Let’s face it, last year’s writer’s strike left scripted TV in a crippled state. This affecting many top notch shows, including CBS’ “The Unit,” which aired its third season. So, with Season 3 now on DVD, is it worth picking up?
Let me start off by saying, I love The Unit and I was happy to fire through both of the first two seasons on DVD via Netflix. And given the insanely great cliffhanger that Season 2 left off with, I was anxiously awaiting Season 3.
If you’ve never seen The Unit, it tells the story of a team of ultra-secret Special Forces soldiers who are highly skilled and operate outside the normal military chain of command. It stars Dennis Haysbert, who you may recognize from his All-State insurance commercials or from his great run on “24″ as President David Palmer. Aside from detailing the lives of these men, it also tells the story of their wives, who are home on an Army base.
The third season starts off immediately after the second, with Jonas and the rest of the squad on the run. They’re being investigated for making doing some illegal things (like making an expensive sack of diamonds ‘disappear’ on one of their missions).
From there, the stories turn back to their normal gritty format, with the men on great missions and the woman at home on the base facing their own issues. However, in retrospect, it never feels like a full season given that it was cut abruptly short due to the writers strike. The last episode is hardly a finale and you might even find yourself looking for another episode on the disc from your disbelief that the season is over.
The DVD release, however, is solid, featuring commentary on 8 out of the 11 episodes. At times it’s not the most insightful voice overs by the cast and crew, but it’s fun to hear that in such an informal setting. By far, my favorite was the commentary over “Five Brothers,” which was easily the season’s best episode. The commentary features all of the actors that play the main unit members (excluding Scott Foley).
Equally rewarding is the writer’s roundtable featurette, which features a long and satisfying discussion between show creator David Mamet and the show’s writers. I particularly enjoyed their discussion on the development of the characters and how they treated the Five Brothers episode.
For good measure, the DVD also features some deleted scenes, but upon watching, you won’t be upset that they left them out.
Aside from the shortened season, my only gripe with this DVD is that they released it after the start of Season 4. Fox Home Entertainment pulled something similar last year with Season 2’s release, allowing it to hit the street without ample time to view before Season 3 started.
Other than those small gripes, I can recommend The Unit season 3 to fans of the show. If you’re new to the show, I highly recommend picking up Seasons 1 and 2 first, because you’ll get the most value out of the third season release.
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