Last Resort: “Captain” – Premiere Episode Review ‘The Hunter Becomes The Hunted’

If you enjoy conspiracy dramas and nautical thrillers such as “The Hunt For Red October”, ABC’s Last Resort will certainly pique your interest. Created by Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Karl Gajdusek, Last Resort is a refreshing change of pace from the plethora of crime procedural and medical dramas dominating prime time network television. Cinematic in visual scope and storytelling, Last Resort is poised to become the most highly acclaimed new television show debuting this fall.

The ambitious story of Last Resort could be taken right out of the pages of a Tom Clancy novel. The USS Colorado is a four billion dollar Ohio-class nuclear submarine armed to the teeth with torpedoes, tomahawks and 18 trident nuclear missiles. In addition to producing its own air and power, the USS Colorado is equiped with a prototype that can mask its magnetic signature. When an authenticated fire order intended to annihilate millions of Pakistani is received on a secondary channel designed to be used only in the event DC command is taken out, Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) and executive officer Lt. Commander Sam Kendall (Scott Speedman) are faced with a paramount moral dilemma.

There are many interesting elements at play in the premiere episode entitled “Captain” which will strike a chord with viewers. The tension between obeying the chain of command which is deeply indoctrinated in officers and following one’s own moral compass forms the core of the first and second act. After refusing orders, 150 American men and women of the USS Colorado escape to and occupy the fictional exotic island of Sainte Marina, declaring itself a sovereign nation with the nuclear capacity to secure its independence and decimate their enemies at will. On the home front, the U.S. president is facing an impeachment vote and Washington is revealed to be corrupt at the highest levels of office. For a nation dealing with the erosion of personal freedoms, disillusionment of government and a highly scrutinized foreign policy, Last Resort zeroes in on themes that hit close to home as well as political issues abroad in an incredibly entertaining manner.