Last Resort was Awesome.

[Jimi_James]

The line about the God and patriotism was a bit heavy, but I took it as more trying to provoke a sense duty, almost to the point of indoctrinated propaganda, rather than signaling some shift towards a more religious administration.

I was sort of throw off a bit at the end by the talk about the importance of the island. The way the woman who's name I can't remember, was describing it, made me thing she was talking about the Island from Lost. I really hope they don't try and push in some sci-fi or fantasy elements. I would like the story to stay more of a military action/drama series.

I thought that overall, this last episode was better handled. The pacing felt more balanced and it seemed to handle all the story elements at least enough to give them all a few moments worth of coverage. I really like that they're actually going into the fallout and disruption of the crew who don't want to stay on the Sub. In many cases, it would be easy to simply focus on the struggle of the command crew and ignore the other officers and enlisted crew, for the sake of simply saying that everyone agrees that they're doing the right thing. That isn't the case here though and as Chaplin pointed out during the standoff, everyone has to decide for themselves where they stand. It may not be a big deal to some, but I give them a lot of credit for taking on that aspect of the story.

The petty thug guy is getting annoying though and not in the sense of him being a thorn in the side of the people we're supposed to be liking, but because he's such a non-interesting character. Nothing he does makes any sense which I guess is supposed to make him dangerous and unpredictable, but that's not compelling to me unless the character has the charm and style to pull it off, which this guy doesn't.

His control over the island doesn't appear to be in question, to the extent that Chaplin refuses to confront him, even though two Navy seals (only carrying pistols) had no trouble infiltrating his base and drawing down on him. They should have popped him and done everyone a favor.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I can't imagine the Sec of the Navy ending orders talking about the glory of God or whatever it was he said in a normal world.

You have a confused young man you're trying to convince to talke his life and fellow crewmen with him, seems reasonable to me.

 

[Brolan]

I'm waiting for them to call the thug guy on the phone to make sure he is home, then launch a Tomahawk cruise missile and blow him and his house off the map.

 

[Brolan]

While the ratings are worrisome, here is a piece of slightly encouraging news: The show has received an order for 2 additional scripts.

One of the last things they did for Pan Am was order more scripts, and you see what that got them.

 

[SG-17]

Wow, I am really loving the submarine warfare in this series.

 

[bigdaddy]

While the ratings are worrisome, here is a piece of slightly encouraging news: The show has received an order for 2 additional scripts.

One of the last things they did for Pan Am was order more scripts, and you see what that got them.

Yeah an order for scripts means "we might give you 2-3 more episodes depending on where you are going with the plot to fill in some holes in our schedule. But we aren't ever going to give you another season".

At this point I would be happy if ABC just came out and canceled the series after ordering a few more episodes.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Never send Dutch-boy to diffuse a situation.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I think that was the best episode since the pilot. Tense, exciting, great confrontations between the different characters, and Grace getting the respect of the COB. Loved it.

 

[Yoda]

I dunno, thought this episode was really starting to lose it. The Grace/COB stuff was cheesy as was the XO's wife's "america is the other woman and he would never betray her for anything" crap. Too much groan-worthy stuff. The captain is really good, but man the XO is like the most boring white guy actor in history.

What this show has really copped out on is America on America warfare. They didn't sink any American subs this ep. In an earlier ep we had a "oh cool they're taking on Navy Seals oh wait never mind they're Russians instead" cop-out.

I think there is potential in the premise, but this show feels too neutered by its aired on broadcast network TV status to me.

 

[Shawnster]

Has any show with a similar theme survived more than one season? Jericho made it two seasons, but those weren't full seasons.

What I mean by the theme is something set in a reality very similar, but vastly different than ours. Present day Earth but something like a nuke or nukes going off. I wonder if this just strains the credibility too much for the typical Network TV viewer. It's not a reality based show (like your typical crime drama), yet it's not a flat-out Science Fiction show, either.

How long could you set a show in a "present-day but different" reality such as this and yet keep it close to "present day?" If you nuke 26 US cities and divide this country into 3 entities, by next year reality will look totally different than it does now. Same with Last Resort. Nuke Pakistan, invade China and have a rouge sub threatening everyone's sanity and, this time next season, our world will look vastly different geo-politically.

West Wing was able to do it but their reality, while different, wasn't that vastly different from ours. The typical viewer could squint and believe it took place in present day. Middle East troubles, home troubles, economy, politics, etc... Nothing vastly different like nuking Washington DC and setting up the new US Capitol in Philadelphia or anything.

Love the show but I agree the concept seems to fit better as a mini-series and not some full series you hope or expect to run 3, 4 or 5 seasons.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Has any show with a similar theme survived more than one season? Jericho made it two seasons, but those weren't full seasons.

It should be interesting to see how Revolution does. It's not post-nuke (at least, not that we're aware of at present), but it is certainly a post-apocalyptic environment, replete with the usual bevy of mystery and conspiracy with a bit of sci-fi thrown into the mix. I wouldn't say it's the same, but their are some similarities.

 

[FreezeC77]

Has any show with a similar theme survived more than one season? Jericho made it two seasons, but those weren't full seasons.

What I mean by the theme is something set in a reality very similar, but vastly different than ours. Present day Earth but something like a nuke or nukes going off. I wonder if this just strains the credibility too much for the typical Network TV viewer. It's not a reality based show (like your typical crime drama), yet it's not a flat-out Science Fiction show, either.

24 lasted 8 seasons with multiple nuclear detonations on American soil, multiple assassination attempts on US Presidents, resume regimes, coup attempts, the White House invaded and President taken hostage, biological terror attacks on US soil, etc...

 

[Shawnster]

Has any show with a similar theme survived more than one season? Jericho made it two seasons, but those weren't full seasons.

What I mean by the theme is something set in a reality very similar, but vastly different than ours. Present day Earth but something like a nuke or nukes going off. I wonder if this just strains the credibility too much for the typical Network TV viewer. It's not a reality based show (like your typical crime drama), yet it's not a flat-out Science Fiction show, either.

24 lasted 8 seasons with multiple nuclear detonations on American soil, multiple assassination attempts on US Presidents, resume regimes, coup attempts, the White House invaded and President taken hostage, biological terror attacks on US soil, etc...

Well, there you go. I never watched 24, so I didn't know these things. This leads me to wonder what 24 had that these other shows might lack.

 

[Drago-Kazov]

West Wing was able to do it but their reality, while different, wasn't that vastly different from ours.

Most politicians were not scumbags, i could not watch it because of that. Its so irrealistic.

 

[The Green Mushroom]

Again, I like the most recent Last Resort episode. And again I am wishing they made it into a miniseries. I could live with it being a single season tale telling one story beginning to end, but that still leaves the door open for the (what I feel is) likely cancellation. A miniseries would be all but finished, if not totally finished, before its first episode aired.

During the first season of Jericho, after the country was nuked, several men attempted to form governments. I believe at one point dialogue and an on-screen map indicated that there were six "Presidents" running around, though that probably included the Governor of Texas. By the end of the season and during the second season, there were three governments. Some low level cabinet guy running the U.S. east of Mississippi, the still independent Texas, and the A.S.A. being run by Haliburton and some Senator in Wyoming.

My problem, and by far my biggest problem even with all the other stuff, was that they had professional American soldiers and airmen (and presumably Marines and sailors as well) joining the A.S.A. military, wearing the A.S.A. flag, pulling down the U.S. flag and preparing for a war against the United States. I could easily have seen a Senator or even someone lower in the totem pole convincing the local military base to support his efforts to restore order. But never in a million years could I see the actual United State military supporting something like the Allied States.

The Last Resort though is a whole different ball game. I am glad that Admiral Grace's Dad admits that there are people in D.C. that realize that this whole series of events is really a problem and the President is totally off the reservation and in need of a put down. I also like, which I find odd considering the otherwise total lacking of believable military portrayals in this show, that they are bidding their time to do it properly.

 

[Shawnster]

My problem, and by far my biggest problem even with all the other stuff, was that they had professional American soldiers and airmen (and presumably Marines and sailors as well) joining the A.S.A. military, wearing the A.S.A. flag, pulling down the U.S. flag and preparing for a war against the United States. I could easily have seen a Senator or even someone lower in the totem pole convincing the local military base to support his efforts to restore order. But never in a million years could I see the actual United State military supporting something like the Allied States.

On the one hand, some might say this is what actually happened in the 1860s in the United States. US soldiers joined a Confederate military, wore the CSA flag, pulled down the US flag and prepared for war against the United States. However, those were different times and the military was much more regionalized with nearly (if not) all the soldiers in a given geographic area being from that geographic area. So, there were no Virginian soldiers fighting in Pennsylvania regiments and no soldiers from Maine fighting for Alabama. Even the thoughts and feelings of the people were vastly different then. Everyone, not just the soldier, had a more "my state first" sentiment than they do today. In fact, prior to 1862, the entire military was a volunteer army. People from Indiana weren't drafted and assigned elsewhere.

So, I hear where you're coming from about Jericho. That was a big one I couldn't wrap my head around either. You've got all these solders in the ASA whose homes were in the USA and all they wanted to do was go home, yet they were good soldiers and didn't desert.

With one rogue submarine, Last Resort is the most plausible. To add to the realism, they really aren't hiding the breakdown of the crew. The SEALS have already "gone native" to an extent, it seems. I wonder if it would have been more realistic if some nomcom would have taken the Secretary's offer for "protection" and stepped forward. Of course, after the events in the previous episode being played over the PA for all to hear, would any of us be eager to return to a country that just tried to kill us?

 

[propita]

I'm sure those from the sub present at negotiations told the rest on the sub about the admiral shooting the White House rep damn fast. And that the order was given, again, to destroy them without a second thought. I know, the two subs coming after them should do that, but to hear that people in charge are giving the orders in front of them! That's gotta unify the crew.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Had some doubts the couple weeks... Back to awesome.

 

[StarTrek1701]

I'm sure those from the sub present at negotiations told the rest on the sub about the admiral shooting the White House rep damn fast. And that the order was given, again, to destroy them without a second thought. I know, the two subs coming after them should do that, but to hear that people in charge are giving the orders in front of them! That's gotta unify the crew.

Hopefully it does and they dont have too much interpersonal conflicts with the crew anymore.

 

[propita]

Most people don't really want interpersonal conflicts on a crew on a tv show, it just doesn't seem like things would hold together.

Yet there was a lot of bitching about Voyager's lack of interpersonal conflict in a more dire situation. The main difference I can see is that on Last Resort, the viewer SEES the crew is hearing that someone wants to kill them. On Voyager, everything was assumed--the only real sign was B'Elanna's comment and Chakotay's put down of it. No other mention of "hey, we're 70K lightyears from home, so let's put this shit aside and focus as a team." I suppose we were to assume a line like this was actual said and heard by the crew--or maybe they were professional enough to not need it said.