The Last Frontier, a high-octane investigative series from Apple TV+, is the latest thriller from The Blacklist creator Jon Bokenkamp alongside co-creator Richard D’Ovidio. It’s another deep dive into the world of criminal assets and untrustworthy organizations, although The Last Frontier follows an escaped asset gone rogue rather than a master criminal using his asset status towards his own ends. Here, a rogue stealth operative from a shady CIA project goes free in the fringes of Alaska, and it’s a full-court press to find him before his plans endanger the U.S. at a fundamental level… or, at least, that’s the official story. As it proceeds, we come to discover that everyone has secrets. The Last Frontier is an engaging, often surprising manhunt thriller that elevates itself through a great central performance from Jason Clarke and smart, unexpected plotting that constantly evolves as the story unfolds.
What Is ‘The Last Frontier’ About?
The Last Frontier follows Frank Remnick (Clarke), a solitary U.S. Marshal whose post covers the most isolated portions of Alaska. A prison transport plane crashes, and one mysterious passenger, elaborately chained with senses deprived, seemed to have advanced knowledge of the crash. That now-escaped convict is Havlock (Dominic Cooper), a dangerous asset initially trained to appear rogue before he genuinely betrayed the government and went off the grid.
Also on his tail is the mysterious agent Sidney (Haley Bennett), who was responsible for training Havlock and is desperate to be the one to apprehend him. She has secrets aplenty, however, making her work with Remnick tenuous at best. They have to bring Havlock in before his plan comes to fruition, all while extraordinarily dangerous criminals are loose in the deepest Alaska wilderness — and they’re not the only danger lurking.
‘The Last Frontier’ Is a Smart Thriller That Delivers the Unexpected
One of The Last Frontier’s greatest strengths is a narrative with just enough secrets and complications to keep the tale persistently fresh. There are plenty of thrillers involving escaped, high-profile targets, caches of assets they shouldn’t have, and dangerous convicts run amok. There has to be something special to set a project like this apart, and The Last Frontier finds it thanks to a memorable setting and a surprising set of twists. It uses the network of escaped convicts to evolve the narrative and add unique wrinkles, while Havlock and Sidney’s secrets continually keep the story a step or two ahead of the viewer. The series also sidesteps well-trod narrative paths, such as the early choice to have Havlock take Frank’s wife, Sarah (Simone Kessell). That could easily be a season-long pressure milked to death, but instead, the show takes a fresher path into a series of better choices.
Clarke excels as the show’s besieged protagonist Frank Remnick, an obsessive workaholic who loves his family but lets his job get in the way. He’s adaptable and dogged, equally at odds with nemesis Havlock and the deep well of secrets that Sidney keeps. It’s a solid and layered performance that works well in this setting. Cooper is solid as the series’ main antagonist, a capable combatant whose biggest strengths are as a strategist and manipulator. Havlock excels at mobilizing other villains and assets to accomplish his goals, but he’s best at getting into investigators’ heads and finding their weaknesses, and Cooper makes an entertainingly believable master manipulator. There are opportunities to make Havlock himself feel a little more dangerous in ways that would elevate the series’ feeling of threat, but the actor’s performance still excels, given the material. Bennett additionally nails Sidney’s mysterious motives and layered choices, building a complicated character who’s worth watching.
Apple TV+’s ‘The Last Frontier’ Constantly Keeps You Guessing
The Last Frontier is a strong series elevated by factions full of secrets and conflicting purposes. It makes for an engaging show that regularly finds new wrinkles and high-consequence ways to move the story forward. Antagonists are more multifaceted than expected. Government agencies’ plans aren’t as simple and virtuous as they appear. Personal attachments make decisions complicated, and Remnick has to balance being a dogged black-and-white lawman in a morally anarchic world. It’s a well-crafted series that keeps you guessing, with some excellent set pieces as well. Some of the supremely dangerous convicts and antagonistic forces could feel a little scarier or more dangerous, but The Last Frontier still boasts spycraft hat regularly feels new.
Overall, Apple TV+’s The Last Frontier is a solidly conceived and executed thriller. Every aspect of it continually evolves, from the layered narrative to each major character to our understanding of the massive organizations that operate in the shadows. Clarke delivers a top-shelf performance as an unyielding U.S. Marshal, and Bennett is memorable as an international woman of mystery. Between these ever-changing elements and clever sequences that successfully wield the setting’s environmental bleakness, it’s a series that never settles for predictable storytelling.
