The Last Ship: Season 1

The captain and crew of the USS Nathan James thought they were going to the Arctic to conduct some highly classified weapons tests. They were wrong. While the destroyer was in the frozen north for four months a plague swept across the planet, killing billions and leading to social chaos. Because they were removed from the plague's hot zones, the captain and crew have not been touched by it and because they were on a classified mission they were not allowed to communicate with anyone so they are unaware of the devastation it has wrought. That is the basic premise behind Season 1 of "The Last Ship" and, as dystopian narratives go, it is pretty standard. "The Last Ship," however, is anything but standard. It is, instead, excellent. What makes it so, in my opinion, is the very fine cast, some detailed research into the workings of a combat vessel, and sharp writing that keeps the tension aboard the Nathan James at just the right level. Also aboard the destroyer on its far north mission are two scientists who are, on the surface, searching for an ancient virus they think is buried in the ice. They know about the plague and are secretly searching for a cure but they aren't allowed to share that information with the captain and the crew for security reasons. This leads to some very interesting confrontations throughout the entire season once the crew learns that the scientists have been lying about their true mission. The show features a very strong cast headed by Eric Dane - who looks, acts and carries himself like a Navy officer; Rhona Mitra as the lead scientist; and Adam Baldwin as the ship's executive officer. Baldwin, who usually plays morally ambiguous roles (think "Firefly" and his guest appearance as a rough-and-tumble detective on "Castle") is excellent as the second in command of the Nathan James. Much like Mr. Spock on "Star Trek," it is his job to advise the captain when he thinks command decisions are going to put the crew in danger or endanger the mission. He does that in fine fashion as the XO. No spoilers here, but I will say that, in my opinion, the best episodes of the show involve a Russian warship whose commander is also searching for a cure to the plague. My only quibble with the show involves the leader of the special operations unit assigned to the ship. I was an adviser to a Vietnamese infantry unit and later, as a journalist for almost 50 years, I spent a fair amount of time with special operations units from the Army, Navy and Air Force. Because of that, I found that Lieutenant Danny Green, the leader of the special ops unit, was too emotional. It's not that special ops team leaders and members don't break down now and then; it's that they don't break down until the mission is completed. Green, however, endangers the mission on more than one occasion because he makes poor decisions based on emotion. In my experience, that just wouldn't happen. Despite that quibble, the entire season has a "real" feel to it. I served in the Army but during my first tour in Vietnam I lived aboard a Navy ship anchored in the Mekong River as part of the Mobile Riverine Force. As a journalist who covered military affairs for many years, I have also lived aboard a nuclear submarine and a destroyer for short periods of time. The actions of the fictional crew of the Nathan James were, from what I observed both as a soldier and as a reporter, true to life in terms of the way the enlisted men and women and the officers of a Navy vessel carry out their day-to-day duties. In addition, the special effects were extremely well done and the directors who helmed these episodes kept the pace of each episode moving along without rushing through scenes or unnecessarily dragging them out. To sum up: An excellent show with realistic plots and characters led by a fine cast. I highly recommend it.

That being said, you will get action, adventure, entertainment and Michael Bay. And an opportunity to be proud of God, Country and our men and women who serve in our military, no matter their branch, rank, post or mission. It just happens to be the under-explored (by Hollywood) and lesser produced (by Hollywood) U.S. NAVY. While the premise may be the current subject and material we see today, the show is more real and thought provoking than most movies and series on TV and the big screen because this could be a true scenario (almost; it is fiction and not a documentary). THE LAST SHIP actually accomplishes this without sex, horrific profanity and having dead and diseased bodies rising up as flesh or blood eating zombies and vampires; which seems to be the genre of the day. Hey Hollywood, it's getting as old as reality TV, which is the main reason I stopped watching TV altogether and turned to AMAZON to see some new ideas, content, and even watch older series like THE UNIT, which I originally missed because I could no longer scroll through so-called reality families, individuals and celebrities or other ridiculous and boring shows, which were on every channel, every day and night. Or news/entertainment series that stalked celebrity children to catch a glimpse of their nannies or parents to show us that they all put their pants on one leg at a time... This show, while perhaps is taking a very real possibility, to the extreme, is entertaining, action-packed, thrilling, and can be enjoyed with your entire family. It is a breath of fresh air and highlights our military in a very new and different way than we seen in the past. Much thanks to an amazing producer and director like Michael Bay, the writers and cast and crew. And especially the U.S. Navy. No need to go into the story or plot since that can be read in many other reviews, but just wanted to write and say keep watching so we can keep a GREAT show on the air and hope we can keep our original team, I'm talking to you TNT, to bring us more seasons and higher quality programming than we have come to expect. And please, if you do decide to pull the plug for God knows what reason, PLEASE give us the courtesy of an actual ending and don't just leave the fans hanging, Or we can and will go back to our computers and to AMAZON to get our Hollywood entertainment.

1st just to say about some of the complaints concerning the premise of the story mentioned by others. I have the following comments: They established over the previous episodes that the crew was sent up north to test new weapons packages add to the ship, yeah it's a cheap plot point to use to be able to pull whatever weapon of the week they want out to save the ship, but it was established since the 1st episode. As a Marine who went on a WESTPAC. Most of the TV you see on the ship is pre-recorded and after you pull into port and leave port again you gett another Video Package, although I was a Marine in the 80's to 90's and things may have changed. The whole thing about them not finding anything out until well after the Virus had taken most of the populations of every country. As a Marine my unit was sent to Central America on one of those no Communication missions and we didn't know anything about what was going on in the out-side world, until after we got back. So, that whole thing about them not knowing can happen and does happen, I'm not saying there aren't some smart people who can get around it. I'm just saying if you get caught you get court martialed. That being said I love the show, it show the ingenuity of the people who serve and protect our Country and at times the World, it also shows the scarfice and how far people will go for the greater good. As far as people following their leaders. We had a Captain in our unit, that if he said we were marching on hell in the morning and we would not only follow him we would believe we would win!!!

excellent story

Well written, acted and produced, so believable actually is almost more realistic since Covid-19. I look forward to the next seasons.

とても良かったです

Me ha gustado que este en español ... no me gusta que las otras temporadas no lo estén te dejan saboreando la miel sin tenerla

Saw the series on tv. Very intense series and enjoyed it so much, I bought it