This week’s episode of The Last Ship involves a Cold war-esce standoff between the USS Nathan James and the Russian admiral. Chandler has to come up with a way to make his escape! Also, Quincy’s motives which have been a mystery are finally revealed! Josh provides this week’s episode recap for The Last Ship while Violet also chimes in with her thoughts! Let’s get into this week’s episode, titled Dead Reckoning!
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Episode Recap of The Last Ship, Season 1 Episode 3: Dead Reckoning
The Cold War Returns
This episode of The Last Ship begins with a confrontation between the USS Nathan James and a Russian nuclear warship. The Russian admiral threatens them, and tells them his demands–to bring over the primordial strain of the virus and Dr. Rachel Scott. Chandler plays dumb, and refuses his demands, and tells the admiral to move his ship. The admiral continues his threat, warning of a nuclear strike.
Chandler decides the best course of action is an in person meeting, to which the Russian Admiral agrees.
Chandler confronts Scott, and asks who is working on the virus. He then asks if Scott’s partner could be spared. The US team prepares to visit the Russians, and Slattery warns Chandler to not go to the meeting. Chandler ignores Slattery’s advice, and goes to land anyway. Wearing haz-mat suits, they confront the admiral, and conduct viral tests.
Back aboard their ship, Slattery sees that the Russians are putting mines in the ocean. Slattery makes preparations for an exit strategy.
The Russian Gives a History Lesson, Makes Demands
The Admiral informs Chandler that the Russian navy doesn’t exist anymore. Chandler informs the admiral that he remains loyal to the US. The admiral provides a history lesson for Chandler, telling him of the carnage that happened while Chandler’s ship was at sea. The admiral then says he has a key part of the virus cure, and reissues his threats if his demands aren’t met. Chandler counters with a sample of the primordial virus. Quincy volunteers to go with the Russians as well, but the Admiral says only Dr. Rachel Scott will do.
Chandler refuses the deal and tells the admiral they have the food on the land. The admiral decides the best course of action is to shoot one of his own men–so that he has one less mouth to feed.
It’s Time to Make An Exit Strategy
Back aboard the USS Nathan James, Chandler sees that the channel they would exit in an escape is blocked by mines. Dr. Scott pays a visit to Chandler, and they discuss what the Admiral could have pertaining to the cure. She says that, “he is bluffing.”
One of Chandler’s men finds a possible exit, but the water may be too shallow. They decide on a plan of distraction however, and begin action. Some soldiers scout the coral exit, and say it could be possible to exit there, but would require some explosives to remove coral. The soldiers are suddenly attacked however, as Russian forces take them down.
Chandler isn’t happy to hear that his soldiers were attacked, and has a call with the Russians. The Russian Admiral warns that he will sink the US ship, but Chandler calls his bluff, and begins to fire a lethal hit on the soldiers he already took a shot at. The admiral decides to renegotiate–he decides to give Chandler 24 hours to turn over Dr. Scott.
Quincy–the Traitor
In the lab, Quincy pulls a pistol on Dr. Scott, and has plans to turn her over to the Russian Admiral. He is caught by a soldier, however, and Scott makes a run for it. Quincy pursues, and winds up in the mess hall in a standoff. Quincy then pulls a vial from the samples he was attempting to steal, and threatens to unleash the virus on the ship. Chandler comes into the mess hall, and Scott and Chandler attempt to talk him down. Quincy is not able to “pull the trigger”, and Scott retrieves the vial. Soldiers then arrest Quincy.
Dr. Scott deduces that Quincy must have been talking to the Russians for a while. Slattery interrogates Quincy, and Chandler then comes in. Quincy then explains that governments silenced their scientists to stop leaking information to other countries. Quincy explains he refused, which lead to his family being abducted by the Russians. Chandler demands to know what Quincy’s plans were, and Quincy explains it all.
Aboard the Russian ship, Quincy’s wife meets with the admiral. Looks like Quincy is telling the truth.
It is Time for Chandler to Make his Movie
Chandler explains his plan to his men, using the rendezvous Quincy was going to have with the Russians as a distraction as their ship makes an exit through the canal they scouted before.
Chandler begins his mission, which involves fooling the Russian radar system, and moving towards their escape plan. There is a lot of tense moments, and as the distraction of the small boat approaches the Russian ship, Chandler gets ready to make his move. The people on the small boat arm their rockets and their sniper rifle. The soldiers aboard the ship abandon their pontoon boat, and the small ship armed with missiles blows a hole into the side of the Russian ship. Chandler orders the coral blown just as they approach it, and they pray that it was enough to not sink their ship. Everyone holds their breath, and they manage to scrape by. A rescue boat is dispatched to pick up the soldiers on the small boat.
The Russian Admiral realizes the ruse, and decides to not pursue.
The Admiral’s Puzzle Piece
After their escape, Chandler asks Quincy if the admiral had a backup plan. Quincy accuses Chandler of killing his family, but Chandler goes off on Quincy. Quincy retaliates that he had no choice, which seems to befuddle Chandler.
Back at the Russian ship, we see their lab. Their scientist has rats, and seems to be testing them. He then breathes onto a rat. Indicating that he is infected but possibly immune to the effects of the virus, and only a carrier?
Josh’s Thoughts: The Last Ship, Season 1 Episode 3: Dead Reckoning
This was a very tense episode. It certainly is making the Russians out to seem like punks. The show certainly is trying to make distinction that it isn’t the Russian government, but a Russian rogue faction, which I have to wonder is intentional or not. Either way though, the Russian admiral sure doesn’t like to share.
I really am liking Chandler’s character in the show. He seems to be a truly genuine guy, which seems missing in a lot of TV lately. Most characters in TV seem to be broken in some way, and I enjoy that we see someone unbroken, but struggles just the same as anyone else as he tries to navigate his men through the turmoil that this new world order has in store.
I had a pretty big beef with this episode though. The admiral willingly executes one of his own men, and fully admits it was for the sake of saving food. The soldier didn’t make any mistakes that we are aware of, and the Admiral’s men seemed to be not too perturbed by it. I would think someone like the admiral would be mutinied on fairly quickly considering how unpredictable he can be with human life.
The execution of the plan was a pretty intense scene for us to watch. We have two soldiers pretty close to enemy territory, attempting to blow a hole in the ship and survive, while a massive destroyer tries to maneuver an area no destroyer should have to. Even though we know the ship will make it, it is very nail-biting as the scraping sounds are heard in the canal.
So the episode ends with this mystery man in a containment lab. I have a feeling he is contained not only to prevent contamination by his specimens, but that he is also an immune carrier that could infect the entire ship if able. This would be a pretty important find for Dr. Scott though, as I would imagine seeing the virus interacting with human cells would be a huge advantage for coming up with a cure/vaccine.
I guess the last question I have, is that is this mystery man immune genetically? Or was he vaccinated from it at one point, but the vaccination was lost? I imagine we will find out soon enough, but so far, it could be either way.
I am looking forward to the next episode though! It looks to be another exciting one!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 3 of The Last Ship: Dead Reckoning
Pretty tense episode having to come literally face to face with the Russians, yet still escaping relatively unharmed. The Russian admiral must be mentally unstable or something, the way that he was willing to just randomly kill one of his own men. I guess he was just trying to assert his power in his own weird way. It was nice to have a slight change of scenery, even though it was only to another ship, and this episode was spent entirely on the water yet again.
Now it makes more sense why Quincy was spying for the Russians. He was just trying to protect his family, which is what anyone else in his position would have done as well.
I don’t know, I’m still feeling like this might be too much of a Navy/military/war show for me than a sci-fi/apocalyptic show. I love the latter, but rarely find any interest in the former. I mean, I like Chandler and all, he’s a good leader, but a Navy protocol show is not what I was looking for. We’ll see if the apocalyptic side of things starts to pick up again. The end of this episode suggests that it might, with the Russian scientist breathing on the rats. This is definitely some foreshadowing for future episodes, but foreshadowing of what? That is the question.
Scenes from The Last Ship, Season 1 Episode 4, El Toro
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Last Ship, titled El Toro
