Review: 'Last Resort' - 'The Pointy End of the Spear': Torn on the COB
Marcus and Sam plot against each other, while Kaylie prepares for a White House coup
Autumn Reeser in "Last Resort."
A quick review of last night's "Last Resort" coming up just as soon as I give you my lucky $2 bill...
The two most recent "Last Resort" episodes have arguably been the show's strongest since the pilot, but in a way that's been a reminder of why this concept probably would have been better serviced as a miniseries.(*) Though the cancellation news came in time for the creative team to turn the finale(**) into a proper end to the series, this arc of episodes involving coups and mutinies was cooked up before the news broke, with the idea that the series would continue past it. And while I can imagine certain circumstances under which the show might continue after the COB's mutiny, I think it might have required more contorting than I'd have been happy about. (On the other hand, Shawn Ryan had a pretty good track record of convincingly turning Vic Mackey's enemies into his allies, but the stakes on that show never involved nuclear missiles and the future of the U.S. government.)
(*) At press tour, FOX and FX announced they're going to collaborate on some "limited run series" (they've decided that "miniseries" now has a bad connotation) along the lines of what HBO has done with things like "The Pacific," and Kevin Reilly said they've figured out a way to make money on it. Hopefully, if they succeed, it'll lead to more concepts like this being told at the exact length they deserve, rather than trying to spin things out for years on end.
(**) For reasons passing understanding — Shawn Ryan joked that it was sadistic — the promo for next week's episode referred to it as the "Season Finale." Yeah, well.
There were parts of "The Pointy End of the Spear" that didn't quite work — I'd have rather Tani just stayed in the jungle, for instance, and they had to rush Ernie Hudson's suicide — but all the material on the island involving alliances and counter-alliances being made, with each party well aware of what the other was doing and just hoping their coalition was stronger, really crackled. Marcus thinks he's played his trump card with Grace, but then there's Anders, back from his jungle exile and ready to wreak more havoc in the finale.
Ryan's last network series, "The Chicago Code," really found itself in its final episodes in a way that suggested it could have been very successful creatively going forward if FOX had renewed it. "Last Resort" is also surging here at the end, but ultimately, 13 episodes is probably what this particular story merited.
What did everybody else think?
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupJon88
January 18, 2013 at 1:38PM EST Reply to CommentI'm wondering how much my viewing is affected by knowing the show is a short-timer. That the coup would fail was inevitable, except maybe it wasn't, since the end is nigh. Once it did, though, I spent most of the rest of the hour being impatient, knowing there would be a cliffhanger, and just wanting the story to be done already.
Dezbot
January 18, 2013 at 1:49PM EST Reply to Comment"this arc of episodes involving coups and mutinies was cooked up before the news broke, with the idea that the series would continue past it."
Everything's seemed so rushed these past two episodes that I was sure they were done after the announcement. It seems like they're just barreling toward the "season finale," and in a way that hasn't satisfied me, despite the stellar acting from Braugher & company (well, most of "& company"). Or may, like Jon88 wondered about himself, my viewing has been affected by knowing the show's a goner.
The other thing that's bothered me is the COB disappearing with little comment, then coming back a full-on mutineer. That story got short shrift already, and now it's just a mess. While I'm glad we'll get some sort of closure (unlike on "Alphas," damn stupid SyFy), I'm bummed it will be at the expense of stories like the COB's slip back into addiction (which Marcus pegged rather quickly last night).
kronicfatigue
January 18, 2013 at 5:00PM EST Reply to CommentI was fine with this episode but I thought the week before was the worst of the series, and probably a lowpoint for any show that I watch. I don't remember the details, but I remember thinking that it was actually insulting to the viewers to cram in multiple plots at once with no concern for pacing. So many things happened without explanation or room to breathe. It was like I was watching a wiki recap of the plot.
Kevin Watterson
January 18, 2013 at 8:06PM EST Reply to CommentSPOILER ALERT
Here's why this series is ending: It featured a dramatic moment where one conversation caused the Speaker of the House to commit suicide on his rostrum, and we have no idea why or what went wrong with the attempted coup.
chuchundra I figured they took his family hostage. That's kind of standard in this type of plot.
January 19, 2013 at 3:11PM ESTjoel It feels like they've compressed three episodes into each of these last three individual episodes. I just assumed that since we're watching an entire episode of "Last week on Last Resort" clips, the scene explaining why he did it wasn't really that important. His family was taken hostage, or he was told he'd be tried and hung for treason, or he found out the Patriots didn't make the Super Bowl. Really, who cares?
January 23, 2013 at 12:31PM ESTKevin Watterson
January 18, 2013 at 8:07PM EST Reply to CommentWrite a comment...SPOILER ALERT
Here's why this series failed: The Speaker of the House shot himself in the face on his rostrum and we have no idea why or how the coup attempt failed. Doesn't that seem like the kind of thing you'd want to put in a primetime TV show???
Faithful Reader Who Hates This Website's Design
January 19, 2013 at 7:35AM EST Reply to CommentI want the review for the last episode, I can NOT find it. Tags take to a page with photo gallery. Went through your articles about 4 pages and couldn't find it! 10,000 links on the page, but not one for last week's episode's review.
mcm99 I do not believe there was one.
January 19, 2013 at 12:23PM ESTberkowit28 Try the AV Club.
January 20, 2013 at 2:37AM ESTBeekayz Come to think of it, for an actual review of this weeks episode you might want to try the A.V. Club
January 20, 2013 at 6:12AM ESTLee
January 20, 2013 at 11:32PM EST Reply to CommentSadly, I think we should stop expecting greatness from Shawn Ryan. THE SHIELD was a masterpiece, and nothing he has done since has even approached it. I know that TERRIERS is beloved in these quarters but, while I thought it was a good show, it really wasn't anything special. THE CHICAGO CODE and LAST RESORT were disappointing flops. I'm beginning to think that even the most fertile TV minds have only one great show in them, with someone like Larry David being the very rare exception.
joel You should brush up on TV history before making bold statements like that.
January 23, 2013 at 12:28PM ESTBarbara Stoner
January 21, 2013 at 2:32AM EST Reply to CommentI'm fine with it ending - I think the writing of this show was enormously mishandled. I'm only sorry that it didn't give Andre Braugher the long-running vehicle he so deserves to have. Maybe now that Paul Attanasio is finished with House, he can get something good going for Andre.
ZDT
January 21, 2013 at 9:08PM EST Reply to CommentThe coup storyline makes no sense.
They wouldn't need a coup to oust the President, they would just need to leak the helmet cam footage to the press and the impeachment and trial would follow promptly.
That's why we have those systems in place.
joel Yeah, I couldn't figure that one out myself. Also, if you're going to basically take over and shut down Washington DC, I'm pretty sure that would need to start happening well before the Speaker is on the podium and that the shut-down would get ample attention, it being Washington DC of all places. I have this sneaking suspicion that if there's one city in this country you can't quietly and quickly invade, it's Washington DC.
January 23, 2013 at 12:25PM ESTBOB
January 30, 2013 at 1:34AM EST Reply to CommentI wanted to like this show. Ultimately, too many moving pieces. It seemed like a movie that was based on a great book, but the movie just couldn't bring everything together. Except, they had the time to bring it together and reached too far.
The Chicago Code was a very good show. Excellent acting.