Recap: THE LAST SHIP – Tempest

Episode 406: “Tempest”
Written by Katie Swain
Directed by Peter Weller

[photos courtesy TNT]

The Nathan James believes that it is under no real threat and are happy to be delivering the seeds to scientist stateside soon. Little do they know…

It was awfully weird to have Captain Chandler (Eric Dane) walk into the CO room and well…there’s Captain Slattery (Adam Baldwin) looking healthy and conducting a briefing. Okay, they are both captains, but who is captain of the Nathan James? Both of them? No one seemed to take notice as they were happy they’d made the decision to go after Dr. Vellek (Peter Weller).

Fletcher (Jonathan Howard) makes a call to Lucia (Sibilla Deen). Fletcher is taking the first steps to turn against the US. He told Lucia where to meet him to transfer the seeds to her. Lucia is still on the Greek ship and after she hangs up with Fletcher, she orders the captain of the Greek warship to find and sink the Nathan James.

Fletcher begins to sneak around aboard the ship. I can’t figure out what he’s trying to do. Is he staying, is he going? What’s the deal? Just as I’m trying to figure all this out, the Greek warship finds them. He continues to make his way around the ship with crew members greeting him at every turn. It was obvious they were trying to make it seem like he is well-known and liked on the ship. The show really hasn’t had a chance to build Fletcher’s character, so it seems they are just going to do it really quick right now.

The Nathan James decides to find cover in a terrible storm. Lucia takes the helm of the Greek warship to fire on the Nathan James, but Chandler knows she won’t fire because they have the seeds. Lucia doesn’t fire and the Nathan James sails right past them into the storm. Oh, the tension between these two, and the two ship passing was nice symbolism. Lucia orders two Greek ships to follow them into the storm.

Now, the Nathan James has one unpredictable enemy, the weather. As the waves beat against the Nathan James, Harry (George Georgiou) fakes a heart attack and ends up in the medical bay with the seeds. He ends up killing the medical attendant. This is when everything starts happening. Rain (Ritu Lal) discovers that Fletcher didn’t call the UK. She lets the two captains know. Chandler figures out from the medical bay entry that the captain of the refugee boat is the one working with Fletcher. The manhunt begins for both men on the Nathan James. Major props to the cameramen who had to race through the corridors of the ship! Those are some tight squeezes and it made for a very exciting cat and mouse chase scene.

Harry, who has the seeds, manages to make it to the deck only to be shot by Chandler who is on a higher deck. As Chandler makes his way down, Fletcher takes the seeds from a dying Harry. Just as he’s about to jump off board to make a swim for it, Sasha (Bridget Regan) appears and has PLENTY of time to shoot him, but doesn’t. Ugh. Really? SHOOT THE SON OF A B*&^%! Chandler sees the whole thing, but he doesn’t take a shot either, he doesn’t even has his gun drawn. Fletcher jumps off the Nathan James with the seeds.

Harry and Fletcher end up killing about six Nathan James crewmen, including O’Connor (Paul James) and Slattery is not happy. They know their mission now, to find Fletcher and retrieve the seeds.

In the final scene, Fletcher is shivering on Giorgio’s (Jackson Rathbone) yacht. We’ve come full circle with Giorgio, Lucia, and Vellek in possession of the seeds. It was pretty clear that Fletcher didn’t want to betray the US, but he actually didn’t have too much trouble doing it. So, I guess the beautiful people are back…

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