The Last Ship - Fog of War and El Puente - Review - "The Fight Starts Here"
Their spirits penetrate through the thick haze of the future,
and descry what shoals and what rocks must be shunned.-Herman Melville
“Fog of War”
The episode opens in the chaos of the command center, with Alisha’s girlfriend panicking on the phone to her. President Joshua Reiss (Steven Culp) announces that he is asking Congress to declare war. Watching the news showing the Mayport attack, Chandler says the footage doesn’t do the tragedy justice. He acts quickly and decisively, bringing Midshipman Clayton Swain in to handle the cyber-attack. (Swain has one word to say upon being told what has happened: “WHOA”. We also find out that he is an orphan, because of the plague.) He says they should move their troops south, which gets some pushback from the other commanding officers. They can’t communicate with any of their troops around the country at this point. In this show’s universe, it feels unrealistic that almost everyone is quick to dismiss Chandler’s ideas as not feasible. He’s saved the world multiple times by relentlessly offering up every ounce of his own spirit, blood, and sweat. But people be people, and self-preservation is always the default.
"We’ve got nothing.”
“Not true. We’ve got Nathan James.”
“This will once again bring out the best of us.”
It’s satellites plummeting to the Earth. Kara talks to Burk and Slattery about their next moves. They can’t communicate with command, because there isn’t a secure line. Their advantage though is that no one else knows they are alive. If there’s one thing about war, though, it’s that the playing field can change rapidly.
Marcos takes Sasha and the others to the rebels. They are not excited to see the Americans, aware that Barros has a manhunt with bounty going on.
“You have brought trouble to my jungle.”
No one else need exhale, though, because the Nathan James and Delta Team are under attack. The Nathan James finds the remains of a container ship, and a missile comes whooshing towards them. There’s a warship out there, targeting them without knowing who they are.
“The fight starts here.”
Onboard the Nathan James, they go back and forth until they create a smart plan to trick the warship into revealing their location. They will create the impression there are more vessels. (Another classic maneuver.) They accomplish this by dropping an underwater search probe that gives off tricky sonar patterns, with the goal being to lure the warship into the sight line of the small boat which Burk, Miller, and Diaz took out. They will then be able to radio in the warship’s location, so Nathan James can say hello with its own missile.
Mission accomplished Slattery reaches out to Chandler. The line isn’t secure, but he has a plan, involving Chandler’s favorite book. The call comes just in time, as Chandler was having no success persuading the other military heads to come onboard with marching south. The message he gives, straght from the pages of Moby Dick: FIT FOR A FIGHT.
Barros is not putting classic literature to good use. He has the Mexican ambassador killed in his hotel room, with Martinez supervising. He says his first line of dialogue in the episode.
“You should have made the deal.”
Episode 3, “El Puente”, gives us a little more insight into Barros and his people. He asks Martinez why he didn’t tell him about the rebel attack, and Martinez says it was handled. If he’s referring to the events of last episode, it most certainly is not handled. There’s also the way that Martinez acts around Barros. He’s almost like a sullen passive aggressive child, but not quite. And at the end of the episode we find out that Barros’s wife Maria literally has some card tricks up her sleeve. Namely emotional manipulation, but she’s not the docile holder of the charity fruit basket that she was presented as in the previous episode. She’s perceptive and ambitious.
Back in the United States, Chandler departs to return to his crew and broker an arrangement with Cuba and Mexico. He hasn’t been gone long when the command center gets two visitors. First, Alisha’s girlfriend. Something is not right with this woman. She could just be one of many people who haven’t been able to psychologically recover from the horrors of the past several years. The pessimist in me though wonders if her near breakdown is just a sly way to get Alisha to spill even the vaguest hints of top secret information. She pointedly asks if Alisha has “heard from anyone”, mentioning Kara by name. And though Alisha doesn’t really tell her anything, there’s other hints. Clayton finds that there were two viruses, and that something inside the command center may have hosted one. This conversation he’s having with Alisha is interrupted by her girlfriend’s arrival. But sharp-eyed viewers have already called out how she texted Alisha a picture that morning when she came to work, and the camera lingered on Alisha’s cellphone as she put it away. Is this just a theory anymore? I don’t think so.
“I know dictators. I’ve dealt with my fair share. There’s one thing they all have in common.
Whatever they have, it’s never enough.”
The Nathan James is attacked from the air, and they have little defense against the small, speedy planes. They deploy their only aircraft: the helicopter. This thrilling sequence also gives us a chance to see Kara commanding under fire. Again, neither Chandler nor Slattery try to step in. They don’t need to, because she handles the situation. She never pauses to let doubts sink in. She’s a relentless force. Kara is someone who holds the world together like Tom Chandler. It’s interesting to note that she’s one of the few people this show has followed through thick and thin, through quiet moments and brutal struggles. She’s like the helicopter darting back and forth in the sky, the single force protecting the ship from destruction, in that this isn’t what Kara was meant for before the plague. But adversity brought out the best in her and allowed her to uncover might that could otherwise have lain dormant. The chopper does succeed, though Maddie sustains a slight injury.
The chopper/plane battle is intercut with another one unfolding at El Puente/The Bridge. Delta Team discovers the bridge is a bit bigger and well-constructed than they expected. They set their eyes on the colonel overseeing the area, the same man who murdered Pablo and the others in the previous episode. Danny probably would have gone after him anyway, so it’s just as well he was a good target for the team. They abduct him. He is naturally uncooperative with giving orders to his men to retreat from the bridge to “pursue some rebels”. Danny skewers the man’s hand so fast even Sasha jumps, and his tone changes.
Wolf and Azima go to attach explosives to a fuel truck which they will they then drive onto the bridge, abandon, and detonate. (#DeltaTeamCoupleGoals) Their timeline has to speed up though when the colonel escapes at a checkpoint gone wrong. He clearly never skipped cardio days, because he makes it all the way to the bridge. But his men don’t recognize him out of uniform at a distance. They shoot him, just as the truck scuttles across the bridge. Almost 2/3 of this episode was action and battles and tense countdown, and it’s only episode 3.
Chandler goes on the radio to make a speech of his own, in response to Barros’s braggadocio warning from earlier. He announces to the world that they have taken out Barros’s warship and planes, they are united with Cuba and Mexico, and that they are now coming for him.
“Come at us again. I dare you.”
He doesn’t include that he has been having premonitions of a sort, hinting at a destructive conflict. The bridge is out. Barros has been stopped from pushing northward, but have the true threats even been revealed yet?
That’s an ominous note to end this review on, so I’ll back up to some good news. Delta Team hears the radio message. They and the rebels are overcome with joy, and Danny even has to step away to process the information alone. The good guys won. This time.
In my preview of the pilot, I noted that FBI kicks things off with promise that it won’t end up being a mediocre show. The premiere did enough to make a good case for viewers to try more episodes. Let’s see what worked and what needs more work.
Without so much as blinking, OA quietly but directly says “Not to you.” There’s controlled anger held very in check but also superiority without patronization. He’s not stooping to engage on this man’s level. And Zaki’s eyes are all you see: angry but patient and tolerant.
Bell we learn went back to work very soon after her husband’s death.
“A guy drove a truck down the sidewalk on Halloween. It was all hands-on deck.”
The “case of the week” is simply bland. A building collapses, a child dies, a cellphone is found melted into a leg, things explode, and a throwaway moment touches on how a murder victim’s heart was missing. And there are big fuzzy spiders. Don’t ask me why. Despite these alternately grotesque and dramatic events, there’s little meat on its bones. A sense of urgency is lacking that one usually associates with searching for bombs. There’s definitely suspense, but it passes quickly. Zaki and Peregrym create most of that with their tense facial expressions. Any TV watcher worth their salt knows that Notable Guest Star Guilt Syndrome is. But even amateurs will realize ten minutes before the characters do in this episode. The mastermind is a cartoonish dweeb who checks all the boxes: monologue, pudding face, wants to build hospices so bombs synagogues, etc. Your heroes are only as strong as your villains, and a case this devoid of intrigue or nuance is a crime. Also, the wardrobe on the show was likely borrowed from Blindspot, because everyone wears the same dark black, blue, and purple palette. The episode is also a bit washed out, and there is so much brick. I can’t even tell you how much brick there is. There’s almost as much brick as there are black SUVs.
Next week: Sela Ward joins the show, and people die. Those aren’t necessarily related events.
Your turn now: What are your hopes for this show? And what will it have to do to stand out from the pack?
"In 2013, Flight 828 disappeared. Today, it came home." That's the tagline for this new drama that starts off as one thing and quickly becomes another. Or does it?
The episode opens on a strained family heading back from vacation, sitting in the airport. We meet Ben and Grace Stone, their twins Cal and Oliver, Ben's sister Michaela, and Ben and Michaela's parents. There are hints about tension among the family. Ben is zoned in on his work, Michaela's mom is urging her to move past some tragic event and accept a marriage proposal, and Cal has leukemia. This information is doled out to us by voiceover from Michaela. This is a mixed blessing. On one hand, her narration basically tells us that everything will "work together for good", to quote her mother's favorite Bible verse which just happens to be Romans 8:28. This establishes that Manifest is a human interest drama more than a conspiracy thriller. It also robs the show of virtually all suspense. We aren't here to find out how it's all connected. We're here to be shown how they are all connected.
They being everyone on Flight 828, which Ben, his sister, and Cal take after their other flight was overbooked. The plane encounters a smidgen of unpleasant turbulence, but nothing else out of the ordinary happens. They land and learn they have been missing for five years. They are never catching up with their Netflix watchlist and will be out of the loop on so many pop culture references. Here is where the episode starts to pick up.
The scene transitions to Grace running to reunite with Ben and Cal the next morning. Olive is five years older than her twin, and he hides from her in bewilderment. Michaela and Ben's father lets them know that their mother died of cancer. It is genuinely heartbreaking, as they all break down into tears.
There are a number of wonderful scenes that allow the cast to flex their acting chops. In particular, Athena Karkanis who plays Grace has some very emotional interactions. One that she shares with Ben (Josh Dallas) is particularly moving. Grace asks his forgiveness, because not a day has gone by that she hasn't resented him for taking that separate flight. She believed he had robbed her of the few months Cal had left to live. Their daughter Olive was afraid to leave the house and had to enter therapy. Now, they all have a second chance. Grace was clearly dating someone else, but she seems committed to reconnecting with Ben. And when she started to apologize earlier, it seemed that is what Ben thought she was going to apologize for. She ends up postponing that revelation.
Cal might even survive now, thanks to the research of a woman also on Flight 828, as her colleagues were able to get her data off the cloud and continue her research. This woman Saanvi has to go to bat to get Cal the treatment, as the bigwigs are worried that letting him in could mess up their success rate. (This made me roll my eyes, because clearly they could just say 'The treatment didn't work on this one kid who mysteriously disappeared for five years but didn't age that whole time, which probably affected the outcome' and protect their statistics.)
But yes there are voices! It would seem all the passengers and crew of Flight 828 can hear them, as they are all drawn together at the end. They stand outside the airport looking at their plane, which then explodes. They are all super relaxed and not really concerned. Hallmark Channel credits music plays over the fiery scene. Honestly, the plane blowing up just felt silly. Michaela's voiceover has already told us that they will be getting to know the other people and that what happened to them on Flight 828 might have ruined their lives but will also save them. There's absolutely nothing else up to this point that hints their disappearance was sinister. This scene isn't made to feel sinister either. So I guess it's just a plane blowing up for the sake of.....drawing a blank here.
It seems that there is already a great show to be mined from how people would handle rebuilding their lives and reentering the world after being absent five years. The "how did this happen" just doesn't matter as much as "how will they deal with it" does. The "voices" element reminds me a bit of another new fall show: God Friended Me. Only in this case it will be voices instead of Facebook chats that guide the characters each week to souls that need saving, including perhaps their own. There are no startling gasp-inducing cliffhangers or ominous musical cues, just a light dusting of mystery.
Show creator Jeff Rake posted to Twitter that "We will get to know all these people." This pilot looks at relationships, considers how perspective can be altered by a life-changing event, and doesn't oversell its sadder beats. It could be a very thoughtful character drama, which seems to be its intention. It could also get lost in its own mystery. For now, at least, there are characters with stories we can get invested in. That's a good a starting point as any.
Every once in a while, a TV show comes along that is called a sure thing. FBI has one of TV's most successful names backing it, and a captivating roster of talent in front of the camera. It could get away with being mediocre. But the pilot overflows with promise that this won't be the case.
The other lead agent is played by Zeeko Zaki, someone audiences may not be as familiar with as Peregrym. He stars as Special Agent Omar Adom Zidan or "OA", the nickname everyone calls him by. "OA" is newer to the New York Bureau than Bell and has done undercover work in the past. The pilot is clumsy in some of the ways it addresses various aspects of racism and prejudice, but one of the strongest moments involves someone's comments to Zidan and how he handles the interaction. Zeeko Zaki has a keen intensity which serves his character well. You can feel Zidan's fiery integrity.
“A High-Pitched Buzz and Training Wheels” – After Sheldon dismantles the refrigerator to stop an annoying hum, he gets a paper route to pay for the repairs, on the second season premiere of Young Sheldon.
Welcome to a whole new season of Young Sheldon. As we say goodbye to The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper is still well safe and alive in his spin-off.
In the season premiere, our little hero goes to war with the refrigerator. Some people are more sensitive than the others, but Sheldon seems to know/hear/see everything. In the episode, we see a very different Sheldon at some point. We know from The Big Bang Theory the relationship with his dad has never been easy and the season premiere put an interesting point in this. Every child needs support from his/her parents, even a little kid like Sheldon. On the contrary, mom Mary is over protective as always.
In the season premiere, our little hero goes to war with the refrigerator. Some people are more sensitive than the others, but Sheldon seems to know/hear/see everything. In the episode, we see a very different Sheldon at some point. We know from The Big Bang Theory the relationship with his dad has never been easy and the season premiere put an interesting point in this. Every child needs support from his/her parents, even a little kid like Sheldon. On the contrary, mom Mary is over protective as always.
I can't help but Iain Armitage is so cute. Some of his facial expression are similiar to Jim Parsons's. And I know it's been only a couple of months since last episode aired, but those kids have grown up, especially for Montana Jordan!
Some teasers from the episode:
- Hey, what's that sound only Sheldon can hear?
- We learn something about Sheldon's friend, Tam Nguyen.
- Sometimes math can be useful to create the perfect newspaper fold.
- Finally some classic rock music.
- What is a raven doing downton?
Some quotes from the episode:
"While I may be not a X-Men material, I've always possess an unisual high senses."
"Good morning!" "Are you trying to kill me?"
"What makes you think you could do this?" "I'm smart."
"My little boy is out there in the dark!"
"I'm a very complicated person!"
Are you going to watch Young Sheldon this season? Share your comments below.
Last Man Standing - Welcome Baxter - Advanced Preview - "She Looks Exactly The Same"
"They don't just take a show off one network and put it on another."
Last Man Standing was revived by Fox, and a brand new season premieres on September 28th. The show has come back to a different world than the one it left, and fans likely have different opinions on whether or not the show should address that.
But the recasting will hit the hardest. Molly Ephraim will be missed. Sorely missed. Viewers will wonder what exactly the show is trying to say with how her replacement portrays the character. There is time for Molly McCook's performance to evolve. Not a trace of the dynamic Mandy we saw in the season 6 finale really remains.
Everyone else is still here though. Eve and Kristin have grown and changed, matured in their own ways. Mike and Vanessa are here, with Tim Allen and Nancy Travis bringing a good sense of humor. At this point, Eve may not be featured on the show that much though. Kaitlyn Dever has other projects in the works.
I'd recommend viewers not watch the season 6 finale before watching this premiere. The cast and writing are a bit rusty out of the gate, though the show's heart is in the right place. It needs time to get comfy. It's as if you bought a new couch. It's in the same living room. Most of the same people are sitting on it. But it will probably feel strange for a while.
There is no slowing down for The Last Ship. "Fog of War" moves full speed ahead, so be sure to take extra breaths before starting the episode. Jann Turner directs this episode, her first time doing so and a fitting director considering a big part of the story. Jill Blankenship wrote it. And it's awesome.
Spoilers for the last episode are likely to be found below, so if you have not watched the premiere yet, consider this a warning.
Our Big Bad is Gustavos Barros. We will learn more about his plans for the war and see more than one side of this season's antagonist.
Even though Chandler has earned the equivalent of a doctorate in saving the world, others will be hesitant to fall in line with his latest suggestions.
Someone delivers a speech that will give you chills and goosebumps.
Sasha and friends encounter a mix of pros and cons in the jungle. There's a brand new WolfStrong™ moment to love.
One person comes up with two very creative ways to make up for the lack of certain technological features.
My concern about whether or not there is an experienced REDACTED on board the Nathan James after the premiere is not addressed.
Now for some dialogue teases, mixed up and not in order at all.
"Fortunately we were able to improvise."
"Hunting's no fun if the game comes to you."
"A war isn't lost because we're hurt."
"Honey, don't watch the TV."
"The fight starts here."
"None of you have to stay."
"Whoa."
"I'm sorry, Tom."
"You have brought trouble to my jungle."
Catch the whole episode September 16th at 9 P.M. ET/PT on TNT (or on your DVR or online or watch it twice) and check back here Monday for a full review.
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