The Last Frontier - Episode 3 to 5

You will be warned, there will be spoilers ahead.

Recap

When we last left off, there were still plenty of escaped convicts to round up, Sarah was missing, and Luke was heading into a dangerous situation.

In Episode 3, Havlock crosses paths with a few other escaped convicts and ends up taking a group of tourists, on a wildlife expedition, hostage in a tundra buggy. The U.S. Marshals quickly surround them, leading to a tense standoff that ends with the tourists rescued and the convicts captured. The episode culminates in the first face-to-face showdown between Havlock and Frank Remnick—ending with both of them hanging inside a dangling buggy cart on the side of cliff, and Havlock plummeting down the cliff.

In Episode 4, Frank and his team track two escaped female convicts, Kitty and Vivian, who murdered a state trooper while trying to survive the Alaskan wilderness. Acting on a tip, Frank captures Vivian and strikes a deal with her to locate Kitty. In the end, Frank realizes Vivian used their escape to steal Kitty’s hidden stash of money, calling herself the tipline, turning herself in, knowing that she could strike a deal selling out Kitty. Confronted with the truth, Vivian all but confirms Frank’s theory and, in exchange, reveals that Havlock was heading back toward town.

As for Sarah, she’s found by the Marshalls in the first half of episode 3. She was left alone by Havlock— somewhat as he had promised. We see her deal with the whole ordeal in the following episodes: mandatory counselling and hiding— a key message left by Havlock while she was his captive. She’s also the one who realized that Luke was actually missing when she made the drive to the cabin.

Finally, in Episode 5, Luke’s storyline reaches the conclusion of the 3 episode arc. The injured man he and Kira had helped turns out to be one of the escaped convicts, Romero. He kills Hayes, the trooper sent by Frank to rescue the couple, and takes them hostage. On their way back to town, Luke deliberately crashes the vehicle—seconds after unbuckling their captor’s seatbelt—so the impact would injure him worse than themselves. Dazed but alive, Luke and Kira are the first to recover. Realizing their best chance is to split up, Luke tells Kira to go one way while he draws Romero’s attention. But when Luke hesitates to shoot Romero despite having the gun, he’s overpowered and captured again.

Romero hijacks a salt truck and forces Luke to drive to a nearby power substation, where he sabotages the facility. His plan is to disable a HAARP station drawing power from that substation—the heart of a mass surveillance program. Thinking quickly, Luke leaves a trail of salt on the road, knowing his father will notice and follow it. Sure enough, Frank spots the trail, engages in a gunfight with Romero to rescue Luke, though it’s ultimately Sarah who delivers the fatal blow, running him over with the pickup truck.

As for Havlock’s story, we now know that he and Sidney were once involved—and are still technically married. The hard drive containing—or what was believed to be—Archive 6 had already arrived in Fairbanks by courier a good twenty-four hours before the plane went down. For reasons still unknown, Havlock left it behind in his motel room to be found. However, the recovered drive, though encrypted, doesn’t hold state secrets at all but rather a series of navigational prompts used in avionics. Frank and Hutch now suspect that the crash itself wasn’t an accident, but a CIA-orchestrated operation to eliminate Havlock.

Highlights / Strengths

Episodes 3 to 5 continue to build the series’ momentum. The show does an effective job of maintaining tension across its different threads—the pursuit of Havlock and his secrets, Luke’s fight for survival, and the ongoing hunt for the other convicts.

The performances remain strong, particularly from Jason Clarke, as the show gradually reveals the layers of Frank Remnick’s personal stakes—his past loss, a marriage that isn’t as perfect as it seemed, and the guarded secrets he’s still keeping.

Critique

I couldn’t help but get distracted by the poor CGI during the tourist tundra buggy sequence in Episode 3. That scene really shows the limits of the show’s budget—but fortunately, it’s brief enough not to completely pull you out of the story. Thankfully, the following two episodes rely far less on visual effects - or at least not to that level, allowing the focus to stay on the characters and the story.

As much as I enjoy the relatively brisk pacing and the idea of each episode centering on its own “villain of the week” (one or more escaped convicts), I find it frustrating how easily these threats are neutralized or recaptured. The structure works on paper, but the resolutions often feel too convenient - even if they ultimately serve to move the larger Havlock plot forward.

Final Thoughts

With Episodes 3 to 5, the show proves it still has plenty of momentum left. These chapters expand the story’s scope without losing sight of what makes The Last Frontier so compelling. With Havlock still out there and a citywide blackout looming, it’s safe to say I’ll be tuning in first thing Friday to see where it all leads.