Almost everyone seems to agree that this has been a dreary summer for big popcorn movies. Luckily, there's a cure: the post-apocalyptic TV drama The Last Ship, in which one plucky Navy destroyer fights to rescue the world after a plague wipes out millions of people.

The Last Ship, which airs Sunday nights on TNT, is a ridiculously fun blend of post-apocalyptic grimness, military heroics, and weird science. And yet, you don't hear science fiction fans talking about it that much. Maybe it's because the show is produced by *Transformers *auteur Michael Bay; maybe it's the fact that it's basically one extended advertisement for the U.S. Navy, which cooperates enthusiastically with the producers; maybe there's just too much fun television right now. But make no mistake: *The Last Ship *is worth checking out.

The show is loosely based on William Brinkley's 1988 novel of the same name—but while the book depicts the aftermath of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union, the show replaces nuclear winter with a pandemic, and the U.S.S. Nathan James is searching for a cure. It's not in the same league as the *Battlestar Galactica *reboot, but it has a lot of the same flavor: painstakingly detailed military strategy against a backdrop of post-apocalyptic chaos. (And if you miss the old Navy-inspired spaceship battles from the original Star Trek, you'll get your fix.)

After two seasons that detailed the search for a cure and the struggle to bring it back to the States, the current third season downplays the virology technobabble, and ratchets up the naval battles, political intrigue, ethical dilemmas, and over-the-top heroics.

The crew of the Nathan James has gone to Asia, where the officers are trying to distribute the cure in the face of obstruction and sabotage from villainous Chinese President Peng (Fernando Chien). Meanwhile, Japanese pirates kidnap some of the crewmembers and use them as human bloodbags, in a sequence clearly inspired by *Bridge on the River Kwai *and other wartime classics. Oh, and back in the U.S., there's also a conspiracy to destroy the already fragile government.

Doug Hyun/TNT

All of which brings me to a major problem with The Last Ship: The show's villains aren't just one-dimensional and silly, but also lean hevily on some outmoded stereotypes. Season one features South American drug lords and a cold, scheming Russian admiral; in season three, the Chinese government is straight-up evil, and Japanese pirate leader Takehada (Hiroyuki Sanada) is a cruel, brooding torturer. While Sanada has revealed layers to his character, becoming one of the most sympathetic surprises, the overall effect—especially alongside the show's jingoistic military imagery—is one of xenophobia.

But *The Last Ship'*s mustache-twirling villains (both American and foreign) also underscore the show's ’80s-action-movie feel—a feel that's established by the crew's super-competent badasses solving an endless series of problems like a cross between MacGyver and the A-Team. During one sequence, for example, the imprisoned sailors use the position of the sun and other factors to chart their longitude and latitude, then use those numbers as fake Navy serial numbers in a hostage video, in order to alert the ship to their position. Later, heroic engineer Andrea Garnett (Faye Masterson) sneaks out and jury-rigs a radio tower to send a signal. Meanwhile, the Nathan James has to navigate a minefield and escape encirclement by four Chinese destroyers with a series of cunning maneuvers.

Spoiler alert: None of the officers of the Nathan James is ever anything less than heroic. They make mistakes, sometimes huge ones, but they're always brave and resourceful. If you're looking for a realistic depiction of how a crew of fallible humans, cut off from the rest of the Navy, would falter in the midst of an apocalyptic crisis, look elsewhere. But if you want old-school heroic action to buckle your swash, this is a surprisingly watchable show.

Every detail of the Navy combat and protocols appears to be just as accurate as the show's science isn't. And the intense focus on how things actually work on a Navy destroyer makes the characters much more sympathetic. Just like a doctor show can afford to get pretty goofy as long as the actual medical stuff feels real and serious, *The Last Ship *gets away with a lot because of how seriously it takes things like chain of command and rules of engagement.

Meanwhile, former Grey's Anatomy star Eric Dane (who also produces the show) puts his prodigious chin to great use as rugged captain Tom Chandler. Dane strides through a series of tough situations, his angry scowl occasionally giving way to a smirk. He's more restrained than William Shatner, but has some of the same brooding swagger. He's backed up by a large and diverse cast, many of whom have grown into genuinely interesting characters, thanks to some meaty storylines here and there.

Doug Hyun/TNT

One reason why The Last Ship is so watchable: Many of the first two seasons' episodes were directed by Jack Bender, who was the secret sauce behind a lot of Lost's appeal. He manages to lend tension and drama to the show's endless displays of military hardware, and his restless lens keeps you on the edge of your seat to see what's coming next. Bender is gone in season three, but guest directors have included Peter "Robocop" Weller and Jennifer Lynch (Boxing Helena).

Most post-apocalyptic stories are about merely trying to survive, or building a community in the wilderness. But like the final season of Jericho, and the later seasons of Falling Skies, *The Last Ship *is both more ambitious and more optimistic: It's about actually rebuilding America. Because of the focus on a powerful ship, carrying Tomahawk missiles, the apocalypse is seldom a rag-tag affair, and the main message of *The Last Ship *seems to be that even after everything falls apart, we can still be strong and do the right thing if we stick together (and honor the uniform, of course.)

And as it's gone on, the political storylines in The Last Ship have gotten progressively weirder and more subversive. In one memorable arc, Alfre Woodard plays Amy Granderson, the new President of the United States, who sets up a eugenics program to ensure only the "right" people survive the plague (and also burns the plague victims to run her power plant.) More recently, her successor has attempted to impose rationing and banking controls on America, only to be thwarted by thugs—leading to an impassioned defense of socialism from this normally conservative show.

Not every plot arc has been great, and not every risk has paid off. But even at its worst and silliest, this show is an escapist treat. The latest episode, aired last week, was an example of The Last Ship at its wackiest: the Nathan James taking on the entire Chinese navy in a sequence that was half clever naval strategy and half action-movie silliness. Meanwhile, the conspiracy to subvert America reached its peak, culminating in a montage of Army and Air Force top brass being slaughtered all over the country with guns, garottes and their own workout equipment. The stage is set for the Nathan James to return to America and try to restore order and democracy—probably by blowing stuff up.