‘Last Resort’ preview: Can episode 2 keep the momentum going?

In the age where there are so many network drama series that are either about police work, medicine, or courtrooms, be jump and down whenever we see someone try something that is genuinely new and exciting. Then, we jump up and down even more when what they try out turns out to be a pretty great idea. This is how we are feeling at the moment about ABC’s ambitious new series “Last Resort,” and the pilot was easily the most promising one we have watched among the dramas this year.

So what is the problem here? Really, it’s rather simple: the ratings just are not very good. It wasn’t a complete flop by any means, but there needs to be more viewers between the age of 18-49 … and we would love to see some people ultimately opt to check this out. For those of you worried that this was just another military series, it’s not: there are some elements of “Lord of the Flies” in here along with “The Hunt for Red October,” and it also has a central mystery that is a bit like “Lost” except with all of the science fiction. Now that the crew has been stranded on the island of St. Marina after being declared traitors of the U.S. government (really through no fault of their own), there are two central questions for this show moving forward: will they be able to clear their names and return home, or do they even want to given that their own government has clearly turned their backs on them in order to preserve its own self-interest?

We don’t know how else we can say it: just watch this show. Andre Braugher is giving an Emmy-worthy performance, and the rest of the cast around him is also pretty solid. If this show was airing on cable, we have no doubt it would be a hit given that it would have the necessary time to grow; however, it’s on ABC, and thus needs to start improving now.