666 Park Avenue and Last Resort cancelled

We're not surprised about 666 and we think it deserved cancellation, but we're bummed about Last Resort. It was our favorite new show of the season and it should have had more viewers. One commenter blamed the time slot and we agree.

Last Resort, previous two weeks

Eight Bells- Cortez is awesome. We can't believe she did that to save her buddy. That would be so hard. Was it right? Nothing about that situation was right. But wow. Hopefully it was just a beej. Anyway, there are lots of cool, competent women on this show. This episode felt like the show stalling and trying to fit an episode. Yeah, they had to get their captured men back, but the on-island action was about a mission that has little to do with the main plot.

Sometimes the submarine stuff gets boring. It's all action, but most of the time you can't see the action. They are just sitting there, looking tense and talking about the action that's happening. Apparently, they aren't writing the submarine portions accurately either. Everyone who has actually been on one in the military is scoffing and wishing this show would hire a better consultant. We don't care at all, because we know nothing about navy subs and we never will. It's entertaining. Sub moves. Sub shakes. Sub fires. That's all we care about.

The navy seal isn't stupid. We liked that he knew right away that Tani had brought him along with her just to tick off her father. Hopefully all the sweet facial expressions between Sam and the French woman and the background music were more about how nice it is that she's helping them and less about how they might have romantic chemistry. We like Sam's wife, and we won't be able to tolerate it if he cheats on her. Poor Red. We get why Josh felt like he should save Cortez though. It makes things more interesting that they killed one. Tragedy can help an otherwise blah episode.
Episode grade: B

Voluntold- Josh has a lot of trouble handling Red's death. We liked the way that subplot turned out, but this show is creeping along at a snail's pace. Sure, it's still entertaining and we are getting to know the characters. We loved Christine's freakout at the reporters. The stuff between Sophie and Julian was good and added an extra layer of conflict. Kylie's going to have to go against her dad. We really like her. We like Cortez even more after this week. Tani and the navy seal need to just bone already.
Episode grade: B-

Last Resort- Blue On Blue

By Gage Skidmore (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

What happened: American ships surround the island, and a 747 drops Russian soldiers. Sam, Grace, and a few others go to meet the soldiers and get into a shoot-out where Grace is shot in the arm. King, the navy seal, helps after the islander woman, Tani, tells him to be a peacemaker. Prosser still really hates Grace and tries to get all the navy members to distrust Marcus. Prosser's locked up now. The government tries to get Sam's wife, Christine, to cooperate with him by revealing that Sam kept secrets from her. They then send in an "old lawyer friend of Sam's" as a mole. The reporter, Kylie, gets closer to answers, but one of her friends ends up in a vegetative state.

What we thought: The episode started off a little slow and choppy for us. A lot is going on here, and it's hard to juggle since we aren't that familiar with all the characters yet. We're still learning and working to remember names. But things picked up in the second half, and the stakes are still sky-high.

Grace, Marcus, the reporter, and Sam continue to be awesome, but they are a little more layered now. We got some backstory on Sam and Marcus's relationship. Sam was a captive in North Korea; Marcus's son was killed by friendly fire two weeks ago in Afghanistan.

We didn't know Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse, Being Human) grew up in Australia until we heard that accent. She plays Tani in this show, by the way. She's interesting-looking, no? The Russians were random, but okay. The French woman needs to chill. We loved Marcus's speech where he was all, "Let me remind you who you are."

We're into the love story between Sam and Christine. It's cool that a TV show knows it can start off with a couple married and have things still be exciting to watch. We knew the government start threatening the wife with charges. Sometimes it feels like the federal government can just do whatever it wants, somehow. The lawyer trick is new to us. These people are dirty. Sic 'em, Kylie.

This episode shouldn't lose the audience it got from the pilot. It affirmed that these are characters we can care about and a story that doesn't have a quick, easy ending. The second episode drew us in further. We're digging this show so far.

Episode grade: B++ (shut up; that's a grade)

Last Resort- Pilot

Justin Hoch [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The USS Colorado is a nuclear submarine with a crew of 150 men and women, even though it seems like there are fewer people onboard. It’s led by Captain Marcus Chaplin, the older black man, and his second-in-command, Sam Kendal (Felicity’s Scott Speedman). The Chief of the Boat is Joseph Prosser, and he’s a dick. Also, there is Karofsky from Glee. He never gets to play a nice character, does he?

The main strong woman is Lieutenant Grace Shepard (NICE NAME. Man, TV can be so on-the-nose with names). Her father is an Admiral. The other crew members include another pretty girl who is the same shade as Michelle Rodriguez. We see what they are doing there. Of course, the female crew members look like models. JUST LIKE EVERY MILITARY WOMAN. 

The show opens with the sub rescuing a Navy SEAL team in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Sam is about to get a desk job where he can be with his wife when the sub gets orders to fire a nuke at Pakistan. The order is sketchy though, so Sam and Marcus question it. Marcus calls the Pentagon and is relieved of command. Sam is in charge now, but he goes with Marcus’s prior decision to delay launch until they know the whole story. These people have consciences. Grace backs the decision; Joseph does not.

The United States sends a missile to the USS Colorado, almost directly hitting it. That’s right, the sub’s own country tried to kill everyone aboard. The sub makes to an island occupied by some NATO people. The U.S. bombs Pakistan. Things are pretty up in the air at the end of the episode, but our good guys and bad guys are easily identifiable, so at least that part’s not confusing.

This pilot was completely solid. While its political and social themes are way too familiar and not that intelligent, its story should be exciting. It needs to put more of a focus on character development in subsequent hours, but there will be time for that. This show will appeal to fans of 24. It’s not as smart as Homeland, but what is? Scott Speedman is still hot.

Overall, we like this show so far and will continue watching. It’s ambitious, it has oodles of potential, and the show could go in a lot of directions from here and last a long time.

Episode grade: B+