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shadowkat[I just finished watching The Angels Take Manhattan - The half-season finale of Doctor Who, which was brilliantly written. By far the best episode that I've seen since
last year's finale. Weird. All the River Song episodes are brilliant. Why is that? And I guess I'm not an alien because I cried during it. First time I ever cried during a Doctor Who episode. I'll review in a separate post if time permits. Discovered something else last night, if I do not go on the internet after 8:30-9pm, I sleep better. Something about the blue light spectrum. TV doesn't bug as much because the concentration isn't as high. So there will no more posts after 9pm. Bloody tired of being sleep deprived.]
Did finally see Last Resort last night, also watched the somewhat lackluster sitcom Ben and Kate. So far the only "New" sitcoms that I can remember or had any chuckle moments during are "Go On" and "The New Normal" - which is saying something. Granted only seen four to date: New Normal (C+) , Go On (C+), Ben and Kate (C), Mindy Kalling Project (D).
Ben and Kate - has a nice twist in that it's about a brother and sister raising a kid, as opposed to a couple. The brother is a never-do-well/screw-up - reminding me a great deal of various screen comedies starring Adam Sandler, Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd as the annoying brother. They do insane things. The comedy is over-the-top and a bit in your face. Subtle its not. So, if you prefer subtle absurdist comedy, over slap-stick/feel-good/over the top comedy - Ben and Kate will most likely not float your boat. In short - it's more like Up All Night and less Raising Hope, the Middle and Modern Family. Granted this is just the pilot, it could get better.
Last Resort has some of the same problems that Revolution does - it too suffers from what I like to call comic book logic, for want of a better term. The premise while intriguing is also...well, let's put it this way, it requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief on part of the viewer in much the same way as Revolution does. The premise does not quite work from a logic perspective - like I said before "comic book logic" or if you prefer "daytime soap opera logic" (actually the latter might be a better description).
The non-spoilery premise? Sort of impossible to do without spoilers. Sorry. Best I can do is an American Nuclear Submarine refuses to fire on Pakistan and holds up shop on an island in the Pacific, which somehow supports both a high-tech NATO Communications Base and a local smuggling ring. Much chaos ensues. If you want to know the specifics read the spoiler version.
It reminds me a little of The Hunt for Red October meets LOST by way of the 1980s flick War Games with more than a little of General Hospital's outlandish plotting thrown in. Note - more General Hospital less 24. Will most likely drive anyone who is an information geek, detail oriented, analytical, or at all fussy about plot, crazy. Particularly if you take it seriously, and don't have an odd sense of humor. In short, if you didn't like Revolution, the plotting of Ringer gave you a headache, and the island plot of Lost bugged you, you most likely won't like this. There are some excellent actors in it though, and it is a bit funny in places, I'm guessing unintentionally so...but oh well.
The spoiler premise or plot summary:
An American "Nuclear" Submarine called The USS Colorado picks up a couple of Navy Seals in the Pacific. The Seals need medical attention for one of their party and have been doing "intelligence" in the area. The Seals want to go directly to headquarters for medical attention. The Sub Commander Chaplin (Andre Braugher) - says they'll have to wait until they radio base and get closer to land. We're quickly introduced to the main characters: the Seals, the EX-O - Grace, who is the daughter of the Admiral in charge of commissioning the USS Colorado (Bruce Davison), the Second-in-Command/Lt. (Scott Speedman) - who has a fiance at home that wants to get back to, The sub-commander (Braugher) - who thinks about his son commissioned in Iraq, and the Chief (an old craggy Navy guy played by Robert Patrick).
The USS Colorado is a happy crew, celebrating diving below the equator with a funky rendition of La Bamba - it's Grace's (the new ex-o's) first time, when suddenly, out of the blue, they receive an embedded order by way of Antartica, to fire on Pakistan. Due to where they receive the command (Antartica), Grace and the Commander question it. That apparently only happens if the White House has been compromised. So, the Commander requests that the communications officer test the cable channels for news. Nothing comes up. Except for the national weather, impeachment hearings in DC, and Hannah Montana. He calls the Pentagone and the Secretary of Defense, asking for confirmation of the order. Stating: "Look, why are you telling us to fire on Pakistan from Antartica, when there's obviously nothing happening where you are? All we're seeing is Hannah Montana."
[Just off the cuff, a couple of questions come to mind:
1) IF memory serves, Hannah Montana is a tv show on cable, right? Disney or ABC Family. It's not on a station that tends to broadcasts news or interrupts broadcasts with national or international news. It's not Sesame Street or General Hospital, after all. So yes, if the White House was compromised it is more than possible that the Disney Channel or ABC Family would still be broadcasting Hannah Montana. We don't want to scare the kiddies after all.
2)Why do they have access to US cable stations on board a nuclear submarine anyway? Not only on board, but on the bridge. This isn't the love boat or a military base in the middle of Iraq, it's a frigging nuclear submarine. DVD's I sort of understand, but cable stations? Do we want our nuclear submarine commanders questioning decisions? Free TV access would sort of...cause that to happen.
3) Why aren't they watching a reliable news station, such PBS or C-Span or even Al Ghazzera or BBC World News? I'm sorry, but if I was worried about the reliability of a bit of intelligence, I wouldn't be checking ABC Family for accuracy.
4.) Why would the US government tell the media it was at war with Pakistan or about to fire on Pakistan, unless it wanted Pakistan to know what it was doing? Or tell the media anything regarding national security?]
Apparently the Secretary of Defense agrees with me and dismisses Commander Braugher, and puts Speedman in control. Note to Braugher - next time say that you are seeing a weather forecast on CNN, might go over better. That is until Speedman also questions the order, and the US Secretary of Defense hangs up on both and orders the USS Illinois to take out the USS Colorado. [Note we never see the US Secretary of Defense, but Chaplin recognizes his voice.]
While all this is going down, there are impeachment hearings in DC for the US President and most, if not all, of his cabinet has been dismissed. The Pentagon is also being questioned. And, a woman who is a head-honcho at the corporation that procures submarines and weapons for the government, breaks off her impromptu affair with a US Senator when she gets a text message regarding Commander Chaplin. Apparently her firm was procured by the Navy to design and put in a high-tech device that removes a submarine's firing signature. It can fire, but no one can trace its signature, it can also automatically trace anything that fires at it. The device records this. (At least that's my understanding of the device, I rewound twice and used close captioning to figure it out.) This means if the USS Colorado fired on Pakistan, no one could trace it back to the Colorado or the US, and if the USS Illinois fired on the Colorado, it could trace it back to the Illinois automatically. It can literally fire on anyone at any time without any forewarning or anyone knowing that is what it is doing.
She confronts the Admiral - stating how dare you fire on your own daughter's ship, you knew about my device and how important it is. The Admiral looks shocked. And she realizes that he didn't know about it and hadn't given the order. Which means someone else is doing all this.
The Colorado gets hit by the Illinois, killing 12 people, including the bald-headed Navy Seal who demanded the Colorado fire on Pakistan and follow orders - at gun point. Which did not go down well with Commander Chaplin and company. But before the Navy Seal or anyone else for that matter could get thrown in the brig, the Seal got killed trying to shut off a water-spout. His partner-in-crime zips him up in a plastic bag and carts him to the island paradise that the Colorado decides to seek refuge on. Where he pays a local gal (Serena from Dollhouse) to put the body up in the ice house until he can take him home. (I don't know, dude, I'd just cremate him or bury him, home is looking a bit like a long-shot at the moment.) Meanwhile the US Government proclaims that the USS Colorado was fired on and sunk by Pakistan. So in retaliation, the USS Illinois fires two nuclear missals into Pakistan.
The island, they've landed on conveniently contains a pseudo-high tech NATO Base, but is also being ruled by a local "pirate/smuggler" - which NATO, for some reason or other, is tolerating. (Normally NATO clears its bases of all potential security risks like local smugglers and pirates, but not apparently in tv land). NATO being a peace-loving non-militaristic organization is horribly upset by the attacks on Pakistan and the USS Colorado. Before Commander Chaplin and his crew can get comfortable, a disgruntled crew member decides to shut down the NATO base's generators and communications, and radio's in their location to the US Government. Scott Speedman tries to stop the traitor, the traitor threatens to shoot Scott Speedman, but in the nick of time, Grace shoots the traitor. Annoys the Chief, who agreed with the traitor and felt they should surrender and stop playing hide and seek with their own naval forces. [He has a point.] Grace (the wet-behind the ears rookie] tells him to stop calling her Grace, grant her a little respect, after all she just shot a man in the call of duty. As a result of the disgruntled, now dead, traitor's radio signal the US Government is able to send air-born bombers after the Sub.To stop them, the USS Colorado sends a nuclear missal to DC from the Pacific. Informing the US government that if it doesn't call off its bombers, the Colorado will detonate the missal over DC. This is a long-range missal that is launched into space and flies across the continent and detonates just off the southern coast of Washington, DC, about 100 miles or so. The US government wisely turns its bombers around.
Chaplin: "See, that's just far away enough that no one will get hurt."
[Well except for the Love Boat and Queen Elizbeth 2. But we didn't really care about Captain Stubbing, now did we? Also, apparently nuclear radiation isn't much of a concern? Or the fact that any cruise boats, fishing boats, submarines or Bermuda for that matter might be near by? That radiation cloud has to go somewhere...let's hope it doesn't hover over Hilton Head, because that would be annoying.]
It should be noted that the US Government backs off prior to the sub's detonation off the coast of DC. So, Chaplin didn't have to detonate the bomb. He only does it - to convince the US Government he's crazy and someone to be afraid of. (Didn't they already know that?) So, now The Colorado sets up residence on the island. And Commander Chaplin with a sly grin tells a horrified Scott Speedman and Grace that he plans on staying on this island indefinitely and setting up his own little utopia. Wait, says Speedman, weren't we just hanging out until we could clear our names and go home? (You just fired a missal at DC, dude, you realize there's no coming back from that, right?) Anyone bugs him, they'll just blow them off the face of the map.
One little problem with Chaplin's plan, the local crime boss is none too pleased with the Colorado's occupation of his power-base. He was enjoying his little island paradise. Now he has to compete with an annoying submarine commander and a rogue naval seal, and is not amused. So he takes prisoner two of the sub's crewmen (who we don't know and don't really care about - the Last Resort equivalent of red shirts).
Meanwhile, Scott calls his fiance in the US to tell her that he's alright (well alive at any rate). She is being closely watched by US Naval intelligence, who have taken up residence in her living room. Grace calls Daddy (the Admiral portrayed by Bruce Davison) who gets fired or removed from his post the moment she calls. Relieved that she's alive and annoyed that he's been fired, he visits the weapons manufacturer at the end of the show to discuss what happened.
See? It's all a bit laughable. Not to mention convoluted. I literally burst out laughing when Chaplin fired the missal on DC, then gave his little speech. No one in their right mind would do that. Too many things could go wrong. Also, he wouldn't detonate it. Hello, radiation. Nuclear submarine commanders are knowledgable in nuclear weapons. If he's going to question an order to fire nuclear missals on Pakistan, why would he turn around to fire one on his own country? There's no coming back from that. This is something comic book characters and daytime soap opera villains do, not people in reality based television series. Assuming this is a reality based tv series. It may not be. It was advertised as one.
The other major problem with this series is it has far too many characters, not to mention plot-threads, and as a result, the characters feel fairly stock or flat at this point. Let's see: You have the rebel commander who is just a wee bit nutty, a la Captain Nemo. The cranky Chief who is always questioning him, hates women in the military, and wants to follow the rules no matter what damn it.Nemo Chaplin's second-in-command who adores the commander, but is beginning to wonder about his sanity, and is trying to do the right thing. The wet-behind the ears, rookie sub-commander (who happens to be a woman) who needs to prove herself. And then, there's the "hot" bad-boy navy seals guy with a heart of gold (aka rogue pilot with a heart of gold) - who can kill five men with one-arm behind his back or least convincingly pretend he can do it. The hot island chick who might tame the rogue. The nasty drug smuggler. And the government power brokers/corporate wheeler-dealers that are out of their depth.
That said? There's potential for some interesting character growth and evolution, albeit a bit on the soapy side, and assuming, of course, that we can get past the convoluted and somewhat ludicrous plotting, which has a lot more in common with Lost or 24 than the Sheild, sorry to say. (Actually it reminds me a great deal of General Hospital). Making me wonder about Shawn Murphy. Not all tv shows require research prior to writing them, but this one sort of does. At the moment it's coming across as an unintentional and at times funny satire. ( I laughed at Last Resort and didn't at Ben and Kate.)
Depending on time and how many tv shows I'm DVRing...I may give this one five more episodes. Because it is quite entertaining in its own way. (I found it hilarious in places. But I admittedly watched Ringer for some of the same reasons.). It is in some respects better than Revolution (at least on the acting and dialogue front). But, it is not a Fringe. Nor was Revolution for that matter. Fringe which I gave up on initially because of its similarities to the X-Files, took a left turn by Alburqueue and got interesting. It admittedly did not start out convoluted and had, sorry to say, far better, not to mention fewer characters and a far more believable internal plot structure. The writers actually thought about the details in Fringe, they haven't thought about them in Last Resort. This episode felt quite clunky in places and strung together. How much of that was due to network tampering, we'll never know.
Overall rating? C+
last year's finale. Weird. All the River Song episodes are brilliant. Why is that? And I guess I'm not an alien because I cried during it. First time I ever cried during a Doctor Who episode. I'll review in a separate post if time permits. Discovered something else last night, if I do not go on the internet after 8:30-9pm, I sleep better. Something about the blue light spectrum. TV doesn't bug as much because the concentration isn't as high. So there will no more posts after 9pm. Bloody tired of being sleep deprived.]
Did finally see Last Resort last night, also watched the somewhat lackluster sitcom Ben and Kate. So far the only "New" sitcoms that I can remember or had any chuckle moments during are "Go On" and "The New Normal" - which is saying something. Granted only seen four to date: New Normal (C+) , Go On (C+), Ben and Kate (C), Mindy Kalling Project (D).
Ben and Kate - has a nice twist in that it's about a brother and sister raising a kid, as opposed to a couple. The brother is a never-do-well/screw-up - reminding me a great deal of various screen comedies starring Adam Sandler, Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd as the annoying brother. They do insane things. The comedy is over-the-top and a bit in your face. Subtle its not. So, if you prefer subtle absurdist comedy, over slap-stick/feel-good/over the top comedy - Ben and Kate will most likely not float your boat. In short - it's more like Up All Night and less Raising Hope, the Middle and Modern Family. Granted this is just the pilot, it could get better.
Last Resort has some of the same problems that Revolution does - it too suffers from what I like to call comic book logic, for want of a better term. The premise while intriguing is also...well, let's put it this way, it requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief on part of the viewer in much the same way as Revolution does. The premise does not quite work from a logic perspective - like I said before "comic book logic" or if you prefer "daytime soap opera logic" (actually the latter might be a better description).
The non-spoilery premise? Sort of impossible to do without spoilers. Sorry. Best I can do is an American Nuclear Submarine refuses to fire on Pakistan and holds up shop on an island in the Pacific, which somehow supports both a high-tech NATO Communications Base and a local smuggling ring. Much chaos ensues. If you want to know the specifics read the spoiler version.
It reminds me a little of The Hunt for Red October meets LOST by way of the 1980s flick War Games with more than a little of General Hospital's outlandish plotting thrown in. Note - more General Hospital less 24. Will most likely drive anyone who is an information geek, detail oriented, analytical, or at all fussy about plot, crazy. Particularly if you take it seriously, and don't have an odd sense of humor. In short, if you didn't like Revolution, the plotting of Ringer gave you a headache, and the island plot of Lost bugged you, you most likely won't like this. There are some excellent actors in it though, and it is a bit funny in places, I'm guessing unintentionally so...but oh well.
The spoiler premise or plot summary:
An American "Nuclear" Submarine called The USS Colorado picks up a couple of Navy Seals in the Pacific. The Seals need medical attention for one of their party and have been doing "intelligence" in the area. The Seals want to go directly to headquarters for medical attention. The Sub Commander Chaplin (Andre Braugher) - says they'll have to wait until they radio base and get closer to land. We're quickly introduced to the main characters: the Seals, the EX-O - Grace, who is the daughter of the Admiral in charge of commissioning the USS Colorado (Bruce Davison), the Second-in-Command/Lt. (Scott Speedman) - who has a fiance at home that wants to get back to, The sub-commander (Braugher) - who thinks about his son commissioned in Iraq, and the Chief (an old craggy Navy guy played by Robert Patrick).
The USS Colorado is a happy crew, celebrating diving below the equator with a funky rendition of La Bamba - it's Grace's (the new ex-o's) first time, when suddenly, out of the blue, they receive an embedded order by way of Antartica, to fire on Pakistan. Due to where they receive the command (Antartica), Grace and the Commander question it. That apparently only happens if the White House has been compromised. So, the Commander requests that the communications officer test the cable channels for news. Nothing comes up. Except for the national weather, impeachment hearings in DC, and Hannah Montana. He calls the Pentagone and the Secretary of Defense, asking for confirmation of the order. Stating: "Look, why are you telling us to fire on Pakistan from Antartica, when there's obviously nothing happening where you are? All we're seeing is Hannah Montana."
[Just off the cuff, a couple of questions come to mind:
1) IF memory serves, Hannah Montana is a tv show on cable, right? Disney or ABC Family. It's not on a station that tends to broadcasts news or interrupts broadcasts with national or international news. It's not Sesame Street or General Hospital, after all. So yes, if the White House was compromised it is more than possible that the Disney Channel or ABC Family would still be broadcasting Hannah Montana. We don't want to scare the kiddies after all.
2)Why do they have access to US cable stations on board a nuclear submarine anyway? Not only on board, but on the bridge. This isn't the love boat or a military base in the middle of Iraq, it's a frigging nuclear submarine. DVD's I sort of understand, but cable stations? Do we want our nuclear submarine commanders questioning decisions? Free TV access would sort of...cause that to happen.
3) Why aren't they watching a reliable news station, such PBS or C-Span or even Al Ghazzera or BBC World News? I'm sorry, but if I was worried about the reliability of a bit of intelligence, I wouldn't be checking ABC Family for accuracy.
4.) Why would the US government tell the media it was at war with Pakistan or about to fire on Pakistan, unless it wanted Pakistan to know what it was doing? Or tell the media anything regarding national security?]
Apparently the Secretary of Defense agrees with me and dismisses Commander Braugher, and puts Speedman in control. Note to Braugher - next time say that you are seeing a weather forecast on CNN, might go over better. That is until Speedman also questions the order, and the US Secretary of Defense hangs up on both and orders the USS Illinois to take out the USS Colorado. [Note we never see the US Secretary of Defense, but Chaplin recognizes his voice.]
While all this is going down, there are impeachment hearings in DC for the US President and most, if not all, of his cabinet has been dismissed. The Pentagon is also being questioned. And, a woman who is a head-honcho at the corporation that procures submarines and weapons for the government, breaks off her impromptu affair with a US Senator when she gets a text message regarding Commander Chaplin. Apparently her firm was procured by the Navy to design and put in a high-tech device that removes a submarine's firing signature. It can fire, but no one can trace its signature, it can also automatically trace anything that fires at it. The device records this. (At least that's my understanding of the device, I rewound twice and used close captioning to figure it out.) This means if the USS Colorado fired on Pakistan, no one could trace it back to the Colorado or the US, and if the USS Illinois fired on the Colorado, it could trace it back to the Illinois automatically. It can literally fire on anyone at any time without any forewarning or anyone knowing that is what it is doing.
She confronts the Admiral - stating how dare you fire on your own daughter's ship, you knew about my device and how important it is. The Admiral looks shocked. And she realizes that he didn't know about it and hadn't given the order. Which means someone else is doing all this.
The Colorado gets hit by the Illinois, killing 12 people, including the bald-headed Navy Seal who demanded the Colorado fire on Pakistan and follow orders - at gun point. Which did not go down well with Commander Chaplin and company. But before the Navy Seal or anyone else for that matter could get thrown in the brig, the Seal got killed trying to shut off a water-spout. His partner-in-crime zips him up in a plastic bag and carts him to the island paradise that the Colorado decides to seek refuge on. Where he pays a local gal (Serena from Dollhouse) to put the body up in the ice house until he can take him home. (I don't know, dude, I'd just cremate him or bury him, home is looking a bit like a long-shot at the moment.) Meanwhile the US Government proclaims that the USS Colorado was fired on and sunk by Pakistan. So in retaliation, the USS Illinois fires two nuclear missals into Pakistan.
The island, they've landed on conveniently contains a pseudo-high tech NATO Base, but is also being ruled by a local "pirate/smuggler" - which NATO, for some reason or other, is tolerating. (Normally NATO clears its bases of all potential security risks like local smugglers and pirates, but not apparently in tv land). NATO being a peace-loving non-militaristic organization is horribly upset by the attacks on Pakistan and the USS Colorado. Before Commander Chaplin and his crew can get comfortable, a disgruntled crew member decides to shut down the NATO base's generators and communications, and radio's in their location to the US Government. Scott Speedman tries to stop the traitor, the traitor threatens to shoot Scott Speedman, but in the nick of time, Grace shoots the traitor. Annoys the Chief, who agreed with the traitor and felt they should surrender and stop playing hide and seek with their own naval forces. [He has a point.] Grace (the wet-behind the ears rookie] tells him to stop calling her Grace, grant her a little respect, after all she just shot a man in the call of duty. As a result of the disgruntled, now dead, traitor's radio signal the US Government is able to send air-born bombers after the Sub.To stop them, the USS Colorado sends a nuclear missal to DC from the Pacific. Informing the US government that if it doesn't call off its bombers, the Colorado will detonate the missal over DC. This is a long-range missal that is launched into space and flies across the continent and detonates just off the southern coast of Washington, DC, about 100 miles or so. The US government wisely turns its bombers around.
Chaplin: "See, that's just far away enough that no one will get hurt."
[Well except for the Love Boat and Queen Elizbeth 2. But we didn't really care about Captain Stubbing, now did we? Also, apparently nuclear radiation isn't much of a concern? Or the fact that any cruise boats, fishing boats, submarines or Bermuda for that matter might be near by? That radiation cloud has to go somewhere...let's hope it doesn't hover over Hilton Head, because that would be annoying.]
It should be noted that the US Government backs off prior to the sub's detonation off the coast of DC. So, Chaplin didn't have to detonate the bomb. He only does it - to convince the US Government he's crazy and someone to be afraid of. (Didn't they already know that?) So, now The Colorado sets up residence on the island. And Commander Chaplin with a sly grin tells a horrified Scott Speedman and Grace that he plans on staying on this island indefinitely and setting up his own little utopia. Wait, says Speedman, weren't we just hanging out until we could clear our names and go home? (You just fired a missal at DC, dude, you realize there's no coming back from that, right?) Anyone bugs him, they'll just blow them off the face of the map.
One little problem with Chaplin's plan, the local crime boss is none too pleased with the Colorado's occupation of his power-base. He was enjoying his little island paradise. Now he has to compete with an annoying submarine commander and a rogue naval seal, and is not amused. So he takes prisoner two of the sub's crewmen (who we don't know and don't really care about - the Last Resort equivalent of red shirts).
Meanwhile, Scott calls his fiance in the US to tell her that he's alright (well alive at any rate). She is being closely watched by US Naval intelligence, who have taken up residence in her living room. Grace calls Daddy (the Admiral portrayed by Bruce Davison) who gets fired or removed from his post the moment she calls. Relieved that she's alive and annoyed that he's been fired, he visits the weapons manufacturer at the end of the show to discuss what happened.
See? It's all a bit laughable. Not to mention convoluted. I literally burst out laughing when Chaplin fired the missal on DC, then gave his little speech. No one in their right mind would do that. Too many things could go wrong. Also, he wouldn't detonate it. Hello, radiation. Nuclear submarine commanders are knowledgable in nuclear weapons. If he's going to question an order to fire nuclear missals on Pakistan, why would he turn around to fire one on his own country? There's no coming back from that. This is something comic book characters and daytime soap opera villains do, not people in reality based television series. Assuming this is a reality based tv series. It may not be. It was advertised as one.
The other major problem with this series is it has far too many characters, not to mention plot-threads, and as a result, the characters feel fairly stock or flat at this point. Let's see: You have the rebel commander who is just a wee bit nutty, a la Captain Nemo. The cranky Chief who is always questioning him, hates women in the military, and wants to follow the rules no matter what damn it.
That said? There's potential for some interesting character growth and evolution, albeit a bit on the soapy side, and assuming, of course, that we can get past the convoluted and somewhat ludicrous plotting, which has a lot more in common with Lost or 24 than the Sheild, sorry to say. (Actually it reminds me a great deal of General Hospital). Making me wonder about Shawn Murphy. Not all tv shows require research prior to writing them, but this one sort of does. At the moment it's coming across as an unintentional and at times funny satire. ( I laughed at Last Resort and didn't at Ben and Kate.)
Depending on time and how many tv shows I'm DVRing...I may give this one five more episodes. Because it is quite entertaining in its own way. (I found it hilarious in places. But I admittedly watched Ringer for some of the same reasons.). It is in some respects better than Revolution (at least on the acting and dialogue front). But, it is not a Fringe. Nor was Revolution for that matter. Fringe which I gave up on initially because of its similarities to the X-Files, took a left turn by Alburqueue and got interesting. It admittedly did not start out convoluted and had, sorry to say, far better, not to mention fewer characters and a far more believable internal plot structure. The writers actually thought about the details in Fringe, they haven't thought about them in Last Resort. This episode felt quite clunky in places and strung together. How much of that was due to network tampering, we'll never know.
Overall rating? C+
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no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 09:39 pm (UTC)Assuming not. Everything I've read or seen regarding subs made it clear that they do not get television. And do not operate that way. Good to know that my initial response was the correct one. I think Hollywood has been reading too many super-hero comic books. Because they do operate that way in the Avengers and X-men comics, as well as daytime soap operas.
Was curious to know how the Navy/Sub community viewed it. It's a laughable premise. If it was the Avengers, I'd shrug it off. But this is supposed to reality based (at least that's how they've been advertising it.)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 03:16 am (UTC)Well, the uniforms are pretty accurate. Just about everything else is wrong