Last Writes

Farewell then, The Unit. It was a show that never garnered much attention in the UK, probably because - despite a solid cast, prestigious writers and good production values - it could not have been more wrapped in the stars and stripes had it been a military coffin returning from Iraq.

In some senses the anti-Generation Kill, The Unit had the same approach to authenticity as a Tom Clancy novel - obsession with technical details and the nuances of intra-military dialogue in the context of an over-arching storyline bloated with conspiracy, conspicuous heroics and painted in manichean ethical shading. It was at times dishonest (in its representation of anti-war protests especially) but had an earthy, world-weary quality lacking in its ideological bedfellow 24.

Was it good drama? In the sense that it was, essentially, a thinking-man's Chuck Norris film then no. However it was unique in offering a guns-and-bombs thriller with a little more substance than any equivalent on TV. One might disagree with its message, but the message was, on occasion, there.

It heroically stretched the ability of the continental united states to represent settings from Macau to Switzerland, from Afghanistan to the Philippines and never skimped on the action. It featured, briefly, William H Macy as U.S. president and Dennis Haysbert with a shaved head and little goatee beard(for a few episodes at least). It provided a pleasantly jingoistic way of spending the time and showed, terrifyingly, how the safety of the U.S. relies on three minor-character actors, the T1000 from Terminator 2 and that bloke who was president on 24. Semper Fi.