Last Resort -- Cross And Double Cross

It was the final episode of the series; a series that didn’t intend to end this soon. Could the writers pull it all together and give this show a satisfying end? My answer to that question is yes. If I didn’t know the show had been cancelled, I would have thought this was the end planned in the beginning. In a strange way maybe ABC did it a favor by canceling it, as I’m not sure had it gone on if the ending would have been as satisfying as this ending was.

The episode picked up where it left off with the mutineers taking over the Colorado and luring Marcus on board. Former friends and comrades in arms, Marcus and Sam, by this time, have totally turned on each other. Marcus brings Sam on board the Colorado as his prisoner. It isn’t long before Marcus discovers that he’s also a prisoner aboard the sub. Stuck together, Marcus and Sam start playing the blame game with each other.

Meanwhile on the helm The COB discovers he’s thrown his lot in with a den of thieves who can’t be trusted, as one of his cohorts stabs him. Grace manages to shoot one of them and escapes with The COB.

Back on the island, Julian has thrown in with the Chinese ambassador and they have war ships on the way to capture the Colorado. He helps the Ambassador take over Sophie’s communications center.

Marcus is removed from the room he and Sam are being held in and taken back to the bridge where Anders is now in charge. He wants revenge for Marcus outing him for assaulting the island girl. Prosser helps Marcus escape, he rescues Sam and they manage to get control of the rudder. They’re still throwing at each other all the things they did wrong. Somehow, they end up laughing. Sam even gets in touch with Anders wanting him to decide who’s the biggest psycho: him or Marcus. The real psycho may be Anders as he fires two missiles that he claims are heading straight for Maine.

In the room Grace and The Cob have taken shelter in, the mutineers are trying to get to them by applying a blow torch to the door. When they finally make it through, they find The COB on the floor wearing a gas mask. They don’t get Grace and The Cob have released a gas in the room, and Grace manages to subdue their attackers.

Sam manages to contact Sophie and asks her to instruct the Colorado to be fired on to destroy it. He says it’s the only way to put an end to this mess. Meanwhile, Marcus makes it back to the helm and empties his gun into Anders. With the destruction of the Colorado imminent, Sam tells Marcus they have to abandon ship before it’s too late, but Marcus says he’s not leaving her alone. He doesn’t feel there’s anything left for him out there, but say there is for Sam. Sam, Grace and The COB make it off the sub and watch from shore as it’s blown up. Inside Marcus dons a pair of sunglasses and laughs as he prepares to go down with his ship.

Back in D.C. the fallout from the failed coup is still going down. Kylie’s boyfriend gets her to point a gun at him and he helps her to pull the trigger as he kisses her goodbye; he feels everyone involved in the coup are going to be tracked down and killed anyway. Before going to a party her father is hosting for the president, Kylie gives the flash drive to Christine and tells her to give it to the reporters. Earlier, she had gotten Christine released by buying her from the man who was keeping her prisoner. Then Kylie arrived to the party, as her father announced Kylie was now one of them. However, when Kylie went over to greet the president [the mastermind behind this whole atrocity to stop himself from being removed from office] she took out a gun and shot him dead.

Some time has passed as Sam, Grace and The COB arrive home. The COB drops down to the ground and kisses it, happy to be home. Sam then gives a press conference speaking glowingly of Marcus and why he did the things he did; he may have been a bit crazy but he was trying to do the right thing. He also declares he’s done and he intends to stay home from now on. Afterwards, he and Christine walk off together into the sunset. In a horrible sort of way he had to believe that Christine was dead because of the choices he made for him to finally choose to stay home and start a real life with her. Being given a second chance, this time he wasn't going to blow it.

There were a few loose ends. I don’t think they told what happened to Grace’s father. He didn’t seem to be there when she got home. I would have loved for Marcus to have been able to put a bullet in Julien’s head before he met his end. What with the Chinese ambassador leaving and Marcus and company gone, it seems like the little rodent will once again regain his rule over the island. We also didn’t find out what happened to Kylie after she assassinated the president, but according to her boyfriend before he died, they were already dead. I was also hoping King and Grace would end up together. Instead, King ended up with Tani living on the island. She was good for him and seemed to give him a semblance of peace, so it was a good ending for him, yet another victim of the president. He went into a very dark place after following orders and not questioning them as Marcus had and refusing to comply.

Andre Braugher created a memorable character in Marcus Chaplin that will live on long in your memory long after the show is forgotten. It would be nice if when the award season comes along if he’d be honored for the stunning performances he gave of a man who had to do what others considered to be wrong to do the right thing.

Rest in peace, Last Resort. Despite what the media hype is saying about Nashville being the best new show, you were the show that deserved that honor. You were a little too fresh and new and perhaps a little too controversial for ABC to stick with you and give you a chance in a better time slot.

Ultimately, Last Resort presented us with two types of heroes: one who is loyal to his country and follows the orders of its leaders, even though those leaders may turn around and kill them for their loyalty; and a braver type of hero that will say to its country, "What you're asking me to do is wrong and I won't do it." The type of hero who stands up for what's right won't get any parades when he comes home and may be disdained for trying to do the right thing, but ultimately they're the best kind of heroes.