Last Resort on ABC - Page 7

It's an entertaining show, that I finally decided to watch. Not because I thought I wouldn't like it, but because I hate getting involved with shows with ratings that make it destined to be cancelled. After seeing the ratings from last night, I am regretting it though, doesn't look good for this show lasting unless they give it a better timeslot or market it more effectively. Which is a shame because it has some of the highest user ratings of any new show on imdb and metacritic.

I still like it and was happy to find I enjoyed the 2nd ep despite the mostly ominous previews from the critics.  Sure, there are some jumps (and even leaps) in logic now and then, but they are not so glaring as to pull me out of the show with an "oh please" as often or as much as Revolution or some others.  It's thrilling fun even if a bit predictable - who didn't think the Seal would play a role in the rescue despite his protestations?  And surely the Seal Team is going to have a 'come to Jesus' moment that will solidly place them on the side of the sub crew once an for all, or at least the leader.  Maybe a split faction that joins up with the C.O.B., who knows?  I still like it and look forward to it expanding.  Like others, I'm slightly concerned that it may not have legs past 1 season unless they are very creative (and somewhat believable) with the story.  But, even if it's only 1 season, it may be 1 season of fun.  Not too many shows with the techno thriller theme since CBS is all procedural all-the-time and others are flailing around with comedies.
 

Romulan cloaking device? Maybr the Colorado is acutally a modified Bird of Prey.

All joking aside, I enjoyed the show last night. As soon as the invading ground troops were identified as Russian Spetsnaz, my immediate thoughts were :
1. The renegades in the US government had contracted the mission out to the Russian Republic to avoid any "fingerprints" or
2. Hard core elements in the Russian military had decided to try to take the Colorado in a sort of reverse Red October scenario.

Door number 2 clearly was the prize winner and I thought that the conversation between Chaplin and his old Soviet Submarine "buddy" was well played. It's always nice to have a full contingent of Tridents at your disposal for use as bargaining chips when needed.

Love the show so far. Hope it sticks around ...

Was on a WW II diesel boat for a day back in the 60s and using passive sonar, they had a distinct advantage over the ships trying to find us. About the only time they'd ever use active sonar would be to get an accurate range but even that was rare. Now on destroyers, once we found a sub using active sonar, we could make life difficult for them.

Enjoyed the second episode,dialog still hard to understand.Please slow down the talking. ABC ,the ratings are not that bad considering the time slot.

Complete opposite for me, the second episode was unbearable. The scenes with the the wife felt like it was ripped straight out of law and order.

I wouldn't say the second episode was as strong as the first, but that's hardly surprising. This is shaping up to be the best new show that's premiered so far.

This is one of my new favorites, but I will drop it if "romance" gets involved.

Better hover over the "Delete" button then.

I caught up on the first two episodes via OnDemand and enjoyed it. I like the pace though given the showrunner is Shawn Ryan from "The Shield" I should not be surprised. The only problem with OnDemand is that Comcast is taking away the FF so you have to sit through commercials but from here on out the show will get DVR'd. When they take away our 30 second skip is when I cancel Comcast and probably so will millions of others. I find it helps to mute the sound during commercials because they are so banal.

"The only problem with OnDemand is that Comcast is taking away the FF" Not Comcast doing the dirty deed. ABC and FOX require it as part of their deal with CC.

An exceedingly rare occurance. We were never detected during an exercise without helping the ASW force by partially surfacing, banging on the hull with hammers, etc...Even then they would quickly lose track. The second episode was interesting enough to keep me watching. The most realistic moment of the series so far was COB's statement 'When you get the order, you launch'. The Captain needs to follow his own advice from one of the overly long speeches he seems to deliver three times per episode. When stopping the execution of the Spetsnaz prisoners, he alluded to folllowing the orders of those above you, and expecting those below you to do the same. However, he gets a properly authenticated Launch Order from above him in the chain of command, yet he refuses to follow the order.
Edited by Gandu - 10/6/12 at 3:36pm

I never served on a sub and perhaps you did. However, it seems to me the boomers are a last strike force, not a first strike force; they insure nobody wins. In all-out nuclear war, you would get your land-based missiles away first to protect them. In the absence of ANY sign of global thermonuclear war, I think he was right to question his orders. Limited nuclear war is an oxymoron.

Attack subs can fire cruise missiles (either nuclear or non-) from torpedo tubes and have more of a role in small-scale conflict. Boomers wait in the deep for the apocalypse, and make it immeasurably worse for the enemy. Stategically, it is hard to imagine they would receive any order other than firing ALL missiles on designated targets; they are pretty vulernable at firing depth, and have to assume they have an attack sub on their heels.

Wrong. You don't question authenticated launch orders. Any second-guessing or questioning of the orders is built into the authentication process. If procedure can be questioned by every stage in our nuclear response, we'd never get any missiles off the ground. There's no point in having an exclusive last-strike capability. The decreased time of a sub's MIRVs may be the advantage needed to prevent an opposition's first strike.

Either way, it's not the sub Captain's call to make, that's the job of policy makers in DC.

Ah yes, only striking first can prevent a first strike. The purpose of the sub fleet (both ours and the other guy's) is to prevent that thinking. Although I am sure they want the captain to follow orders. The point of ultra-safe last-strike is that no one wins with first strike. I must admit that apocalyptic thinking does make missile defense look pretty attractive.

We should, of course, hope the launch authentication process is secure and can't be hacked as it obviously was in this case. There is no evidence of a reasonable cause for nuking Pakistan, and reality is that doing so might very well start the war that ends all war (and humanity).

OK, sounds silly when you put it like that. LOL. The point is if we find out that there is an impending strike against us and we need the fastest possible (preemptive) response, we can't afford to go through questions from every person along the chain.

... and in this case, he even defied orders after getting voice verification - which also brings up the point that no voice communication he could hope to get would be as secure as the verified authentication codes.


You think? Maybe the manual says something like:

"We would prefer that orders be followed, however if not, please make phone calls up the chain of command to verify your orders - but make sure it is someone higher in the chain than the Deputy SECDEF. The President is aware that during a nuclear crisis, he is to expect these calls from anyone with a launch key - if he doesn't answer right away, please wait in the queue until your turn."

Getting back to the show, I found the 2nd ep a big drop down. Most network shows cannot escape screenwriting 101. Of course, the Seal guys were going to come and save the day. Why bother even showing. There are still good elements in the show and I will stick with it for now but I'm getting very tired of obvious plotlines.

The show sets up the question as to whether the orders were "properly authenticated." Whether correct in the real world or not, the premise is that Antarctic Command can/should only issue the launch order in the event of the destruction of Washington Command. The Captain verified that Washington Command was fine. For instance, the Antarctic base could be overrun by the enemy, giving them the ability to issue phony orders with the proper codes. I think it's the same idea as the Vice President giving an order for the launch without the death or incapacity of the President.

Yeah, that's where the writers took liberties.

The reality is the President, with verification from the SecDef, decides when to pull the trigger - and points the gun at exactly what is being targeted. The communication to our nuclear arsenal is the finger pulling the trigger, and the rest should happen automatically. Any security protections occur at the first stage - there are intentionally no fail-safes beyond that stage. The 2nd stage - getting the valid orders disseminated - can be done multiple ways, including via aircraft. The system is setup so that at that point if they used carrier pigeon, a valid message is still a valid message.

Crimson Tide handled it with a little more tact by letting a partial EAM come through. There was never a question about the validity of the orders, only the possibility that there were new orders countermanding the original orders.

... but we're just spitballing here - this is not something I have difficulty just accepting as far as enjoying the show. They've framed how things are setup in the Lost Resort world, so as long as they stay consistent with their own rules, I'm OK. That goes for the cloaking device as well - even if they run a cable from the sub to the NATO monitoring station, crank up the power, and the whole island becomes invisible to outside forces. If they say it's possible, I'll go with it.

I have watched the first two episodes of Last Resort and enjoyed them. The show is a guilty pleasure. Typical of every ABC drama show I can think of, most recently Revenge, Last Resort is operatically over the top. So what, though? It moves fast, has a strong cast and has, so far at least, held my interest. I felt the same way about Desperate Housewives in the early years of its run but it wore out its welcome somewhere along the line. I don't see Last Resort having legs like Desperate Housewives and am wondering how well Revenge will hold up in Season 2, but if Last Resort manages to provide a season or two of entertaining television I will be pleased.

2nd episode was definitely weaker in both acting and dialogue. Will someone please shut the "smart tech" girl up. That bar scene was embarrassing

Gotta give the show props, they really answered all the questions they knew would come up from the initial episode, like how did they detect them if they had a stealth unit, etc. Pretty good second episode.

Yes they did. They even answered how hard it would be to sink them and how many missle they could get off. I like it for what it is.

They did a skit last night on the ESPN Monday night match-up show with all the characters from Last Resort in the "Sub" control room.... Picking the best QB, very good.. Look for it... Boomer came on and said his fav. show...

Here's the link to the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3MAz4XR07I

^^^Cute. Unlike a lot of promotional crap the Network makes them do, the cast of the show looked like they were actually having fun with this one. Loved the "Tebow" coming from the Illinois.

Ya know? If more commercials were this entertaining/creative/humorous, we might actually watch more of them.

Jumping in on the conversation as I watched the recorded second episode last night. Off the top, it's just hard to see how far they can go with this without it becoming exhausting for the viewers. But this genre appeals to me and I think it's reasonably well done. My apologies, I don't know the characters that well yet but the gal that designed the Perseus is already getting on my nerves and not in a way her character is supposed to but perhaps her arc will play out better as the eps continue. And what happened to that guy she asked to find out the orders felt forced. Still, after watching last night I was glad to realize I only had to wait until tomorrow for the next episode. I'm set to record the series and see how it plays out.

Agreed.

I used to stop and watch those "Mac vs PC" ads every time I saw them. Of course, back when HD ads were rare, I'd watch the "Target" ads because of how bright and colorful they looked in HD...now I skip those, too...