When last we left the U.S.S. Nathan James:
- After a pretty boring episode, the crew was able to sail their way to an island in the middle of the ocean after spending the entire hour trying to repair their engines.
- In what seemed like one of the only important plot lines, Dr. Scott experienced a break-through and told Commander Chandler that she was ready to test her vaccine prototype.
- Most of the crew went ashore, partying like a bunch of hippies, and all seemed to be well... or so it would seem...
In the intro scene, Commander Chandler tells some crew members that they are close to reaching Costa Rica, where Dr. Scott hopes to test her vaccine on monkeys. Cue the short opening credits thingy. So short, as always.
Tex crosses paths with Dr. Scott down in a workout room and, shockingly, he mentions to go an entire scene without hitting on anyone or saying something inappropriate that was undoubtedly written into the dialogue by Michael Bay, himself. Scott, on the other hand, looks like this is her first encounter with a treadmill, as she appears to be running rather awkwardly. Tex encourages Scott to begin eating dinner with the rest of the crew again. Scott declines, explaining that she is not well-liked on-board the ship after having lied to everyone for four months. Tex tells her that she underestimates people's capacity for forgiveness and says he will save her a seat next time.
Chandler is making a video log detailing the crew's journey. He speaks to his family as if he will never see them again. They are, of course, cooped up at a family cabin, safe from the disease for the time being.
Adam "Mike" Baldwin doesn't think Costa Rica is a viable option, but there's a monkey reserve in Nicaragua that they could check out. Dr. Scott is demanding to go along on the expedition. Chandler says he's going, too, and he needs all his best men, including Mike. "It's been a while since I've been hunting," Mike quips.
Two boats of crew members head to the island while, back on the ship, a bridge officer barks out a few orders, noting that the expedition crew has red flares to shoot off if they get into trouble. She says she hopes they don't see the red flares. I, on the other hand, would bet money they'll end up seeing the red flares.
The expedition crew reaches the shore. Scott has been to the reserve before, years ago. Tex asks her if she has a boyfriend. She does. He's a journalist. Tex, if you can fathom it, is single. "A bit of a rolling stone," he claims. Monkeys... AND IMPOVERISHED PEOPLE!! Oh gosh, they look sickly. The crew puts on their masks and the mumbling natives start grabbing at our American friends. The crew books it back to the shore and Chandler tells them to get the heck out of there. No red flares yet, but wow, that was like four times as exciting as last week's entire episode.
The two boats split up. Tex and Scott head back to the ship while Chandler and Mike continue upstream. They come upon an abandoned boat. Its side is marked "El Toro." Apparently that's what all the sick people were mumbling. They decide not to stop and continue floating the river. Chandler's boat is outside of radio range and will have to rely on flares to give off their location from now on. Scott suggests to the bridge officer that they send a back-up team, but the officer denies the request. The plan was to be gone for 48 hours without back-up unless there was a red flare.
Chandler and his team reach the jungle. One crew member steps on a trap and, suddenly, the team is being ambushed by natives with guns. Chandler and his crew are taken to a village full of people of all ages - babies, teens, adults and the elderly. The natives seem hostile and potentially violent. There is a lot of angry-sounding Spanish (mostly "hurry up!" and things of that nature). The village seems modernized, at least, so... good for them. Chandler and his men are hauled over to a Tony Shalhoub look-alike who they call "El Toro." He tells Chandler that the island is virus-free so they will not need their suits and masks, but he refuses to return the Americans' guns. El Toro says that the guy that stepped on the trap will soon die from poison that laced the spikes and that only he possesses the antidote. Chandler and Mike demand that El Toro heal the wounded crew member, but he calls their bluff and tells them to stop spouting off hollow threats. He tells his men, in Spanish, to take the guy to the doctor and he invites Chandler and his crew to dine with him.
El Toro brings Chandler and Mike into his office... er... tent... and introduces a man who he calls "Delgado." Delgado is the former mayor of a society that El Toro conquered on the island. Now, he runs this village on a model of labor exchange. Delgado's people - the poor, sick ones Chandler saw in the village - provide labor and El Toro provides protection. Mike refers to that kind of lifestyle as "slavery." El Toro says Delgado should be grateful that he and his people were spared from the virus.
Meanwhile, Chandler's men notice that Trap Boy's poison-induced fever has gone down. The antidote seems to be working. But they're reluctant to believe that El Toro intends to let them walk away from the island alive.
El Toro insinuates that he is having what many would call "inappropriate" relations with Delgado's daughters, including one who is at the table. She calls him a "pig" and Delgado immediately, profusely apologizes, saying that she meant no disrespect. Chandler tells El Toro that his only desire is to make sure that his men get off the island alive and requests to check on Trap Boy. El Toro refuses, saying that there is more to discuss. The natives inspected Chandler's ship and found their tranquilizer guns. Chandler explains that they were looking for monkeys to test the vaccine on. El Toro informs them that they had, in fact, just eaten monkeys. (It's "Temple of Doom" all over again!!) "If you needed monkeys, all you had to do was ask!" he exclaims, then asking how many the Americans need.
Several of Chandler's men are shown taking crates of monkeys back to their boat. El Toro asks about the team's radio, which his men discovered does not receive a signal, and the flares that were also found on the boat. Chandler lies, saying that they use red flares during the day and green flares at night. El Toro correctly assumes that green means the team is ok and red means danger. "It's a universal language, no?" Back on the ship, Lt. Granderson reports a green flare, south-west of the Nathan James' position. I... don't think that was shot off by Chandler...
While Mike helps Danny load monkeys onto the ship, some of the natives physically abuse some of Delgado's people. Delgado and his daughter are dragged into the area and he shouts that they are going to take her "across the river" to the sickly people Chandler escaped on his way toward El Toro. Brief violence erupts as Delgado, Mike and Danny all receive some blows while the girl is loaded onto a boat.
Tex watches "McHale's Navy" reruns while Scott is sleeping. She awakes from an apparent nightmare, concerned about Chandler and his team. Tex tells her that they recently saw a green flare and everything is fine.
Au contraire! Delgado's people are being held at gunpoint and Mike and Danny are bound and bloodied. Chandler demands that his men be let go, but El Toro is getting angry. He says that he cannot maintain a society without rules and consequences (like the death penalty for Delgado's daughter, for instance). He says that his rules are the only reason they are still alive while the rest of the world is dying. The Monk wannabe tells Chandler that he will keep their suits, masks and guns, and return his men to him and allow them to leave, but that is his only offer. Chandler agrees to the terms. El Toro says that if Chandler so much as thinks about bombing the island, "the children will be sleeping in the tents" with him, starting with one of Delgado's younger daughters. That's one nasty dude.
Chandler's crew, along with a memory-bereft Trap Boy, head away from the island, but Mike is T.O.'d and won't allow that kind of savagery to go on. He begs Chandler to turn the boat around. Jeter, our resident pastor, advises against any action, but several of the men are fathers with daughters at home and Chandler, like the baller he is, says, "We came to hunt." Boom. Jeter flips the boat around. It's go time.
And when I say "go time," I mean it's time to go to another commercial.
El Toro is shown in his tent briefly with two of Delgado's daughters. Like any good host, he's getting the youngest one drunk. Yikes. Chandler and Mike stealthily, yet forcefully, take out two of the perimeter guards. Now they've got weapons. Danny takes out another guard. Chandler fires shots, dispatching of another foe, but alerting El Toro and his men. A gun fight breaks out and Danny locks one guard in the Sleeper Hold of Death. The Americans track El Toro and his youngest hostage back to the river, where he holds her at knife-point. Jeter, that sneaky sermon-giver, takes out three of El Toro's bodyguards from the bushes, evening the odds for Chandler and Mike. El Toro gives up the girl and drops his knife, surrendering, but demanding that Chandler arrest him. Out of nowhere, Delgado stabs him from behind, killing him. "This place is yours now," Chandler tells Delgado. "Not mine," he responds. "Ours." Hugging ensues. Embrazos por todos lados.
On their way back to the Nathan James, Chandler's boat passes by the beach of infected natives. The men look incredibly emotional, but don't stop - a pretty powerful scene to close out the episode.
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What we learned:
- Post-relationship Danny is pretty awesome. Great episode for a struggling character.
- Cool-hand Chandler + Magic Mike = another strong episode for the show's best duo.
- There are other bad guys out there that are just as intriguing as those Russians from a few weeks back.
- The crew is willing to make hard decisions - like going back to save Delgado, but not stopping at the infected beach.
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Your thoughts? I thought that was a heck of an episode - absolutely head and shoulders over last week's snoozer. Lots of action and a good deal of human emotion and one of the best outings yet for our intrepid survivors. In the teaser for next week's show, it looks like bringing monkeys on board might not have been a great idea, plus, Scott is shown chucking something overboard. That can't be good. But what's worse is the sight of a crew member collapsing and the dramatic image of three crew members on the bridge in full suits and gas masks. Woof. If there is anybody out there watching this show, other than me, Fred, George and Richard, leave a comment in the section below. We'd love to get your input. But either way, we'll catch you next week for another brand new episode of "The Last Ship."
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