The Unit: Season 2

Amazon suggested The Unit based upon my viewing of Strike Back. Although both series feature special forces operatives performing extremely dangerous missions, the 2 shows differ in significant ways.The Unit shows special forces missions. But it also features story lines from the wives & girlfriends back home. We get an impression of what it is like to run a household when one parent is away much of the time; when the man must not share most aspects of his work with his wife; when each & every mission can results in the man's death. In this way, the show is much more balanced and lifelike than other series like this. We see the man throw himself into harm's way; we admire his courage and his devotion to service. Back home we see the wife trying to make ends meet on sparse NCO pay. When one of the men gets killed, we see the wives cope with the enormous financial burdens this loss brings.The mission aspect also differs from the usual. Even in the midst of extreme danger, the operatives are evaluating their environment, data from many sources, they are making decisions based upon thinking the situation through. These missions are not just bang-bang shoot-em-up. We participate in planning; we see what can go wrong; then we watch the operatives figure out what went wrong and what would work best, then implementing it. We see the courage it takes to do this type of work; but we also see how intelligent and resourceful special ops teams must be to survive and succeed in this arena.The acting is first rate in this series. Especially the main star, Dennis Haysbert. His deep voice and solid presence gives a calm base for the incredible danger the men face.The series creator, frequent writer and director, is distinguished screenwriter & director, David Mamet. He maintains high standards of quality in the writing. This is not just an adventure series. It is a very human series about people coping in extreme situations. I haven't seen any articles about advisors to the series; but there must be high level consulting from Delta Force operatives because there is a verisimilitude in mission profiles and methods. Also in family life situations.I recommend this series to both men & women. It has something valuable to offer both.

I found The Unit late in its run, and have gone back and purchased the set. And this is from someone who is not a huge fan of the military--this series is engrossing.The basics: there are 23 episodes in the box set, which includes additional special features, and ten episodes available with commentary. Standouts include: Force Majeure, Natural Selection, Silver Star, Dark of the Moon and Paradise Lost.Ever since The Shield, I've been a fan of Shawn Ryan. Some of the same positives and negatives are present in this series as well. The male cast members are excellent and can convey an incredible amount of expression in action and spoken word. Occasionally the performance of the women seems weaker, but it could just be they are given less to work with. The Unit is weakest in some of the writing. The 'home front' plot lines are frequently unbelievable and distracting. The storyline with Molly's recruiting showed the most promise, but went to great lengths to justify it by introducing a failing elderly mother we never saw before and have yet to see again. Maybe the military plot lines are unbelieveable as well, but I don't know enough to comment. Do they think women need a 'female' story line to enjoy an action show? The home plot line of "Two Coins" was distracting in its predictability--I was surprised but the lack of surprise endings!Along these lines, occasionally an episode will send a jarring note when a character will act in an extremely uncharacteristic manner. I've seen the character of Bob be extremely articulate and thoughtful with Kim in one episode, to turn into a terse, monosyllablic jerk in another. This happens on The Shield as well, and I get the sense that the writers are sitting around saying, "what would be shocking and unexpected here?" rather than striving for an overall cohesive story where a character is gradually exposed with all the strengths, flaws and contridictions of a real person.That said, the action is excellent, the editing and filmaking well done and the primary/military plot lines are often unique. Alot of television suffers from canned plots, and for the most part, The Unit continues to surprise. The acting and filmaking is what sets it apart.

Show as a whole is a good show . The bond of respect, camaraderie, internal political manipulation with upper chain is all well done for the most part.I would take this on an episode by episode basis. They aren't all great but there are some great ones.When it started the relationships of the operators with their wives was well done - it revealed the challenges of a civilian (wife) trying to deal with a hard core soldier while living a routine day to day life, while somewhat well contrasting it with a soldier who deals with the fragility of life daily, at a level far more acute than just a routine soldier, due to the nature of his missions. This difficult relationship, I believe, is a large part of PTSD. The UNIT's attempt to show this was a decent effort at times.HOWEVER, apparently the writers lost their way because the entire involvement of "the wives" subsequently degrades to garbage "filler" material, PTA( yeah, like grade school) level, uninteresting and completely unnecessary material in this and later seasons. To the point where I began to fast forward whenever I saw any of the wives show up on screen. This stigma created a "self'cannibalized" event for the show because although there may have been portions that were good that included the wives, I never saw them and am okay with it.I don't think the quality of good TV or film should ever be compromised or traded for quantity.

On paper, a series created by arguably America's best living playwrite and the creator of one of the pinnacles of 21st century TV, The Shield, should be something amazing. Plus, it has lots of very positive reviews from my fellow Amazon customers.Now,having seen a couple episodes of series/season 2, I want my money back! This is very good-not great- TV if it was from the late 80's. 24, especially the first 2 seasons as well as The Shield, totally blow The Unit out of the water. Visually and qualitatively, it's very old and not quite dull but suprisingly pedestrian given the other accomplishments of it's creators and what else is out there in the same or similar genres.You've been warned!

The Unit is a heavily underrated series as it doesn't get shown on TV much in the UK. I bought the first season and got completely hooked, I now own all the seasons that have been released. If you're a fan of action films or series then this is a must buy as it will meet all of your adrenaline junkie needs. Great storylines combined with gun wielding US special forces makes for a enjoyable experience. Buy this series now!

This great season two rocks !!The story telling is creative and acting amazing with a realistic edge . The spec ops team goes on various missions from extraditing a Taliban rag head and defending a fort against the Taliban to close protection in Beverley Hills to flash backs of selection !!Buy this from amazon !!Great buy !!!

What can I say about The Unit? A brilliant hard hitting no nonsense insight into the world of black ops, having read Eric Haney's book 'Inside Delta Force' I was looking forward to The Unit and can honestly say I wasn't disappointed.A brilliant series - simples.

Great show. You know what you are going to get when David Mamet teams up with Shawn Ryan. It's an action show but it's a family drama and it all plays out in such a way that it feels like "good old fashioned TV". Sorely missed.