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The Last Ship
A More Perfect Union
Original Air Date: Sep 6, 2015
Vincent Chia – Sr. Reviewer
Vincent@thetwocentscorp.com
Happy Labor Day guys! The unofficial end of summer means we transition from summer shows to fall shows. The season finale of The Last Ship was pretty satisfying and actually wrapped up the storyline better than I expected. It could very well have served as the series finale, if not for the last minute or so.
We start the episode with Michener’s speech being broadcast to the American population through the Valkyrie network. It is a tiny bit hard to believe that people who had previously been in Ramsey’s camp would switch allegiances so easily, but maybe the general population wasn’t totally in Ramsey’s camp? (If not, then why are they listening to Valkyrie broadcasts? Hmmm…)
Commander Chandler plans to sail the U.S.S. Nathan James up the Mississippi River and make port calls at Vicksburg; Memphis, TN; and then end up in St. Louis. Chandler shows his officers an image of a person named McDowell, who was Sean Ramsey’s third in command and is now presumably in charge of the Immunes.
Michener and McDowell speak over a video chat. Each basically threatens to destroy the other. McDowell’s men have obtained navy camouflage uniforms from surplus supply stores. It appears they will attempt to impersonate Chandler and his crew.
At Vicksburg, only 127 people meet the Nathan James at port. That’s not enough people for Dr. Scott’s plan to spread the contagious cure. The cure will only be contagious for five to eight days. Chandler and Michener bank on having more people show up in Memphis and St. Louis. Chandler and Michener discuss St. Louis. Michener thinks that St. Louis will be a good geographic location for the new capital of the nation since it’s in the middle and they can spread the cure in all directions. (I’m guessing Chandler and Scott simply couldn’t get enough labs throughout the nation to manufacture more of the cure??)
At Vicksburg, Tex left the ship to try to find his daughter in Jackson, Miss. He find her grandfather, but ironically, his daughter Kathleen went to Memphis to get the cure. Tex’s ex was killed earlier by looters.
However, McDowell and his people have reached Memphis. They are disguised in navy uniforms and are pushing around sick people in wheelchairs in a bid to spread the virus and more importantly, to spread mass panic and frame Chandler as trying to spread the virus.
Tex has also reached Memphis and he finds his daughter Kathleen. Green and his advance landing team has also reached Memphis. They see people in navy uniforms and realize the others are not from the Nathan James. After reuniting with his daughter, Tex catches a glimpse of McDowell in a blue uniform and calls it in to Chandler. Green confirms that he’s seeing hostiles disguised as navy. A shootout ensues where Green’s team takes out most of McDowell’s people. Taylor almost kills McDowell himself, but McDowell is captured instead.
Because of McDowell’s subterfuge, the crowd at Memphis is panicking and trying to run away. However, Green realizes that they cannot let the civilians run off and possibly spread the virus further. Green and Burk fire their pistols into the air and tell people not to run. They try to keep the people calm and tell them the cure is coming. Tex and Kathleen are also running around in the midst of the crowd trying to tell them to stay calm. A few minutes later, the Nathan James‘ helicopter has arrived and is spraying the aerosolized cure over the crowd. The crowd breathes in the mist and they are cured.
The Nathan James makes it to St. Louis with just 2% fuel reserves. Fortunately, there are large crowds awaiting the ship. All of our heroes disembark from the ship and shake hands and hug the general population as they are greeted by cheering crowds. (pictured above)
Michener is sworn in as the President of the United States in an outdoor ceremony in front of thousands. The St. Louis Arch and the Nathan James are in the background.
At the celebratory inaugural ball, the sailors are all dressed in formal uniforms. They toast to their fallen comrades. Green proposes to Foster.
Since the James will be in dry dock for the next few months for various repairs, Michener asks Chandler to stay in St. Louis with him and be his Chief of Naval Operations. (Why not Defense Secretary? And if the James was really the “last” ship and is now in dry dock, what Navy will Chandler be in charge of? On the other hand, there appeared to be some ships sitting in port when the James visited Norfolk in episode 3. Maybe Slattery will get his first ever command.) Chandler’s children will be flown to St. Louis.
After the ball, Chandler and Dr. Scott flirt a tiny bit outside of Chandler’s hotel room. Michener is sending her to Nebraska and other parts of the West in order to fight the virus. Michener has also pardoned Scott’s murder charge. As Scott returns to her own hotel room, one of McDowell’s men finds her and shoots her. Ironically, if Michener had not pardoned her, she would probably still have been guarded by Chandler’s men, and may not have been shot.
So, that wraps up this season of the Last Ship. It appears that the cure will be spread through the population. The ship will be in dry dock for several months, so either we get a new ship or maybe we fastforward a bit once next season starts?