Contributor: Henry T.
Written by Morenike Balogun
Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter
The abrupt cancellation of the show forced the writers to cram what amounts to a plot dump in this episode. Not only does it advance the story that’s going on in current time, but it fills in the backstory that has remained a mystery until now. There is also a lot of action occurring in the outside world that hasn’t been entirely established by now. The Pakistani military and American government take action here, and much of it makes sense as both reaction to what Captain Chaplin and the crew of the Colorado are doing, and if it’s really true that the top of the US government has become destabilized. The stakes become even higher than they were before this episode, especially since the crew’s families go from their salvation to being caught in the middle of a standoff. It’s resolved rather quickly, but there are some dangling plot threads that will fuel the last few episodes of this series.
The episode fills in the details of the Navy SEAL mission that occurred before the series started. I had forgotten about my interest in the storyline in part because the show has doled out the mystery in small bits and pieces throughout the previous episodes. Plus, the Navy SEALs were put in the background of those episodes during their time on the island. It’s a mission that starts out as routine at first — finding and delivering a nuclear scientist named Nils back to the United States for debriefing — and then quickly turns bad. Dr. Nils is going to tell everyone in his debriefing that Pakistan doesn’t have nuclear weapons capability. This is probably not what the President of the United States wants to hear and so Lt. Hopper is given new orders: Plant a series of suitcase nuclear bombs in the bunker and then film their “accidental” discovery.
Everything goes by the book for Hopper until King walks in on the filming. There is a mix-up between the SEALs and the Pakistanis which results in Hopper getting badly wounded. Those are the same wounds that he has when the series opens. The flashback is connected to the main story occurring in this episode, as the relief ship carrying the crew’s families arrive in Sainte Marina. Sam needs to acquire the memory cards in Hopper’s helmet cam to use as proof that there is some conspiracy that involves the SEALs, CIA, Defense Department (Secretary Curry remains an integral part of the show despite being just a voice on the phone once again), and possibly the disgraced President.
It’s a bit of a simplistic explanation, but I think that benefits the show at this point. Complicating things is just going to muck up the narrative and with the show near its end, that would not be ideal. The relief ship’s arrival is treated as a big event, and it should rightly be that way, and so the Pakistani Navy uses it as their best opportunity to force Captain Chaplin’s hand. They quickly seize the ship and start executing hostages every thirty minutes unless Chaplin can launch one of his nuclear warheads at an Indian army that intends to invade a vulnerable Pakistan. Once again, Chaplin is put in a bad situation that increases the stakes on the submarine.
To some, he may seem like a crazed warlord who overtook an unknown island to be his playground while armed with a nuclear arsenal at his disposal. That’s how it would look from an outsider’s point of view. Indeed, Chaplin is humbled by the Pakistani admiral’s revelation that he found inspiration from Chaplin’s defiance of his government’s military strategy. The Pakistani admiral isn’t in the episode for very long, but his background is sufficiently explained that adds to his humanity. He isn’t a villain in the purest sense, but a man forced into circumstances beyond his control. The plot also gets a benefit from previous actions of characters in that since Cortez stole Chaplin’s missile key, Chaplin cannot comply with the Pakistanis’ demands. Cortez is indirectly responsible for the death of two civilians, which is two too much for her conscience and so she returns the key but keeps herself from being found out as the CIA mole. The look of shock on Chaplin’s face when he sees Grace put in the missile key was priceless. That also paints a target on Grace’s back, at least in Chaplin’s eyes, that is too easily dismissed at the end of the episode, I think.
The situation is resolved when Sam and a bunch of SEALs kill the Pakistanis on the relief ship before they execute more hostages. I thought it was a bit too convenient that the second-in-command who did all of the killing was also involved in the flashback mission, but the writers had to tie the two stories together somehow, some way, and that was probably the most elegant way they could do that.
So when everything clears up in the end, we’re left with a lot of unfinished business. It looks like the SEALs are willingly going to give Sam and Chaplin the information from the helmet cams. Once that is done, they could perhaps assist in the search for the CIA mole, which Chaplin has strangely delegated to Grace. In the midst of gunning down the Pakistanis on the relief ship, a rogue SEAL kidnapped Christine before she and Sam could reunite. Sam is leaving the island to find her, and it looks like the SEAL will use Christine as leverage to garner some way back to the mainland. Everything that Christine was involved in during the episode would qualify as a subplot, mainly because her little “love affair” with Paul didn’t necessarily go anywhere (and results in his death on the ship, though not before he gets a thank you kiss from Christine that occurs right in Sam’s view) so I hope Sam’s hunt for her adds something to the final stages of this series.
What was happening on the mainland only highlighted how useless Kylie’s character has been during the course of this series. She gives Sam the mission to retrieve the helmet cam footage then goes to a party that she doesn’t even want to be a part of. If the show had found some way to keep Kylie on the relief ship, I wouldn’t dislike the character so much. At least, I think that would be the case. For now, the show heads into its final stages in really solid shape. The ending should hopefully deliver on its initial promise.
Score: 8/10
