Summary: A conspiracy thriller painted in too-broad strokes and not enough human moments to counterbalance the thrills, but it holds potential.
Recap:
The U.S.S. Colorado rescues a SEAL squad being chased by foreign forces after a deadly mission that resulted in injuries. As national political tensions continue to rise in Washington, D.C., the submarine receives an order to fire a nuclear missle volley on locations in Pakistan. Following procedure, Captain Chaplin and Commander Kendal authenticate the message but are concerned why it came through a reserve alert system that would require a horrific attack on D.C. to be put in use. Calling the nation, they discover D.C. is fine and Chaplin is relieved of command when he asks for the order to be relayed through primary channels.
Kendal now in command makes the same request when the SEALs appear in the control room and demand to see the fire order. A contact alert announces that a cruise missle has been fired on the sub and the crew scrambles to emergency dive. The missle explodes above them and forces the boat to run aground on the ocean floor. At a NATO satellite station on the island of St. Marina, scientists report seeing a U.S. Tomahawk missle having fired and detonated in the ocean. On the boat, as Kendal shores up damage and restores order, Chaplin discovers that the missle was American and plots a path to St. Marina to provide cover.
In the states, the news reports the Colorado was sunk by Pakistanis and Kendal’s wife is informed he has been killed in action. The head of a tech company with technology on trial in the sub receives an alert prior to the “sinking” that Chaplin was going to be relieved of command. She confronts Admiral Shepard, convinced he gave the order to sink the sub, and informs him that his own daughter was stationed on-board.
As the Colorado makes way to St. Marina, two missles are fired on Pakistan in retaliation for the reported sinking. At the island, the sub crew infiltrates the small town and the NATO station. Chaplin calls Admiral Shepard and explains what happened. Shepard speaks with his daughter and Kendal also calls his wife to let her know that he’s alive. All calls are cut off by the military and the power is cut at the NATO station. Investigating, Kendal finds two members of the crew responsible. As they plan to shoot Kendal, one of the men is shot by Grace Shepard.
With the power restored, two B-1 bombers appear on radar, heading straight for the island. Chaplin makes the decision to scare them off by firing one of the sub’s ballistic missles on Washington, D.C. As the missle closes in on the capital, the bombers continue their approach. Chaplin and Kendal decide to detonate the missle but the bombers reverse course at the last minute. Feeling he has to make a point, Chaplin decides to let the missle conclude its strike, against Kendal’s protests. Chaplin asks for trust and the missle slams into the ocean 200 miles east of D.C.
Chaplin records a message to send to the mysterious conspirators in the U.S. government who have orchestrated the attacks. He declares St. Marina and the sub its own safe haven and that no government is to cross within 200 miles of the island or face retaliation. The crew holes up, arresting crewmembers involved, and ready to figure out just who is behind everything.
Review
Last Resort isn’t as bouyant as many would like you to believe but it doesn’t sink like a rock either.
It’s appropriate that at one point Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) recounts an anecdote about late president Ronald Reagan. Though the Cold War went on for decades, it’s most often associated with the tension and political resolution of the relationship between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union in the 1980s. During that time, a number of militaristic and spy fantasy novels came to prominence, particularly the claustrophobic submarine thriller that serves as a key ingredient of this series.
Not as sharp as The Hunt for Red October but nowhere near as dour as K-19: The Widowmaker, the show positions itself as sort of a broader take on the philosophical conflict that powers Crimson Tide: when you receive an order to fire a nuclear missle on citizens of another country that can’t be properly authenticated, do you have a moral duty to break protocol and question motives?
Last Resort takes that to the next level, setting up an us-versus-them struggle between the sailors of the boat and mysterious forces at play within the U.S. government that ordered them to fire, with residents of a tropical island the sub crew has co-opted caught in the middle. It’s a smart idea that allows many avenues and much more mileage than trying to maintain a moralistic wrestling match trapped on a boat.
Sadly, most of the premiere isn’t that smart. It’s entertaining enough, which makes you feel a bit less guilty for watching it, but everything is painted in such broad, big strokes that there are moments when you expect someone to wink at the camera or a pan over to the behind-the-scenes crew doing some Airplane-like visual gag. Yet, that constant unintentional cliff-edge walk — this is all meant to be taken seriously — adds an odd layer of fun to the proceedings.
Perhaps the biggest misstep of the pilot is that we really aren’t given enough of any one character to really latch on to. As they have to move the plot so quickly and introduce so many parts to get a foothold, characters are but sketches and personal lives are identified by key figures back in the states. Andre Braugher brings enough gravitas and charisma to anything that the episode breathes and lives on his performance. His final speech, playing on the concept of Reagan needing to look crazy and dangerous to the Russians mentioned in his anecdote, is compelling enough that they could’ve only shown those few minutes and it would’ve sold the premise. There are also lovely, tiny moments between Braugher and Scott Speedman as Sam Kendal, the boat’s executive officer, that give them some depth and history.
Still, there are high end thrills found throughout this inaugural hour that speaks to a series that’s going to show as much as it talks. The initial attack on the sub is harrowing and when the boat runs aground it leaves a sense of not knowing how things are going to play out. (They gloss over this particular development to keep the pace up.) Following the paths of two missles fired from the Indian Ocean on Pakistan as they hit their targets is appropriately tense. The game of chicken Chaplin plays with two B-1 bombers on their way to attack the sub with his own fired missle on a trajectory for Washington D.C. is bold and thoroughly engaging, especially as Chaplin elects not to detonate the missle even after the bombers turn away.
Those kinds of gambles bode well for the series moving forward. One just wishes there were more human moments in the pilot to invest in to feel the benefits of those thrills more fully.
