Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 13
Duration: 42 min (per episode)
The Last Ship: Season 3 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
Things pretty much seemed wrapped up at the end of the second season of The Last Ship when the USS Nathan James arrived on American shores with the cure against the red flu, which wiped out around 90% of the world’s population. Sadly, while the cure is certainly very effective, the season ended things with an assassin taking away the life of Dr. Rachel Scott, who almost singlehandedly created the cure that would save what’s left of the world. This alone was a proper cliffhanger to introduce the third season, but we tend to tread into even deeper waters with the rumor of a mutation of the virus, and an entire continent that might not distribute the cure as promised.
This season starts off several months after the USS Nathan James distributed the cure in America, and it shows that America is slowly being rebuilt under the guidance of president Michener (Mark Moses), who is doing his best to keep the general populace happy, but his senators aren’t really pleased with the way he runs things, as they used to control an area, and now they have to answer to him. Nonetheless, Michener strides forward, even with heavy opposition, not only by his very own senators, but also by the press that is becoming more and more active again now that the power is back up, and people can watch television or listen to the radio again.
To make things even worse, there are rumors going around about the red flu virus undergoing mutations in Asia, where it is claimed the cure isn’t working (anymore) and thus a lot of people are still being wiped out as we speak. There’s also the rumor that the Chinese president Peng (Fernando Chien), isn’t taking proper precautions to distribute the cure in entire Asia, which means he is hording it, in order to gain total control over the Asian continent. Tom Chandler (Eric Dane), who is now the Chief of Naval Operations, is sent on a diplomatic mission to talk to Peng, and make clear that if he doesn’t distribute the cure properly, America will make sure it will get distributed as was agreed upon. After a heated discussion, it’s clear that Peng doesn’t take threats like this lightly, especially when Chandler’s plane blows up, which was supposed to have him inside of it.
In the meantime, the USS Nathan James, which is now being commandeered by captain Mike Slattery (Adam Baldwin), is heading towards Vietnam to distribute the cure. As expected they are welcomed and afterwards invited to a party thrown in their honor. Mike, and a few other ranking members of the crew disembark to attend said party, only to be kidnapped moments later, to fall in the clutches of pirates that clearly do not want the Americans roaming around in Asia anymore.
The flow of this season is pretty much the same as the previous season, in which there’s always one obstacle to overcome during every episode, while the red thread, namely the new villain, the rebuilding of America, … stands in the middle of the thirteen episodes of this season. Nonetheless, things remain as action packed as always, without ever moving too fast. The pacing is just about right, as there’s enough time to process all of the given information, while also allowing the viewer to speculate and think things over himself, with the proper action intervals, which give the series a proper edge.
Acting performances are equally as qualitative as in the previous season(s), and the cast remains the same for the main part, safe for a few new additions that will star as main cast members for this third season. Fernando Chien does a great job playing this season’s antagonist, even though he will only star in six of the thirteen episodes. Other interesting new characters are being portrayed by Hiroyuki Sanada, Bridget Regan, and several others.
The extras on this Blu-ray edition of the third season are fairly plentiful and they will certainly stretch your Last Ship experience. For starters, you’ll find a recap of season one and two, which might be great to watch if you want to go over the key points of the previous seasons, or simply see a few characters in action again. Other than that, there’s an (inside the episode’ for all the episodes of this season, which highlights certain aspects from the chosen episode. These short snippets feel a bit along the lines of the featurettes named ‘behind the curtain’, which feel similar, but also allow certain actors to have their say about a few points of this season or their respective characters. Last but not least, there’s a thirty minutes documentary about the partnership between the U.S. Navy and TNT to create this series. The latter will mostly revolve around the $1.8 billion destroyer vessel that is used to film this series. This means you’re not looking at fabricated decors, but at an actual American ship.
Conclusion
Even though, for us, this series could have perfectly ended after the second season, we were still pleasantly surprised by the third season, safe for a few scenes hither and thither. You’ll be treated to a great storyline that builds further on both the virus scenario, as well as the story arc that revolves around rebuilding America, and possibly the rest of the world. If you liked the first two seasons, the third will still be able to please you.
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