LAST RESORT is one of the best short lived shows I didn’t get a chance to catch after the first three episodes due to its time slot.  It was a victim of being in the wrong time slot on the wrong day (and maybe even the wrong network).  However, Shawn Ryan and Karl Gajdusek have managed to create a suspenseful and addictive series that plays out a story that could last just thirteen episodes, but the remaining questions at the end of the last episode does leave it open for another season if ABC didn’t cancel it.  Andre Braugher gives a multilayered performance as Captain Marcus Chaplin, but my favorite characters have to be the women characters like Grace Shepard and Kylie (even though Robert Patrick does give a great performance too as Prosser).  The weakest performance has to be Scott Speedman as XO Sam Kendal even though sometimes I do feel for Sam and yet I wish they cast someone better to play the character.

 

LAST RESORT is conspiracy thriller that starts going full speed after Marcus decides not to obey an order sent through back channels to his submarine, the USS Colorado, to fire nuclear missiles at Pakistan.  Soon the US military is trying to sink the Colorado and Marcus finds safety for his sub and crew on an exotic island with a United Nations listening post.   Marcus, his XO, and his communications officer Grace Shepard work for ways to clear the crew’s names and be able to come home safely as a government conspiracy grows back home.  LAST RESORT weaves through the storylines or several characters including the crew, a Navy SEAL who might know the truth about Pakistan, the people on the island, and the people back in the United States including Sam’s wife, Grace’s father (an Admiral), and Kylie (who helped design a prototype that masks the Colorado and makes it undetectable by other ships).

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

LAST RESORT DECLASSIFIED is a series of 13 featurettes that are about five minutes each with the last featurette giving speculation from cast and crew where a second season could have gone:

MAKING THE PILOT- director Martin Cambell, the crew, and cast talk about the making of the pilot episode

PROFILES IN COURAGE- profiles on the main characters on the Colorado

CONN ARTISTS- the production designers of the USS Colorado talk about the production design of the set

ANATOMY OF AN EPISODE: VOLUNTOLD

GRACE UNDER FIRE

TIES THAT BIND

SUBVIRTUAL- the visual effects of LAST RESORT

THE BUZZARDS’S NEST

TURNING POINT

THE MOLE

SERRAT’S LAIR

I, KYLIE- an analysis of the self centered Kylie through her whole story arc

EPILOGUE- cast and crew reflect on the end of the show and where it could have gone for season 2

 

Previews for DEAD MAN DOWN, WHITE HOUSE DOWN, BREAKOUT and MAGIC MAGIC

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  LAST RESORT is an excellent and complex TV thriller that audiences unfortunately didn’t stick around for and these 13 episodes tell a complete story that leaves you wanting for.  The featurettes go through various aspects of the making of LAST RESORT and worth watching if you want to learn about the production of the show.

 

This DVD review is (c)7-9-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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