Any TV drama that deals with military heroism must eventually also confront the enormity of tragic loss. With that said, consider this a spoiler alert regarding the next two episodes (tonight and Nov. 13) of CBS’ underrated The Unit, in which this covert Special Forces team takes a fateful, fatal hit.
The network and the show’s production studio have been urgently promoting these episodes (so much for keeping this twist under wraps), and while they’re uneven, they’re very much worth watching. There’s undeniably a bit of a sweeps stunting at play here, but I’m willing to take executive producer Shawn Ryan (The Shield) at his word when he says, in a cover letter attached to the screeners I received, “For three years, we’ve wanted to tell this story, but couldn’t until now. We needed the audience to know and love our characters for it to have the impact we knew it deserved.” He adds: “In the current war we are fighting, military deaths are reported, but the arrivals of the caskets and the memorial services themselves (rightly or wrongly) are entirely private. These two episodes pull back the curtains for the American public to see the reality of what can go wrong for our Special Forces soldiers in combat and what happens after such a tragedy and how it affects the military community at large.”
Adding to the drama, and the tragedy, is the fact that because this unit’s hush-hush missions are never publicly acknowledged, the memorial tribute to the fallen soldier is itself shrouded in secrecy and subterfuge. Still, there’s great dignity and honor in this character’s passing.
Tonight’s episode is the suspenseful setup, as a rescue mission in Beirut goes awry, forcing the team (including one severely injured member) to take cover in the apartment of a terrified family. Next week’s episode deals with the emotional and ceremonial aftermath of the ensuing events, as shaken colleagues and mourners on the homefront do their duty.
This has been a turbulent season for The Unit, which spent the first few episodes defusing and uncovering a political threat from within the government (the CIA, an easy target) that was trying to take the unit down. And now this tragic setback. At times like this, I usually get asked whether the actor wanted out or why this happened. My answer in this case is an obvious one: The Unit exists in a brutal world, and eventually, there must be casualties if we’re to believe even a little of it.
Still, the show isn’t above pandering. I could have done without the back-home subplot in tonight’s episode, in which Mack’s estranged wife Tiffy (who has turned to exotic dancing to pay the bills) is victimized by a lecherous creep who has her car towed. Payback’s a you-know-what, and Tiffy’s posse of military-wife pals know how to deliver it. But still. Talk about defusing the tension that’s so palpable in the rest of the episode.
And next week’s somber scenario is undercut by Jonas (Dennis Haysbert, a terrific action-hero lead) carrying out the rest of the team’s mission single-handedly in Beirut, a one-man Superman who seems to belie the notion put forth in these episodes that these men are hardly invincible.
I guess even in its darkest hours, The Unit still needs to survive as action-adventure entertainment. Nothing wrong with that, and this show delivers it better than most.
Any TV drama that deals with military heroism must eventually also confront the enormity of tragic loss. With that said, consider this a spoiler alert regarding the next two episodes (tonight and Nov. 13) of CBS’ underrated The Unit, in which this covert Special Forces team takes a fateful, fatal hit. The network and the show’s production studio have been urgently promoting these episodes (so much for keeping this twist under wraps), and while they’re uneven, they’re very much worth watching. There’s undeniably a bit of a sweeps stunting at play here, but I’m willing to take executive producer Shawn Ryan (The Shield) at his word when he says, in a cover letter attached to the screeners I received, “For three years, we’ve wanted to tell this story, but couldn’t until now. We needed the audience to know and love our characters for it to have the impact we knew it deserved.” He adds: “In the current war we are fighting, military deaths are reported, but the arrivals of the caskets and the memorial services themselves (rightly or wrongly) are entirely private. These two episodes pull back the curtains for the American public to see the reality of what can go wrong for our Special Forces soldiers in combat and what happens after such a tragedy and how it affects the military community at large.” Adding to the drama, and the tragedy, is the fact that because this unit’s hush-hush missions are never publicly acknowledged, the memorial tribute to the fallen soldier is itself shrouded in secrecy and subterfuge. Still, there’s great dignity and honor in this character’s passing. Tonight’s episode is the suspenseful setup, as a rescue mission in Beirut goes awry, forcing the team (including one severely injured member) to take cover in the apartment of a terrified family. Next week’s episode deals with the emotional and ceremonial aftermath of the ensuing events, as shaken colleagues and mourners on the homefront do their duty. This has been a turbulent season for The Unit, which spent the first few episodes defusing and uncovering a political threat from within the government (the CIA, an easy target) that was trying to take the unit down. And now this tragic setback. At times like this, I usually get asked whether the actor wanted out or why this happened. My answer in this case is an obvious one: The Unit exists in a brutal world, and eventually, there must be casualties if we’re to believe even a little of it. Still, the show isn’t above pandering. I could have done without the back-home subplot in tonight’s episode, in which Mack’s estranged wife Tiffy (who has turned to exotic dancing to pay the bills) is victimized by a lecherous creep who has her car towed. Payback’s a you-know-what, and Tiffy’s posse of military-wife pals know how to deliver it. But still. Talk about defusing the tension that’s so palpable in the rest of the episode. And next week’s somber scenario is undercut by Jonas (Dennis Haysbert, a terrific action-hero lead) carrying out the rest of the team’s mission single-handedly in Beirut, a one-man Superman who seems to belie the notion put forth in these episodes that these men are hardly invincible. I guess even in its darkest hours, The Unit still needs to survive as action-adventure entertainment. Nothing wrong with that, and this show delivers it better than most.
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