With a devastating hostage situation occurring back home, Chandler must devise the perfect plan to avoid losing everything.
In 2018, it has become very difficult to keep up with every television show out there. It's even more difficult to provide adequate coverage on this site about the episodes that air every week. Not every show can get full coverage because of my busy and hectic viewing schedule. As such, some reviews will now be condensed to give only some summary thoughts. But it also affords a space for me to jot down my thoughts on the various episodes. And so, here are my thoughts on this week's episode of TNT's The Last Ship.
"Honor" was written by Onalee Hunter Hughes and directed by Paul Holahan
Is The Last Ship ever going to properly explain how the Colombians managed to get so much critical intelligence about the United States' operations? At the start of the season, they were so confident in their ability to hack into the system that they put all of their trust in an untrained officer who defected to their cause. And now, they were perfectly able to recreate the base of operations in Florida which allowed a team to be trained and then sneak into the United States to execute this plan and destroy the President's credibility. It seems so implausible the more that the audience thinks about it. All of this is also operating under the idea that the world is still rebuilding its infrastructure. There still isn't a vast network of communication that allows everything to be known by the public immediately. Tavo's influence has been widespread because most people have just listened to him on the radio talking about an idyllic world. Most of the globe is unaware that he is killing his own citizens who disagree with him. The citizens of the United States may actually be far removed from this conflict even though they are at war with another country. Colombia continues to exert its influence. It has been one of the most dangerous threats that the Nathan James has faced throughout the entire series. And now, yet another president is targeted because of some villain's nefarious agenda. President Reiss isn't killed during this assault. But he is humiliated in front of the camera. That broadcast may further weaken his standing in the world and to his own people. Everyone in the room understands that he is making that statement out of duress. The people watching that broadcast should come to the same conclusion. There is no reason to trust Tavo over Reiss. The evidence is plain to see that he must either confess to these secrets or be killed. But there is also the inevitability of people believing it to be the truth and justifying it by saying that the Colombians weren't actually going to follow through on their threats. There is that moment where Meylan is threatened but not killed. That could serve as proof to recruit even more people to Tavo's cause. And yet, Meylan still ends up dead by the end of this hour. His is the death that snaps everything into focus to make sure this feels like a battle with a significant cost to it. It's further proof that this may be the final conflict standing in the way of the world rebuilding after the apocalypse. More people are being killed who have had a personal stake in all of this. Alisha was killed. Miller has lost his legs. And now, Meylan is dead. He dies a hero. He protected the president. Clayton and the Master Chief are also heroic because they are able to mount this counter assault without being armed with a whole lot of weapons. That also serves as further proof that the United States intelligence community is so quick and smart because Vulture team is able to put together this plan of attack for Clayton and the Master Chief in a short amount of time while the Colombians practiced in this facility for weeks and were still defeated. In the end, this should feel like a devastating battle for both sides. It's not a rousing victory that Tavo hoped for. He has really become delusional because he's not satisfied with just taking out the president. He wants Chandler as well. He doesn't get the admiral though. Instead, it's that one-sightedness that leads to the destruction of his monster ship. Now, that may feel like an anti-climatic ending to that particular story this year. There is no big display of ingenious thinking that led to the Nathan James figuring out how this ship is mysteriously hiding from them. Instead, they are given the coordinates and Chandler is able to launch a missile. He survives the blast without any injuries whatsoever. That too is very miraculous. But again, it may further highlight his own death wish because he sees it as his personal responsibility to put an end to this war. That could be very dangerous for him in the final two episodes.
