The Unit: Season 1

Jointly created by The Shield's Shawn Ryan and celebrated playwright/filmmaker David Mamet—and inspired by the book Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney—this suspenseful dramatic series chronicles the adventures of a U.S. Special Forces covert team assigned to unusually complicated missions all across the globe. The pilot introduces team leader Jonas Blane (Dennis Haysbert) and newly assigned member Bob Brown (Scott Foley), who has a baptism by fire when the unit is ordered to rescue a planeload of prominent European businessmen kidnapped by terrorists. In concept, The Unit is not unlike the old Mission: Impossible, as Blane and his team members are frequently detailed to complete assignments without leaving any clue of their involvement. In one particularly suspenseful episode, “Non-Permissive Environment,” the unit goes to Spain to assassinate a terrorist, only to have a government bureaucrat terminate the mission in midstream and withdraw support of Blane and his men. The 13 episodes of the 2006 first season compiled here involve a considerable amount of globetrotting, although one of the most gripping installments, “Morale, Welfare, and Recreation,” revolves partially around the possible installation of a nuclear bomb in an Atlanta bank. Providing solid support for Haysbert and Foley are Michael Irby (as team member Charles Grey), Robert Patrick (as Colonel Tim Ryan), and Regina Taylor (as Blane's wife Molly), among others. DVD extras include an audio commentary on one episode and a behind-the-scenes featurette. Recommended. (E. Hulse)