It's Not a Rumor is the third episode of The Last Ship's second season.
Having taken control of Avocet, Dr. Scott has been able to manufacture thousands of doses of the cure. Captain Chandler takes an expedition to the White House in the hopes of finding some surviving members of the US government. They find that the bunker is sealed tight with no one answering so they salvage hard drives containing valuable intelligence from the situation room before heading to Norfolk, Nathan James' home port.
Once there, Nathan James links up with remnants of US Navy personnel at the base as crewmembers start looking to see if their families survived the plague.
Also, Niels Sorenson washes ashore in Florida and continues to spread death with his mere presence.
This episode provides examples of:
- As Himself: Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus makes a cameo appearance in a recorded message.
- The Atoner: The plague has caused Kara's mother to finally get clean and sober and she's dedicated herself to helping others out. She deeply apologizes to Kara for her failures over the years and hopes to make up for it.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Kara comes to her mom's house, she finds slews of empty bottles and assumes her mom went on a huge binge. When she finds her mom helping others, her mother explains that the outbreak caused her to finally sober up and she poured all the alcohol out to get clean.
- Hope Spot:
- Avocet's facilities were able to produce thousands of doses of the genuine cure and Nathan James is preparing to distribute it throughout the East Coast.
- Hard drives recovered from the White House reveal that a worldwide network of labs, scientists, and military personnel had intentionally gone off the grid in the hopes that Nathan James would return with the cure. The crew is able to connect with many of them and start preparations for mass production.
- Dr. Scott is able to reconnect with her old mentor.
- Navy personnel at Norfolk had been working to maintain some semblance of order and there are pilots and planes who are ready to transport the cure and scientists to the various labs that are still up and running.
- Some crewmembers, Kara being the highlighted example, are able to find their families alive and well.
- Ship Tease: There are hints at Chandler and Kelly Tophet beginning to develop an attraction. Nothing much is made of it, though, as Chandler soon has to head back out to sea.
- Survivor Guilt: Part of Chandler's reason for wanting stay home is because he got to live while his wife died. Jed Chandler also carries a lot of guilt, believing himself to be the one responsible for his daughter-in-law's death.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Chandler believes that being at home with his children should take precedence over the mission to save the world and spends some time fixing up the family home. His father talks him into going back out to sea, though. In all, Chandler's retirement is so brief that no one knows that he ever intended to quit.
