Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Choose and Lose
By M. Giant | Season 1 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.18.2012
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.There are still a lot of pesky morale problems going on aboard the Colorado, and Chaplin gets so tired of it he hangs a sign-up sheet in the mess where every member of the crew can mark down their names as staying or going. It's not looking good for retention. And to make matters worse, SecDef Curry has sent secret messages to several of the crew ordering them to take out Chaplin, Kendal, and if necessary the Colorado itself, a fact which comes to light after a failed assassination attempt against the commanding officers. Chaplin, however, refuses to be bowed, and holds a drill exactly as planned.
Elsewhere, evil mayor Julian has gotten it into his head that the island might be rich in certain minerals that could make him even richer. Sophie pulls some soil samples and confirms as much, but hides the results from Julian, then cryptically passes stewardship of the island on to Kendal. Who has no idea what is going on. Really playing nicely to Scott Speedman's strengths there.
And back in D.C., the pressure mounts on Kendal's wife Christine, who accepts a visit and some help from Kendal's old college buddy (if that's who he really is), then yells at the news cameras in her yard about wanting the truth. Kylie Sinclair learns that it was her dad who arranged for the drive containing the Perseus plans to be stolen. He tells her to drop it, but she's still meeting in secret with Admiral Shepard and intrigued by what she sees of Christine Kendal on the news.
As for the drill on the Colorado, that goes fine. But after it's over, Brannan, who's been doing a slow burn since sacrificing Redman to Julian, snaps and threatens the sub with a grenade, thinking he'll be a hero if he puts an end to this. Chaplin handles him with care, and even lets him talk to the Secretary of Defense. But when Curry orders Brannan to go ahead and sink the boat, he backs down and the day is saved. And so is most of the crew, after hearing Chaplin's weekly inspirational speech. He really needs to come up with a speech that has a little more staying power, though. If he gets throat polyps they're all screwed.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Last week it was a run; now it's a swim, with Kendal fairly far out from shore. Swimming seems like an underrated skill for a submariner. But suddenly we're on board the Colorado, including Kendal. We're in the regular timeline because Lieutenant Shepard looks mostly healed from her misadventures with the Spetznaz a couple of weeks ago, but the bad news is that the sub appears to be in an engagement. Chaplin gives Shepard the conn as she deals with a nearby torpedo strike, flooding in the torpedo room, and -- oh, never mind, it was all a drill. Chaplin is impressed with Shepard's performance, but not so much with the actual crew.
And here are some of them now, nearly fighting each other in the mess over what they're even doing here until Prosser cools them off. And then suddenly Prosser's back on the conn with the officers, as Cahill gets an order off the dot-matrix printer that delivers the urgent dispatches from D.C. This time it's not a firing order, but notice a charge of treason and terrorism against Chaplin and Kendal. Okay, so does that mean they can safely go home and have their trial like Chaplin said he wanted?
Back home, Christine Kendal is on the phone with someone insisting that her payments are current, but maybe the problem has something to do with the news report on TV showing that her hubby and his boss have just been indicted, a mere five days after Chaplin's nuke strike off the capital. Christine looks out at a white, dark-windowed van parked across the street and looks weirded out. Probably because on top of everything else, this is the first time we've seen daylight in Washington, D.C. on this show.
Redman's dead body is discovered washed up on the beach. Among the witnesses are his former fellow captives, Brannan and Cortez, the latter of whom tells the former ha had no choice while Kendal notes their sketchy behavior. Back on the boat, he tells Chaplin he's got a meeting with the two later today. With Shepard, they enter Chaplin's quarters to find a sailor named Anders already in there, demanding to go home now. Shepard drags Anders's whiny ass out, but Kendal reminds Chaplin that this is only one example of a big morale problem. So Chaplin suggests releasing the ones who want to go home. "If we can't trust them to stay, what can we trust them to do?" And how do you plan to get them home, exactly?
During Kendal's interview with Brannan and Cortez, Brannan says nothing about giving up Redman to Julian. Kendal asks if they were ever separated from each other, and Brannan lies about that too, with Cortez backing him up. Afterward, she says he did good, and he responds rather ungraciously. I liked him better when he was beatboxing.