When last we left the U.S.S. Nathan James:
- A crazy stand-off in the jungle got violent when Commander Chandler and his team of matadors decided to take on El Toro.
- Danny proved that he's not the girly-man we all thought he was.
- The crew of the Nathan James proved that they are willing to make hard decisions, leaving behind a beach full of infected jungle-people.
- But they did bring back a couple boats full of monkeys to test Dr. Scott's vaccine on... so we'll undoubtedly see how they manage to screw that up in the next hour.
Right off the bat, let me just say that the four seconds of showering that we just witnessed were weird and totally unnecessary. Very strange way to kick off the show, but whatever.
Granderson and another officer are shown in the radio room, picking up broken frequencies from undisclosed locations. Sounds like a distress call. They talk about their concerns, which are, mainly, that the rest of the crew doesn't really know what's going on in the outside world. They only get the, ahem, watered down version. That was an ocean joke. Because they're... nevermind.
Meanwhile, Chandler, Mike and Jeter are having a similar discussion - what does the crew need to know about Nicaragua? How much do they deserve to know? And what should remain a secret? Cue the five-second intro clip.
Dr. Scott is monkeying around down in her lab... in the sense that she is working on her vaccine whilst surrounded by a bunch of Nicaraguan primates. She's going to have to try a bunch of different stuff to figure out whether the vaccine is going to work.
Chandler heads to the bridge and hops on the intercom. He updates his crew on their recent progress, including all the juicy details about their little scuffle with El Toro and his villagers. He informs them that they encountered some people who had been infected by the virus, including children, and that they did not attempt to save them. Somewhere down in the depths of the ship, Quincy pokes his nerdy little head out from his bunk bed. Apparently that means that his chess partner didn't kill him. Good to know. He says that they are now charting a course for home and that, by the time they get back to the U.S. of A., Dr. Scott should have her vaccine ready to go. "Today is a good day," he says. Fat chance, my man. Fat chance.
Tex, being the perv that he is, heckles the newly reformed macho man, Danny, about his recently broken-off relationship with Foster. Danny tells Tex to shut up and not say another word about it because "it's over. It has to be." Fat chance, my man. Fat chance.
Quincy and his chess friend, "Bacon," discuss the crew's future plans for the treacherous scientist. Bacon blows him off, basically, and says that no matter what happens, Quincy will wind up behind bars. Quincy whines about being blackmailed and is promptly put into "check."
Chandler is growing a bit impatient with Dr. Scott's inability to create a successful vaccine. She claims that the biggest breakthroughs usually come after significant setbacks. Chandler asks what Scott plans on doing with the monkeys who have died in the process. Scott says they need to be thrown overboard. He tells her to go ahead and do it - but to make sure it happens at night. If anyone asks, it's "hazardous waste."
Six monkeys down, 28 to go. Jeter and Mike tell Chandler that he's going to be in big trouble if they make it all the way back to America without a proper vaccine. They ask how Scott is going to hide her failures and Chandler says she will "be discrete" about it. He says they'll need to stall for a few days.
Quincy knows that something is wrong. Bacon wonders if the ship will end up docking somewhere like Venezuela or Brazil to finish up the vaccine, but Quincy explains that warm climates - or "hot zones" - have a 98% death rate. He says that Puerto Rico has a lab where Scott could work, but if they head there, the Russians might still be near Cuba. And that wouldn't be good. Quincy hates Chandler, and that's no real surprise. He says that Chandler hates to admit that he's wrong - and he's hiding something from the crew.
Night has fallen. It's the changing of the guard, as it were, as security guards are being swapped out on the main deck. Dr. Scott hauls some of the monkeys out of her lab and onto the flight deck. But wait! One of the guards sees her launching a bag overboard and grows suspicious.
Down inside the ship, several card-playing crew members chat about urban legends - how deadly the virus is, what happens when you get infected... One guy worries that somebody may have contracted the disease when the expedition encountered the sick people on the beach. Tex assures them that everybody is fine; Dr. Scott tested them all when they came back, anyway. Danny stumbles into the room and looks like he's going to puke. TIMBER! Down goes Danny! Down goes Danny!!
Chandler and Scott come to check on Danny. Scott sounds almost annoyed, insisting that he is not sick. She explains that, in the very unlikely event that he was contaminated, everybody on the ship is going to die. However, she again asserts that he is going to be just fine and she storms out of the room, telling everyone to stop panicking.
Other crew members are beginning to feel like they are left in the dark. Some of them don haz-mat suits, just in case. Chandler wonders aloud if Scott is wrong. Tensions build. Chandler tells Mike to assume the worst about this situation. Mike hops on the intercom and tells the crew to seal all ventilation and put on their suits. Foster breaks the rules and heads down to the sick room with Chandler, Scott and Danny, announcing that she ate lunch with him, so, if he has it, she has it, as well. To make a long story short (too late), everybody on the entire ship is freaking out.
Scott is using a Playstation 3 controller to hold up an IV bag. Ha. Chandler receives a call that informs him that Danny has a non-contagious fever. Scott mentions that she has had some issues with the vaccine, but says that Danny will be ok, although the next 24 hours will be crucial for him. Mike announces over the intercom that there is no biological threat, so the crew can open doors again and take off their suits. The crew members seem confused, mad and paranoid.
Chandler finds out that Danny and Foster were in a relationship and he's not thrilled about it. Nobody likes you, Foster! Chandler is also not happy with Dr. Scott. She says that he needs to find a way to trust her or this entire mission will fail.
Quincy further instills doubt in Bacon, who is apparently much more of a lightweight than his physical appearance would let on. He tells Bacon that Scott's vaccine is failing, that monkeys are dying and that the ship is a "death trap."
Dr. Scott goes emo down in her lab, sulking about how Chandler doesn't trust her anymore. Tex comes down and gives her a little pep talk that is half-flirting and half-confidence building. He says he believes in her and says she'll figure it out eventually. Scott looks like she hates all men. She probably does.
Jeter tells Chandler and Mike that a group of 16 crew members want to get off the ship immediately. Jeter says they can't hold the men against their will - they're not El Toro - but Mike thinks that letting them walk would send the wrong message to the rest of the crew.
Amidst hushed talk of an uprising, all crew members are called to the main deck. Chandler addresses the crew, saying that he has been trying to shelter them from the painful truth - that the world they once knew is no longer there. He understands that some of the crew might be disappointed in him as a captain, but they should not give up hope. He says that the mission is not about him. "It's about them," he says. Mike, taking his cue, has Granderson play distress calls from people all over North America through the loudspeakers. He opens a large door, revealing Dr. Scott's lab, saying that she has the solution to their problems. He invites the crew into the lab and explains what Scott has been doing in there. He backs her up and lends her a lot of credibility so that the crew will trust her. Scott speaks up and admits that her vaccines have been failing. She says that she doesn't have the answers now and may not have them tomorrow, but she won't stop until she succeeds. Chandler promises to share more information with the crew in the future. He addresses the mutiny and says he will let the men go if they so desire, with no strings attached. Their enlistment is up and their boat will be ready tomorrow morning. However, in the next scene, he tells Tex, "If they go, hope goes with them."
The next morning, the 16 men, including Bacon, meet Chandler on the flight deck. Their ringleader approaches Chandler, hands him a folded American flag and tells him that the entire group desires to re-enlist with the navy. They raise their arms to the square and renew their oath to the United States of America.
Danny's fever has subsided and it looks like he'll be fine. Chandler tells Foster that Danny is one of the best men he has served with, then asks her what she thinks her punishment should be for breaking the rules. She suggests four weeks of something-something-naval-mumbo-jumbo. Chandler says that three weeks will be sufficient, but he also wants her to come up with a new training program for junior officers and engineers and he wants her to publicly apologize for her dangerous actions a couple weeks back.
Chandler enters Quincy's room and calls him out for conspiring with Bacon. He understands that those two had been doing a lot of talking. He confiscates Quincy's chess board - his one privilege as a prisoner - and says, "No more talking."
--
All right. There you have it. Another episode in the books. I didn't find it quite as thrilling as last week's awesome show, but several important things took place tonight. What we learned:
- Dr. Scott is not as close to finishing her vaccine as she thought she was.
- Quincy is still a rat.
- Chandler admitted a few mistakes and promised to keep his crew in the loop moving forward.
- Chandler put his neck on the line to protect Scott and re-solidify the crew's trust in her.
--
It looks like next week will give us some more action, as an apparent SOS call from a Jamaican ship may end up being a deadly trap. We've got Chandler in the water telling Mike to cease any rescue efforts. Crazy. But hey... What did you think of tonight's episode? Is anybody out there? Break your radio silence and leave a comment below. Or not. Whatever. See you next week for another episode of "The Last Ship."
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