The Last Ship “Uneasy Lies the Head” 

Dr. Scott is playing mad scientist, but you can’t help being sympathetic to her motives. On The Last Ship, “Uneasy Lies the Head,” there’s hope for a cure that can be easily spread, and there’s more to learn about what the immunes have been up to. Meanwhile, Michener struggles with his new role as President of the United States.

When a crew heads out to retrieve mussels for Dr. Scott’s experiment, they find a group of teenage kids who have been fending for themselves since the virus took hold. They have their own community and have identified a leader – and they believe in everything the immunes have been telling them.

Chandler understands how their community works, and shows respect to their leader, even offering him a token. He treats the seventeen-year-old kid as an equal as he tries to get them all on his side. You know that has to be tough for Chandler, but he’s a man who rarely shows any sort of flaw. So he sets his ego aside and does what he believes is best. Bavit questions him, not wanting to put the kids in the middle of their war, but Chandler points out that they are already in the middle of it. At least this way, they can get the kids to a safer area.

This whole storyline reminds me of two things. First, there’s an episode of the original Star Trek series that is remarkably similar (Season 1, “Miri”), and there’s also the entire series of The 100. Both show a group of kids figuring out how to survive on their own and developing their own system of leadership.

Ray insists on going with Chandler, making a good case for the fact that he’d be able to enlist in just a few months anyway. Unfortunately, his friend, Cody, follows along without telling anyone, and ends up being the casualty of this particular fight. Ray blames himself, but of course, Chandler has words of wisdom to share, saying that being a leader isn’t about being perfect, but about weathering the storm.

Speaking of leadership, Michener has to figure out how to be President, and has a hard time with the attention and the responsibility. He goes down for lunch, but when Bacon tells him he can make him anything, gushing over the chance to make a meal for the new President, Michener becomes overwhelmed.

Michener: I’m walking around a ship full of twenty-year-olds who know exactly what they’re doing at all times – on a mission to save a country that is barely recognizable. And me, Mister President, can’t even figure out what to have for lunch.

He powers through it, though, thanks to a pep talk from the Master Chief (there’s a parallel about leadership happening here, guys) who tells Michener that leaders aren’t born, but are made. More importantly, the Master Chief says he believes in him. By the end of the episode, Michener calls in the crew and starts laying out a plan for what needs to happen next, to the delight of Slattery, Chandler, and the Master Chief, who all seem proud of their new leader.

While all of that’s happening, Dr. Scott is up to something with Neils and the cure. She makes us all believe her plan to get Neils to tell her the stability sequence is just about the cure – and okay, it basically is, but who knew her plan would kill Neils in such a brutal way?

This is the same Dr. Scott who, only a few episodes back, was concerned about saving the man who swallowed a beacon and put them all in danger. Notably, that was before Dr. Scott saw her mentor, Dr. Hunter, murdered. That moment has changed her, and it’s made her capable of things she wouldn’t have been capable of before.

As Neils bleeds out on the floor with nasty convulsions, Dr. Scott calmly states that everyone on the ship will sleep a little better now.

What did you think of this episode of The Last Ship? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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