The Last Ship - Discussion Thread (spoilers possible)

[FreezeC77]

I still can't understand why the writing was so sloppy as to allow this 'immune' girl to interact with everyone without their masks.

Maybe she was immune to the symptons of the disease but still a CARRIER and could then spread it. It seemed monumentally stupid to not take any precautions.

 

[Star Wolf]

They are just following Starfleet medical protocols. Look how surprised Captain Khandler was when the first vaccine trials failed.

 

[KGator]

I still can't understand why the writing was so sloppy as to allow this 'immune' girl to interact with everyone without their masks.

Maybe she was immune to the symptons of the disease but still a CARRIER and could then spread it. It seemed monumentally stupid to not take any precautions.

Yeah, I know. I couldn't believe that either. She's clearly been exposed (immunity doesn't mean she can't catch it, just that it won't effect her) and is walking around the ship. Even the doctor just strolls up to her.

Maybe in the next episode we will see her as the sole survivor of the Nathan James . . . sailing a ship of the dead. Or maybe the crew starts dying off and Dr. Scott is forced to race against time to develop a cure to save what remains of the crew because they completely forgot all infectious protocols when they let an infected on board (simply because she wasn't showing symptoms).

 

[Noname Given]

I still can't understand why the writing was so sloppy as to allow this 'immune' girl to interact with everyone without their masks.

Maybe she was immune to the symptons of the disease but still a CARRIER and could then spread it. It seemed monumentally stupid to not take any precautions.

Yeah, I know. I couldn't believe that either. She's clearly been exposed (immunity doesn't mean she can't catch it, just that it won't effect her) and is walking around the ship. Even the doctor just strolls up to her.

Maybe in the next episode we will see her as the sole survivor of the Nathan James . . . sailing a ship of the dead. Or maybe the crew starts dying off and Dr. Scott is forced to race against time to develop a cure to save what remains of the crew because they completely forgot all infectious protocols when they let an infected on board (simply because she wasn't showing symptoms).

It appears she is immune - to the point that she has no trace of the live virus in her. (Although, yes, the writing was sloppy in that they had NO WAY to ascertain that until she was back on the ship and tested.)

That said, it's obvious the immune person the Russians have IS himself immune (by virtue the unorthodox testing he did on himself); and is in fact a "Typhoid Mary"; and most likely Patient Zero for the mutated strain that spread faster than the the original strain, and effectively caused the current situation.

 

[DarthTom]

It's interesting how the real life Ebola is terrifying the globe right now. I wonder if The Last Ship is getting extra attention because of this? Speaking of which breaking today:

Airport staff tonight told of their fears of an Ebola outbreak after a passenger from Sierra Leone collapsed and died as she got off a plane at Gatwick.
Workers said they were terrified the virus could spread globally through the busy international hub from the West African country which is in the grip of the deadly epidemic.
The woman, said to be 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board.
She died in hospital on Saturday.
Ebola has killed 256 people in Sierra Leone.
A total of 826 have died in West Africa since the outbreak began in February.
Tests were carried out to see if the woman had the disease.
The plane was quarantined as *officials desperately tried to trace everyone who had been in contact with the woman.
Airport workers faced an anxious wait to see if the woman had Ebola. One said: “Everyone’s just *petrified.
“We’ve all seen how many people have died from Ebola, especially in Sierra Leone, and it’s terrifying.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ebola-terror-gatwick-passenger-collapses-3977051#ixzz39Rgwgh3J
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​

 

[Star Wolf]

With The Walking Dead and The Strain also playing I think it weapons porn that powers The Last Ship. BOOM

 

[The Wormhole]

I liked this week's episode. Back to ass-kicking action and fun stuff. We even get to channel some Star Trek with Chandler and Tex stuck out in the ocean, very reminiscent of episodes like Voyager's Day of Honor or Enterprise's Shuttlepod One. The subplot about the young guy needing to prove himself now the crew shuns him was a bit of a low point. So he no longer fits in which results in him being extra nervous and prone to screw-ups until eventually his superior gives him a heart to heart which I guess makes things better.

Why was the crew so hard on the young guy anyway? Yeah, I know, he was among the group who wanted to leave last week, which is something of a unspeakable crime in the military. But wasn't that whole re-enlistment scene with the group swearing their oaths supposed to absolve them all make them happy members of the crew again? Or are all the sailors who wanted off now social pariahs among the crew?

Nice seeing the Russians again, who continue to be such unsubtle Cold War stereotypes it's almost laughable. In an unsurprising twist, Quincy's wife and daughter are still alive anyway and are special guests of the Admiral. The twist at the end with the helicopter rescuing Chandler and Tex being Russian was actually pretty good, I was taken in by it.

So I guess now that there's an immune girl on the Nathan James and Dr. Scott has a vaccine my earlier prediction about dog DNA being the key to the cure and Halsey the Dog saving humanity won't pan out. Where is Halsey the Dog anyway, he hasn't been seen since the second episode. You can argue there hasn't been much of a need for the dog to be involved, but we should still see him, even if it's just one of the crew taking him for a walk on deck. Hell, back when they were on the island they could have had him running around the beach or something during the party. Or is he keeping that Russian prisoner they captured in the pilot company?

 

[Gaith]

Yeah, I rolled my eyes at the doctor (still don't remember her name) waltzing right up to the girl, no blue decon gel treatment or anything. Oh well.

Why was the crew so hard on the young guy anyway? Yeah, I know, he was among the group who wanted to leave last week, which is something of a unspeakable crime in the military.

No, because the military will replace a guy who leaves with another guy. They're pretty careful about their hiring and manning that way. The problem is, in this situation, every crew member that departs or dies leaves everyone else with more work to do, permanently. Kinda overpowers the whole "but my enlistment is up" argument.


Another cool ep, and a great cliffhanger. Maybe Chandler will be a bit warier about leading every away mission once the ship gets him back...

 

[The Wormhole]

Why was the crew so hard on the young guy anyway? Yeah, I know, he was among the group who wanted to leave last week, which is something of a unspeakable crime in the military.

No, because the military will replace a guy who leaves with another guy. They're pretty careful about their hiring and manning that way. The problem is, in this situation, every crew member that departs or dies leaves everyone else with more work to do, permanently. Kinda overpowers the whole "but my enlistment is up" argument.

Still, isn't the point of the passionate re-enlistment and re-affirming their oaths to the Navy mean they are once again committed to the ship and mission? By continuing to give them a hard time, aren't the crew just going to risk alienating them further, perhaps driving them to actually leave?

More than likely they're just setting up a way for this particular young guy to overcome adversity and somehow save the day and become Sailor of the Month or something, but it still feels like dragging a storyline which was already resolved.

 

[Vendikarr]

I wanna make a guess for next week's episode.

The English woman will sacrifice herself to give Chandler, Tex and her daughter a chance to escape. She has been taking care of the Admiral's needs, and may view herself as damaged. Getting her daughter off the ship is her chance at redemption.

Maybe she'll even tear open the Norwegian's containment cell to give the Russian crew something to really worry about.

 

[The Wormhole]

Nah, I'm predicting that in the end it will be Quincy who ends up heroically sacrificing himself, setting up for a tearful family reunion around his deathbed, and Chandler decides to give him proper military funeral as he would one of his crew.

 

[Yanks]

Question.

Still trying to see exactly how that civilian guy on the Russian ship plays in all this.

Is he a carrier?

 

[The Wormhole]

Question.

Still trying to see exactly how that civilian guy on the Russian ship plays in all this.

Is he a carrier?

He created his own immunity to the plague, and is now working for the Russians trying to cure it.

 

[Yanks]

Question.

Still trying to see exactly how that civilian guy on the Russian ship plays in all this.

Is he a carrier?

He created his own immunity to the plague, and is now working for the Russians trying to cure it.

That's what I initially though, then his wife started to "feel bad" and his kept inside the platic barriers on the russion ship.

I think there might be more to this.

 

[Mister Fandango]

That wasn't his wife. That's the other guy's wife on the good guy's ship, whom the evil Russian captain was using to blackmail him into betraying the doctor chick.

The guy in the plastic bubble is immune, but it's just him. It's because of his quack attempt to cure the virus that the virus mutated and spread, and his immunity extends only to himself. Hence him being in the bubble because he's, basically, a super carrier. Patient 0, even.

 

[Yanks]

That wasn't his wife. That's the other guy's wife on the good guy's ship, whom the evil Russian captain was using to blackmail him into betraying the doctor chick.

The guy in the plastic bubble is immune, but it's just him. It's because of his quack attempt to cure the virus that the virus mutated and spread, and his immunity extends only to himself. Hence him being in the bubble because he's, basically, a super carrier. Patient 0, even.

I'm refering to the wife from the flashback. I think the scientist on the Russian ship infected her.

So he is a carrier.

 

[Mister Fandango]

Uh, he pretty much infected everyone. Hence being Patient 0 of the mutated strand.

 

[davejames]

Ok I've only caught up to the third episode so far, but can someone explain how exactly the radar/tinfoil diversion was supposed to work? I'm having trouble imagining how a thin roll of tinfoil was somehow supposed to fool a sophisticated radar into thinking it's actually a giant freakin destroyer.

And does radar really rely so heavily on detecting a ship's electronic signature like that? I figured a giant metal hull moving through the water would be enough. Or is this some other kind of radar they're using?

Still a really cool episode though. And I'm just loving what a badass commander Eric Dane's character is. I know it's probably not an actor you'd normally think of for a role like this, but he has such a commanding presence and I just completely buy him as this Navy commander.

 

[Yanks]

Ok I've only caught up to the third episode so far, but can someone explain how exactly the radar/tinfoil diversion was supposed to work? I'm having trouble imagining how a thin roll of tinfoil was somehow supposed to fool a sophisticated radar into thinking it's actually a giant freakin destroyer.

And does radar really rely so heavily on detecting a ship's electronic signature like that? I figured a giant metal hull moving through the water would be enough. Or is this some other kind of radar they're using?

Still a really cool episode though. And I'm just loving what a badass commander Eric Dane's character is. I know it's probably not an actor you'd normally think of for a role like this, but he has such a commanding presence and I just completely buy him as this Navy commander.

Staying unclassified...

As you saw in the episode, they were in EMCON A (Emmission Control Alpha). This means the DDG wasn't emmitting any RF. COMS or anything.

That huge chunk of tin-foil can most certainly fool a RADAR operator. Especially since the ship was moored to the pier.

DDG's are known for their tiny RADAR cross section. So it isn't beyond the realm of reality that this littel trick could work.

 

[sojourner]

Couple that with the Kirov class not being the latest in Soviet/Russian technology, it's plausible enough for a tv show.