That marked a satisfying end to an up-and-down season.

The Nathan James had two missions to complete: first, clear out the Greek Navy ships protecting Vellek's laboratory ship, and second, recover the stolen African palm oil seeds.

The crew took care of the first objective on the action-packed The Last Ship Season 4 Episode 9.

It was an hour of cat-and-mouse, punctuated with missiles and gunfire.

As Slattery explained, the Nathan James, which was outnumbered at least three to one, had to fight smarter.

This meant using as much subterfuge as possible.

The Americans were definitely guilty of being cocky, especially Capt. Joe, not giving the Greeks enough credit. Lucia and Stavros proved they could be just as sneaky as the Americans.

Still, if the Greeks had hustled straight to Malta, odds are they could have gotten Vellek's business done before the James got there.

But no, Stavros, also too confident, convinced Lucia that they should take out the James and then they would have a leisurely float to Malta.

Instead, when Stavros allowed his ships' prop noise be heard to lure out the James, Tom and company were able to find their targets from hiding. They then used Sunshine's chopper to figure out that none of the three ships were the lab ship they sought.

The James brain trust more effectively used the local fishery for camouflage, when Danny, Wolf, and Azima pretended to be the James amid a group of fishing boats to lure the Greek ships away from Vellek's ship.

And how about Vulture Team taking out that warship with an improvised, big-ass mine?

I didn't expect the death of Sunshine and Razor when the chopper was shot down. Fortunately, Nolan survived, to keep a little bit of Tex alive.

Yet, when one of the Greek ships hid among the fishing vessels, Tom just used torpedoes to shoot at the boat sitting lowest in the water, in the case the Greek warship.

When 3-to-1 odds weren't working for him, why Stavros think his ship would win a head-to-head battle with the James? Because a pissed-off Lucia told him to do so? Getting closer just made him a bigger target.

And who paid for that gamble? Giorgio.

In the end, I actually felt sorry for Giorgio. His father used him as his whipping boy and actually preferred a drug-induced hallucination to his remaining son.

Also, the booze-guzzling Giorgio was actually the soberest member of his family. I understand that grief is why Vellek spent much of his time stoned, but Lucia? I thought she was the smart one.

I thought Vellek was trying to subjugate humanity. I didn't figure on him just wanting to numb everyone, giving them peace through a drugged haze. 

So, now that the Greek Navy was decimated, it was on to the second part of the James' mission, recovering the seeds, on The Last Ship Season 4 Episode 10.

But first, since Vellek's ship was in hiding, Slattery sent Vulture Team to destroy the nostos-laced plants. And things got messy there.

Once Tom and Slattery figured out the insects were being used to spread the nostos to uninfected crops, the team had new instructions: to blow up the planes. That's hard to do quietly.

Surprise! The Greeks were guarding the airfield, with both Miller and Danny getting shot. Wolf and Azima blew up two planes. Burk chose to stay with his wounded crewmates rather than attempt to stop the third plane, so the James had to shoot it down, giving away their position.

Stavros fired back at the James, giving away the position of the lab ship. Who made this guy admiral, anyway? 

Tom and Sasha, the alpha male and female on the James, went to infiltrate and sabotage the Greek ship, mainly because they had unfinished business.

Great strategy by Slattery, to ram the Greek ship and board with a group of volunteers. Who was left in charge? Kara? Or Jeter, who wasn't even supposed to be on duty?

Moot point, since all the action was on the Greek ship.

The wildcard through it all was Vellek, who was going into withdrawal and who tried to burn all of his research and plants. Good thing Sasha found that handy fire extinguisher. Somewhere under it all, he meant well, but he was nuts.

So the Nathan James saved the world again. And although about every other major and minor character was injured, only two more deaths occurred. 

Two new couples came out of the mission: Diaz and Nolan and Azima and Wolf. 

And maybe Tom and Sasha, again? What Tom was going to do was definitely left up in the air.

What's next on The Last Ship Season 5? I've figured the virus has got to be played out at this point, so it's going to have to be an entirely different approach next season. 

To savor the entire season again, watch The Last Ship online.

What surprised you in these final episodes? Did you expect more casualties? Vellek, villain or victim? Comment below.

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Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.