REVIEW: ‘The Last Frontier’ Episode 9 — “Converge”

This review features spoilers for The Last Frontier Episode 9, “Converge.”

Back in the saddle.

Finally, some narrative momentum. After the last episode dropped us into an interminable flashback that we really didn’t need, The Last Frontier Episode 9, titled “Converge,” is back to brass tacks. This episode, which comes in at a lean and mean 40 minutes, is about the hunt for Sidney Scofield (Haley Bennett) as she sets out to bring Jacqueline Bradford (Alfre Woodard) down and make Archive 6 public.

Speaking of Bradford, she shows up in Fairbanks and tries to intimidate Frank (Jason Clarke), which goes about as well as you’d expect. Their verbal sparring is one of the episode’s best moments. Otherwise, this story is about everything… converging. I know, I’m sorry.

You can count on The Last Frontier Episode 9 to be predictable. 

Havlock (Dominic Cooper), Thiago (Anthony Skordi), Sidney, Frank… all the stuff The Last Frontier has built up over the course of this season is finally coming together, characters are sitting in rooms with each other for the first time, and we’ve got another manhunt.

Only this time, the hunter is the hunted. In fairness to Sidney, she does warn Frank not to come after her. Nobody’s coming out of this unscathed, and for whatever else Sidney is, I believe she doesn’t want Frank to get hurt. But that ain’t who Frank is. Another great exchange where it’s just two people talking.

That’s not to say there’s no action in The Last Frontier Episode 9. There’s a whole train sequence, a time-honored action tradition since From Russia With Love descended from Mount Olive carved out of marble. I wish the one here were a fraction of that one.

There aren’t stakes, really. We know Sidney is gonna dogwalk the Agency goons Bradford has sent after her, but what’s really disappointing is that it’s all shot in that “we’re going to cut every couple of seconds” way, so all the action feels disconnected and without momentum. It’s a shame. Train scenes should be fun.

Similarly, it’s a bummer that you know that Frank is always going to be a little slow and that Havlock will get out of whatever situation you put him in. You even know that Thiago still has a part to play even inside a jail cell. There are no real surprises here, aside from how awful the wig Sidney wears at one point looks.

It’s not bad television, per se, but it’s kind of predictable, which might be worse. We’re waiting for the pieces to get to where we know they need to be on the board and pretending it’s exciting to watch them move. Again, nothing here is bad; it just feels… perfunctory? Obligatory? I feel like I’ve said “man, what happens next might be cool” a lot this season. We’re running out of chances for that to pay off.

The Last Frontier Episode 9 doesn’t know what kind of television series it wants to be.

It ultimately ends in an interesting place, at least. Not an unexpected place, mind, but an interesting one… kinda like we have been all season. This time, though, the chips are down, and there’s one hand left to play.

What matters next is how The Last Frontier closes the book. I’d be lying if I said I knew what would happen from here on in, though I certainly have my theories. I hope it’s fun. I hope it’s interesting, but there is a part of me that feels The Last Frontier has never bridged the gap between “bad guy of the week” and prestige TV.

It’s tried its hand at both, to mixed success, but it’s never really brought either home. Next week’s episode is its last chance. We started with a plane crash and some great action sequences and a lot of intrigue, and I don’t think the show has ever really topped that opening episode. Next week is its final chance to do so. I hope it lands the plane. But maybe a crash would be more thematically appropriate. It would certainly rhyme.

The Last Frontier Episode 9 is streaming now on Apple TV with new episodes every Friday. 

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