THE LAST SHIP Season 3 - spoilers, reviews, discussions and junk...

Oh, didn't realize that. Okay, I concede the point.

 

All right, they gave us the triumphant return of Tex and Little Tex as Cersei Blondister makes her move for the Iron White House (I bet you L&O fans didn't think Serena Sotherland had it in her...)

Meanwhile, looks like somebody in the second unit went on YouTube and found some footage of an Aegis ship firing a missile. Good on ya! Appreciated some modern NAVAL KOM-BAT!

 

Oh sweet fuck, this episode was perfection, a literal masterpiece. We get an epic conclusion to the Asia storyline this season along with set-up for a last stand in America for the remaining two episodes. Lots of cool fights and special ops stuff, with the battles in Tokyo and the taking of the Chinese destroyer. And Tex is back! That guy is so awesome, just his opening scene in this episode was a reminder of all the awesome he brought the show during the first two seasons.

I'm actually surprised, in less than two weeks this show has taken the character of Jacob Barnes from loathsome douche to someone I'm actually sorry to see end up killed.

Now, onto a few issues:
-So Allison and her people were able to figure out Kara would turn to Barnes for help, but they haven't yet figured out Kara's friend Dennis is also helping her? Or is the guy so good at his job they don't want to lose him?
-The second Chinese destroyer was destroyed way too easily.
-So, what about the Henan? Did they just turn it back to its crew once everything was done?
-We see there are four-star generals from the Army and the Air Force still around at the end of the episode. Since they seem the appropriate age, I'm guessing they probably generals even before the plague, though not necessarily four-stars. So despite the fact there are senior officers from the other branches, Chandler was the "effective head" of the US military? And are we to believe that since Chandler, a Commander prior to the plague really was the highest ranking Navy officer left? No O6 Captains or Admirals from pre-plague are sticking around, meaning a Commander was the only eligible option for CNO?

 

I would like to think the Generals commissions came like Will Patton's Colonelcy on Falling Skies

 

I assume this show won't be airing in China anytime soon. It's almost like they're spiting former producer Michael Bay and the pandering in Transformers.

It's too bad the series doesn't have budget to do a little more justice to the naval battles. A lot has to be conveyed by exposition rather than shown.

Was Kara unsure of Shaw's involvement? Seems shooting her would have helped the cause despite her being unarmed.

 

I guess this is one way to ensure that the Nathan James remains the last ship.

 

My guess regarding the Chinese ship, is that the Nathan James just drops off the crew on the mainland and commandeer it for their own needs. After all, with no home (USA) government to go home too, aren't they really pirates at this point?

 

Commandeer the ship, sure, and that sounds like Chandler's intention, but just getting rid of the native crew might be counterproductive. There's a limit to how many crew can be spared from the Nathan James. You've got three captains, though. Put one in command of the other ship, send spy girl to translate and a couple of fire teams to enforce it.

 

"Former?" Michael Bay is still listed as a producer as recently as this very episode.

 

hmmm, I was going off IMDB, oops

 

ha, now even easier to justify adding the other ship. Not only did they make a point of it being an AB knockoff, they've got half (or less, but at least some officers?) of another crew available to man it

 

Yeah, and it only took you till the tail end of season three...

 

"These Chinese missiles launchers quit working and the Chinese ripoff AEGIS is worthless."
"Evasive maneuvers, hard to port!"

 

No doubt the ship we see getting creamed in the preview for next week is in fact the Chinese Aegis knock-off?

 

It would have to be. They can't sink the star of the show. Nathan James must always be "The Last Ship."

 

Alas, my DVR cut off before the preview.

 

And we don't get the previews in Canada. But I just looked it up on YouTube. All we really see is an explosion out at sea, which Kara is distraught to see. She clearly believes it's the Nathan James, but I guess she'd have no reason to expect a Chinese DDG to be around.

 

(Whoo-hoo, Tex is back!! But, where's the dog? Offscreen at his place? I just checked, and didn't see him. Don't think you can just put the dog on a bus to Mandyville and expect us fans to go along with it, show! )

Finally all caught up for the first time in a long while. Wow, where those last two eps epic. Despite the latter being only the eleventh, I was almost sure at the end that the season was over, as that would have made for one hell of a cliffhanger. I mean, I guess we've already had a season of the James vs. the American government, more or less, back when the insane Irish were pulling the strings, but... damn. Modest budget or not, this show's certainly got a damned epic scope. Makes me wonder what they'll come up with for next year. A radical, ISIS-like Caliphate? A conquest-happy Germany (now with ethnic tolerance, so long as you have citizenship)? Aliens, who manipulated that doctor dude into making the virus in the first place?! Amazon may have greenlit a Jack Ryan show, but danged if this isn't the biggest Tom Clancy live-action production to date, whether his name's on it or not.

Even after the raid on Peng's residence, I wondered if there might be some plot twist that redeemed/exonerated him, but holy cow, did that ever not happen. Mass murder, attempted genocide, blowing up a statue... this series isn't playing around with any shot at that market. Maybe this is Bay's apology to us for Age of Extinction? (Not that I saw it, but hey, I'll take it nonetheless.)

In the Reserves or not, she's still a Naval officer, and therefore subject to the UCMJ, and by extension the Rules of Engagement.

Weird how they said several times there was no legislature, when the end of S2 mentioned convening a Congress in St. Louis. That a massive conspiracy of this size could be maintained, let alone pulled off, utterly defies plausibility, but maybe TPTB figured that only by having hideous equally American characters could they make a monster out of a Chinese president without being scorched by accusations of jingoism and bigotry.

 

They have at least twice mentioned a Secretary of Foreign Affairs. I don't know if they believe we don't know what the Secretary of State is or it is a sign that beyond having a non-designated but in the line of sucession survivor take over as President that the NuUnited States with its "regional leadership" was playing fast and loose with the Consitution the sailors swore to defend.

 

At this point I'm content to assume the dog is in his usual hiding place on the Nathan James. You know, where he must have spent the majority of seasons 1 and 2.