u/widmerpool_nz

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Spoilers for the episode below

A-Plot - That Concerning The Unit

In The Republic of Georgia, prisoners are brutalised and one of them is Blane. He convinces them he's worth more to them alive (whoever 'they' are). He records a video with their demands of a prisoner exchange and is blinking erratically all the time. Gee, I wonder if that is morse code. A Simon Dasha is the man they want. Ryan and some CIA guy bicker about negotiating with terrorists (or not). Brown figures out the code. Ryan informs Molly. He and Brown are going to get Blane 'off the clock' and leaving now. Tiffy ain't pleased, what with everything she has going on.

The Georgians have worked out Blane used a blink code but don't know what it said. He's pretty bloody and battered but still holding up even after a few tasings. He's being held by some faction and not the government. The CIA and Ryan argue more and Ryan lays down the law.

The Unit members fly and Blane's code said 'no attack' and they discuss that. It's going to be a Bait and Switch.

More torture porn as Blane gets water boarded. One of his captors looks conflicted. He later comes back with food and I think his good intentions will come back to bite him.

Mack and Brown land and discuss Dasha with who I guess is CIA. He isn't gonna let him go any time soon.

Blane frees himself and almost escapes but is overpowered and that isn't popular. More punishment awaits. He's now guarded all the time and goads the new guy until big boss orders him freed.

Ryan does more politicking with people in Georgia. He finds another target. A 'Sergeant Irvine' announces something over an open channel that is bad but I reckon this is a bluff.

Blane is now making out he's really injured from a knife wound and I don't think this is a bluff. He gets first aid. Like fools, they just leave the whole kit there and he does the old 'hide the needle in the skin' bit to use it on his cuffs and escape. Again. And then they recapture him. Again.

Mack ambushes Basha in a decent plot twist. Brown is on the ground with CIA. Ryan has pulled one off. They have the other guy, Zjhokar, who is a bigwig. Blane's execution is postponed and the switch is on. They all go on their way and there's one final twist as Zjhokar's jeep is blown up.

BaB-Plot For What Happens Back at Base

Previously, Tiffy got caught up in Mrs Ryan's drugged-up car crash where another woman died. Tiffy is now on the hook and it isn't looking good: 6 months if she pleads and more if she goes to trial. They go see Mrs Ryan who offers a top-notch lawyer. She still won't accept it was her who was driving. The wives discuss the case.

Molly and Kim discuss the case. Later, Tiffy meets with this lawyer who is smarmy and oily. Molly, Kim and Mrs Ryan are present. The two sides meet and the two lawyers are not friends. Tiffy's lawyer is one of those hard-ball guys and the the other guy is scared. Not sure why.

It's time for the court case. Tiffy pleads guilty. She gets 200 hours of community service. She goes to see Wilson James (Jon Hamm) who is the lawyer from previous episodes and volunteers as a part of her community service.

Verdict

This was an episode with lots of repetitions and lots of angry men shouting at each other. It's probably the first episode when I preferred the BaB story to what The Unit itself got up to. As a non-American, the American legal system interests me and while it was no Ally McBeal, this was a good episode for that.

Random Observations

• I loved how Blane still recced his cell even after a solid beating.

• I can't believe Kim is still surprised when Brown goes home to get his go bag to go on a mission.

• The Unit members can converse OK on a cargo plane. It's not realistic but I don't mind.

• Robert Patrick is the most perfectly cast person in this show.

• I hate the "bad guys are incompetent" trope where they can't even tie a man up well. I also didn't like the way a badly tortured man was up and about so easily.

• Colonel Ryan's first name is Tom. Not sure if we learned this before.

• Ryan shouting at various government people got quite tiring to me.

• The super-human capacity of Blane to recover and be fit so soon after his treatment was pretty unbelievable.

• The American legal system is a black hole to me so I don't know how Tiffy got such a light sentence when it was due to to her having a 'better' lawyer.

• Mrs Ryan has to be the worst character on this show. I liked Rebecca Pidgeon a lot more in State and Main.

• I didn't like the new person at the HQ who is different to my favourite person.

• Was Blane the bait from the title?

My Favourite Character of the Episode

Blane, for his fortitude and Molly for her small but impactful scenes.

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Verdict

This was a decent episode and I liked most the parts set in Washington. I don't think The Unit has been challenged politically before and it's good that they get some real scrutiny rather than just being allowed to do whatever they want. There were some parts when the bad guys were incompetent just to move the plot along, like Brown's escape. The BaB plot was OK as it was mainly filler and I'm guessing setting up a big event.

Spoilers for the episode below

A-Plot - That Concerning The Unit

Blane is having a fake ID and costumes ready for a trip to Guyana. Looks like a new person (Beverley) is helping him prepare. He'll be working with the CIA and ain't happy bout that.

Jazzy salsa music tells us we are in Guyana as a sharp-suited Blane sips coffee. A woman arrives and slips him a fake wedding ring. They visit a bigwig called Reale (the President?) and money changes hands. He (innocently?) asks how they met. etc. He might be the oil minister and the target.

Brown checks into a cheap hotel posing as a bird watcher as Mack and Grey prep a boat for a fishing trip. I'm loving these multiple strands as the gang zone in on the target. Brown wanders round the area and preps a rope by hiding it under a tree.

Blane negotiates with the minister as Brown watches on. I've no idea what the plan is and I don't mind that at all. The security guards watch the CIA woman undress and Blane sees them and so know the room is wired. They do the old trick of playing loud music.

The following morning, their shower is interrupted by shouting and a delivery man is shot as the guards are jumpy as the assassination story has broken. Blane is now under house arrest.

Brown is apprehended at his hotel. I like how it wasn't stated but he was found and suspected. I reckon the hotel landlady dobbed him in. Ryan warns Mack on the boat. Brown is interrogated and left with a sole guard and as expected, soon overpowers him and escapes.

Reale is still suspicious of the couple. He and Blane do clay-pigeon shooting as Brown is close by. Ryan phones Blane to say it's all off and Reale is onto the plot. The CIA woman helps and they run off with Brown acting as decoy. They find the rope and Blane has to help CIA woman as she refuses to abseil. The boat is nearby and the two of them reach it but police appear but Mack and Grey are ready for them. The CIA woman is shot in the arm and Brown rolls up to finish off the stragglers. They leave on the boat and presumably have a meet with a bigger boat lined up.

The team are now being airlifted out. CIA woman has been patched up so it must have been one of those harmless flesh wounds.

The Washington Plot For What Happens in DC

In Washington, Colonel Ryan briefs a congressional committee about actions in Kandahar when someone asks about a possible mission in Central America. One guy has got wind of Blane's mission. Later, he and Mrs Ryan are in a hotel room prepping for a dinner. There's a party to attend and Ryan stays sober. The Congressman has leaked the Guyana plot to the press and it's running in tomorrow's papers. More sub-West Wing arguments about the Veep and the mission.

Ryan stops the Congressman and they argue. The Congressman is also ex-army and knows it's all about oil and nothing to do with National Security. Mrs Ryan bugs him about the whole situation.

BaB-Plot For What Happens Back at Base

The usual wives and Crystal are at a karaoke and enjoying drinks. Molly is murdering 'Achy Breaky Heart' but they love it. Crystal is throwing her money round by buying drinks and a new car and presents for the wives. She's also flirting with men.

Beverley brings Blane's wedding ring to Molly. He didn't wear it on the mission and the CIA woman slipped him a decoy. Molly does her mother-hen act with Crystal and she should just back off. Crystal is worried about her boyfriend and gets a video call from him, organised by Molly. He's on his way home next week and this has Danny Glover's, "One week before retirement" all over it.

Blane returns home and puts his wedding ring back on.

Random Observations

• Blane's "Oh my..." as he meets his 'new' wife was funny.

• Blane's non-sequitur to the guard, "Kipling. The great poet of the Empire" was so out of place. I thought it was a code phrase to an insider.

• They made a point in the 'previouslies' about how The Unit reports only to the President and that doesn't track with what happens here.

• Why's Crystal still in the same base housing as The Unit families?

• Crystal is working at a diner and I admire her for that.

• I don't know what the whole wedding ring thing was about and why CIA had to slip a fake one to Blane.

• I like how Reale sussed Blane out due to his too-expert handling of a gun when he pretended that he'd never used one.

• The US still refer to it as Latin America when I know it as Central America.

• I don't know why Mrs Ryan was looking almost longingly at her hotel room card when she gets home.

• This is another episode where I didn’t understand the episode title

My Favourite Character of the Episode

Crystal, played by Summer Glau. Great acting by her as an army-wife.

I gotta preface this by saying I'm not a fan of superhero movies and have never watched this but I loved it! Great direction by Sam Raimi and the shots of over the roofs of NYC were spectacular. Willem Dafoe and J.K. Simmons were the stars and two leads (Toby and Kirsten) were well cast.

I liked there was just enough build up to make it all make sense without it going on too long before we got to the good stuff.

I don't know why the fights between The Green Goblin and Spidey always ended up as fist fights. Seemed awfully human to me. They have all these super powers and resort to punching each other.

I'll definitely be checking out other films in the spiderverse.

I loved this and wanted more. Four people (sometimes celebs) claim that they are the rightful owner of a house and celebs try to guess who the rightful owner is. Stacey Dooley was a great host and I loved the various 'owners' trying to psych out the other three, the judges and us. I wish they'd made more.