The Last Ship Mid-Season | Review

Welcome back to The nerd shelf!

Today's post is going to be on my thoughts about episode two-five of season five of The last ship. If you haven't seen this show before it's about the crew of a lone unaffected U.S. Navy destroyer, the fictional USS Nathan James, who after a global viral pandemic that wipes out 80% of the world population must try to find a cure, stop the virus and save humanity. It's an action-packed drama that will take you on a rollercoaster ride. 

I have to say I am in love with this season and I think that this might be my favorite out of the whole show. They are going all out, the action is amazing, they have a great villain and the personal drama of the characters is great. I don't want the show to end but from what I've seen so far they are going out with a bang.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

So I wrote a review of the premiere episode of this season and my plan was to write a review on the whole season when the finale had aired but since I've watched every episode every week I decided that I wanted to do a mid-season review as well. So much has happened in four episodes and we have five left. I'm going to talk about my favorite scenes and plot points from episode two-five. So let's get started.

Chandler (Eric Dane) brings in the kid from his class, Clayton Swain (Troy Doherty), to try to figure out how the virus got into their systems. From the beginning when he handed in his paper to Chandler I knew he would have a bigger part in this. And it's him who figures out how the system was hacked in the first place. By the way, I fucking KNEW IT! I don't think I mentioned it in my The Last Ship Season Five Review but I knew something was up with her. She just gave me a weird vibe and then she just got weirder and weirder as the episodes went on. As soon as she wanted information that Alisha is not supposed to give out I knew something was up. She was really pressing for information that you know they can't just give out. It was the way she asked too. When Alisha (Christina Elmore) figures out that it's her fiance and just goes home without telling anyone I was so pissed. Why the fuck are you going to confront someone who you now know is a spy by yourself?? Why? And then, of course, she gets stabbed. What the fuck?! She's also one of those characters that have been there since the beginning and now she's gone. I was pretty emotional when that happened.

Tavo (Maurice Compte) is so frustrating. At this point he wants Chandler dead, he doesn't care about anything else. What I'm suspicious about though is his wife. I think she might have more to do with this then we think. I have a feeling that he might even be the boss. She might be behind the scenes pulling on Tavos strings to make him dance the way she wants him too. What if Tavos just the face of the operation. But again I don't know.

One of the plot points that I thought was absolutely brilliant was when Slattery (Adam Baldwin) came up with the idea to use Moby Dick as a communication device in episode two. It was fucking brilliant. They never had to say the name of the book over the coms since everyone else can listen in, and they just use page numbers and rows and shit. It's amazing. I love the concept that every word they need is in that book. It's kind of funny when you think about it.

In episode three Chandler flies out to Nathan James to help bring Cuba and Mexico together and to make them their allies. Apparently when all the shit with the virus and the red rust happened Mexico and Cuba had some beef. All throughout the episode there are great scenes of Chandler just acting like a frustrated dad who is trying to get his two sons to get along. But he does it in the end and he holds this speech over the comms to everyone, the U.S. and South America. It's this epic speech and he basically challenges Tavo to come and get them, to bring it on. I loved it. And I loved to see Chandler back in the blue uniform.

I loved to see everyone on the Nathan James figuring out how to use their weapons when their systems are down. Especially in episode four. By the way, Kara (Marissa Neitling) is such a good captain. I love her in this new role. She's not afraid to stand up to Chandler, she's doing everything for her crew and she's not getting lost in the fight. Chandler is though. He wants Tavo bad, and I get it but come on, you have to think about everyone else. Throughout episode four it seems like we're winning and then they take a bad hit. A really bad hit. Cuba turned their backs on them and they couldn't re-enter the fight in their condition. It would have been a suicide mission and Kara and Slattery saw that. Chandler didn't. I loved the scene at the end where he gave Kara the credit she deserved. It feels like Chandler and Slattery are the parents and they now have to learn that their kids have grown up and that they can take care of themselves.

In episode two Danny (Travis Van Winkle), Sasha (Bridget Regan), Wolf (Bren Foster) and Kandie (Jodie Turner-Smith) run into a rebel group as they are trying to go down to Columbia. Luckily for them, one of Danny's old friends, Pablo (Brandon Barash) is with them. They welcome them into their camp and they tell them their plan to blow up a bridge that Tavo built to get his troops into Panama. The camp gets taken over by Tavos men and Danny doesn't want to leave Pablo behind so they both become prisoners. Colonel Perez (Ivo Nandi) wants information and he ends up shooting Pablo. This scene. I loved it. When Pablo stands up to Perez and calls him an asshole Danny looked proud. I was proud. I wanted him to tell him to go fuck himself. And then as soon as he shoots him Danny goes crazy. The acting Travis did in this scene, the acting he has done in all these episodes so far has been amazing. You can tell that he's on the edge of blowing up all the time. He's not at peace whatsoever. But he would never give in to a piece of shit like Perez. He's a navy seal, they are trained to not give secrets up. So he was proud of his friend but never wanted him to die.
Perez is such a disgusting character, and the actor did an amazing job because I hated him. And it's because of that episode three was so satisfying. They come up with a plan to blow up the bridge with a fuel truck. They take Perez hostage but he escapes. But when he comes running over the bridge towards his men trying to warn them, they shoot him because they do not see that it's him and then the bridge blows up. Everything that happened in Panama in episode three was so good. All the action, the planning. I loved it. And the explosion was really well done.

In episode four Danny, Sasha, Wolf, and Kandie are trying to get to an airfield to get a lift back home. but they are interrupted by some of Tavos men again. Wolf accidentally runs into a minefield and his leg gets fucked up. He wants them to leave him but they will never just leave someone behind. I would be so surprised if one of them said leave and they would without an argument. They get away and they find a clinic. A doctor fixes Wolf's leg and they get to the plane in time and they go back home. Now when I saw this one of my first thoughts was that I wanted to see the reunion of Kara and Danny but as we see in episode five they are having a rough time. I don't like it.

Okay, let's get into episode five. This is my favorite episode of the season so far. It was so fucking good. I loved how they told the story by using flashbacks intertwined by the scenes in the cellar. I loved that we got to see more of Miller (Kevin Michael Martin) and Burk (Jocko Sims). If you have read my New Amsterdam | First Impression post you'll know that I love Jocko Sims, and the combination of Burk and Miller together is great. I love the snippets of humor with Miller and the rat and how in the end Burke is telling this story to everyone. That last scene with Burk, Miller, Slattery, Chandler, Danny, and Wolf was so great. It told us so much. They are telling stories and making each other laugh but as soon as the story is over they all look sad. War has left a mark on them and I would not be surprised if they have PTSD. I think that this is their way of coping, having fun with each other, and they all understand each other's pain. All the flashback in the episode shows us how they don't really have anyone outside of this that understands. They might understand pain and loss but it's not the same as what they have gone through.

So Kara and Danny. What the fuck is going on? Are they separated? They seem to be because why else would Danny barely have seen his son in three months? I don't like this at all. They have been my favorite couple since the first season, and they are one of my favorite storylines. I don't want to see them actually fully break up. It's all on Danny though. He's the one with problems. But I really hope that they get together at the end of this season, I'm going to be heartbroken if they don't.
Kara wants Danny to spend time with Frankie, which by the way is the fucking cutest kid. Danny has a fucking knife on him and when Frankie takes it out of pure curiosity he freaks out and yells at him. Frankie, of course, gets scared and runs to Kara. Danny has some serious problems. He's not present at all and even in the cellar when he wants to go with Miller Wolf has to remind him that he has a kid to go home to. Danny even seems frustrated when he says that. But I loved that scene in the end when he carves Frankie a toy soldier. He's patient and calm and talks to him about why knives can be dangerous. Frankie just looks up to his dad but it's not a good parenting move to yell at your kid when you get scared. I think Danny is disappointed at himself for not being able to be a good father to Frankie at the moment. It makes me so sad.

The scene where Miller is at the party and he finds the book about them. As soon as we saw the page with Maya I got tears in my eyes. The fact that I remember her and how much of an impact she had on Miller says a lot about this show. When you're so invested that you tear up because of a pretty small character that died in the first or second season you know that the writers have done something great. I loved the talk that Courtney (Bailey Noble) and Miller had. She tells him that she understands more than he thinks. And then he comes back to her in the end and wants to hang out. I really want to see them develop a relationship in the last five episodes.

I loved seeing Burks brother, Cameron (LaMonica Garrett). He seems to be great, even though he had some pretty bad injuries. The way he played with that kid and made him think he was a superhero was so good. Burk, on the other hand, seems to be feeling alone or something. Oh, and when he was shot in the cellar I was freaking out. If he would have died I would have been so pissed. First we barley see him through the first four episodes and now he's dead? Fuck no. Thankfully he lived.

Chandlers storyline with his kids was so great. In the first episode, they mention that even when he's there he's not really there. My favorite scene was the fight between him and Ashley (Grace Kaufman) intertwined with the firefight in the cellar. The music was a perfect fit. The fact that you couldn't actually hear what they were saying was great. I loved that Sasha and Sam (Aidan Sussman) was just standing there shocked at how they were yelling at each other. I think that sometimes these kinds of fights can be good, it can clear the air in a way. What I did love even more was how the fight was broken up. He tells her that he's sorry that he wasn't the one who died, that he's sorry that their mother died and she just said: "and you weren't here". That stopped him in his tracks. I think he understood at that moment what Sahsa had been trying to say to him since the first episode. And I think that she's right in a sense. He has gone through so much that the only way for him to cope is to be out there in the middle of the war. In the scene at the end when they hug goodbye and tell each other I love you Ashley says that she wants him to find peace. And I want that for him too.


So those are my thoughts on episodes two-five of season five. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this show is going to end, and I'm scared to see who else is going to die. I don't want this show to end but it's gearing up to be a great series finale.

/Johanna