What I’m Watching: Last Resort (Series Finale)

Last Resort: Season 1, Episode 13 “Controlled Flight into Terrain” (B-)

This show clearly wasn’t meant to end like this, but the powers that be obviously had enough notice to modify the ending of its thirteen-episode run to kill off the main character and resolve the story in a big way. Like the show, it had hope, but didn’t quite work in the way that some might have imagined. This episode was focused on a tense mutiny, one which didn’t have all that much impact because of the extensive flip-flopping that occurred with both Prosser and Sam. Ultimately, it reestablished our main characters, giving Grace and Sophie a particular importance in taking down the mutineers and the Chinese. Marcus and Sam laughing and taunting Anders was perhaps a bit too detached from reality, but it’s hard to deny that Marcus’ pledge to go down with his ship and Sam’s promise to tell the world wasn’t a bit moving. That final shot of Marcus laughing and crying as the missiles strike the sub was an appropriate finale for this occasionally-engaging show. As always, James was off on his own plotline, ready to fire a single shot and change everything, only to have Tani distract him yet again. And Kylie finally did her part, getting Hopper to bring back Christine and then walking up to the President and shooting him. If only we knew where it went from here, except for the fact that seeing it play out to this point was hardly satisfying. This show had potential, and I think it did about as well as it could given the confines of a weekly format and an out-of-control premise.

Series grade: C+
Series MVP: Andre Braugher as Marcus Chaplin