Where Snake Doctor Meets Betty Blue (The Unit)

Member Name: plipplop

Product:	The Unit
Date:	06/02/09 (236 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exciting, well-written, well-acted, good mixture of drama

Disadvantages: Slightly tame at times, perhaps a little too "neat"

A review of the CBS television production, The Unit, currently shown on Bravo in the UK.

The Unit tells the fictional stories of a small, covert US Army division based loosely on Delta Force, the American undercover counter-terrorism unit. The show is credited as being based on the book "Inside Delta Force" by Eric Haney and Haney himself produces the show. Haney is a former member of Delta Force and it's clear from the content of the stories that much of what the audience sees and hears is based on Haney's own experiences. As well as featuring action-based stories about various operations undertaken by all or some of the Unit members, the show also portrays the experiences of the men's immediate families, contrasting the explosive danger of global operations with more down-to-earth family matters.

It's a surprisingly successful format, seeming to merge high-octane action with character-driven drama. It gives the show a much wider appeal, reaching out to the female audience with its tales of babies, heartache and having to deal with wayward children and to the men with scenes of combat. Both types of drama are generally very authentic, particularly the action sequences that have such a firm grounding in real-life experience that it becomes very absorbing. In the early days, these two ingredients tended to be set up in a rather separate fashion, as if to highlight the difference between when the men are at home and when they are at war. As time has gone on, and the characters have developed, the two scenarios have started to merge more closely together, notably in season four where the wives and girlfriends become involved in an undercover operation.

All four series to date have been produced in 45-minute episodes, most of which are self-contained stories, with the occasional two-part extended stories, often at the end of a season. In season four, a continuing story has been introduced that spans most of the season, as the identities of the Unit members' families become known and they must all go into hiding. As a result, season four is almost certainly the most successful to date. More often than not, it has to be said that the writers play it safe, with a virtual guarantee that everyone will make it home in one piece, in spite of whatever scrapes they are shown getting into. That's not to say that it never yields any shocks, however, as demonstrated in season three when a lead character is shockingly cut down in combat.

It's a truly global series, with stories frequently set in Iraq, Afghanistan and other major combat zones (although it is filmed entirely on location in California, which capably poses as every other country in the world). The writers are reasonably sensitive to world affairs and pitch the members of the Unit into situations that are relevant to the world today. The writers are keen to demonstrate the tremendous breadth of situations in which the soldiers have to operate and each episode differs wildly in content from the next. Stories have featured kidnap, illegal fighting, smuggling, weapons of mass destruction, germ warfare and human trafficking to name but a few and it's quite surprising how much ground is covered across one season. The writers seem keen, also, to maintain a strong degree of authenticity with strong attention to detail in the way in which the men complete their operations. With little knowledge of these things, it all seems very plausible and even the dialogue seems very authentic (the lack of swearing aside) although my one criticism would be that all the members of the unit seem completely fluent in a number of complex and little-known languages, which is a bit of a stretch. The Unit is, understandably, a fairly violent show, but tones this down in favour of strong characterisation and intriguing stories.

The production team has remained largely the same since the beginning. Whilst a host of different writers and directors have worked in individual shows, the two main producers, David Mamet and Shawn Ryan have remained in charge across all our series to date. Mamet's writing pedigree is strong - he wrote the screenplay for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Untchoubales, as well as a host of other film credits. Shawn Ryan is perhaps best known for his work on the hard-hitting police series, The Shield and the combination of talents works very well here. It almost feels as though Mamet manages the character drama whereas Ryan is more responsible for the military action. It's almost a neat male/female divide - without being divisive, if that makes sense.

As well as good writing and production, an extremely likeable and effective cast also boosts the series. The unit members comprise Jonas 'Snake Doctor' Blane (Dennis Haybert) who leads the unit and has featured in pretty much every episode to date. Haybert is extremely convincing and commands audience attention through a combination of steely resolve and solid capability. Robert Patrick's commanding officer, Colonel Tom Ryan, is one of the actor's strongest roles for some time and he has settled well into a recurring role. The other unit members are equally likeable, although Scott Foley's Bob 'Cool Breeze' Brown always strikes me as the least plausible of the bunch because he just doesn't look the part. Max Martini (what a name!) on the other hand looks every inch the soldier and seems to effortlessly ooze military credence.

The men's partners are equally likeable, in different ways. Molly Blane (Regina Taylor) is the matriarch of the crew, Jonas's wife and informal leader of the female group. She comes into her own frequently throughout the series and also boasts an ever-changing range of hairstyles. Bob's wife Kim (Audrey Marie Anderson) is probably the most prominent of the ladies, portrayed as becoming a "unit wife" from the beginning and demonstrating the challenges this presents along the way. Abby Brammell's Tiffy Gerhardt is the problem child of the group, and continually gets herself into problematic situations. Her difficult relationship with Mack (and infidelity with another unit member) is a recurring plot element throughout the four series. There are few other recurring characters, with the writers opting instead to concentrate on developing this small, intimate group than continually introducing and saying goodbye to new supporting characters - and this works pretty well.

There are, of course, critics of the show. It does have a certain sanitised feeling to it at times, as though the violent content is played down for a more accessible audience share. Needless to say, things have a tendency to wrap up a little too conveniently and some of the stories end rather abruptly from time to time, as though they would have benefited from multiple parts. On the plus side, the writers have thus far avoided the temptation to introduce one of those background stories where a bureaucrat becomes obsessed with bringing the unit down and, instead, have usually portrayed the rest of the military as fiercely proud of and loyal to the unit.

It's quite a shock that the series hasn't yet been picked up by one of the major terrestrial networks, or at least one of the more prominent digital stations. Whilst the series is far from perfect, it is easily much better than many other series and has retained its high production values and quality output from the beginning.

If you don't have access to this on television, you can also purchase the series on DVD, with boxed sets of series 1, 2 and 3 available on region 2 DVD. You can also download all four series from the US iTunes store. Frustratingly, the UK iTunes store doesn't yet hold this series.

Summary: US TV drama featuring the exploits of an undercover army unit