The Unit Rewatch - S01E05 - Non Permissive Environment
My Rating: 5/5 stars for the Brown story, 2/5 for the Betsy Blane story
Plot
Valencia, Spain. Blane returns to his hotel room with two coffees, stopping to pick up the newspaper on the way. Actually, all five members of the team are in the room: Mack as sniper with Grey as his spotter with Williams and Brown just hanging around. I'm guessing it's a two-on, two-off scenario with Blane as the team's gofer.
It is, and Blane goes down to the lobby where a shadowy figure tells him "it" is off as the Spanish Government has withdrawn their support and they need to get out now. Blane rushes back and one second too late as Brown had his shot and took it.
"Prairie Fire" is the phrase then spread around the team and that's code for get back home by a different method (air, sea, land).
After the intro, it's B-plot time. A teenage girls breaks into the Blane house, pockets a ring and finds a pistol. She's disturbed by Molly and it's the Blane daughter.
Blane disables the shadowy guy (he's CIA) with a throat chop and steals his passport and uses it to bluff his way onto a cargo plane.
Brown is wandering the streets of Valencia and messes up when trying to steal a moped. He takes a push bike instead and the locals are not happy and he gets arrested. When he's in the back of the cop car he spies Mack, who does the right thing and abandons him.
Kim is researching college courses while Serena is being an absolute brat. Is this supposed to signify the lack of her father in her life but whatever, I hate that kid.
Brown escapes but is still lost while Blane is already home and Williams and Grey are both "inbound" by which I guess they are out of Spain. Brown changes clothes by stealing from a youth hostel.
Betsy (the Blane daughter) is home and I don't care at all about this story line or why she has come home.
Brown gets to a ferry terminal but it's delayed. He befriends a travelling woman and gets cash off her supposedly to score off a dealer she knows. He follows the dealer and offers cash to meet the dealer's supplier.
Kimmy meets Ryan in a motel room. He has flowers and tells him that Mack is not yet home from his mission.
Betsy wants to enlist. Her parents are against it. I don't care either way.
Mack is home and sneaks in on Tiffy. What a bastard thing to do in her own home.
Blane takes his daughter to the range. Ah, American father/daughter bonding.
Brown is taken to a dive bar on the docks where a US made night scope buys the passage that his measly thousand can't. The travelling woman tracks him down and when she's considered part payment then Brown the all-American hero can't let that happen, now can he. He takes them out easily. A gay yacht owner is persuaded to take Brown instead of his intended cabin boy and all is well.
The Unit members relax in their club house or wherever it is they go to relax and kick back and forget about work.
Verdict
As you might have guessed, this episode is dragged down by the stuff back home when the Brown "Escape and Evade" story is great, so this is really two separate episodes for me.
Random Observations
- I loved Mack's advice to new guy Bob regarding the scope. It shows in a few words how much more senior and experienced he his and also how willing Brown is to learn as he expertly does as suggested without any back chat
- Molly's purple outfit at the start was lovely and "My fine black ass you are" is one of her many great retorts
- Kim could smell the atmosphere when she visited the Blanes when they were deep in conversation
- Blane's talks can't half turn into homilies in a second
My Favourite Character of the Episode
Bob Brown, who shows why he's worthy of a place in The Unit
Question of the Week
Why are there no women in The Unit?