The Last Ship Series Finale | Review

Welcome back to The nerd shelf!

This is it. It's over. This is the last time I will write a review on this show. The finale has been aired and I had to take a few days to figure out my feelings. What a show this has been! If you don't know what I'm talking about it's The Last Ship. The final season just finished. If you haven't watched the show, first off WATCH IT! Secondly, the show is 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 can't believe it's over. I started watching this show only one year ago right before season four aired. I was hooked instantly, I couldn't watch anything else and I blew through those first three seasons. And since then I have been waiting for the next season. I was sad to read the news that this show was only going to be five seasons but I'm also happy that they got five seasons. Today I'm going to go through episode six-ten of season five and probably talk about the series overall.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

So I wrote my The Last Ship Mid-Season | Review after episode five. Since then it has just been building up to this finale. Some shit has gone down. People have died, gotten injured. Characters that I thought would live through this show didn't. I have cried, laughed and screamed at my TV. It has been an intense ride. So where do I start? I'm going to talk about my favorite moments of the last five episodes and I'll probably go a little more in-depth on the finale.

Episode six is was one of my favorite episodes of this season. The whole plan to airdrop a team into Cuba to get weapons to the rebel forces was a great storyline. So much happened in this episode. I loved the scene with Vulture team and the marines in the plane before they jump. Miller (Kevin Michael Martin) trying to joke around to lighten the mood was hilarious. He has always been the comic relief and Kevin Michael Martin has such amazing comedic timing. The show is so intense so I find that having these small moments of comedy that you can laugh at is vital. And having great actors that can do it is too, and they had amazing actors on this show.

Everything was going so well and I remember thinking "somethings bound to happen" because when have a mission gone exactly as planned in this show? And then it happened. Right after the teams had jumped out the plane is shot out of the sky. Chandler (Eric Dane) was on the plane and I don't know how the writers manage to trick me every time but I was so fucking afraid that he was going to die even though I know that he's the one character that can't die, at least not yet.
The scene right after the plane going down was great. Bridget Regan who plays Sasha was so great in that scene. Her emotions. She wasn't crying and breaking down even though her boyfriend might be dead, she was pissed off. She doesn't have the time to break down and she knows it so she just turns all of her emotions into anger. I loved that.

I loved the scene with Chandler on the beach. Eric Danes acting in this scene was amazing. Chandler heats up a rock on a fire and cauterizes his wound with it. The pain that he portrayed in that scene was amazing. They way he played him almost passing out from the pain made me wonder if he was dreaming about the battleship or not. Since he had been starting to hallucinate these sounds before this episodes I thought that maybe it was just his mind making it up. But as we see later it wasn't a dream.

I loved the fact that Fuentes actually didn't turn his back on the US and that he is the rebel leader. I loved the intercutting in this scene between Chandler, Vulture team and the Nathan James. Nathan James is pursuing the battleship. And can someone explain to me how they made that battleship just disappear?! How the fuck did they do that? Was Chandler dreaming and this was something else? But Nathan James didn't even know that Chandler was alive at this point. I don't fucking know.

I loved the drunk Tavo soldier that just had no idea that Vulture team was all standing there in the courtyard. I loved this scene because it is so intense. You know that he is going to notice them at some point but the build-up to it was great. Him just standing there pissing not seeing them and then having to do a doubletake after he's done. And then a couple more guys come in and now it's on. The moment of stillness before anyone does anything is so intense. I loved how Miller just goes "holy shit" because same. They try to keep the doors closed as more soldiers come. They set up a bomb and then all of a sudden they hear gunfire and for the life of me I couldn't figure out who it was. Just a couple seconds later I felt so dumb because of course, it's Chandler. I loved the reunion between Chandler and Sasha. Sasha really believed that he was dead. Again Bridget Regans acting. So fucking amazing! By the way, I love that everyone is just watching them kiss haha.

Tavo in episode six has just gone off the rails. We see the divide between him and Hector (Rigo Sanchez) and how Hector is starting to believe that this man is just simply insane. The cold open is just of a soldier shooting people into a mass grave as Tavo is watching with his son. Tavo is killing children. CHILDREN. And when his son questions it, he just tells him that they are animals and that they need to be put down because they betrayed him. They are fucking children. I mean if you didn't think Tavo was insane up until this point then you have to think that now.
A reporter, Nina Garside (Jamie Gray Hyder), is interviewing Tavo and oh my god he is frustrating. Maurice Comptes acting this whole season was amazing. He denies starting a war with the US. He says that the Mayport attack wasn't an attack. Just in this scene, you can tell that he is a tyrant. She tells him that she has gotten information about forced conscriptions from defectors and he basically just derailed the conversation and starts talking about something else. We see that today in this world. Leaders never actually answering questions, leaders denying things that there is hard proof of. It's scary to have those people at the top. Tavo says that freedom of tyranny is what the people wanted and that is what he's giving them and either he actually believes that or he's just lying through his fucking teeth.

Hector's storyline this episode was great. I feel like this episode was when he really started to think he fucked up by working with Tavo. He sees a younger soldier at the house and he knows his father. They talk for just a minute but you can tell that Hector has a soft spot for him. And then the young soldier is being taken away because Tavo thinks he's a traitor. And when Hector goes to confront Tavo and he walks away with the responsibility to execute the traitor including his friend's son. I feel like the only reason why he's doing it because he knows that if he doesn't he's a dead man.

In episode six we finally get to see Kelsi (Caitlin Gerard) again. She wasn't looking so good. The makeup they did on her was amazing. She just looked really beat up and like she had been on a run for months. She shows up at her sister Ellis (Sprague Grayden) house and that scene is so fucking creepy. She's pushing her daughter on the wings when Elli finds her. We don't know that the little girl is Kelsis yet so it kind of feels like she's trying to threaten Elli. I found it so frustrating that Elli didn't just turn her in. She is obviously pissed and she knows what Kelsi did but I think her loyalty to family was just too strong. I mean Kelsi is a fucking master manipulator. She tells Elli that she fucked up and that she knows that what she did was wrong but then she just goes back to her old behavior as soon as she gets a phone call.

Episode seven was also one of my favorites. I feel like I'm going to say that about every episode. The battle of Camp X. Everything was so well choreographed and shot. When Green (Travis Van Winkle) just ran out into the middle of the battlefield for the injured soldier I was basically screaming at my tv. All I could think was "if Green dies I'm done". I love that character and I have since the beginning. I just wanted him and Kara (Marissa Neitling) to get it out alive and have a chance to mend everything. He and Kara were two of the few characters that I would never have been okay with dying. I'm just so invested in their storyline and their love.

Vulture team, the marines, and the Cuban rebels have set up camp in a family's house. I loved how proud the kid was when he could help them. He tells them about a tunnel that can get them into the camp. Green, Wolf (Bren Foster), Kandie (Jodie Turner-Smith), Miller and Captain Utt (Henderson Wade) go through the tunnel to get the Tavo force from the inside. By the way, I really like the addition of Utt this season. I really enjoyed his character. They see that the soldiers inside are burning files but they can't move until Nathan James has gotten in position so they have air support. And then we see the motherfucking battleship. I remember screaming at my tv, which I do a lot, but still. Chandler realizes what's happening right before the missiles hit and he yells take cover. The fact that they baited us with that little kid and then killed him. I didn't see it coming. I should have known.
I love seeing Kara as the captain. The way that she went after that battleship was amazing. Her anger fuels her in a good way. Sometimes anger can take over and you do all kinds of shit wrong. I feel like we see that with Chandler, especially this season. She is set on taking that ship down.

One moment of foreshadowing that I caught was when Wolf tells Miller good luck. From that moment I was so scared for Miller. I didn't want him to die. Luckily he didn't but his legs got blown off. And they do because he's trying to save someone else. Kevin Michael Martins acting in this episode was impeccable. I love that he got to be more than just the comic relief. The fact that they gave him this story was so telling of how much potential they saw in him. He is great at the comedy stuff but oh my god he can be dramatic too. About thirty years ago my dad broke both of his feet in an accident at work. He told me that it didn't hurt until he was in the ambulance and looked down at his feet and saw them. That is what this moment right after the blast reminded me of. Miller taking a second to look down and see that one of his feet are gone and the other one barely holding on.

Again Green running out to buy them some time was so fucking scary and I screamed at my tv again. I mean this guy is running straight at a tank throwing grenades then stops, says "shit", and runs to take cover. It looks like the battle is going in the wrong direction. I don't think I can explain the happiness and relief I felt when the helicopter comes. A grin just spread on my face like wildfire. Wolf going off on the soldiers inside the camp was great. I always love seeing his fight scenes. Bren Foster is a fucking beast in real life and I know that he choreographed some, if not all, of his fight scenes. I love the little snippets of Kandie and Wolf's relationship. Wolf tells her that if she buys him thirty seconds he will buy her dinner and she just goes "you will buy me dinner anyways". They are just such badasses and I love that they are together. I wonder who came up with the idea of Wolf climbing up the tower with the help from a pole. It looks awesome.
Green gets his ass into a tank and he says "I've always wanted to do this". It almost kind of felt like Travis Van Winkle was saying it and not Green. He shoots the gate away and the rest of their forces take over the camp. The whole battle scene was great.

The scene back on the ship with Burk (Jocko Sims) coming in to see Miller was amazing. Jocko Sims has talked about how close he and Kevin Michael Martin is in real life and how after the first scene they were in together the writers saw their chemistry and started to put them together as much as possible. Jockos performance in this short scene makes me cry every time. He gets in and sees that they had to amputate his leg and the look on his face. And that line,  "he does that". It gets me, man.

Kelsi's storyline this episode was really confusing to me until the end. Her boyfriend, Octavio (Jose Pablo Cantillo), who convinced her to hack the navy, comes to the US. He tells her that Tavo has another job for her. And then his crew comes in. When we see his people at someone's house, threating a child I was so confused. I had no fucking clue what was going on. I felt like I should know who he was, and of course, I didn't because we haven't seen him before.
When Kelsi walked into the communication center I was again, so confused. For a minute I thought that maybe, just maybe, she hadn't fallen for Octavio's bullshit and gone to turn herself in. The intercutting scenes of them interrogating Kelsi with the scenes of Chandler and Sasha trying to figure out why Tavos men had fought so hard for Camp X was so intense. When Kelsi asked for food they did a closeup of her playing with the ring on her finger. The first thing that came to mind was that the ring was some kind of weapon. And then she eats and opens up the fucking ring and there's a pill in it. At this point, I thought that she was going to kill herself, but that also wouldn't make sense since she told Octavio to get her and her kid out of the country. She wouldn't kill herself for him. When we got to see the medic I was like "Oh shit, we're fucked". They call an ambulance and then security just lets them through because they think that they are paramedics. But nooo. It's Ocatvio and his people. At the same time, Clayton (Troy Doherty) is watching the security tape and see that Octavio stole an ambulance. And then Chandler, Sahsa, and Green find the copy of the command center and at this point, I was screaming. And then we see them just shoot down General Don Kincaid (Thomas Calabro). The episode ends with Slattery (Adam Baldwin) kind of putting it together. At least it felt like it. This was a hell of a way to end an episode. I mean talk about a cliffhanger.

Episode eight was fucking amazing. It really reminded me of one of my favorite episodes of the whole show, season two episode two: Fight the ship. It's the episode where Alishas (Christina Elmore) mother takes over the ship and Slattery and everyone aboard the ship is doing everything to get it back. It's an episode full of strategy and intense fighting. As I said this episode really reminded me of that episode. Octavio and his crew take over command center and Slattery and everyone has to take it back. When Jeter (Charles Parnell) just walks out of that elevator and see the bodies I was really concerned that he was going to die. If they had just killed him right then and there I would have been pissed. He's one of the characters that have been on this show since it started and if he was going to die he needed to get to go out fighting, not reading a book.

I love in the cold open that we see Octavio's people cutting wires and stuff and then we cut to Chandler walking through their copy and just sees what they are doing. I have really been enjoying Clayton this season. He is so smart but it almost seems like he doubts himself all the time. This episode though he just went for it. He comes up with activating the webcams so that he will be able to see what's going on. When they figure out that he's going for the president (Steven Culp) I fucking lost it. Shit was about to go down. For one second I thought that they would just kill him but no, that wouldn't be productive.

I did not see what they did with the president coming. When Kelsi picked up the camera to film Octavio I thought that they would just assassinate the president on live tv. But no they basically put him on trial. Steven Culps acting in this scene was amazing. When I first saw him on the show all I could think of was Desperate Housewives but this scene changed that completely. When they pulled up Meylan (Emerson Brooks) I was on the edge of my seat. This whole scene was so intense. I loved the fact that Meylan told the president not to do it. He was willing to die for his country. And he just stood there waiting for Octavio to shoot him. And then they brought the noose down and I thought "oh fuck". And then he fucking confessed. I was as disappointed as Slattery and Meylan looked.
In the end, Meylan actually did die for his president. That death scene really got me. Meylan was focusing on the president being hurt more than the fact that he was fucking dying. Again Steven Culps acting in this scene was fucking fantastic. It felt like he was so ashamed by the fact that Meylan had gotten shot for him since he cracked under the pressure from Octavio. It was kind of redeeming in a sense. And especially with the scene at the end with them all showing him the respect of being the president. He looks so shocked in that scene and I loved it.

I loved the fact that Slattery was the one to turn Kelsi against Octavio. I loved that he got into her head by talking about her kid and Alisha. She calls Octavio on his bullshit but then he shows her how much he loves her by using her as a shield.

The fact that Tavo wants Chandler or the hostages die just makes it even more clear that he's obsessed with him. With how this season has been going so far I really thought that motherfucker was going to turn himself in. But thankfully he and Kara had a plan. When he's on that boat and Sasha tells him not to do it because he's too close and he does it anyways I was screaming. I knew that he couldn't die yet but come on, some part of you goes "maybe the writers really wanted to fuck with us".

I loved Clayton and Jeter as a team. This episode was so intense and it was kind of nice to have some sort of comic relief. When Jeter first gets into the security room where Clayton he takes out one of Octavio's men. Jeter has just gone into survival mode and his brain is going ten times faster than Clayton. Clayton has never been in a situation like this before, but Jeter has. There is calmness about Jeter that Clayton doesn't have, and I mean it's understandable why. We have seen Jeter in this kind of situations since season one and Clayton has just gotten out of school.
I really enjoyed seeing Vulture team and Utt's team trying to figure out how to get Jeter and Clayton into the main room without being killed. They only have a few weapons to work with and Clayton has never had to use them on people before. I loved that Burk was so adamant on running it until they got it and then actually being the one who finds the supply closet. Everyone is so frustrated and they feel like this is never going to work and then he just sees it and Green just lights up. I really loved the scene where Jeter and Clayton are going through the halls executing Vulture team and Utt's teams plan and I love that we get to see them coming up with the plan at the same time. I just loved the way that they edited that scene.

My favorite scene of the whole episode though was the scene with Miller and Burk. Again I love their chemistry. You can really tell that they are friends in real life. I love that Burk reassures him that he's going to be fine because he's a fighter and then reading to him. Oh my fucking god I love them so much!

Episode nine was a heartbreaker but I didn't enjoy this episode as much as the others. It was intense and the fact that they had to trick Tavos ship with the helicopter was great. It kind of just felt like it was building up to something and it never happened. And I mean this was the penultimate episode so it was building up to the finale. But there were some great moments.

I loved the cold open scene with Miller and his new girlfriend. I love that Miller is so fucking happy that the ship is gone. If only he knew what was going to happen later in this episode. He probably would have wanted to say goodbye to someone.

I was really surprised to see Nina in this episode. I don't know why but I thought that she wouldn't be on the Nathan James getting coverage of what happens behind the scenes. I loved the snippets of everyone's interviews but especially Burks. I don't know why I didn't see this as foreshadowing and looking back at it now it's so fucking obvious. He talks to Miller, and it's going to be broadcasted. It's kind of going to be a goodbye to him. Ugh, this scene.

I LOVED the scene with Kara and Danny right before Vulture team goes on their mission. But it also scared me. Again I was so fucking scared that this was foreshadowing and that Danny was going to die right when he was ready to give war up. I love that he asks Kara if he can come home and she says "we'll talk about it when you come back" and then "you just make damn sure you come back". I mean come on, don't tell me that doesn't sound like foreshadowing. The writers really played me.

Okay, Burks death. This one broke me a little bit and not just because the character died but I really think that they should have used him more this season. Same thing with so many of the main characters. I mean they are the main characters for a reason. But we never really saw some of them much this season. So when Burk died I was sad, it was emotional, but also kind of pissed. The scene kind of felt like an excuse to have Danny shoot a kid and probably break apart because one of his best friends died and he killed a kid. Travis Van Winkles performance in that scene though was amazing. The way he acted when he realized he had shot a kid and then when Burk died. And then Kandie just saying Burk on the shore. Fuck me.
I loved the scene of everyone watching the movie. People are crying, Kara is smiling. And then Danny and Wolf come in and we have this scene of them telling Slattery, Jeter, and Kara what happened but we don't hear them. And in the background we see everyone else applauding the movie. This scene gets me. I cried now rewatching it to write about it.

The plot with Hector and his generals (I think?) and Tavo was great. I loved that they actually wanted to take Tavo down. But Tavo has gone crazy and basically kills everyone except Hector just to manipulate him to be so afraid that he has to be on his side. It just feels like he realizes that he's surrounded with crazy people and he doesn't know what to do.

Okay so episode ten, the finale. This episode was great. I had mixed feelings about it right after I had watched it, mainly because it felt kind of like it ended abruptly. We never get to see the aftermath with all these characters. But after a few days, I felt like they did us a favor. We can all just imagine what happened and believe what we wanted to happen. I wanted so badly to see the reunion of Danny and Kara after this whole mess but now I'm kind of glad that I can just believe that Danny goes home, stops going on missions and he and Kara live happily ever after.

The cold open was so fucking intense. Everyone is in the tank. No one is saying a word. Nina is there and she's about to go into a fucking war zone and film shit. I would be terrified. I mean it's not like Tavos men are going to see the press on her vest and just not shoot her. I loved that Danny writes "Burk" on his helmet. I loved that so much.

All the action scenes this episode was amazing. Whoever wrote and choreographed this should get a fucking award. All of it was fucking great. All the things with Nina were amazing. Again, if I was a reporter going into a war zone I would be fucking terrified but I don't think it's until she's in the middle of this that she realizes where she is. The silent slow-motion scene after she was blown up was great. She's running trying to take cover. I feel like this probably is the first time she understands fully what soldiers go through.

Vulture teams attack at Tavos house was great. Again great fucking choreography. Wolfs fight scene was great as always. But when he went down I was so fucking angry. Wolf's a beast, he's not supposed to be able to be killed. When Kandie finds him. Oh my fuck, that scene. I really thought he was a goner. Bren Foster's acting was amazing.

I love the fact that when Sasha comes into Tavos office he is so surprised that Chandler isn't there. He acted like a child. "I will only surrender to Tom Chandler". He is so stubborn and angry that Chandler isn't there so he goes for his gun and then Green and Sasha takes him down. I really enjoyed this scene, mostly because he was so fucking annoying the whole season.

I loved the whole fight between Nathan James and the battleship but I never thought that Nathan James was going to go down. It has gotten through so much. It has fought so many battles and it has always come out on the other end. When Kara tells everyone to abandon the ship it just felt like the end. Like I got it at that moment that of course, this was how the show was going to end. Without the ship, what would the show be?
I was not surprised that Chandler didn't leave with them and I really thought that he might actually commit suicide by staying on that ship. When he tied the rope though I understood what was going to happen. But still this was the final episode, he might actually die this time. I loved that he crashed an already sinking ship into the battleship to finish it once and for all.

My favorite scene of the whole episode was the purgatory scene. When we saw admiral Ruskov (Ravil Isyanov) I thought "oh my god, who else is there?". Just seeing the back of Rachel, by the way, it seems like Rhona Mitra was the only one who couldn't come back, made me tear up. And then Chung, I mean I was on the edge of my seat by this point. Seeing Frank (Kevin Phillips) and Cruz (Ness Bautista) made me so emotional. It's kind of funny of how much of an impact Frank had on me considering he was only in one episode. He was in the pilot. And he died in the pilot. And I screamed "FRANK" as soon as I saw him and I started to cry.
When Tex (John Pyper-Ferguson) came in I lost it. He was one of my favorite characters throughout the whole series. I mean I feel like the whole fandom just loved him so much. And he deserved that love. He was such a great comic relief in the most intense times. So when I saw him I thought my head was going to explode. I love that he's the one to make Chandler realize that he is what he is, he's a hero even if he likes it or not.
I loved seeing Michner (Mark Moses) relieving Chandler of command and then when Chandler asks him who he is passing on command to I lost it. As soon as Alisha stood up I burst into tears. And then Faye (Andrea Garnett), Mason (Chris Sheffield), Cossetti (Tommy Savas), Barker (Jamison Haase), Doc Rios (Maximiliano Hernández) and Burk. And then seeing Meylan one last time. I was so fucking done. And then Tex saying "I see you when I see you". I'M TO EMOTIONAL FOR THIS. Then seeing Chandler in the water, kind of okay with dying, and then hearing his daughter saying that she wants him to find peace. I love that that is what gets him to swim to the surface. His daughter, his kids is what makes him want to live. Ending on a scene where Kara, Jeter, and Slattery is coming to get Chandler was such a great choice. I loved it. The happiness that I felt in that moment. I got to see all my favorites who died and now Chandler gets a happy ending.

This show is really one of my favorite shows ever. I don't know how to explain it. It's just amazing. And they really went out with a bang. I can't believe it's over. This show has had some of my favorite moments. I mentioned the episode, fight the ship, in season two as one of my favorites, I love when they fought a submarine in season two. One of my favorite scenes ever was in season three when Kara is standing at the shoreline seeing what she thinks is Nathan James get blown up. Marissa Neitlings acting in that scene is something I will never forget. Just how she breaks down and runs out into the water. Kara and Danny's relationship. When Danny finds out that Kara is pregnant while she is in the vaccination trial. There are so many great moments. If any of the writers, actors or anyone who worked on the crew for this show would ever read this I just want to say thank you. You made a fucking incredible show.

/Johanna