The Last Ship: Season 1 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
Follow Genre: Action, 'Drama'
Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 10
Duration: 45 min (per episode)

The Last Ship: Season 1 (Blu-ray) – Series Review

Site Score
8.7
Good: Story, Acting performances, Constant tension
Bad: Stereotypical American patriots (at times)
User Score
9.0
(1 votes)
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)

With the bombardment of fast paced series, it’s been a while since one about a global pandemic has surfed the waves. Whilst there are enough movies that show us the end of the world as we know it, due to a zombie outbreak or war, The Last Ship does an effort to show us another apocalypse. The world has suffered from a terrible virus and it seems all hope has been lost, except for a small shimmer of light that happens to be aboard the USS Nathan James, a destroyer class ship from the United States marine corps. Thus the question arises whether this mighty vessel will be able to turn the tide.

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Things get quite suspicious when captain Tom Chandler (Eric Dane) gets sent away to the Arctic, to perform top secret weapon tests. This by itself is not that peculiar, but the facts that their mission involves two virologists and that complete radio silence is mandatory for four months, make things quite sketchy. Nonetheless, Dr. Rachel Scott (Rhona Mitra) and Quincy (Sam Spruell) claimed they were only joining the mission to be able to study birds, to accompany their casual looking research. When the four months are up and radio contact has been restored, Tom is quite disappointed when the government tells them to stay put and disable all radio contact once again. That being said, the silence does not remain that long after Russian troops arrive at the scene, trying to claim Dr. Scott for their own.

After taking out the pesky Russian invaders, captain Chandler confronts Rachel to tell him the truth about what has been going on. Apparently a virus had broken out several months prior of the Arctic mission and she was the only scientist who saw the graveness of the situation. Whilst there was protest from the government, she was still able to get the green light for the mission to collect the original strain of the virus, in order to find a cure. That being said, even she did not expect that nearly 80% of the world’s population would have been wiped out by now.

As the world has fallen into a state of total chaos, the Russian admiral Konstantin Nikolajewitsch Ruskov (Ravil Isyanov) commandeered a nuclear warship in order to find Rachel Scott, to claim the future vaccine as his own. Even though the righteous Tom wants to save the world with it by distributing a remedy free of charge, Ruskov wants to sell the cure to the highest bidder, while he continues his quest for global domination. When both vessels are about to face off, it’s clear that the float to victory will not be an easy one.

The story itself isn’t really a fast paced one, which actually works perfectly for the theme of the series. By adding enough tension and a seemingly ‘slower’ storyline, you’ll have enough suspense, making each episode feel a lot shorter than it actually is. Whilst there are many tragic scenes, the overall grim atmosphere makes sure that all victories, even the small ones, feel terrific. In this sense, The Last Ship is quite captivating and intriguing.

Relating to the series is also easier due to the fact that the topic is realistic and everything that happens in the episodes feels closer to home than you’d initially expect. The series does its best to let you think about certain situations as well, while trying to deliver a sufficient amount of plot twists to keep things interesting.

Acting performances are another great quality of the series. Eric Dane proves to be a great leading officer, keeping the typical sense of American patriotism intact, whilst also showing some of his sensitive side through the cracks of his marine persona. As the story progresses, you’ll start to understand more and more of the choices he makes throughout the first season. Rhona Mitra, the cut-to-the-chase Dr. Rachel Scott, might seem quite frigid at first but a certain coolness is required when one is charged with saving the world. Perhaps her character is the one that evolves the most throughout these ten episodes. To get a change of pace from the military personnel, John Pyper-Ferguson will play the role of Tex, a warden at Guantanamo Bay, who joins Tom on his arduous quest. He plays the lighthearted character that brings a bit of joy to the otherwise stiff military command. There are actually many more actors and actresses that could be named here, as the series has some topnotch characters, each with their own backgrounds, but it’s easy to say that every single actor does a great job in making this grim series convincing.

Even with the great acting performances, it’s hard to show proper character evolution. It’s fun to see that a forbidden relationship is still able to evolve and that certain bonds are formed, destroyed and in turn formed once again. The only setback is that, as mentioned earlier, the patriotic and religious factor are sometimes a bit too much. This might of course be a personal opinion.

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Even if the series is also connected to Michael Bay, you don’t have to worry about it being too ‘explosive’. The overall special effects and explosions have been toned down, to keep the realistic feeling intact.

Conclusion

The Last Ship proves to be a refreshing series, albeit one about achieving small victories in the midst of a decaying world. Acting performances are top notch, as well as the effects and the contagious storyline. Binge watchers will be able to drown themselves quite fast in the first season, as the episodes go down quite easily. All in all, certainly a must watch if you’re a fan of apocalyptic series. Do your best to keep afloat, strong currents are ahead.

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The Last Ship: Season 1 (Blu-ray) - Series Review, 9.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

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