Same ol’ song and dance. The Last Frontier Episode 4 has settled into a comfortable routine, but I’m not sure it’s one I’m overly fond of. We still have Marshal Frank Remnick (Jason Clarke) and government agent Sydney Schofield (Haley Bennett) tracking down the escaped convicts in Alaska while hunting Havlock (Dominic Cooper), who has shockingly little to do during this episode.
However, he does show up and is wheeling and dealing, as you might expect. At one point, he escapes his own manhunt by disguising himself as one of the guys hunting him. It’s pretty great. Oh, and we also learn that he likes dogs—Character growth!
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The ongoing Havlock drama is punctuated by the story of more of our convicts who have also escaped our season-opening plane crash. This time, it’s two women: con artist Vivian Pike (Gus Birney) and black widow extraordinaire Katherine Van Horne (Rusty Schwimmer).
The Last Frontier Episode 4 is giving us character growth slowly.
They want out of Alaska, and they’re not above killing people to get there. They are our Monster of the Week, and the manhunt that tracks them (and also, ideally, Havlock) is the core of our story. It’s fine, the kind of thing you might see on your average cop show. But it’s not prime time, edge-of-your-seat television.
Elsewhere, Sarah Remnick (Simone Kessell) is dealing with her kidnapping—she’s not okay, no matter how much she pretends she is—and the fact that Luke (Tait Blum) and Kira (Kya Rose) are still not home. They are, of course, now kidnapped by Issac Romero (Clifton Collins Jr.) due to Luke’s bad choices.
These stories run parallel to each other, but rarely overlap; each is in some way disconnected from the others. That’s not to say there’s no interest or intrigue or that the performances given aren’t good (there is, and they are; Gus Birney does some particularly interesting work here as Vivian, and the core players are always good).
The Last Frontier Episode 4 continues to tell a disjointed story.
Still, these stories often feel disconnected from each other and the larger Havlock-oriented plot that the pilot took so much time to set up. It’s fine viewing on its own, but rarely does it feel like any of it is leading to anything greater than what we see now.
It’s a shame, too, because the intrigue is there. Havelock’s marriage to and relationship with Sydney; the mystery of his larger plan; Frank’s past and ongoing family dramas; the escaped prisoners themselves. This is all good stuff! I’ve complained in previous reviews that these episodes often feel like they’re blowing through plot points too quickly, but this episode feels like a drag despite a shorter (but still 55-minute) runtime.
Everyone feels like they’re on the way to something (and God, so much time is spent in cars), but nobody is actually getting anywhere. Everyone is on the road to a conclusion that will happen in a later episode, though there is some spice in The Last Frontier Episode 4’s ending that will set up some interesting stuff next week. Until then, I feel like I’m in purgatory. Kinda like these cats hiking through the Alaskan wilderness.
The Last Frontier Episode 4 is streaming now on Apple TV+ with new episodes every Friday.
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