JohnnyU
Footballguy
I think I'm going to like this show.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/22/the-last-ship-pilot-reviewNAVAL DRAMA MEETS GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
→ APRIL 21, 2014 Advance Review: Michael Bay is at it again with TNT's upcoming drama The Last Ship, which the filmmaker executive produced. Based on a novel by William Brinkley, the new series is a disaster story of epic proportions, as a deadly pandemic sweeps the globe and decimates the world's population (almost 80 percent by the start of the show). Because of its positioning, the Navy destroyer U.S.S. Nathan James avoids falling victim to the devastating tragedy. However, the crew is faced with a series of tough decisions when they learn they're harboring a scientist with the know-how to formulate a cure for the disease.
On Saturday, WonderCon attendees were treated to an advance screening of the entire first episode of The Last Ship, which gave us our first extended look at what's to come for the series. Suffice to say -- given this is a Michael Bay production -- there's plenty of gunfire, naval speak and, yes, explosions to go around (not to mention a very Transformers-esque soundtrack).
he cast of The Last Ship is made up of a large ensemble, including Adam Baldwin (Firefly), Charles Parnell (Pariah), Travis Van Winkle (Transformers) and Christina Alemore (Fruitvale Station), but the series basically boils down to two leads. The first is Captain Tom Chandler (Grey's Anatomy's Eric Dane), the crew's leader and go-to for all major decisions aboard the Nathan James. The second is Dr. Rachel Scott (Doomsday's Rhona Mitra), the lead scientist behind a potential cure that could save all of humanity. Naturally, these two players butt heads in the early going, especially when they receive official word of the ongoing plague. (The ship's crew is kept in the dark for several weeks before the learning the truth.) It doesn't take long, though, for both of them to decide to work together to work on the task at hand.
In terms of emotional depth, there isn't all that much to The Last Ship -- that is to say, the first episode is almost entirely plot-driven. We get brief glimpses of who these people are behind their rank -- the occasional reference to family back home -- but it's not really enough to establish a connection with any of the characters (save Chandler, who gets one short scene to reflect on his family upon watching a video message). Granted, this is somewhat understandable since the plot
s so dense, and there's still plenty of time to get to know the crew, but as of right now, the characters feel flat and all written in the same voice.
Still, while there isn't much in the way of character development, The Last Ship's debut installment is jam-packed with high production values and fast-paced storytelling. The characters make decisions at a mile a minute, so at the very least there's never a dull moment. In that way, it almost feels like a spiritual successor to last year's short lived series Last Resort, which also centered around a Navy ship caught in dire circumstances. Only this time, there's a ticking clock, since the fate of the crew's families hangs in the balance.
THE VERDICT
Executive produced by Michael Bay, The Last Ship is a slick-looking, fast-moving new series that promises a seafaring adventure with a twist -- basically, the fate of humanity rests squarely on the shoulders of one Navy destroyer and her crew. Boldly combining naval drama and global pandemic, there's a lot to digest in the first episode, and the characters tend to get lost in the shuffle as a result of the wall-to-wall plot. Still, the series is only just getting started, and it definitely has the potential to explore deeper themes of isolation, existentialism and the ramifications of a rapidly decaying social structure.
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