In an effort to not go a week without posting: Attempt 2

[thistlechaser]

I wrote one of these posts up already, but it was too bitchy and whiny and blah, so I marked it private and I'm going to try again:

The Last Ship is a TV show currently running on the TNT channel here in the US. In it some sort of super flu broke out and killed ~90% of the world's population. This Navy ship has a small healthy crew and one doctor who is trying to find the cure. Just the kind of story I like!

Except it's not. There's so much wrong with the show, so much I shouldn't like, so much that makes no sense, yet still I'm loving it.

There are little things wrong with it: The crew caught wild monkeys for the doctor to use in testing. When she stuck her hand in the cage to give them an injection into their bellies, they just sat there and looked at her, no reactions at all. Wild monkeys. Wild monkeys who see the other monkeys in the cages around them dying a bloody death.

And big things: So this crew is the only(?) chance of saving the world. They went into the jungle to get the monkeys, found a dictator, so instead of just taking the monkeys and going, the big, muscular, all-blonde Americans instead went into battle (automatic weapons, traps, violent battle) with the dark haired, dark skinned bad guy. Yes, please risk the fate of the entire world so you can save the 100 people he's abusing. Way to prioritize, guys.

The whole thing is so RAH RAH AMERICA! GO MILITARY!. All the good guys are giant muscular blond men. The woman doctor is of course beautiful. It's everything I dislike, but somehow I like it a lot. I can't explain it.

Comments

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

Monkeys are to be hated. If you've ever interacted with them, tame or not, they are absurdly obnoxious. If you know anyone in the military who has been stationed somewhere with indigenous monkeys - ask them. I guarantee they have at least one story of trying to set the monkey's tree on fire or something like it.

I for one am perfectly fine testing things on monkeys. My ex's mother had one as a pet. After a few hours I would've been happy to drill a hole in its head and put in electrodes.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Especially in the show's setting, it made sense to test on them. I just wish they had acted more monkey-like, instead of sitting there like a stuffed animal.

I can't imagine having one as a pet. Seems like it would be having an evil, smart kid who is much faster than you.

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

I won't deny that it's America Fuck Yeah, etc. but I personally liked the way that dictator thing was handled. They did just take the monkeys and go. That dictator basically did the equivalent of screaming FUCK YOU in their faces and they just took it. BUT, on the way back their consciences got the better of them and they turned back to help the villagers. They didn't risk the monkeys -- those were already on the boat and there were two guys on the boat who could take the monkeys back to the ship if the rescue failed.

I also liked how they contrasted that, a situation where they could actually help somebody, with the sick people on the riverbank that they had to ignore on the way back because they had absolutely no way of helping them. In other words, if you are *able* to help are you not morally obligated to help?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Good points. Risking themselves was a pretty big gamble though. (And really, should the captain and the second in command both have been on this mission?) It's good that they helped the healthy people, but I think they need to put their mission first, which means they need to keep the ship running, which means they need to keep themselves alive. Crew is going to be hard to replace.

I liked the contrast as well, but I think it could have been used to show how hard it was to not help the healthy people -- they could help them, but sticking to the mission and not risking themselves was the more important thing.

To me, it comes down to "save these hundred people" vs "save the world", which is a no-brainer. Especially since those hundred were generally not going to be killed. Bad life? Yeah, sure. But alive with food to eat, etc.

[twissie.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, this sounds like the kind of trainwreck I enjoy watching :D I need to look this up.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You should! I'll be interested to hear what you think, if you do.