The Unit (TV Series) Dark of the Moon (2007) User Reviews

One Of The More Action-Packed Episodes

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 28 December 2007]

Snake Dog and the boys are taking three high-priority Islamic prisoners to somewhere when they are forced to hold over at a remote support base near Wazinstan that is co-run by two weak people: a woman and a sergeant. Of course, in the PC entertainment business, the woman is the good one while the male sergeant is the the total hot-tempered idiot. (They would never have this the other way around.) The sergeant ("Wallace") is actually portrayed to such extreme that it makes the character unrealistic. Nobody with his rank would be this stupid (I hope)!

Nonetheless, it's a high-tension episode and an unusual one because there is no secondary story. The military fireworks is the whole 43 minutes, and that was a refreshing change. I wish they would do this more often and leave some of the soap opera material to other TV shows.

Dennis Haysbert, as "Jonas Blane," once again demonstrates his leadership ability and credible authority figure, especially in an extremely difficult situation, and the woman ("Lt. Bailey," played by Samantha Long) learns from him some tips on how to be an effective military boss and gain respect of those under you.

There is a ton of action in this episode and done pretty well, especially for a TV show, giving it a high-budget film feel to it, a la "Black Hawk Down."

Siege of Firebase Gloria--LIGHT

[grafspee2 · 10/10 · 8 March 2007]

This was the first episode of the UNIT, that I am aware of, that was entirely focused on a single-story line that revolved around an actual military operation. Usually, the UNIT has too much going on at once to lend its focus to the siege of a Aghani firebase-supply depot.

If you had never seen the UNIT before, this episode was quite different from the series yet has all of the qualities of the show. The Mamet dialogue mixed with authentic military jargon, interesting underplayed military characters of all walks and opinions, and the often unexpected turns. The Editing, Sound, and Stunt Choreography is also worthy of compliment.

Well, I should get to the review before the brown-nosing becomes too obvious. The UNIT is assigned to escort three tribal leaders to Military Intelligence, they are chased by partisans, and seek refuge in a backwater Supply Depot for the night. The Firebase is under the command of a mousy female Lieutenant, but run by a gung-ho sergeant with little respect for her rank or the advice of Dennis Haysbert's character, Jonus.

The Partisans eager to liberate the three prisoners lay siege to the poorly defended base. The UNIT members and the enlisted of the Base successfully hold their positions inflicting heavy casualties and survive the night.

The conflict between the NCOs of the Base, the Prisoners, the UNIT was well developed and real despite the necessary dramatic devices. The Firebase's Lt. Bailey (played by Samantha Long) was an interesting character, with her imperfections and ability to adapt to the military situation with the proper encouragement from Jonus. The gung-ho sergeant, grudgingly submits to her authority despite his passing thoughts of possible 'fragging.' The Sergeant is also well played and richly developed with his anxieties, ignoble racism, and fear of the Afghans.

The UNIT, unlike other shows, does not reserve for the Enemy or bad guys. It is neutral and there may not be a happy ending all the time. Call me crazy, but I prefer the attempt to present realism over 'Good's eternal Triumph over Evil.' The battle is presented as it should be with dust, chaos, confusion, uncertainty and adrenaline. It, however, was lacking R. Lee Ermey and the moody photography of the B classic THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA.

IT SHOULD BE MADE CLEAR THAT I AM A FAN OF THIS SHOW AND THIS REVIEW IS TERRIBLY BIASED, UNBALANCED AND HASTY.

Great action episode, terrible tactics.

[rogue456 · 6/10 · 18 August 2010]

Whilst I understand that the producers want to make episodes like this interesting and action packed, I watched this and cringed. Yes it's a good episode, and yes it's fun to watch, but the tactics used by the American infantry platoon are just awful. I think the producers failed to fully understand the effects that a platoon in defence can have, and there are multiple scenes where the platoon would have been able to destroy a lot more of the enemy than they did, especially when the enemy was advancing across the open ground, whilst the Americans were in the pits. The Yanks could have neutralized probably all of the enemy with one machine gun. I think a lot of the other terrible tactics could be attributed to the poor leadership of the platoon. I'm going to stop myself there, as you could probably write an essay on 'how not to defend'. Don't get me wrong, It's a good episode, it's fun and exciting, but if you have any sort of military background, be prepared to cringe.

Haaaaaaa! The realism in this episode is hilarious.

[fatswaller · 3/10 · 2 April 2019]

As One reviewer already put it the tactics were bad in this episode. However the way this was filmed it was as if the unit and the Army platoon were using muskets from the Revolutionary War which had poor range and accuracy. Unfortunately they were using modern M16s and other weapons. The attacking group looks to be 30 to 50 feet away from a line of army men in foxholes and they exchanged fire for what seems like an eternity with only a few guys here or there dropping. Two guys in a foxhole that can shoot would have dropped 20 of them in a matter of 30 seconds. This is the funniest war scene I have seen in my life!! Definitely something to put in the archive if you want a laugh!