TV Verdict

The Unit has been on leave for quite some time, thanks to various other manly events like the NFL playoffs and the Grammy Awards. After a few weeks of CBS letting the terrorists win, David Mamet and company finally make their triumphant return to Sunday primetime–and by triumphant I mean “confusing and bloated.”

“The Last Nazi,” written by Mamet, featured three interwoven storylines, the biggest being The Unit trying to protect an old Nazi war criminal from a gang of mercenaries. The premise sounds great on paper, but Mamet doesn’t give it enough room to develop; instead, he insists on bringing up an old arch about Aerodyne Alliance and some weird, contemplative bedroom discussion between Col. Ryan and his wife Charlotte (who apparently took him back, and took up smoking).

Mamet’s knack for aggressive and unique dialogue isn’t enough to make me ignore all of the issues with the episode’s pacing and structure. “The Last Nazi” began with an awesome throw-away mission that, for whatever reason, required Jonas to break into a hotel room, rescue a small boy, and then parachute out a window! Jonas’s heart is so set on base-jumping out of this high rise hotel that he even takes the time to strap an intricate harness on to the child. The rest of the guys in The Unit are in the street below, driving around in a truck with a target on it. Totally sweet.

After the commercial break, the episode borrows from 24 a bit when the President calls on Jonas for a personal favor (remember that president guy from the season premiere?). One of the Prez’s biggest campaign donors wants to kill this ex-Nazi, but the Prez can’t really let that happen because it will spark an international incident. So Jonas and Co. have to go to Switzerland to stop the assassins, and bring the Nazi to trial. Unfortunately, after this setup, things begin to unravel. We never really get a good look at the mercenaries hired to kill this guy, meaning that we’re never really rooting against anyone (aside from the Nazi, of course). Eventually The Unit tracks down the target inside of a Swiss hospital, but so does some random Swiss spy guy who confronts Red Cap in the waiting room. The rest of the mission is as predictable as it gets.

Had this main adventure been able to build momentum, it would have surely made more sense. As it stands, however, the hunt for the last Nazi come off as overly simplistic–mainly because there were two other overly complex storylines that were shoved into the 44 minute episode.

Colonel Ryan spends the entire show in a hotel room with his wife, Charlotte, mulling over whether or not he should accept his promotion to general. Doing so would mean leaving The Unit. Apparently, Col. Ryan has a lot of personal demons and a very messed up childhood that come rushing back to him in the form of vague flashbacks. Charlotte, meanwhile, struts around the room with a cigarette waxing philosophical. Everything in this scene felt out of place, and out of character. Since when did Col. Ryan get so whiny? Why is Charlotte so nihilistic? Did Col. Ryan just pick up this drinking problem over the extended break between episodes?

As if that wasn’t enough for one episode to tackle, we also return to Aerodyne Alliance, the fake airplane company that was created by Col. Ryan to protect the wives of The Unit. Apparently, everyone else has moved on from this storyline except Molly and Kim. Well the gruff legal guardian of the girl that Grey fell in love with in Episode 11 suddenly shows up and tries to buy the company. That whole Grey-in-Love thing was pretty self-contained before, but sometimes gruff Texans just don’t know when to let something go. I hope Kim and Molly decide to sell so we don’t have to hear about this junk anymore.

The issues that plagued “The Last Nazi” are ones that have bothered the show the entire season. I’ve been able to ignore these problems most of the time because everything else has been top-not, but for whatever reason, they felt magnified last night. Mamet is simply trying to cram in too much for a single episode, especially after the show went through about a month of sporadic air dates. Hopefully now that football is over, The Unit will be able to get back to normal and work out these issues.

B.A. Moment of the Week: The kid that Jonas parachutes with out of the hotel window is totally not impressed with The Unit’s shenanigans.

Photo: Mitch Haddad/FOX ©2008 FOX Television. All Rights Reserved.