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Captain Chaplin draws several conclusions from the recent apocalyptic events. The first thought is that the actual Secretary of Defense or even the sitting President of the United States should have called him for a nuclear launch, not a subordinate of a cabinet member. The next conclusion is that the secondary channel broadcast and inferior communication verification on a secondary channel indicate a major security breach. And the most important concern is that the crew of the USS Colorado may have just unintentionally seceded from the United States of America.

While Chaplin weighs options for this unprecedented situation, SEAL guys armed with guns show up and demand to see the firing order. As the standoff occurs between the crew members and the soldiers they recently rescued, missiles are fired at the boat at that moment. The submarine is knocked all the way to the bottom of the underground surface. The culprit proves to be the USS Illinois, another American vessel.

Loathe as I am to recite plot, I felt the need to do so in this instance because the events describe above comprise the first 17 minutes of the pilot. A nuclear sub’s crew rescues some of the country’s finest soldiers, receives a transmission authorizing nuclear attack, refuses to honor the orders without further verification, witnesses two different changes as to leader of the boat, gets attacked by the same soldiers they rescued and are knocked to the bottom of the ocean by a vessel from their own fleet. Moments later, 8.5 million Pakistani citizens are killed by a nuclear missile that is presumably launched by some yet unnamed American interest. Last Resort gets to the fireworks factory more quickly than any pilot I can ever recall.

The rest of the episode plants the seed for the future of the USS Colorado’s crew. They have suddenly become seamen without a country. In this regard, Last Resort attempts to become a kindred spirit of sorts to The Hunt for Red October. The primary difference (and similarity) is that the American government wants to capture the soldiers of the USS Colorado rather than a foreign entity.

Marcus Chaplin is the Marko Ramius of this story. By doing what he believes to be right, Chaplin becomes the world’s most dangerous man. Anyone given command of a nuclear submarine is expected to perform the most important duty, which is firing the missiles when ordered to do so. Chaplin’s refusal affects the lives of his entire crew. By the end of the first episode, he has become the world’s greatest living traitor and arguably its most dangerous terrorist. Notably, Ramius is the presumed good guy although I refuse to accept this premise as a fait accompli. Whatever the case, the identity of the bad guys is the show’s mystery, at least in the short term.

The problem with such gripping television is that once the viewer has tried the lobster, chicken fingers are not as appetizing. By setting the table with such a staggering, unbelievable series of events, Last Resort runs the risk of boring its viewers whenever the storytelling is not as shocking. To counteract this, the plot elements introduced allow for action that occurs outside the corridors of the USS Colorado. This attempt is thus far unsuccessful.

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