‘The Last Ship’ season 3, episode 4 review: The hostage crisis; Wolf vs. Tiger

While the world may be very different on “The Last Ship” as opposed to reality, there is clearly one part of it that is very much the same: The media still loves to go on the offensive against political figures. We had potentially more of a spotlight on President Michener than ever before in this episode, as he tried to handle the weight of a difficult new responsibility: Making sure that the men and women overseas were brought home rather than falling victim to the Takehaya crisis.

Last week, we learned that Takehaya is far from a good man, and someone using the blood of Slattery and company for his own causes. This week, we delivered an ultimatum to the American people: Either move the ships out of Okinawa, or face further executions. This did not give Chandler or some of the others out on the field a whole lot of time in order to work with.

Also, it proved difficult for Chandler to find the right people to work with, but an unlikely alliance in the midst of a covert operation proved to be an asset as he worked to get to Takehaya in time. This was a game of trust, and a difficult one at that … but who else did Chandler have to rely on other than Peng in this moment? What the show smartly did was remind us that this was not a situation where Eric Dane’s character could not just take his time; he had to be quick and strategic in the moment, which after some slower episodes for him allowed for a chance to ramp up the intensity.

In the closing seconds, we certainly had that as the conflict escalated, and we were left with a cliffhanger really like no other we’ve seen during the season. This was some pretty intense stuff! Also, that Wolf vs. Tiger drama was pretty intense. Grade: B+.

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