"THE UNIT" NOT QUITE IN FIGHTING SHAPE

March 24, 2006

There's really no excuse for "The Unit," the new CBS military drama, not to be great. It was created by ace playwright David Mamet ("Glengarry Glen Ross"). He's also executive producing the show, along with his buddy Shawn Ryan, who oversees FX's "The Shield," one of TV's all-time best series. And the two have assembled a fine cast, anchored by Dennis Haysbert ("24"'s baritone-voiced ex-President) and including Robert Patrick, who's so reliable that he was worth watching even on those weak later years of "The X-Files."

So why, three episodes in, am I considering giving up on the show already? "The Unit" isn't bad TV. Typical of Mamet, the dialogue is lively. Choice turns of phrase include when Jonas Blane (Haysbert), leader of the show's titular elite soldiers group, told new recruit Bob Brown ("Felicity"'s Scott Foley) before a mission, "I figure you're going to come back as a hero or a real good anecdote." The action scenes are also very well put together. An episode-one mission involving the capture of a hijacked plane used an exciting blend of lightning-fast violence mixed with the slow-motion movement of Jonas and his team, effectively simulating the unfair advantage held by soldiers so thoroughly trained in the ways of killing.

Yes, "The Unit" is a well-made show, but it's not a very focused one. The biggest hurdle may be the structure of the show, which follows not only Jonas and his team, but the men's wives, who live on base and keep mostly to themselves, bonded by the secret of their husbands' secretive and deadly work. It's not a bad concept, but unfortunately the women are written as a kind of brainwashed cult, personified by Jonas' wife Molly Blane (Regina Taylor), who comes across not as sympathetic but downright scary. The illicit love affair between Patrick's base commander and the wife of another unit member also seems out of place and probably could have worked better if the viewer wasn't told about it until we got to know these people a little bit.

The half of the show that focuses on the unit itself is better, but it also has problems. Chief of which, I'm still not clear on how many guys are in the unit, what their jobs are, and how they relate to each other. I think the unit's "alpha team" is made up of five men: Jonas, Brown, the guy who's wife is cheating on him, and two others. But, honestly, I'm not entirely certain I've got that right. That lack of clarity should no longer exist by the end of three episodes. The guy with the cheating wife appears to be second in command, but I'm still not sure what skills the other two guys bring to the table. In episode three, Jonas is sent out on a solo mission while the rest of the team is left to train at base, a scripting choice that makes no sense when the show has yet to properly explain how the soldiers work together as a group.

It may just be that Mamet is trying to do too many things at once with "The Unit," including exploring how sending a man to do war doesn't just affect that soldier, but also his loved ones back home (a tactic that was also used by FX's recent Gulf War drama "Over There" to slightly better effect), while at the same time offering up some thrilling covert-ops butt-kicking.

Things could get better. Haysbert, whose presence commands attention even in those ubiquitous Allstate commercials, is just as good as you'd expect. It's fun seeing him put into action after standing on the sidelines watching Jack Bauer go to work all those years. And I hold out hope that Ryan could still bring some of that brilliant "Shield" mojo over to the new show. So maybe it's not wise to give up on "The Unit" quite yet, even though plenty of tinkering with the show still is needed.