I went into this latest instalment of The Last Frontier, titled “Arnaq,” expecting a tight thriller as the manhunt intensifies, and overall I found plenty to like, even if a few elements held the pace back. From the moment the story shifts its attention more firmly onto the personal stakes for Frank Remnick (played by Jason Clarke), it becomes clearer that this isn’t just about a fugitive on the run, but about what he means to the world he’s trying to protect and what that world may cost him. On the plus side, the episode leans into character vulnerability, and the direction delivers a strong sense of place. On the other side, some of the plotting feels slightly too broad for the runtime, and some emotional beats don’t quite land in the way they could.
In “Arnaq,” Frank is pulled in two directions: his continuing professional obligation to contain the chaos unleashed by the crashed prison transport, and his increasingly frantic personal concern for his missing son Luke Remnick. The CIA, represented in part by Sidney Scofield (Haley Bennett), ratchets up its involvement as Havlock’s plan enters a new phase; the hard-drive/macguffin subplot with “Archive 6” keeps ticking along. The shift in emphasis toward Luke gives the series a more intimate dimension: the father-son gap, the past decisions that led them here, the quiet dread that the missing child might have wandered into territory Frank knows only too well. That emotional core is handled with a decent amount of restraint. Clarke’s performance shows weariness, grit, and underlying fear, and in scenes where the show slows down to let Frank absorb what he might lose, it works well.
Visually, the episode remains strong. The Alaskan (or Alaskan-lookalike) wilderness setting continues to be one of its best assets. The art direction, production design, and cinematography combine to evoke a chill, an isolation, a sense that the environment is an antagonist in its own right. Even in conversations, the long quiet shots, the ambient sound of wind or snow or forest, help reinforce that this is tougher than just a criminal chase, it’s a battle in a place where help is far away and the margin for error is thin. I appreciated how the camera didn’t always rush in for close-ups but sometimes held back, allowing space for the actors to breathe, letting the dread settle in.
Character‐wise, the intersection of Frank’s professional and personal arcs pays off. The moment when he realises Luke has been in danger longer than he thought carries weight. The shift in Sidney from bureaucratic agent to someone forced into more personal involvement also works: we see her challenge her own assumptions, engage in dirty work, and question how far she’ll go. That kind of development adds credibility to what could otherwise be a one-note thriller. The subplot involving Luke’s predicament and his companion Kira hints at danger and moral ambiguity: someone young, unsure, caught between loyalty, survival, and fear. That helps make the stakes more than just “catch the bad guy.”
And yet—and this is where I landed on some reservations, some of the plotting feels too convenient, the logic occasionally stretches thin. The timing of discoveries, the way characters manage to find or not find people, and the way the CIA triage shifts happen, at times, feel orchestrated rather than organic. In a show that otherwise leans into grit and realism, those moments pull one out of immersion slightly. For example, decisions by characters that require them to wait or not wait, or to split resources in ways that don’t fully align with prior character logic, feel like the story needed them rather than the characters choosing them. That matters because once you’ve set up a world where survival and resource scarcity are key, you want the small choices to feel earned.
Also, the emotional beats are strong when they work, but sometimes they’re underdeveloped. Frank’s fear for Luke is obvious and believable, but we don’t always see the buildup that makes us fully feel the breakdown we expect. There are flashes of it, but the connective tissue between, say, “He doesn’t know” and “He’s devastated” could be more substantial. Some of the secondary characters still come across as functional moving pieces more than people with fully defined interior lives. That doesn’t kill the episode, but it does reduce how much I cared about certain threads.
Another plus: the pacing here is more confident than in earlier episodes. The tension builds steadily rather than through big jolts. Yes, there are moments of action and escape, but the show uses quiet and waiting as much as it uses chase and capture. That subtle use of pacing helps it avoid feeling like just another run-and-gun thriller. The direction nods to older radio-style suspense: long looks, withheld information, characters in darkness, and the environment pressing in. For a viewer interested in more than just explosions, that’s welcome.
However, the episode still suffers from some genre familiarity. The rogue agent with access to a massive data trove (“Archive 6”) is a trope that the series hasn’t escaped yet; many of the beats—CIA is involved, double-crosses, missing son, manhunt in harsh terrain—are welltrod. To make this stand out entirely, I’d like to see more inventive subversion of those tropes rather than fulfillment of them. “Arnaq” hints at those possibilities, especially with Luke’s storyline—but doesn’t fully lean into them. In other words, the show is doing what it does well, but not yet doing something radically new with it.
In terms of tension and stakes, the episode delivers. I felt genuinely uneasy when the show reminded me that the local sheriff/marshal doesn’t have unlimited backup, that his son might be caught in a place he can’t reach, and that the broader intelligence conflict doesn’t pause for family drama. The weaving of personal and professional stakes feels more natural here than in some earlier episodes. But the resolution of certain sequences felt a little tidy. When things line up too conveniently (characters finding key evidence, or fleeing at just the right moment), it undercuts the realism that the show otherwise aims for.
Also worth noting: the sound design and score continue to impress. The ambient noises of the wild, the distant voices, the sometimes muffled conversations through the radio, the silence in abandoned buildings, all of that serve to build atmosphere. Credit to the technical team for making the setting a character of its own. And the performances are solid across the board: none of the lead actors slumps, and the supporting cast stays credible even when the script asks them to do more heavy-lifting than we might want.
To sum up my experience: this episode hits many of the right notes. It deepens character stakes, uses its setting effectively to enhance tension, and commits to a slowerburn build rather than just spectacle. It’s engaging, it drives the narrative forward in meaningful ways, and for those invested in the show, I'm confident you’ll feel that something is shifting. On the flip side, the storyline occasionally leans on familiar thriller mechanics, and the portrayal of emotional consequences could have been richer. It doesn’t always surprise or challenge, and a few sequences feel choreographed rather than emergent.
Still, as a piece of TV drama, I found myself returning for the next at-bat: curious to know how Luke’s plot interweaves with the wider intelligence war, how Frank holds on, and whether the series will decide to take more risks with its structure and characters. “Arnaq” may not reinvent the wheel, but it spins it fast, and for now, I’m willing to ride along.
Final Score- [6.5/10]