The Second Season

The Unit is a television drama that details the daily life of an elite United States Army Special Forces unit from two perspectives, the unit and the home front. The unit, dubbed Alpha Team, is comprised of five Special Forces operatives who go on covert counter-terrorism missions around the world to preserve the sanctity and the freedom of the United States and its people. The catch is no one can know about their missions or what they do. The members of the unit and their wives must keep their true nature of their work a secret, which taxes everyone. To the world, they work as clerks for the 303rd Logistical Studies Unit. For more details about the series, refer to DVD Talk's review of season one.

The second season of The Unit continues with the steadfast pace of the first season with lots of action and drama. For action, this season has several enticing black ops missions that include terrorists, protective details, espionage, and bomb threats. The drama comes from the wives that include marital affairs, new job opportunities, and trouble with the law. As an overall season, it is strong and will be enjoyed by those who enjoyed season one.

The black ops storylines are my favorite part of this series and this season has some tremendous episodes. The unit operators show no bounds in their efforts and abilities, tackling some tough challenges. One of the season's strongest episodes is "Extreme Rendition". The unit operators infiltrate a Bulgarian prison to get close to a fellow named Deckard (Lee Tergesen). Deckard is a former unit operator, who betrayed his country for money. He is an illegal arms dealer and Jonas wants him. This development is a pretty dramatic turn for the cast, and also turns out to be one hell of a fight.

"Natural Selection" is a character development episode focused on Bob. While in Russia trying to safely secure an asset, Bob's helicopter goes down. He and his asset are left with injuries and little to survive on. As Bob's training kicks in and he recalls the events that led to him to joining the unit. Specifically, he remembers details about the "selection" process, which was the hardship he had to endure to become member of the unit. It is an interesting side of the show and details how tough the characters are. "Silver Star" is another episode that focuses on character development. Jonas tells his nephew, an Iraq veteran with post-traumatic stress, about the painful life his father suffered as a black man in a racist world, despite being a war hero.

In "The Broom Cupboard", the team is assigned to protect the U.S. Senator from Texas on a peaceful mission to a hostile country. The senator intends to use her visit to connect with a rebel leader and help him peacefully usurp control of the country. Jonas, however, has different plans that are given to him by no other than the President of the United States of America. "The Water Is Wilde" is a change of pace for the show. Col. Ryan accompanies the team to protect diplomat visiting the United Nations in New York. The team is put to the test when they find a bomb. Col. Ryan gets hands-on with effort to diffuse the situation, which is a pretty cool change of pace. He is a great character and good to see out of a purely administrative role.

As for the rest of the season, there are several other strong episodes. Some of these include "Bedfellows", life for the unit is complicated when the CIA approaches Bob, "Bait", the team is sent to assassinate a political figure in the country of Georgia; the situation is complicated when someone leaks information about the attempt to the press and Jonas is caught red-handed, "Report By Exception", Col. Ryan faces a congressional committee about the misuses of the unit's jurisdiction about the potential assassination of a South American oil minister, and "Paradise Lost", the unit faces their greatest threat ever when the government investigates them for their actions and considers criminal charges; Col. Ryan, Jonas, and the rest of the team have to act fast to cover their collective butts.

Overall, the season two episode provide compelling and exciting episodes with black ops missions and plenty of intense action. Supplementing the intensity is a fine level of drama. One of the more interesting dramatic storylines introduces a new young couple, Jeremy Erhart (Daniel Wisler) and Crystal Burns (Summer Glau, Firefly). Jeremy and Crystal's lives are intertwined with the wives when Molly gets him a job at Blackthorne and his life is endangered. Crystal reacts badly to the incident and seeks comfort in the arms of a married man, someone from the unit. The season's other dramatic storylines include Molly becoming the director of the Blackthorne field office, Tiffy running into legal problems after covering for Charolette's substance abuse problems, Tiffy developing a far too friendly relationship with an anti-war activist, Kim running into a former boyfriend, and more.

In the end, The Unit's second season is a strong collection of episodes with a fine balance of action and drama. There is more than enough exciting and savory content to keep you glued to your seat and wanting more. However, while I have praised the series, there are several moments when the dramatic portions feel a little soap and over-the-top, as well as the action storylines a little too unrealistic. Still, it works and is a lot of fun to watch.

Episode Guide

1. Change Of Station: As Mack and Tiffy prepare to leave the Unit, the rest of the team travels to Pakistan to try to stop terrorists from unleashing a deadly smallpox epidemic.
2. Extreme Rendition: The team frees a former Unit operative in hopes that he will help them track down the world's leading arms leader, and Molly recruits a young soldier away from the military.
3. The Kill Zone: The Unit faces off against a sniper in a Paraguayan village, and the fiancee of a slain soldier who was killed in the line of duty fights for custody of the children she's raised.
4. Manhunt: The Unit pursues a terrorist who was smuggled into the U.S. with plans to detonate a bomb, and Kim worries after she witnesses an intruder on base talking to her daughter.
5. Force Majeure: The Unit faces a dilemma while evacuating an exiled dictator from an American hospital during a deadly hurricane, and Mack and Tiffy decide to have another baby.
6. Old Home Week: The team is sent to intercept a shipment of smuggled diamonds intended to fund a terrorist attack, and the wives are determined to deliver a lost love letter from WWII.
7. Off The Meter: An off-duty mission to rescue a friend's daughter from a cult could cost Jonas and Bob their careers, and Tiffy lies to the police to cover for Charlotte's reckless driving.
8. Natural Selection: When his helicopter crashes during a mission in Russia, Bob struggles to survive in the wilderness as he recalls the grueling training he went through to join the Unit.
9. Report By Exception: A mission to assassinate a Latin American oil minister is comprised after a "freedom of the press" issue results in a reporter getting a heads-up on the mission.
10. Bait: Jonas is captured by Chechnyan rebels who want to arrange a prisoner exchange but American officials refuse to negotiate with a terrorists; Charlotte gets Tiffy a lawyer.
11. Silver Star: Jonas' dad finally receives his Silver Star from the Korean War, but the happy occasion is marred when Jonas makes a shocking discovery about his nephew.
12. The Broom Cupboard: Jonas meets with the former Prince of an Asian country who is planning a revolution against the current regime, while back home the wives and Jeremy are planning a surprise for Crystal.

13. Sub-conscious: Col. Ryan suspects a security breach when Kim has a dream containing too many similarities to the Unit's current mission in North Korea...a mission planned by Bob.
14. Jonny B. Good: When a mission to Iran goes horribly wrong, the Defense Department demands to know whether the Unit's actions in the field have created an international incident.
15. The Water Is Wide: While the Unit is in New York trying to defuse a bomb in the UN building, Molly and Tiffy go to Vietnam to search for a POW who may still be alive.
16. Games Of Chance: The annual counterterrorism games held between the world's elite Special Forces teams take a deadly turn, and Kim bumps into an old flame who is now a multimillionaire.
17. Dark Of The Moon: While transporting Pakistani prisoners to Afghanistan the team comes under attack from a group of insurgents and must send a harrowing night at a small Army support base.
18. Two Coins: When the team travels to Israel to study advanced desert warfare, Grey falls for a beautiful Israeli soldier; and Tiffy has a crisis of conscience after she finds a rare coin.
19. Outsiders: Brown and Williams find themselves up against voodoo during a mission to New Guinea, and Crystal endangers the Unit when she leaks information to a reporter.
20. In Loco Parentis: Bob goes undercover as a teacher after children of government officials and foreign nationals are taken hostage; Lissy's crush on a boy leads to big trouble.
21. Bedfellows: While the CIA interrogates Jonas about the theft of $4 million in diamonds, it also offers Bob a job as a mole in exchange for not arresting the team.
22. Freefall: As Mack, Grey and Williams protect a visiting Thai Prince, Jonas volunteers for a mission his doctor warned him against and Bob has a mid-air brush with death.
23. Paradise Lost: The Unit faces its most formidable challenge when the U.S. government launches an investigation of the team and accuses them of criminal misconduct in the field.

The DVD

Video:
The video in this release is given in an anamorphic 1.78:1 ratio widescreen color format. The picture quality is quite good. It suffers from a slight grain, but detail remains to be sharp and clear. However, there are moments when the picture suffers noticeable compression artifacts. Overall, the picture is relatively clean and should look good on big screen televisions.

Audio:
The audio track in this release is in English 5.1 Dolby digital surround. In general, the sound quality is very good and it provides an audible and clean track. The dialogue is usually a little flat while music and sound effects come off rich and vibrant. Additionally the 5.1 track is dynamic and makes good use of the surround sound capability.

There are subtitles included in English, Spanish, and French, as well as support for closed captioning.

Extras:
For special features, The Unite: Season 2 comes with ten audio commentaries and three making-of featurettes. Here is the breakdown of the extras:

• Audio Commentaries: are included for episodes "Extreme Rendition" with Shawn Ryan, Nicolas Bradley, and Regina Taylor, "The Kill Zone" with Demore Barnes, Dennis Haysbert, Lynn Mamet, and Robert Patrick, "Force Mejeure" with Scott Foley, Michael Irby, Max Martini, and Daniel Voll, "Natural Selection" with Audrey Marie Anderson, Scott Foley, Eric Haney, and Sharon Lee Watson, "Silver Star" with Bill L. Norton, Denis Haysbert, and Max Martini, "Sub-Conscious" with Audrey Marie Anderson, Abby Brammell, and Daniel Voll, "Johnny B. Good" with Todd Ellis Kessler, Max Martini, and Vahan Moosekian, "Dark Of The Moon" with Eric Haney, Dennis Haysbert, Shawn Ryan, and Michael Zinberg, "Freefall" with Abby Brammell, Dannis Haysbert, and Daniel Voll, and "Paradise Lost" with Abby Brammell, Dennis Haysbert, Lynn Mamet, and Vahan Moosekian.
• Paradise Lost: The Making of the Season 2 Finale (32:46): is a featurette about the season finale. It begins with Eric L. Haney providing a general overview of the show's premise and moves into the desire to finish season two with a bang. The result was "Paradise Lost", an episode that put the unit in jeopardy. It follows cast (Dennis Haysbert) and crew (Shannon Rutherford, Patrick Moss, Mark Glick, Cindy Wise, Katie Easterman, Darryl Levine, Julie Glick-Clickman, Sari Lietzman, Martha Cecelia-Westman, Erma Kent, Vahan Moosekian, Tony Schwartz, David Brown, Tommy Lewis, Krishna Rao, Michael Stecher, Sam Griffin, Kevin Compayre, Paul Lewis, Brett Dos Santos, Dennis Dion, Richard Deutsch, Zack Kibbee, Eric Compton, Karen Kovacic, Michelle Hoffman, Joel Meyer, Nancy Solomon, David Koeppel, Shawn Ryan, and Ray Espinola) talking about the pre-production, production, and post-production.
• Mission: The Making of Sub-Conscious (11:44): is another behind-the-scenes featurette about the making of the episode "Sub-Conscious". The episode is set in a submarine and the content focuses on the set design and special effects dealing with the sub and underwater action scenes. It stars Bob Strohmaier, Dennis Dion, Dennis Haysbert, Manny Silvia, Michael Irby, and Eric L. Haney.
• Dark Of The Moon: Working With Weapons (20:08): begins with a pre-production meeting about the weapon usage in "Dark Of The Moon". They survey a variety of weapons to use in the episode. Then Haney talks about the episode's plotline. Other topics (besides guns) include personnel, explosions, props, set, etc. It stars Vahan Moosekian, Martin Glick, Roland Bleitz, Tony Schwartz, Beth Sheldon, Skylar Adams, Eric Dennis, David Aaron, Joel Meyer, and Dennis Dion.


Final Thoughts:
The Unit is an exciting television action/drama about an elite unit of Army rangers who embark on dangerous missions to combat terrorism. They operate outside of the law, under guidance from the President, and do whatever they need to get the job done. The show focuses on their black ops missions and the drama that surrounds their wives. In the show's first season, The Unit proved to be a hit. The second season continues with a lot of excitement and more than enough great content for fans to enjoy. While the series can be a little over-the-top and unrealistic, the material works and will be appreciated if you enjoy high-paced action and episodic storylines.