The Last Frontier kicks off with total chaos and zero chill. Within the first few minutes, a prison transport plane goes down in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, and suddenly the show becomes a survival thriller, a manhunt, and a conspiracy mystery all at once. Jason Clarke plays Frank Remnick, a tired U.S. Marshal trying to keep the peace in a remote outpost surrounded by snow, silence, and bad decisions. Then, boom, everything explodes, literally and figuratively.
The first episode throws you straight into the action. The crash scene looks incredible, the kind of big-budget chaos you’d expect from a summer movie, not a TV show. You can almost feel the cold air and smell the smoke. Between the flames and the snow, there’s this gritty sense of realism that makes it hard to look away. The tone is a mix of old-school thriller and modern survival drama, and Clarke nails the whole “gruff man with a past who has to step up again” vibe. You actually buy that he’s been stuck in this frozen corner of the world for too long.
Episode two slows things down just enough to let some mystery in. We meet Havlock, played by Dominic Cooper, who oozes the kind of charm that screams “this guy is definitely trouble.” There’s talk of missing cargo, whispers of a CIA cover-up, and hints that the crash wasn’t an accident at all. Haley Bennett shows up as Sidney Scofield, who might be connected to that bigger conspiracy, though her character still feels like she’s finding her footing. The story keeps layering on questions without giving too many answers, which is both frustrating and addictive.
Visually, the show looks amazing. The Alaskan landscape feels like a character itself, beautiful but ready to kill you at any second. The sound design is intense too, with every gust of wind and crack of ice reminding you just how alone these people are. The writing has its ups and downs; sometimes it leans into action-thriller mode, then suddenly switches to political drama. The tone jumps around a bit, but when it clicks, it really clicks.
By the end of the second episode, The Last Frontier feels like a wild mashup of Con Air and Yellowjackets, but colder and meaner. It’s not perfect, but it’s bold and fast, and it looks incredible. If you’re into survival stories, crime thrillers, or just want to see Jason Clarke punch his way through an Alaskan blizzard, it’s worth sticking with. It might not know exactly what kind of show it wants to be yet, but it’s already cool enough to keep watching.
The Last Frontier airs Fridays on AppleTV+. Check it out!
