Going into this television series, I was kind of expecting an army version of “24,” in which stories were wrapped up each hour (as opposed to each 24 hours) and where Dennis Haysbert got to take care of business himself instead of relying on Jack Bauer. As it turns out, there’s a lot more to the show than that, but Haysbert remains one of the show’s top draws, as the character Jonas Blane. Actually, I’d have to say that my favorite characters thus far are Jonas and his wife Molly (Regina Taylor). It’s interesting how they’re both the strongest leaders of their particular groups. Their own relationship seems pretty stable, so I guess that these two power people seem to get along very well instead of them both trying to dominate.
I was originally hoping for a lot more action, but I’m liking the way that the soldier’s families take an equal amount of the storytelling. This could easy be a show in which the home lives of the soldiers could be filled with generic family characters, but on The Unit, these characters are developed as much, and, in some cases, a lot more than, the fighting men. After all, the soldiers basically just have to run around and fight, while their spouses have time to reflect and have personalities. I find it interesting to note how sometimes the show cuts between a guy in mortal danger while his family is back home, having to deal with life instead of sitting around worrying.
I also quickly noticed David Mamet’s distinct writing style in several episodes. I can’t quite describe the dialogue he writes… It’s very poetic, but not in an elaborate, showy way. He also makes characters seem extremely smart.
I’ve watched the first ten episodes so far, as the season one DVDs trickle in through Netflix.
