Recap: THE LAST SHIP – The Scott Effect and Rising Sun

The two-hour season 3 premiere of The Last Ship aired June 19th; it was delayed due to the Orlando shootings. It was originally set to air June 12th. Although, the first hour of the premiere entitled “First Look” then renamed “The Scott Effect” actually aired on May 30th with no real fanfare. We’ll dive right into both episodes right now!

Episode 301:“The Scott Effect”
Written by Steven Kane
Directed by Michael Katleman

[photos by Doug Hyun/TNT]

The episode begins with Captain Tom Chandler (Eric Danes) assuming his position as Chief Naval Officer at the government offices based in St. Louis. His first problem: The Chinese are not dispensing the cure in a timely manner. The president, Jeffery Michener (Mark Moses), lets him know he has to go to Asia to find out why. Michener also shares rumors he’s found out about the cure not working in Japan because the virus has mutated. Later Chandler’s met in the hallway by a former crew member and shown ration stamps with Dr. Rachel Scott’s (Rhona Mitra) picture on them. They both agree that it’s a nice way to honor her memory. Okay, so she IS dead. And this is all we get? Ration stamps and a conversation in the hallway? I wasn’t pleased. I mean, she was murdered! Isn’t anybody doing anything about it?

Meanwhile, there’s a new captain! Mike Slattery (Adam Baldwin) takes command of the USS Nathan James, and I didn’t mind at all! Slattery gets a call from Chandler warning him to be careful on their way to Vietnam as they continue their mission to spread the cure.

Chandler travels with Valerie (Tania Raymonde) to Hong Kong and upon landing are greeted by Wolf Taylor (Bren Foster). I breathed a sigh of relief, because…well, this guy is just a badass and if he’s around, nothing is going to happen to Chandler and Co. Turns out Chandler called him ahead of time; smart man. Chandler also has a reunion of sorts with Sasha Cooper (Bridget Regan) who’s current title is President Peng Wu’s translator. The four of them head to a political dinner where Chandler immediately gets down to business; basically accusing the President of China Peng Wu (Fernando Chien) of not spreading the cure fast enough and preventing “The Scott Effect”. “The Scott Effect” means that the cure must be spread quickly to a large number of people or the cure will become ineffective. Peng didn’t like where this was going and left the table.

It was this scene that probably prompted TNT to post-pone its June 12th premiere.

Peng Wu meets with Chandler, and he’s a different person. He tells Chandler that he is doing his best to spread the cure, but he also offers Chandler a warning of sorts. I got the feeling that there’s more to this, but that’s all we got.

The President orders the USS Nathan James to leave the port and wait for reinforcements. Newlywed and new mom Lt. Kara Green (Marissa Neitling) sends the order to Burk knowing full well that they are leaving her husband behind when they leave. It’s a gut-wrenching scene and Marissa Neitling plays it perfectly. President Michener also calls Chandler to tell him what happened in Vietnam and orders him home. Sasha and Wolf drive him and Valerie to the airport. While Chandler and Valerie are on the plane, Chandler realizes his place is with his crew on the USS Nathan James. He gets off the plane and asks Sasha to find a way to get him to Vietnam. The plane has taken off with Valerie on board, who has discovered something on her computer and asked the pilot and co-pilot to turn around and land. Just as they do so, the plane explodes in the sky with Chandler, Wolf, and Sasha watching.

Season 3, Episode 2:“Rising Sun”
Written by Hank Steinberg
Directed by Michael Katleman

This episode brings us right back to the action with Chandler, Wolf, and Sasha encountering Peng’s men (Valerie’s murderers I presume) and a car chase ensues. Sasha tells Wolf to drive to a certain place and he does so.

The hostages of the USS Nathan James are stripped of their uniforms and put in cages of an unknown ship. Officer Will Mason (Chris Sheffield) is badly injured and the crew plead with their captors to get him medical attention. They are ignored at first, but then they drag Mason off. The crew figures out by the movement of the ship that they are being taken away from China and Vietnam. In the meantime Green and Burk, who managed to escape from the nightclub, are trying to find out what is going on. They are still on land trying to gather as much information as they can about their crewmen being taken without being caught themselves.

Sasha has brought Chandler and Wolf to a helicopter pilot named Jesse (Dichen Lachman). Turns out Sasha and Jesse were smuggling the cure out of China. Jesse tries to convince Sasha that Peng knows all about the smuggling, but Sasha just doesn’t think so. Jesse flies the four of them to Vietnam, but not before being chased by the Chinese all the way to the helicopter.

The hostages are convinced they are now going in circles, literally going in circles. They are also served filet mignon and ordered to eat. Yeah, I wouldn’t haven’t eaten it either. As another crew member gets seasick, he is taken away. They just don’t understand what’s going on, and frankly neither do I. He’s a sailor, how can he get seasick? His reason was that the destroyer is bigger and moves less. Well, okay, I guess.

Green and Burk finally run into some men, obviously up to no good, and attack them. Desperate to find out some information they leave one barely alive for questioning. Burk is hurt in this attack and is bleeding badly. During the questioning, they don’t even think the man is Vietnamese. He won’t cooperate and won’t give them any information. Burk, in frustration, then says, “Fixing to get medieval…” Best moment of this episode since I’m a huge Pulp Fiction fan. Before the guy dies he motions to Burk and tells Green, “He’s losing blood, he won’t like that.” Then the guy dies. What?

President Michener orders that nothing is to be done until Chandler checks in. Peng notifies the President that Chandler’s plane has gone down and they will send the final transmissions. They send a bogus transmission, but the Air Force captain confirms the voices so they believe Peng is telling the truth. Peng, convinced he’s bought himself some time, orders his men to find Chandler, stating he doesn’t want to go to war with the US.

On board the USS Nathan James, Burk and Lt. Alisha Granderson (Christina Elmore) decide to chase after a fishing vessel that appeared to run away from them when they hailed them. Green and Carlton Burk find a small boat and set out to see if they can find the USS Nathan James. Burk is still bleeding and passes out from the loss of blood. Their small boat is spotted by the USS Nathan James and the hostile fishing vessel that may hold the rest of the crew? The fishing vessel fires on the tiny boat; luckily Chandler and Co. appear in the sky in time to intercept and return fire (now I hope the crew wasn’t aboard). The helicopter lands on the destroyer and Chandler is met with salutes. He’s home, and we are all glad. Green and Burk are also brought on board.

The scene cuts to Mason on a table having his blood drained and off screen you hear, “get it all, before he’s dead.” The episode ends.

So…we know no more than we did when this episode began. It was a lot of cat and mouse chasing, but not a whole lot of information. The fact that the timeline begins months after the death of Dr. Scott didn’t thrill me either.

What did you think of the premiere? After having watched the episode, do you think TNT made the right decision to post-pone the episode even though it had already aired on May 30th? Please share your thoughts and comments below.

The Last Ship airs Sunday nights at 9/8c on TNT.