Last Resort review – 1×12: ‘The Pointy End Of The Spear’

It’s the sun and the moon festival on San Marino and coups are flying everywhere. The entirety of ‘The Pointy End Of The Spear’ is spent exploding conflicts that have been simmering beneath the surface for 11 episodes.

Let’s bitch it out…

“That’s the problem here. Everyone wants trust. So many secrets, so many lies. I wish we could just say what we mean and be honest with each other.” – Sophie (Camille de Pazzis)

Sophie’s line nicely summarizes an episode in which no one trusts anyone and no one speaks the truth. And because it’s near the end of the season, there’s a timeline attached to everything which means that things on Last Resort about to go boom.

As the Washington DC coup inches closer, Chaplin (Andre Braugher) begs Kendall (Scott Speedman) to hold off Prosser (Robert Patrick) when he learns his drug-addicted COB plans to kill him, take control of the sub and leave the island. Julian (Sahr Ngaujah) is more than happy to give Prosser the guns he needs, while simultaneously working on Zheng (Chin Han) on the island resources angle (still unclear where that one is headed). If this entire island ends up being nuked next week, you can bet the final image will be of Julian crawling out from beneath the wreckage. The man is a cockroach!

Caught in the crossfire is Sophie – who loves Kendall, but is being blackmailed by Julian. And then there’s James (Daniel Lissing) and Grace (Daisy Betts), who are called off the sidelines in the event things go bad (as they almost immediately do). The result is an hour spent in increasingly “choppy waters” (the fact that this is repeatedly stated suggests that Naval officers break into cliched metaphors when they get upset).

Even after Speaker Conrad Buell (Ernie Hudson) takes his own life on the Senate floor (effectively ending the Washington coup Chaplin is waiting for), the division on the island remains. The fissures on the island cannot be repaired since Kendall can’t side with Chaplin after he fired on US soldiers last week and Kendall doesn’t believe that he can hold off Prosser. It all comes down to flares from the Colorado as Grace declares her allegiance to Kendall after a disturbing call from her father, Admiral Shepard (Bruce Davison). Or at least that’s what Chaplin and Kendall assume (in reality, Michael Mosley’s rapist Hal Anders forces her to do it, knowing it will deliver Chaplin to the sub).

Still, the result of Grace’s decision is a sweet, simplistic visual: both Chaplin and Kendall pour themselves drinks in anticipation of toasting their respective victory. After the flares are released, Kendall pours his out, unable to savour the win (despite the fact that he may have just saved Chaplin’s life). We’ll have to see what next week’s finale brings.

Other Observations:

• Tani (Dichen Lachman) wants to escape to Australia with James but when shit hits the fan, he breaks her heart to send her away. It’s predictable and dull, but at least it frees James up to have deep conversations with Grace about “stepping up” in the event Kendall and Chaplin die
• Did we know that Josh (Will Rothhaar) is Chaplin’s mole in Prosser’s camp? This may or may not matter since it seems that Prosser intends to kill him. No one can keep any secrets on this island!
• Just in case you forgot that Julian is disgusting: he buys Sophie a Pretty Woman dress so that he can oogle her greedily at the festival and then he rub it in Kendall’s face…like a jacksnap
• After Speaker Buell takes off his head on national TV (still not sure how he would have got a gun into the Assembly floor), Kylie is whisked away by her father Barton (Gaston Sinclair), who has sided with the current President. Wanna bet that Hopper (David Rees Snell) has to rescue her next week?

Best Lines:

• James (to Tani): “Are you kidding? This is closest bed to the only bar in town.” Ouch – and this is before he’s trying to get her to break up with him
• Chaplin (to Kendall): “If you’re going to drink this early, brush your teeth before you report for duty.”
• Kylie (to Hopper when he tells her Forrest died in a traffic accident): “’Accident’ accident or ‘murder’ accident?”
• Chaplin (to Prosser, throwing down the gauntlet): “You want to wear the big hat, Joe? Come and take it off my head.” That, my friends, is why you do not mess with Andre Braugher!

So there you have it: second last episode of Last Resort ever. Are there enough balls in the air to keep you satisfied? Do you think Prosser and his crew will succeed in taking out Chaplin? Considering that the series apparently managed to make last minute changes to wrap up the series, do you think that the crew of the Colorado will find their way home? And what about Kendall’s wife, Christine (an unseen Jessy Schram) – will he discover that his wife is still alive or will he bump uglies with Sophie? Hit the comments below

Last Resort airs its series finale next Thursday at 8pm EST on ABC