The Last Ship
What They Say:
Trials – Rachel and Chandler seek volunteers for the human trials of her vaccine. Chandler’s wife and father try to keep their family alive.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The Last Ship had a pretty good episode previously with it dealing with Rukov having Chandler and Tex and using them as bait to get Rachel and the vaccine over to him. While there were a couple of naturally stupid moments along the way, we had some good moments of action, some background material filled in with some of what happened to help get this whole thing going big and a couple of deaths along the way to make it all real. Though I doubt we’ve seen the last of Ruskov even after all that happened on his ship, they’ve definitely put a damper on his activities for a bit at the least. If he comes back too soon it’ll be cheap, but bringing him back in the future could make for a pretty good return that adds some nice drama and intensity.
With this episode, we actually get off the ship for a bit to focus on what’s going on elsewhere in the world, though it’s pretty much all about Chandler’s father and his wife as they survive in the woods of Virginia. The state of the world has been talked about at a few places so far, notably with half the population being taken out, but what we have seen has been outside of the US and kept minimal and simple. This does the same, but we get a nod towards how some people in the first world are surviving that have skills and family to count on. Chandler’s family obviously falls into that category pretty easily and with his son in tow, we see that they’re having a simple but good existence doing some hunting, working to build some equipment and taking care of a neighbor or two along the way that’s living much the same, at least until they hit an accident and end up catching the “red flu” as well.
On the Nathan James, events are moving in a difficult and kind of unusual direction in that now that the monkey testing is done, they’re moving on to human trials. And that means looking for volunteers to take the vaccine and then get exposed to the virus to ensure that it works. The idea is that getting people that aren’t exposed won’t be easy from anywhere within reach of the ship and that time is of the essence to get this tested. It feels like something falls short with the explanations given before it shifts to the whole volunteer aspect where a lot of people offer themselves as subjects because it’s what’s needed, and we see the Master Chief stepping up as well to show that the leadership side are getting involved as well. There’s some decent character interaction there with those going through the process as we get the six whittled down to go into quarantine after getting the vaccine itself. It’s not easy on Rachel, nor for those that are going in and bringing some personal effects in case things go south.
The testing as it goes on definitely takes its toll in watching how things unfold as everyone reacts to the vaccine in different ways while the virus works through them. That’s not unexpected as everyone is very different in how their bodies process things, but you can sense that things are slowly falling apart in a way as the vaccine may not work properly in a mass way with those that are exposed to it. When Kara starts to go into seizure mode, there’s enough fear about the fact that the vaccine may not work, which can get everyone else in the trial panicking, but there’s also just the fear of losing another one of their own after having lost so many since the whole epidemic became their main mission. It’s a pretty good moment of intensity that goes on with all of this and with Bertrise having a good piece of the action by getting involved herself to help Kara make her way through it.
Some of the stuff is a little forced as the six cope with the effects of the fever and what they’re experiencing, especially with the delirium that kicks in and we get Tex sort of admitting to Rachel that knowing her makes him want to love again, which comes after she realizes that his little treasure that he’s holding onto is a lock of what’s presumably his daughter. But everyone is reacting very differently in their delirium, which is expected, and that has its own small bit of “fun” as we see how they interact with each other as well. But it also goes into some somewhat violent aspects, such as the Master Chief getting all out of control, but that’s just a piece of the whole with how everyone’s bodies react to the experience. And not all are surviving it either, which makes you question the effectiveness overall for the vaccine. When Maya does, that casts a real pallor over things, especially for Rachel, but she knows she has to harden herself to deal with this. What’s complicating things even more though is that Quincy has a different plan to help the remaining five survive in that if they use a lot of Bertrise’s blood, it might work. But that puts Bertrise’s life at risk.
The show does play fast and loose with what vaccine creation and science is all about, not that you expect realism here, but it does push the boundaries of disbelief a lot. When Rachel figures out why things are going different compared to the monkey survivor, realizing that it’s connected to Niel’s reworking of the virus to include his human gene, that helps put her on the right path to getting them remaining five past all of this. It moves fast than it should of course, but it makes for some decent tension in the final act of the episode. What it all does provide are some decent human moments with a look at the characters and what they’re dealing with. There’s definitely characters to like here that you want more of, particularly the chief engineer as she seems like she has a pretty good story to her, and I’ll even admit I liked the use of Kara being pregnant to change the dynamic with Danny a bit.
In Summary:
It’s very easy to be suspicious at this point about what’s going on as you can’t help but to feel that the rug is going to be pulled out from under you when it comes to the vaccine and cure to what’s going on. There’s some good character stuff that goes on here with the whole experiment, the problems with it, the solving of it and the very human emotions within. But I simply don’t trust it unless they’re really changing the nature of how a second season will work, which would be surprising but interesting. I also liked that we got some time with Chandler’s family this time around, exploring some of what’s going on out there in the country and how people are doing their best to survive away from others and still eke out an existence. The show continues to have a lot of potential and it’s a decent episode, though it does once again have its moments that leave you wondering why they went in such a bad direction.
Grade: B+
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