LAST RESORT....A damn good show
 

I've always been wanting to check out the new series "Last Resort", and of course, I was able to finally check out the first three eps on Hulu.

I am really enjoying this show. Strong cast, strong acting, good visual effects, and a killer story line so far.

The gist of the story is thus:

The U.S.S. Colorado, an American nuclear attack submarine outfitted with the Perseus System, a prototypical stealth technology, has just been ordered to fire its nukes on Pakistan. Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) does not like the fact that the order is coming from a secondary, and less secure communications protocol and location, as pointed out by his X.O. Commander Kendall (Scott Speedman). When he calls for confirmation of the order through proper channels, he is ordered relieved of command. Kendall, upon being given command of the Colorado, also requests confirmation. With that, the Colorado becomes a hunted vessel, declared rogue by the U.S. government. After being damaged while attempting to escape being fired upon, Captain Chaplin orders the Colorado to an exotic island, (which also happens to be a NATO listening post of sorts) where he sets up a 200 mile "No man's land" surrounding the island. The presence of the Colorado does not exactly settle well with many of the inhabitants of the island, and it's already led to one very tense encounter with the local drug lord.

The plan: The Colorado will hole up here, while they seek a means to clear their names. Not everyone on the crew is going along with this. Some feel that Chaplin should've obeyed orders, including the Chief of the Boat (Robert Patrick). This leads to some internal conflict amongst the crew, but so far, Chaplin has managed to hold it all together, albeit by a very thin thread. Also, it's starting to look just a little bit soap-opera-ish in some areas, but hopefully that will be a very superfluous side effect.

One scene in the second episode had me jumping out of my seat and cheering hard for the Colorado crew.

So now, the Colorado has established a base of operations. Their sub can be deployed at will. They have a listening post, and a communications station. And Chaplin has issued a warning to the U.S. regarding his "No man's land".

If the show can maintain the intensity it has had for these first three episodes, I will be following this one closely. :)

I've been following it...despite some of the concepts being borrowed a bit from "Crimson Tide," it's not bad.

And I'm always all about anything set on a submarine...closest thing you can get to a starship...

:thumbup:

Oh, yeah, part of the premise definitely appears borrowed from Crimson Tide, but I think this is cool in how they established a base on the exotic island. It feels almost like one of the open world games I like to play, where you can establish bases of your own to deploy from, stow gear, etc.

And like you, yes, I love good submarine movies or shows. I really hope they can keep the intensity up with this show.

I thought the pilot episode was very good, but it's been slipping since then.

Part of my fear for the longevity of this show, Cap'n, is that iMDB's synopsis makes this out to almost turn into sort of "Crimson Tide" meets "Lost" meets (shudder) "The Blue Lagoon".

I hope it does NOT turn into that.

I find most of the island stuff to be silly. With the stakes as high as they are, there is no chance they would let that gangster dude push them around like that. They would have wiped his little gang off of the map.

Haven't seen this, however I seem to remember Crimson Tide as being a pretty good movie.

I can see where you're coming from, but unfortunately, even with the crew's and the Colorado's firepower, the drug lord seems to have the support of the locals, so the Colorado crew cannot act quite as roughly as we'd like to see them do. Their ultimate goal is to clear their own names, and yes, while the crew did a drug run to try and free three of their crew, they realize that they cannot just waltz in and eliminate a drug lord like so much chafe. (Besides, I'm anxious to see exactly how Captain Chaplin takes retribution on the drug lord...at a "time and place of his choosing". :) ). But again, the drug lord has the support of the locals, so wiping him out would not be so easy a task, unless the drug lord did something that so incensed the population that they would be glad to see the Colorado crew take him out.

But also remember, even though these are combat sailors, they are combat sailors in terms of ship to ship warfare...they are not infantry. They are not Marines. Many of them may have barely qualified with an M-16 or M-4. (In fact, with the exception of maybe a few of the crew, they probably haven't even been trained in boarding actions.) Firing a rifle is not a sailor's primary task, unlike the Army and the Marines where you are at least basic infantry qualified when you complete basic training, no matter what your MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). The only really ground combat trained personnel they had were the few S.E.A.L.'s they rescued at the beginning of the pilot episode. And we've largely seen the SEALs' disposition toward the crew. So, taking out the drug lord is not so easy a thing as you might imagine. :)

They may just be sailors, but they still woudl have had at least basic weapons training. And this group of gangsters isn't exactly the SEALS either. You deal with them because you have to.

Crimson Tide was good.