With Chandler and Tex caught in a dangerous situation, Slattery has to to step into the role as commanding officer. Torn between a mission with the fate of the world at stake and a Captain in danger, Slattery has to find a way to get his people back without losing the most important asset: the vaccine prototype.
"Two Sailors Walk Into a Bar" is a series' high for The Last Ship creatively because it just pays off a season-worth of emotional buildup. The Russians have been chasing the American crew all season long trying to get Dr. Scott and her work. And now, they have the biggest bartering chip of all: Captain Chandler. It also occurs at the exact point in time when Dr. Scott has an actual working vaccine. The situation is tense because everyone has something to lose. Everything the show has been working towards is at risk. Chandler is the captain of this crew and they will risk their lives in order to save his. Dr. Scott finally has the one thing that everyone in the world wants. It's high-stakes drama that makes the grand explosions aboard the Russian ship so satisfying to watch in the end.More than that, it was well executed action and tension. It gives all of the characters their dues. Chandler refuses to cooperate and will just keep repeating the same thing over and over again. Tex is his same old fun-loving self. Slattery is faced with leading his crew into what may be their last mission and inspires them in his own way. I love that he cracks a simple joke. The show wisely doesn't make him a Chandler clone. He needs his own way of motivating the crew - especially given the situation. And the show more than delivers on that. Dr. Scott needed to be brave and volunteer herself in order for his plan to go off. Once on the Russian ship, she learns much more about the disease than she ever expected. She comes face-to-face with the man responsible for weaponizing the virus in the first place. And he's so smug about it too. But it looks like she got the last laugh.
Now, I never expected this to be the end of the road for our leads. Slattery and the crew would find a way to save Chandler and Tex while still securing Dr. Scott and the vaccine. And yet, I still recognized that "Two Sailors Walk Into a Bar" would be a pivotal hour. It essentially brings the season-long conflict with the Russians to an end. I mean their ship blows up. I'm pretty sure they won't be chasing our crew anymore. That means the show will move onto bigger ideas in its final two episodes. There is now a vaccine. So now, the crew will have to find out where and how to get that vaccine to as much of the world's population as possible. That seems like a very promising direction for the final few weeks of the summer.
Some more thoughts:
- "Two Sailors Walk Into a Bar" was written by Josh Schaer & Cameron Welsh and directed by Michael Katleman.
- For a show that obliterated the majority of the world's population as its main story, it hasn't especially dealt with death in a meaningful way. Only one soldier dies on this elaborate mission to save the captain. And he's given a narrative emotional arc to complement that death. It makes sure that there was a cost to all of this but it doesn't come across as meaningful.
- I just love the little subtext within the Quincy reuniting with his family scene. He's a prisoner aboard the ship. And yet, he has the satisfaction of being reunited with his family who are all healthy when the majority of the crew have no clue how their respective families are doing.
- I'm sure when the show wrote that big kiss between Chandler and Dr. Scott, they thought it would be this big swoon-worthy moment for all the people who ship that couple. The show has never really played with that dynamic but I'm sure those people are out there. I knew exactly what was happening during every second of that kiss.
- Do expect physically killing someone to weigh on Dr. Scott in the next episode. (I think)
