now becoming risible. I am sticking with it, but this is pushing the limit of credibility.

Also is there an element of racism in the show, a throwback to movies of the 70's and 80's. The depiction of the Chinese special forces is Keystone Cops.
 
3.07 In the Dark
The series does seem to be floundering since the Nathan James and crew achieved their goal of creating and spreading the cure. This episode, maybe because it focused less on action, seemed better.
Takehaya finally overcame his hatred and mission of revenge with the birth and immunization of his newborn, but the mystery of the cure that failed to save his people remains.
I found it hard to believe that such a recently repented, bitter enemy and captor would be allowed to take the ship's helm and steer them through a minefield. Had the ship not been carrying Takehaya's wife and baby, Captain Slattery might have declined the vampire pirate's offer of help in eluding the Chinese destroyer fleet.
President Michener's suicide at the end of the episode was a shock. He was hounded to death by a reporter, which really reinforces the public's negative perception of the media.
Some journalists actually take their gatekeeping duties seriously and put the greater good ahead of sensationalism. They're not all Fox News.
 
Well, this is a surprise.

TNT has ordered 13 episodes for a fourth season of The Last Ship to air next summer. Eric Dane, Adam Baldwin and Bridget Regan star in the series' third season, along with Charles Parnell, Travis Van Winkle, Marissa Neitling, Christina Elmore, Jocko Sims, Bren Foster and Kevin Michael Martin.

Based on William Brinkley's popular novel, The Last Ship chronicles a global catastrophe that nearly decimates the world's population. Because of its positioning, the Navy destroyer U.S.S. Nathan James avoided falling victim to the devastating tragedy. But now, CO Captain Tom Chandler (Dane) and his crew must confront the reality of their new existence in a world where they may be among the few remaining survivors.

In its third season, The Last Ship is reaching an average of 7.6 million viewers per episode across all platforms. New episodes premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) on TNT. Fans can catch up on episodes from the first half of season three through TNT On Demand and the TNT website and mobile app. Past seasons are currently available on Blu-Ray and DVD, as well as on Hulu.
TNT Renews Last Ship for Season 4; orders Monsters of God

I might have been super-critical on this series, while it has drawn in a surprise number of viewers to see the drama happening in the apocalyptic world. Maybe they don't mind about the reality related mistakes in this season. What I have to say is that they don't portray the world state as well as they did in the last time. Just think as an example, the traffic on shipping lanes and invulnerability of Nathan James captured Chinese light helicopter. That piece of machine will be amazing in the hands of wasteland marauders. They will love it.
 
One episode left and The Last Ship turns knobs to eleven.

This is military pr0n on best. It's better than Star Trek in their heydays. The tactical ops are much better than what they were before hand. They have actually thought on how to present drama, ramp up tension and deliver action.

Admiral Chandler was fool on thinking that Chinese doesn't have anyone in the Taiwan Strait, effectively exposing their flanks to land operated units. US Navy took a hit, just like it would have happened in the real life, but it delivered a meaningful hit.

Not only that but at last, the White House got drama of it's own. It was as if I'd been waiting for this episode all this time, and I hope, they hang on this momentum, because it looks like TLS is delivering the goods.
 
3.10 Scuttle
The action back in the States now rivals that faced by the crew of the Nathan James
The political side of this season had seemed a little dull, but no more! Shaw is just plain evil, although I thought I saw a flicker of doubt in her eyes when President Oliver was making his appeal. I am pretty sure that she and her Secret Service thugs had a hand in President Michener's "suicide."
I'm don't know what the grand plan might be, with regional authorities building walls and stocking prisons -- continued culling of the American survivors by their own leaders?
On the plus side, Tex is going to rejoin the cast. I saw that coming even before the previews for the next episode.
 
"Call on Line 2," assistant said to the Blond woman in charge.

"When did we get second line?"

LOL. White House is probably one of the most connected places on Earth. Blond "POTUS" even picks up receiver of Cisco IP phone, and proceed to talk just like before. But the thing is, the genius of a biowarfare is that it leaves all infrastructure intact. A biological virus does nothing to a normal stuff.

In fact, people should feel less stress as there's so much space around them since so many people died in the apocalypse. One that keeps going as long as there's non vaccinated people around. And even then, as we have seen during this season, the apocalypse virus can be altered and reweaponised.

It's strange that people don't learn from their mistakes. That humanity keep banking their head against the same tree time after time. It is almost as if we don't have faculties to understand that peace is more important than keep rolling in the war and slaughtering people.

Peng is no Emperor. But he is a king pin of a long con that has got at least one President killed. How much Chinese did during the first apocalypse is unknown. Although I suspect from the narrative that he has eyes on governing Earth, and that same thing seems to apply to many governments on after apocalypse, while you would expect them on focusing on the repopulation effort.

Does this mean that we are f---ed if something like this happens in the real world?

I'm don't know what the grand plan might be, with regional authorities building walls and stocking prisons -- continued culling of the American survivors by their own leaders?

Indeed.

I don't know what they're going to do with this series. But I have to say that Admiral Chandler is a bit like Adama. He is though and he has a nose on how the game should go in the post-apocalypse. But instead of forcing it, Adm. Chandler is swamped by the scale of things. He has no idea of how big this thing truly is.
 

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