3 Big Questions…
That lead to more questions.
Last Week’s (and earlier) Questions Answered
Do we find out anything about the battleship this week? No! In fact, the writers’ commitment to adding more mystery to Chandler’s white whale continued. The battleship again inexplicably sailed without making a peep on sonar/radar. (Except maybe when Chandler fed the James to her. I bet everybody heard/saw that.)
Is Danny coming home? Yes! And he got to deliver a sweet, action-hero line, too!
Who leads Tavo’s military now? Nobody. Not even Tavo, really. There also didn’t appear to be many officers among the many dead and surrendering soldiers during the beach invasion.
Will Chandler’s possible case of PTSD matter this week? Not exactly? Maybe? His “Don’t go into the light” parade of departed friends might have actually been tied to his PTSD, but in a way that worked -for- him.
Will the James sink? Yes.
This Week’s Questions
Minor Question: Did anyone think the helicopter team would survive the season?
I know, I know. It’s kind of macabre to even mention, but… The honor of serving as the Nathan James’ helo team has never been one associated with longevity. Both the pilots and their crews AND their craft have ALL been killed or shot down if memory serves. I hoped the women I thought of as Valkyries would make it, but I kind of knew they wouldn’t. History wasn’t on their side.
Plus, why in the world were they still using that ancient heap? The computer virus which struck down the United States’ computer systems has been well in hand for a while now. From what I’ve read, the James should have been able to fit one or two SH-60B Seahawks in her helicopter hanger. That’s this piece of hardware:
With so much naval hardware on display this episode, I wonder why the Valkyries had to stick with a Vietnam-era warhorse, and if doing so cost them their lives.
Note: An eagle-eyed viewer / reader may have spotted the pilots on the beach while the marines tended to the wounded. Anyone else catch that? I watched twice and missed it.
So, that fight with the battleship was crazy, right?
The plot required something unusual about the battleship in order for the battle itself to work out the way that it did. Given the way the series ended, we’ll never know a LOT about the why’s and what-for’s of this season. That unfortunately includes any information about the enemy’s battleship. Let’s forget the whole “how’d they get it?” discussion for a second. Somehow, the South American masters of both battleship re-fitting and gunnery also figured out how to make her run as silent as a sailing ship. At anchor. Without that one little “gimme” in the plot, the battleship would have never won this fight.
We saw the James loose one Harpoon missile and a pair of torpedoes at the corvette she smoked early on. The James would have shown up to this fight completely loaded up, meaning she should have had…. like 89 or more Harpoons still to go. Battleships possess super think armor, but everything I’ve read says one would never survive ALL of those missiles fired at it. Deciding to pick and choose when to cling to some kind of reality, the writers created a scenario allowing the battleship to “sneak up” on the James. She crippled the James’ armaments with the first shot and effectively sunk her with a subsequent shot. All along, I’ve said the James would never win in a gunfight with the battleship. It’s just that she never even should have BEEN in a gunfight with the battleship.
I mean, the ramming scene was cool and all, but it’s almost become a trope, right? Captain Picard rammed the Enterprise into the enemy in Star Trek: Nemesis. Admiral Adama rammed the Galactica into the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica. Now, Chandler rammed the James in to the nameless, stolen battleship.
What happens now?
The ending just sort of… ended, huh? Since this is probably the last time I’ll write about The Last Ship (unless someone convinces me to try my hand at fan-fiction), I’m going to offer a couple ideas of how I want the characters to end up. I invite you to follow along and decide for yourself (since the show gave us -nothing- more to go on).
Mike Slattery:
Easy one. Mike becomes Admiral of the Navy and the highest ranked member of the United States armed forces. Since Mike never found his family, I’d like for him to have that part of his life restored. Let’s say he reconnects with his wife’s sister and one thing leads to another…
Danny and Kara Green:
Danny retires and puts fighting behind him. Sort of. In civilian life, Danny feeds his need for action by working as a security consultant and trainer for an outfit like Academi (formerly Blackwater). No more actual fighting, but the next closest thing, in other words. This keeps Danny in a good place and healthy enough for Kara to welcome back into their family home. Kara, however, makes captain (she held the rank of commander while serving as the James’ captain) and continues her career in the Navy, receiving command of the next ship off the line, the “Joe Meylan”.
Hugh (Russ?) Jeter:
Jeter is career Navy; nothing he’s ever done has proven otherwise. I see no reason why Jeter shouldn’t become Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (if he wasn’t already). Earlier this season, we saw Jeter advising what amounted to the post-plague version of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Let’s make it official.
Eric Miller:
Miller rehabs his body and takes to his new legs after a period of adjustment. He retires from the Navy, keeping up with Danny and other friends in civilian life. He marries his supportive girlfriend Courtney and they open a pet shop, allowing Miller to put his love of small animals to use.
Azima Kandie and Wolf Taylor:
Wolf, the single toughest guy on the show (which says a lot), survives the multiple stab wounds and gunshots he received at Tavo’s hacienda. Once recovered, he and Azima continue on as they had before, fighting for the United States, despite being from other places. I wish I could say more, but we got so little to go on with these two.
Tom Chandler and Sasha Cooper:
I paired them because their futures intertwine. Tom retires. Again. Enough has definitely become enough with solving the world’s problems from the deck of a naval vessel. He even gets to live a couple years this way, instructing at the Naval Academy, as he had before the Tavo situation. He and Sasha wed, but she’s far from finished with her career in Naval Intelligence. She does however, get bumped up a notch and no longer receives nearly as many field assignments. After let’s say two years, Tom gets approached to run for the office of the President of the United States – by both parties. Having saved the world a couple times and the United States in particular another time or two, he’s sort of like the new-world’s George Washington: the only person EVERYBODY trusts. Having never been able to turn his back on his country, he runs as an independent, and wins.
For our actors (current):
Eric Dane (Chandler) – He’s filming a pilot for a TV series called “Euphoria“, playing a character named Cal. Looks like a high school drama.
Adam Baldwin (Slattery) – You can see Adam in two upcoming westerns. “The Kid“, directed by fellow “Full Metal Jacket” alum Vincent D’Onofrio, and “The Legend of 5 Mile Cave“.
Charles Parnell (Jeter) – Charles landed a gig on the upcoming “Top Gun” sequel.
Travis Van Winkle (Danny Green) – Looks like Travis picked up a lead in an indie movie, “Senior Love Triangle“.
Marissa Neitling (Kara Green) – She has a short film coming out called “Mysterious Ways“.
Kevin Michael Martin (Miller) – Kevin wasted no time getting back to work. Catch him on a TV series called My Friend D-Rone and a movie called “Bayou Tales“.
Jodie Turner-Smith (Azima) – You can catch her starting December 2 on SyFy’s Nightflyers.
Bren Foster (Wolf) – Bren co-stars with Denise Richards and Randy Couture in the upcoming movie, “The First Key“.
Bridget Regan (Cooper) – I bet she doesn’t get to kick as much ass at her gig on TV’s Jane the Virgin.
(Former):
Rhona Mitra (Scott) – You can find our departed Dr. Scott on Netflix’ poorly received movie “Game Over, Man!“, as well as British film, “The Fight” and the CW’s Supergirl.
John Pyper-Ferguson (Tex) – Good old Tex kept very busy after his time on TLS. You could have caught him earlier this year on USA’s Suits. Next year, check out his next movie, “Burning Kentucky“.
Emerson Brooks (Meylan) – Emerson appeared on both Netflix’ recent Arrested Development season as well as a guest appearance on MacGyver.
Fay Masterson (Garnett) – Fay scored a role in a pretty big upcoming movie along with a slew a super famous actors in Adam McKay’s movie about Dick Cheney: “Vice“.
Maximiliano Hernández (Rios) – When not Hailing Hydra in Avengers’ flashbacks, Maximiliano can be found in TV series Mr. Mercedes and upcoming film, “Stargirl“.
Christina Elmore (Granderson) – Christina Landed four post-TLS gigs: TV series Insecure and movies “What If He Wins“, “Twenties“, and “Fanny Price“.
Jocko Sims (Burk) – Watch him right now on the new hit show, New Amsterdam on NBC.
Previous Reviews
Season 5
Interview with Admiral Meylan (Emerson Brooks)
Season 4
1 – 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 – 10
Paul’s Picks
Check out The Daleys on their own website: www.DaleyReview.com.
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