La Unidad

Between flight and drone flight the story of three foolish terrorists who do very bad things is narrated because besides being fools they are very very bad; and the good ones very very good. There are no grays of any kind, no characters, just cliches. Lack of dramatic crescendo, the action scenes without tension, ridiculous situations based on coincidence (with very bad editing) and only one good scene: the one of the truck running over people (terrific, amazing, but is only one minute in a show of five hours). The dialogues are very poors, the director honors himself no less than three times. Of course, the police congratulate each other on all the episodes and they don't stop repeating how good they are. The perfect love letter, promoved by one of the producers, Domingo Carral, from Movistar, for his intimed friends in The Police. And Nathalie Poza seems awkward with her character. Dani de la Torre wants to be Tony Scott but he doesn't even get to Guy Ritchie. In other words, he knows about filming, but nothing about narrative, his cinematic ignorance takes its toll on him. 'La unidad' is a luxurious product without personality, devoid of any rigor (continuous breaking the 180º rule, continuity failures, a non-stop of lens-flare...) which to top it off only copies what its director has seen in the movies he likes, that is, an insult to the profession of directing.

It's OK. Nothing spectacular about it. Just a common tv show about good guys vs bad guys. Nothing out of the ordinary.

I'll menton the flaws right away. There was too much concentration on the background of the two main police protagonists and it actually made little sense. We learn almost immediately that they are separating but there is no rhyme or reason to this and the justifications later enunciated to friends or relatives seem fake and forced. I just wonder why these two leads were picked - I am going to be terribly ageist here and say that the disparity in years between them was an unnecessary distraction from the plot and the action. I know that no one likes a series that has no back story where the cops are simply ciphers, but this one was simply not convincing at all. I also wonder how the female lead could have had an operation before separating and hubby never having noticed the scars.

Having said that, I enjoyed the rest of the story. I particularly liked the international aspects and the use of the enclave of Melilla as a location for part of the plot. I live in Morocco and although I've been to Ceuta, this has made me want to take a trip to Melilla after COVID-19 restrictions end.

The scriptwriters and director managed to engender a proper sense of tension in many of the scenes and I even forgot I was watching a fiction series and that, of course, as it's six episodes, they wouldn't be catching the terrorists until the end. There was no sentimentality here; the terrorists were completely ruthless as in real life and there were very upsetting scenes when they used members of the public for their own purposes or as shields.

There were a few loose ends - what happened to the lawyer; what was Amina's fate; what happened to the little brother after being arrested by the Moroccan police? Some of the major players were not apprehended and I presume that this will be material for a season two. In fact, I see that there are two seasons mentioned on IMDB. I shall certainly watch the next season.

I would have given an eight had it not been for the distraction of the home life of Marcos and Carla. However, I recommend the series and wouldn't want anyone to be put off by this.

The series follows the job of a secret police unit, which is created after the unexpected arrest of an important jihadist leader in Spain. There is not the typical "hero" who can achieve anything he wants, the series is rather focused on the general job of the whole unit trying to chase several terrorists who plan to carry out a terrorist attack. This show remarkably achieves to generate some tension even though it does not especially focus on any specific character. However, the story does not reach the point of being "exciting", as the narrative does not achieve to be completely engaging and many of the scenes lack impact. This makes the series be in some kind of a middle point between a show and a documentary, as the feeling is that the same story could have been told in a much more engaging way. Another negative thing is the fact that it caricatures both the police and the political power in Spain. It is true that many times politicians only think about the image of the government and do not care about telling the actual job made by the police, but the series exaggerates this aspect to the power of three. Overall, although having some negatives the series is worth a shot as it makes an interesting approach to the job of a secret Spanish police unit chasing terrorists not just in Spain, but in several countries. I rate it with a solid 7.5.

One of the better Spanish series that I have seen in a while, but I'm only a couple of episodes into it. International terrorism that is dramatized accurately, something that is sure to upset someone I'm sure. Religious lunatics out to kill kafirs, a story that's been around a long time and isn't going to disappear any time soon. A good look at the Policía Nacional and how they coordinate with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Allah akbar, if I never heard those words again it would be just fine with me. They have become an obscenity thanks to the creeps depicted in this series.

There is way too much emphasis on the personal aspects of the police. The drama takes away from the overall plot which is left waiting around while we delve into family issues. Is it a show about families or about international terrorism? I don't like family dramas so they need to choose one or the other.

The action scenes are a bit weak overall and a lot of possibilities were squandered. The attack in the Puerta del Sol was over practically before it began. They could have turned this into an exciting scene instead of just showing blood on the windshield. They also don't really do well in the "tough cop" department. When Marcos is interrogating a prisoner all he can muster is a little slap to his head. I've had worse in public school.

I could have done with fewer changes of cities, all captured with drone shots in an attempt to make the series look more international and big budget. It just made me dizzy at times.

There wasn't a single, well-choreographed action scene in the entire six-episode series, not one. In fact, they were all terrible. The finale was laughably stupid on many levels.