Last Resort: Is Marcus a Mad Man? What Went Wrong in D.C.? And More Burning Questions

Matt Webb Mitovich
·5 min read
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Last Resort Premiere
Last Resort Premiere

You have been warned. So, now what…?

The debut of ABC’s Last Resort (Thursdays at 8/7c) showed how the ballistic Navy sub Colorado became hunted by its own country, after ignoring an order to attack Pakistan. With the Colorado now in everyone’s crosshairs, Capt. Marcus Chaplin found safe haven in Sainte Marina, then declared a 200-mile perimeter around the isle that, if breached, will have… consequences. With that foundation for the series laid, we sought answers to some of the burning questions now at hand.

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WHAT WILL LAST RESORT LOOK LIKE ON A WEEKLY BASIS? | Sainte Marina will not provide an oasis from perpetual conflict, be assured. “You have threats external, internal, and then you have the island threats,” says series lead Andre Braugher. “You have the U.S. Navy, who wants their submarine back to neutralize this ‘rogue’ crew, and you have men on board who don’t agree exactly with what we’re doing. And in the final analysis, you have the islanders who wonder if they’ve been taken over, because there is the tension of an occupation. There’s the potential for conflict, transformation and drama in all three of those directions. Eventually we will fall back on the only thing we have, which is our character.”

HOW SOON WILL THE PERIMETER BE THREATENED? AND WHO IS ALLOWED TO CROSS THAT LINE? | You’ll wait no longer than this Thursday’s episode to witness the first unauthorized encroachment, one that brings with it an aura of mystery, affords Chaplin another chance to brandish his bravado and sets the table for an unexpected hero. And while this “No Man’s Land” might seem to erase any chance of naval face-offs,Scott Speedman, who plays XO Sam Kendal, is quick to tease:

“They have been warned, but it’s possible that we might need to go out there for a reason.”

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CAN LT. SHEPARD HOLD HER OWN AGAINST A TERMINATOR? | Pity the person who needs to get in Robert Patrick’s face, but Daisy Betts’ Lt. Grace Shepard did just that in the pilot — and will continue to do so, even with COB Prosser now in the brig. “It’s, ‘You little bitch, Lieutenant‘ – I just loved that!” Betts says of her memorable retort during the duo’s first face-off. “Everyone was like, “That is the best line!'” But with Grace now having to wield authority away from the boat, and with Chaplin’s leadership itself in ways questioned, “She may not always have to follow the rules to get the respect of the men,” Betts shares.

ARE THE NAVY SEALS YET ANOTHER, INTERNAL THREAT TO THE COLORADO? | In a word, yes, as if the SEAL team’s doomed leader’s rebuff of Sam in the pilot wasn’t evidence enough. “The SEALs are kind of shady,” says Braugher. Adds Speedman: “They are come complicated, secretive dudes.”

HOW ANGSTY WILL IT GET FOR SAM AND THE WIFE? | Episode 2

begins to put the figurative thumbscrews to Sam’s wife Christine back home, and with Jessy Schram also a series regular, expect her well-being to often be put into play. “She’s in 10 out of [the first] 13 [episodes], so we’re going to use her as much as possible,” says Speedman. “There are many things that can threaten to pull us apart and make everything all the more dramatic.”

OK, SERIOUSLY – WHAT THE HELL WENT WRONG IN D.C.?! | Autumn Reeser says that her D.C.-based military whiz, Kylie Sinclair, will get embroiled in “her own mini investigative movie within the series” as she tries to find out why the Colorado received a suspect attack order to begin with. “Kylie unwittingly gets drawn into finding out why our country fired on our sub, and she’s really good at getting what she wants —

using any means possible,” says the actress. “Up until this point she has been completely self-serving and ambitious, so she’s going to find these levels of humanity and vulnerability that she didn’t know she had.” Nevertheless, her first pokes at the conspiracy result in a dead body almost straight away.

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IS CHAPLIN THE REAL MAD MAN HERE? | The Captain’s brash act at the close of the pilot — launching a nuke that came thisclose to the United States’ capitol – does lean just this side of Not Just Acting Crazy, But Being Crazy. And a revelation in this week’s episode, of a secret that Chaplin’s been keeping to himself, threatens to cloud our opinion of him more. “We are going to question, Do we still follow this guy? Is he a mad man? Or do we forge our own path?” says Betts. Speedman for one looks forward to seeing Sam one day have to question Marcus’ motives. “What’s exciting for me is the building up of that relationship, and the potential to come up against my mentor at some point,” he says.

WHO’S THE LUCKIEST CAST MEMBER OF THEM ALL? | It would appear to be… Reeser, and here’s why: While virtually all of the other series regulars are filming scenes set in a tropical locale, Reeser’s Kylie lives in the less-lush Washington, D.C. — and yet she still got to go along for the ride to Hawaii, where the series shoots. Beams the actress: “It’s really a win-win situation for me!”

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