In the fifth episode of The Last Frontier, titled “Arnaq,” the remote Alaskan town is pushed to the brink as a dangerous convict’s plan comes to a head, and personal loyalties are tested. Frank and Sarah Remnick‘s desperate search for their kidnapped son, Luke, leads them to a confrontation with the clinically insane Isaac Romero, whose actions plunge the entire region into darkness. Meanwhile, the elusive Levi Havlock remains one step ahead of the authorities, using the chaos to get closer to his wife, Sidney Scofield, with a life-changing proposal.
Frank and Sarah’s Desperate Search for Luke
The episode opens with a moment of hope as Kira is found alive in the freezing wilderness by a member of the local Tanana community, who saves her from hypothermia. She is able to identify Luke’s kidnapper, allowing Frank and his team to put a name to the threat: Isaac Romero. Frank and Sarah immediately join forces to find their son, their personal fears overshadowing the larger manhunt for the other escaped inmates.
Their search leads them to a civilian whose road-salting truck was stolen by Romero, with Luke still inside. A crucial break comes when Frank notices a trail of salt left by the truck, guiding them directly to Romero and Luke’s location. The race against time becomes a family mission, straining Frank and Sarah’s marriage as the pressure mounts.
Who Is the Dangerous Convict Isaac Romero?
Authorities quickly identify Romero as a former Naval Academy graduate who was once a gifted engineer handpicked by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. His job was to build sophisticated surveillance machines for the government. However, he began to suffer from severe mental instability, leading him to believe that the government was using his creations to spy on private citizens.
This paranoia escalated into violence; Romero was officially labeled “clinically paranoid and criminally insane” after he killed several people, including his neighbor. He now sees himself as a crusader against government invasion of privacy, and his technical knowledge makes him a uniquely dangerous threat.
Romero’s Goal to Destroy the HAARP Facility
Romero’s grand plan, which he forces Luke to participate in, is focused on destroying HAARP, the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program. This is a real U.S. military research facility, and in the world of the show, Romero believes it is a front for a massive surveillance operation spying on ordinary people. His goal is to expose this truth and shut it down.
His plan involves a two-step process. First, he and Luke attack a power substation that supplies electricity to HAARP. There, Romero steals a large piece of machinery—a crucial component of the facility’s backup power system. He then forces Luke to drive them to the HAARP facility itself, intending to finish the job.
The Confrontation and Romero’s Defeat
Frank and Sarah catch up to Romero and Luke at the HAARP facility. During the tense standoff, Romero holds Luke at gunpoint. Frank attempts to negotiate, offering himself in exchange for his son. Just as Romero releases Luke, Sarah makes a split-second decision, driving their vehicle directly into Romero. The impact leaves the convict dead, and Luke is finally safe.
However, the family reunion is fractured. The trauma of the event highlights the existing cracks in Frank and Sarah’s relationship. In a heated moment, Sarah demands that Frank choose between his job and his family, creating a new personal crisis for the marshal.
How Romero’s Plan Succeeds After His Death
Despite Romero’s death, his plan was already in motion. Later, Deputy Cole reviews old conspiracy videos Romero posted online. In them, Romero explains a critical flaw in HAARP’s backup power system. He detailed that a failsafe switch is meant to signal the system to go into battery backup mode during an outage. If that switch is missing or disabled, the main power and the backup battery would feed energy into the network simultaneously, causing a catastrophic overload.
Unfortunately, Cole pieces this together too late. The episode ends on a massive cliffhanger as the entire town of Fairbanks is plunged into a total blackout. Romero’s sabotage is successful, creating a new wave of chaos and danger for a community already dealing with escaped convicts.
Havlock’s Motel Room Trap and a Fake Hard Drive
While Frank is focused on his son, the hunt for Levi Havlock continues. Havlock proactively calls Frank, wanting to talk personally about a “secret” he knows Frank is keeping. The call is traced to a motel room on the Parks Highway. When police and marshals raid the room, Havlock is long gone, leaving behind only a rescued dog and what appears to be the Archive 6 hard drive.
Sidney is immediately suspicious, believing Havlock wanted them to find the drive. Her colleague, Hutch, sees it as a win and sends it to the FBI for analysis. It is later revealed that the hard drive is not the real Archive 6 but is instead filled with navigational data, confirming it was a decoy.
Havlock’s Secret Meeting and Proposal to Sidney
Havlock never left the area. He was watching from the crowd as the authorities raided his motel room. He later finds Sidney alone at a bar and confronts her. During their conversation, he confirms that the Archive 6 they found is a fake and is still safe.
He then makes her a stunning offer. He tells her to leave everything behind and run away with him to Goa, India. He claims that as long as he has the real Archive 6, the government cannot touch them. Despite their complicated history and the clear tension between them, Sidney refuses his proposition. Havlock departs, leaving his handgun on the bar, a symbol of the trust and complicated feelings between them.
A Town in Darkness and a Theory of Government Conspiracy
The episode closes with two major developments. First, the town is enveloped in the darkness of Romero’s successful blackout. Second, Frank pieces together a new theory about the plane crash. After Sarah finally gives him a memory chip that Havlock had given her—which contains the flight deck recording—Frank and Hutch begin to suspect a larger conspiracy.
Frank theorizes that the CIA may have intentionally caused the airliner to crash in an attempt to kill Havlock. He suggests that the courier might actually be working for the CIA and that the hard drive he was carrying contained not state secrets, but the malware used to bring the plane down.
Also Read: The Last Frontier Episode 5 Release: Frank’s Hunt for His Son and a Rogue Agent
