The Unit - The Complete Third Season

The Unit had a tough third season due to the writers strike and this season is missing something like 3 episodes. But the strike behind us, the season was a good one. I would still put season 2 as the best of the three, but season 2 had some great individual episodes. Jonas's character really thrives and we find out alot more about him than before. Plus, Tom Ryan will get himself into to trouble by the end of the season, so look out an make sure you watch the 4th season opener only on CBS!

The Unit during the first season was an excellent series. Each episode had two action packed operations going on at a time. Everything looked believable and there was enough personal dynamic included to make the team members human.

The second season was nearly as good. The season end episode had me on the edge of my seat....but at the same time wondering how the series could continue with the corner they had been written into.

The third season opening episode answers the questions of the second season finale and reunites the unit....although one would have to suspend bits of reality to swallow the outcome. The rest of season three seems to play more like a soap opera than a drama about an elite military team. The writing and story lines were much weaker than the first two seasons.

I'm still a fan....but for me to continue to watch the series it will have to return to it's roots of the first and second season.

Terrible acting of nearly all the wives especially Regina Taylor who plays Molly Blane. In an over-attempt to draw importance of the wives existence on the show, the producers have created corny, transparent sub-plots. I find myself forwarding through most of the family scenes. To me, character and story comes before effects. If I don't care about the characters and the plot doesn't suspend my disbelief... I cant not follow the story. Occasionally, the writers include some real alpha male sarcasm, morbid, and elitist humor that mirrors the way we live and deal with the dangers of our missions and the constant reality of death. The authenticity is high in tone if not in action and I do like the show overall but that might be related to the fact that the subject matter deals with my profession. Overall ...OK with some difficult moments of bad acting and each season seems progressively less reality based.

For months it wasn't clear if CBS would bring back The Unit after its third season. It's an atypical show in this era of reality tv and the more popular and esoteric fare like Lost and Heroes. The Unit, after all, when you get right down to it, is a series about war produced in a time of war. And the lack of success films about Iraq and Afghanistan have had (Redacted? Stop-Loss?) on the big screen on some level points to the reluctance of the public to yet engage in depictions about this war. Of course, many of the movies haven't been that good to begin with...Nonetheless, here's The Unit, whose text is ultimately about the war on terror. And yes, one may disagree with its generally pro-war on terror perspective, or at the least question it. That said, when Mamet and company directly address this war, as they do in the back-to-back episodes "5 Brothers" and "Play 16," the end result is two of the most heart-wrenching hours of television to have been broadcast last year. Mamet has never shied away from the moral and ethical issues war and soldiering present--check out his underappreciated Spartan with Val Kilmer; and while there is never any doubt that his team of warriors are heroes, he is not afraid to show dramatically the price that comes with that heroism. This price is show to devastating effect in these two particular episodes. For this reason alone, this box-set is worth purchasing.

Having watched every possible episode of the unit numerous times. I feel this is one of the best written and authentic shows I've seen in a very long time I cant wait to see season 4. I only wish that they did not have to do away with a cast member watch out Col Ryan!!!