By Kofi Outlaw

In the second half of its season opener The Unit made a return to the status quo by neatly tying off the loose ends from last season, as well as setting up some new rivalries that will surely mean trouble for The Unit in the future. Keeping in mind that I’m still learning this show, here’s the recap:

Last week’s Season premiere left off with Jonas (Dennis Haysbert,) Bob (Scott Foley) and Grey stumbling upon a large underwater graveyard out at sea, presumably the reason for the Unit being set up in the first place. This week’s episode began with the Unit doing what they do best: kicking butt and taking names. Bob used his CIA contacts to secure further intel on who was setting up the Unit and why; Col. Ryan, having re-united with his team, lied to his traitorous ex-wife that he would accept the ill-gotten job offer of her mysterious benefactor, in order to draw that master conspirator into the open; Jonas gathered his team together (including breaking Hector (Demore Barnes) out of jail,) now prepared to make a move against the conspirators; Mack just tried to hang on, having been captured by black-ops agents at the root of the conspiracy and put to torture, unless he signed a false confession, damning the Unit.

As it unfold the team got back together; Bob’s CIA contacts gave up the who’s and why’s of the conspiracy; Col. Ryan’s ex-wife took the bait, leading the leader of the conspiracy right into the Unit’s hands; a tenuous truce was struck with the conspirators and the Unit’s name was cleared; Mack was saved; finally the men were free to go home to the women who loved them (in Mack’s case, sort of loved him,) with the targets wiped from their backs. For now.


This second episode was less concerned with twists and turns in plot, rather than showcasing the slick and well oiled way the Unit works. By the end of the hour each member (and a few of their wives) had pulled off some crafty deception, slight of hand, or feat of gunplay in order to either fool or eliminate the bad guys. You could tell from some of the dialogue that the actors were enjoying this episode, each of the Unit members delivering their one-liners with pure 1980’s action-hero bravado. I won’t begrudge them their fun, I enjoyed the episode, but I found it rather bland compared to the unexpected punch I got from the first episode.

Having viewed this week’s episode I’m already seeing a pattern for the season: self-contained episodes each week, with serialized plot-points woven in, until November when seeds sewn in the season premiere bear troublesome fruit for the Unit. After the holidays it’s self-contained episodes again until more troublesome fruit ripens around sweeps week, then goodbye season. In the words of Dr. Evil, “pretty standard really…”


Complain all you want about serialized dramas—at least they have a knack for keeping you guessing each and every week. It reminds why I’ve been almost exclusively engaged with shows like Heroes, or 24 these last few years—every chapter has to be exciting, in order to pull the viewer through the entire story.

However, look on the bright side: I’ll be here pretty much every week reviewing the blander episodes of The Unit for you so that you can be freed up to enjoy more week-to-week thrills on those other shows. No worries, I’ll be sure to give you a heads up when you should check back in.