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Autumn Reeser, whose name I am tempted to write with little hearts around it to signify my lasting crush, portrays a DC lobbyist . This person knows an uncanny amount about a prototype onboard the rogue submarine. She frequently works in cohorts with Rear Admiral Arthur Shephard (played by X-Men enemy Bruce Davison), whose daughter Grace is third in command on the Colorado. The other crew members resent her not because she is a woman in power but instead because the youthful lady is presumed to have advanced quickly due to nepotism.

The fact that women are serving on the ship is apparently important to someone involved with the show. Early in the pilot, there is an awkward conversation about sexual harassment to reinforce that the women are treated as equal crew members. The scene is quickly followed by complaints about Grace in particular because of her silver spoon reputation. I don’t care about any of this other than the fact that the actress who plays Grace is dreadful. Many thespians lack the range to play angry, driven characters in believable fashion. She is undeniably one of them. Any attempt at hardassery fails mightily. If Grace swallows a bullet tomorrow, I consider this a huge win for Last Resort’s future.

In stark opposition to Grace, the most interesting character is the Navy SEAL, James King. His depiction of a Jason Bourne-esque SEAL is mesmerizing television. In the pilot, he predicts exactly how he will kill several thugs in a bar. Rather than showing the action, the events are verbally visualized in a refreshing manner. This is the causality. The effect is that the local who believes he runs the island wisely chooses to retreat rather than risk the possibility of proving the SEAL correct. Even the rationale for the SEAL’s arrival at the bar is engaging. He asks for permission to store his friend’s dead body in the storage freezer until the dead man can be given a proper burial. If Last Resort becomes a hit, I fully expect James King to become the breakout star. The producers of Last Resort may recognize this, which explains why King is the only character to date who effectively maneuvers between the ship and off-boat adventures.

The other breakaway scenes featuring King involve the locals of a mysterious island. This where the USS Colorado relocates while the crew attempts to avoid further naval conflict. Sainte Marina is run by some underworld kingpin named Julian Serrat, the afore-mentioned local. His status is threatened by a bunch of Americans armed with weapons of mass destruction. I believe he is intended to be the Ben Linus of Last Resort, the malevolent force whose presence indicates that bad things are about to happen to (formerly?) American soldiers. If there were a villain thus far, it is definitely Serrat.

Julian’s primary stomping ground is a local bar run by Tani Tumrenjack (Dichen Lachman of Dollhouse), but he also visits the local NATO facility from time to time. This location is run by Sophie Girard, a French woman with a vested interest in world peace. By the end of the pilot, Sophie has lost control of her own facility as Captain Chaplin claims command of the island and all its contents. The instant I watched this sequence of events, I had concerns that were confirmed by later episodes of the series.

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