THE LAST SHIP – Season 3 Recap
[All Photos and Trailer courtesy TNT]
Vampirates, a government coup, and some bad ass fighting can basically sum up Season 3 of TNT’s The Last Ship. It’s been a short summer for me, but a long summer as a fan when I think of the late summer premiere date.
When we last left our heroes, they were busy taking back the country from the corrupt Region Leaders led by Allison (Elisabeth Rohm). Before all that happened, we had vampirates! Yes, Season 3 opened up with part of the crew captured by pirates! The then-Captain Slattery (Adam Baldwin) was just the right blood type for the captain of the pirates, Takehaya (Hiroyuki Sanada).
Who remembers that gross bloody shack where the blood transfusions took place? Ew, yeah, I wish I could forget.
Takehaya and his people (including his pregnant wife) never received the cure. Of course it was part of a big government cover up to just kill the Japanese off and create alliances with China. Tom Chandler (Eric Dane) returns to the USS Nathan James to recover the captured crew and of course become the ship’s captain again. He wasn’t really suited for his stuffy government position anyway.
As it turns out, captor is actually a victim in the ongoing epidemic. Takehaya becomes an ally and together they begin to take out their enemies. First on the list, China led by Peng (Fernando Chien); he’s got to go. Remember the episode “In the Dark” where they played hide and go seek with the battleships? It was a great episode. Next on the list, the USA. Yup, after it was all said and done, it was Allison and the rest of the Region Leaders trying to take over the United States of America.
Once our team was back on American soil, it was time to go to work. They systematically take down the Region Leaders leaving Allison for last. Well, technically Allison had Roberta (Lucy Bulter) taken out. Allison tries to make her escape with Chandler’s children in tow after having Chandler’s father killed in the kidnapping process. With the help of his crew, including Tex (John Pyper-Ferguson), they get to Allison on a plane as she tries to fly out of there. Tex is shot in the scuffle, Chandler finds out about his father’s death, and Chandler shoots Allison dead. The season ends with Chandler leaving the ship in civilian clothes.
I worried that season 4 would turn Chandler into “Rick the Farmer”. Now, if you’re a fan of The Walking Dead, you’ll understand the reference. If you’re not, here’s the gist: There was a whole season of The Walking Dead where Rick just wanted to farm, he was tired of killing zombies. It. Was .Awful. It was a bad season. I don’t need a “Tom the Farmer/Fisherman” season and it seemed like it was going to go in that direction when he was making his way off the USS Nathan James with that depressed look on his face. Well, he lost his father and best friend, so I guess he had every right to the face he had.
Now, after seeing the season 4 trailer, it looks like I DO NEED a “Tom the Farmer”, but a really bad ass farmer, oh and a wolf, I could use a wolf, too.
At the end of last season TNT renewed for season 4 and season 5 to be filmed back-to-back in the spring of 2017. In the midst of shooting season 5, Eric Dane asked to halt production to deal with personal depression. It was made clear that it would not delay season 4, but it might delay season 5 for the summer of 2018. Fans of the show know that this Sunday’s August 20th premiere already feels like a late start in itself, but I think TNT didn’t want to go up against HBO’s Game of Thrones. So, it pushed it back ever so slightly, but not so much to lose it’s title of TNT’s “Summer Drama”.
The gang’s all back this Sunday and I’ll be here to review each episode!
The Last Ship premieres this Sunday, August 20th at 9/8c on TNT.
