S05.E01: Casus Belli

[ottoDbusdriver]

Three years after overcoming the global famine, the United States Navy is ready to unveil its first fully functional fleet since the Red Flu pandemic, but a new type of threat may mean the next world war.

Note: Casus Belli is Latin for 'a case of war' (loosely translated, of course)
 

[mxc90]

Garnett and Doc! Not right. Those damn Cylons Gran Colombians!

Was Sasha posing in the surveillance picture?

[ottoDbusdriver]

Welcome to the last season of the Last Ship (or should that be 'Last Season').

Apparently the new US Fleet is homed near Jacksonville, Florida at Mayport Naval Station.

The premise is laughably bad -- one hacker in Colombia takes down all computer based systems in the US, military, TV, satellite, etc. in coordination with a sneak aerial attack on the US Fleet by the newly created country of Gran Colombia.  

Pearl Harbor 2.0: Last Ship Edition -- courtesy of Tavo, who thinks he is Simon Bolivar 2.0 and is trying to resurrect Gran Colombia from the ashes of the plague in South/Central America.  And he is really pissed at the US.

Apparently Internet firewall security was not a high priority while rebuilding the new US military.  They were taken down by a guy in a cybercafé -- that is just embarrassing.

It's kind of a rehash of Season 3 -- regional gov't which wouldn't exist except for the efforts of the Nathan James in S1, decides to fuck over the new US.  Just because they can. Will there be pirates with incredibly creative mine fields in S5 as well ?

Even more laughably bad was the US recon team in Panama -- Wolf, Sasha, Lt. Green, and Azima -- that fakes an assassination attempt on the Panamanian president to justify the US propping up his security.  That is just a terrible idea -- who was the assclown that came up with that ?  And it comes back to bite them in the ass as the Panamanian President is assassinated and his death is pinned on the US recon team (or Team Intercept, or something like that).

Funny thing -- they kept saying that the US fleet was 'destroyed', but you only saw a few ships on fire, but didn't see any ships actually sunk in the harbor.
On the plus side, the US Navy now has a working aircraft carrier.  Well, did have.

But since the NJ was offshore giving civilians a tour for Fleet week during the attack, they are still pretty much in working order and ready to go.

On a completely superficial note, Bridget Regan was smoking hot in that black dress at the Panamanian President's birthday party.  Damn.

I guess we now know who wanted off the series -- Doc Rio and Commander Garrett didn't survive the aerial attack.
Doc Rio's death was particularly ironic.

At the end of the episode, we have Tavo declaring war on the US, the US recon team secretly headed deeper into Colombia, all of the US fleet disabled except for the NJ (of course, so it will be the last ship once again), and the NJ headed south with Mike Slattery and Kara Green leading the charge while Tom Chandler hangs back in Florida.

Even more laughably bad than the hacker taking down all of the US systems was the terrible CGI of the planes attacking the US Fleet. It was pretty bad.
I'm just surprised they didn't pull a Pussy Galore from Goldfinger -- gas the entire naval station from above and then calmly take their time blowing up all the ships. No muss, no fuss.
 

1 hour ago, mxc90 said:

Garnett and Doc! Not right. Those damn Cylons Gran Colombians!

Was Sasha posing in the surveillance picture?

I think you're right, she did look like she was posing.

ETA: I still miss Tex.

Edited September 10, 2018 by ottoDbusdriver

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Not a single line of dialogue from any military person about contacting the CiC (President).  Uh huh.

Is St. Louis still the Capital?  What "state units" have been formed in the last three years?  

How was food grown, processed, and distributed?  There is no privation?  How about medical infrastructure and care?  My last memory was that the US of A was just an amalgam of regional fiefdoms, the leaders of which decided to deconstruct the limited federal government being formed.  Who was the new George Washington?  

Any chance the Borg are backing Tavo?

[ChiliCrab]

Has Sasha's team ever been on a successful mission? Seems like everytime they go on a mission they end up botching it. It's the first time in long time that Sasha's hair didn't bother me. And yes, she so was posing in that picture. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

5 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Not a single line of dialogue from any military person about contacting the CiC (President).  Uh huh.

Is St. Louis still the Capital?  What "state units" have been formed in the last three years?  

How was food grown, processed, and distributed?  There is no privation?  How about medical infrastructure and care?  My last memory was that the US of A was just an amalgam of regional fiefdoms, the leaders of which decided to deconstruct the limited federal government being formed.  Who was the new George Washington?  

Any chance the Borg are backing Tavo?

They kind of glosssed over the whole 'recovering from the plant plague' from last season.
So the crew of the Nathan James saved everyone in South America from the red plague, and then also saved them from the plant plague -- so much for good will.
I wonder what Tavo would be doing right now if, you know, everyone in Gran Columbia was dead from plague or starvation.  Talk about your short-term memory.

No mention at all of who the current President is, though the aircraft carrier was named for Jeffrey Michener.  The other ships were named Howard Oliver, Michael O'Connor and Javier Cruz.

I would think by now that the US military would have some access to some nukes, so all they would have to do is spin up a couple of nukes and drop them on Tavo's front door.
Problem solved.

How coincidental that the midshipmen just happened to write a cybersecurity threat assessment paper that would immediately before the attack.  I'm sure that will come into play at some point.
I'm thinking there's got to be some moles for Tavo scattered about.

[mxc90]

8 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

But since the NJ was offshore giving civilians a tour for Fleet week during the attack, they are still pretty much in working order and ready to go.

The ship was so far away to not be detected by the enemy and not be be in firing distance. Such a waste of fuel for a "three hour tour".

Also, why was the virus maker shot? He didn't do enough for the cause? 

[ChiliCrab]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

How coincidental that the midshipmen just happened to write a cybersecurity threat assessment paper that would immediately before the attack.  I'm sure that will come into play at some point.

Based on the promo for the next episode, it sure will and that's most likely how Chandler will get back on the Nathan James. 

[Netfoot]

Didn't their experiences 20 years ago teach the US Navy not to use Windows?

[Lonesome Rhodes]

5 hours ago, mxc90 said:

The ship was so far away to not be detected by the enemy and not be be in firing distance. Such a waste of fuel for a "three hour tour".

Also, why was the virus maker shot? He didn't do enough for the cause? 

It was all about deniability.  Everything is being framed as an American plot against The Continent.  We couldn't have someone around with the expert ability to later prove it was Tavo all along.

Forgot to mention the one super cool thing TPTB got right:  The language of the revolution, and especially, the unique outward hand "salute."  Excellently imagined.   

[Carl Malone]

On 9/10/2018 at 7:49 AM, mxc90 said:

The ship was so far away to not be detected by the enemy and not be be in firing distance. Such a waste of fuel for a "three hour tour".

Also, why was the virus maker shot? He didn't do enough for the cause? 

Secrecy. A lot of people don’t understand what it means to keep a secret. I’ve told coworkers things and explicitly told them not to bring them up in front of others. A few weeks later they mention it in front of everyone. Extrapolate that to a real world rebellion and I would understand the need to kill the source code.

[frenchtoast]

A reminder that while it may seem relevant to current politics, please don't make the comparisons between the show and IRL groups. No discussion of current politics is allowed on PTV. Thank you.

[raven]

On 9/9/2018 at 10:34 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Even more laughably bad was the US recon team in Panama -- Wolf, Sasha, Lt. Green, and Azima -

That was amateur level bad.  I'm also always amused at how little dialogue Wolf has - I know he's a martial arts expert and he's pretty, but he must be a bad actor.

On 9/9/2018 at 10:34 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

They were taken down by a guy in a cybercafé -- that is just embarrassing.

That was right up (down?) there with the aliens being taken out by Jeff Golblum's virus in Independence Day.

Bridget Regan looked great in the black dress, though her boobs looked weirdly flattened down, but Jodie Turner-Smith also look fab in the yellow dress with the flashy earrings. 

I don't remember anything from last season.  I thought Slattery was dead (guess not!)

I did like the beginning with Chandler being a bit lost and sad, looking at all of the displays.  And they remembered Doctor Scott; most everyone would be dead if not for her.

They killed Doc Rios!!   *shakes fist*

This show has gotten sillier every season but I want to see how it wraps up. 

[Raja]

On 9/9/2018 at 7:07 PM, mxc90 said:

Garnett and Doc! Not right. Those damn Cylons Gran Colombians!

Was Sasha posing in the surveillance picture?

What the original Point Break was to The Fast and The Furious the nuBattlestar Gallatica  miniseries was to this season's premiere. A virus knocks out everything, even the 40 year old Harrier VSTOL jets on the USS Michener. They way they focused on  Commander Granderson's cell phone after talking with her wife that has to be how the virus was uploaded making her Balter. Green's SEAL Team caught behind enemy lines is Boomer getting shot down.

[FnkyChkn34]

23 hours ago, raven said:

This show has gotten sillier every season but I want to see how it wraps up. 

Yep, this.  I don't even have much to say about this episode because 90% of it was laughably bad, but I can't seem to stop watching.

[preeya]

13 minutes ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Yep, this.  I don't even have much to say about this episode because 90% of it was laughably bad, but I can't seem to stop watching.

Yep. me too!  Also, didn't it seem like Adam Baldwin gained a gazillion pounds?

Edited September 14, 2018 by preeya

[ramble]

On 9/12/2018 at 7:28 PM, raven said:

I'm also always amused at how little dialogue Wolf has - I know he's a martial arts expert and he's pretty, but he must be a bad actor.

I always thought he was fine in the past but he’s never had a lot of intense dialogue so who knows? I will own the fact that I am an unabashed Wolf fan so I’m okay with simply having the pretty to appreciate on my screen and occasionally seeing some hot kung fu butt kicking. 

I found myself getting unreasonably angry (since this is a fictional universe) when the ships were being bombed and people dying. So many people have died from the plague and the fallout after it that it seems ridiculous to waste the people left. However they had to find a way for the Last Ship to be the Last Ship. I still enjoy the military porn. 

I had to turn off my real life thought process questioning how so much of the  infrastructure was intact. Worldwide interest, gas readily available? Are there enough bodies left, with enough knowledge to do those things? I would think, even years later, most nations would still be establishing normalcy within their limited areas that have services. Oh well, I don’t watch this show for realism  

Final thought, I thought the two ladies looked amazing at the birthday party! 

[TV Anonymous]

All good comments. While I love the military porn, this show has gone downhill quite quick, in terms of plots and story lines. Therefore I am glad this is The Last Season. Just put it out of its misery. Now, my nitpicks.

• There are a number of senior of flag officers around. Where do they come from? Was the Navy not annihilated with the crew of Nathan James the only survivors? If they are part of rebuilding the military, should the crew of Nathan James not get seniority upon all military members?
• The location of the attack is Mayport NS in Jacksonville, in North Florida. Attacking aircraft are IA 58 Pucarás. Where does the Gran Clolombians stage the attack? IA 58 has combat range of only 189 nmi. Assuming that the Gran Colombians do not have an aircraft carrier - and that IA 58 is not designed for carrier landing - they must have a staging area on U.S. soil.
• Agent Cooper linguistic capability continues to impress me. Is there any language that she does not speak?
• Why do they have Andrea Garnett (Fay Masterson) only for half an episode and kill her? Was she not written off already last season?
• Last but not least, why are the guests in President of Panama's birthday party wearing black tie while the President is wearing white tie?

[Raja]

10 minutes ago, TV Anonymous said:

All good comments. While I love the military porn, this show has gone downhill quite quick, in terms of plots and story lines. Therefore I am glad this is The Last Season. Just put it out of its misery. Now, my nitpicks.

• There are a number of senior of flag officers around. Where do they come from? Was the Navy not annihilated with the crew of Nathan James the only survivors? If they are part of rebuilding the military, should the crew of Nathan James not get seniority upon all military members?
• The location of the attack is Mayport NS in Jacksonville, in North Florida. Attacking aircraft are IA 58 Pucarás. Where does the Gran Clolombians stage the attack? IA 58 has combat range of only 189 nmi. Assuming that the Gran Colombians do not have an aircraft carrier - and that IA 58 is not designed for carrier landing - they must have a staging area on U.S. soil.
• Agent Cooper linguistic capability continues to impress me. Is there any language that she does not speak?
• Why do they have Andrea Garnett (Fay Masterson) only for half an episode and kill her? Was she not written off already last season?
• Last but not least, why are the guests in President of Panama's birthday party wearing black tie while the President is wearing white tie?

It goes beyond senior officers. As a nation we didn't get to 4-Star Admirals and Generals until WWII and then the post war standing forces. He we are now with a retired Chandler and all the post plague Captains wearing the 4 stars for their 5 ship fleet. An Army General also sits in the command center and for some reason the Marine is a "mere" Lieutenant General.

 

Cuba must be part of Gran Colombia, Or least a temporary landing strip refuel point

[MissLucas]

On 13.9.2018 at 2:28 AM, raven said:

That was amateur level bad.  I'm also always amused at how little dialogue Wolf has - I know he's a martial arts expert and he's pretty, but he must be a bad actor.

That was right up (down?) there with the aliens being taken out by Jeff Golblum's virus in Independence Day.

Bridget Regan looked great in the black dress, though her boobs looked weirdly flattened down, but Jodie Turner-Smith also look fab in the yellow dress with the flashy earrings. 

I don't remember anything from last season.  I thought Slattery was dead (guess not!)

I did like the beginning with Chandler being a bit lost and sad, looking at all of the displays.  And they remembered Doctor Scott; most everyone would be dead if not for her.

They killed Doc Rios!!   *shakes fist*

This show has gotten sillier every season but I want to see how it wraps up. 

Sums up my feelings/thoughts quite nicely, thanks. Quite frankly at this point I watch for the two ladies. I keep waiting for Bridget Regan to get a really good part ever since 'Legend of the Seeker' (RIP) and Jodie Turner-Smith' posture is a sight to behold.

(You know things got a bit out of whack when a straight woman watches a navy show only to marvel at the female leads.)

[seacliffsal]

(small voice)-I really enjoyed this episode.  Sure there are problems with the CGI and plot lines, but I am so glad that this is back.  I also like how they try to show the recovery of the U.S.  I am always amazed though that there seems to be more people around than I would think based on the challenges the world has experienced.

I am here for the entire Last Season.

[Ebau]

23 hours ago, preeya said:

Yep. me too!  Also, didn't it seem like Adam Baldwin gained a gazillion pounds?

Actually, it looked as if Eric Dane gained some weight, but maybe that was because he was wearing civilian clothes. However, he did look a little fuller in the face (the effects of anti-depressants, perhaps?). Then again, maybe I'm just being bitchy. It's my first post on this forum; what a way to start out, huh? In any event, I've enjoyed reading what you all have had to say over the past couple of years, so I thought I'd come on board and add a little snark to the mix. But, believe it or not, I'm a big fan of the show and will stick with it to the end. 

That being said, I agree with everyone here who said that hacking into the US Navy computer system and bringing down communication satellites seemed a bit too easy (and thanks for posting the link, Netfoot; that made for some very interesting reading!). If hacking a branch of the U.S. Armed Services was so darn simple, then every 10-year-old with access to an iPhone would do it, for cryin' out loud! Well, maybe that's the best the writers could come up with on short notice. Now it's time to move on and deal with this season's Evil Doers. Food for thought, though: if this show continued for another few years, we'd end up fighting every nation in the world for control of one must-have resource or another. We've already smacked down Russia, Asia, and Greece, and apparently pissed England off right into a state of High Snit; now we're all set to face off with Central and/or South America. If this kept up, in a year or two, we'd be watching a seat-gripping pitched battle (can you have one of those on water?) starring the United States Navy vs. the Kingdom of Tonga (who would probably end up kicking our asses). It's a shame that TNT has no creative vision. *dramatic sigh*

In any event, I'm happy to have joined the party everyone! Cheers!

[Dowel Jones]

On 9/10/2018 at 10:51 AM, Lonesome Rhodes said:

The language of the revolution, and especially, the unique outward hand "salute." 

I have to admit, the first thing I thought of when I saw that was Fonzie uttering his famous "aaayyyy".

[thuganomics85]

So, apparently I had no idea that this show finally came back, so I'm playing catch-up tonight, it seems.

Basically, it looks like the villains this (final) season are going to be the Columbians, led by this character played by Maurice Compte, who I know best as Carrillo on Narcos.  They have somehow created a computer virus (how modern!), which has basically render all of the U.S.'s military technology useless, and while they were all trying to figure out what in the hell happened, the Columbians fly over to some big ceremony the Navy was having, and blow everything up.  Well, almost everything, since the Nathan James just happened to be out at sea during the attack, and newly Captain Foster was smart enough to know better then just go charging in and getting themselves killed.  But now they're basically the, yep, Last Ship again.  Yeah, if I was in the military on this show, I would never, ever work on a ship that isn't Nathan James, because every other ship is apparently cursed.

Also, it seems like the Columbians have set-up America for the assassination of that Panama president, by making it look like he was killed by the Danny/Sasha/Wolf/Kandie team.  I did chuckle over the news report claiming it was four Americans, since Wolf is actually Australian and Kandie is Kenyan!  They're now going to Columbia to try and cause some mayhem, but all I care about is for them to find ways to get Bridget Regan and Jodie Turner-Smith into those dresses again!

Poor Garrett and Rios get killed off in rapid fashion, but I guess they needed to find some way to make sure we know that it is personal and (cue dramatic music): no one is safe!

But, basically, it looks like the show will be focusing on these particular groups: Danny/Sasha/Wolf/Kandie doing ground work in Colombia, Nathan James with Foster, and a returning Slattery/Burk, and command ops with Jeter, Meylan, and Granderson.  And I'm guessing Chandler is going to command ops, too?

Edited September 23, 2018 by thuganomics85

[Hanahope]

I thought the idea of a poor Columbian teenager is able to write a program to hack the US's military systems, which can be uploaded via a cyber cafe is simply laughable.

And that the navy was completely unable to fight back and do hardly anything until the very end, where they took out 2 planes.  No one was staffing the other ships at all?  I thought that at least a skeleton crew remained on board.

And of course the NJ is out on a shore tour, so its the only undamaged ship. yes, its The Last Ship again!