The Last Ship “Two Sailors Walk into a Bar” 

This was the best episode of The Last Ship so far. After last week’s cliffhanger, it opens with a sunburnt Captain Chandler and Tex being escorted onto the Russian Ship. By the way, I think Eric Dane plays an even better ship captain than he does a surgeon and this episode shows why. The man is able to express so much emotion through his eyes alone. When he sees little Ava, Dr. Tophet’s daughter, who has been held captive along with her mother, he tells her that her father is safe on his ship and that “he wanted me to tell you that he loves you very much.” Just in this scene, we can see both the pain and the anger in his eyes. And anytime he’s asked a question, including Ruskov proposing an alliance, he simply replies, “My name is Thomas Chandler, Commander United States Navy, serial number 4242022634.”

And Captain Chandler partnered with Tex is probably my favorite thing ever. Chandler is the macho, clean-cut hero and Tex is the hairy, rogue fighter with a sense of humor even in the worst of situations:

Chandler: “You’ve looked better.”
Tex: “Shoulda’ seen the other guy.”
Chandler: “There was only one?”

These two plotting in the code of movie titles is perfect and the moment when they take down the Russian guards together is one of the best scenes in this episode.

Oh, but speaking of chemistry, let me back up a bit. Captain Chandler has remained pretty stoic, but when he sees Dr. Scott on the Russian ship, his eyes widen. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asks. She responds with the passionate kiss we’ve all been waiting for all season. And despite the fact that the kiss was really all part of the escape plan—Dr. Scott slipped him a razor blade and a note—I can’t help but hope there was a little more to it. It looked pretty real, anyhow. Tex seemed to think so too, because he seemed pretty jealous. After all, he had just declared feelings for Dr. Scott to Chandler in the last episode. “You’re a married man for pete’s sake!”

Why is Dr. Scott on the Russian ship? She believes she has finally found the vaccine, thanks to sweet, soft-spoken Bertriece, who happens to be immune. So Dr. Scott offers to trade herself and the vaccine in order to rescue Chandler and Tex. She arrives with a gun hidden beneath the vaccines and it turns out that she even knows how to use it. But not before she learns that the scientist on the Russian ship is the one who altered the virus with a human gene. It was all in an effort to create a vaccine, but instead he screwed up and made himself a carrier. Dr. Scott is disgusted and asks him, “Do you really think that your DNA could save the human race?” Chandler and the others arrive just after Dr. Scott—who is now clearly in shock— has killed the guards and Chandler takes her hand and escorts her out. Seriously, there has to be a future for these two.

The crew manages to escape, even rescuing Dr. Tophet’s wife and daughter. The ride back to the ship is bittersweet. Captain Chandler offers an approving nod to Dr. Scott, Mrs. Tophet and little Ava are embracing and Lt. Green offers congratulations to Cossetti on his part in the rescue by saying, “You rocked it, man. You really rocked it.” Unfortunately, this is when they realize Cossetti has been hurt. The episode ends with Lt. Green carrying Cossetti’s body onto the ship, just as the sun is rising. It’s a beautifully sad scene and I think it was appropriate. By now we’ve mostly had happy endings and it was probably time to lose someone else.

More favorite lines:

Slattery: “It’s a little late to ask you if you really want to do this. Let me just say what you’re doing is very brave. I’m proud to know you.”
Dr. Scott: “You make it sound like goodbye…”
Slattery: “I’ll see you for breakfast.”

Ruskov: “The American dream, isn’t that the expression?
Tex: “I think it got lost in translation.”

Slattery: “Two sailors walk into a bar. And they both walk out. We will get our men back. We will get our captain back. That is all.”

The Last Ship airs Sundays at 9/8c on TNT.