A while back I got into the series “The Shield” and promptly decided I loved it. So after watching all of the seasons back to back over a short period of time, I wanted to see more. However, since season 7 of “The Shield” seems to be on an indefinite hold (despite the fact that the episodes have actually been filmed!) I decided to check out Ryan and Mamet’s military action drama “The Unit.”
The characters on each show aren’t really all that alike but still make for some interesting matchups. For example, I would square Jonas Blaine against Vic Mackey. They’re both the leaders and all-around toughest bastards of their respective teams. However, while Mackey is a dirty cop, Blaine is a hardened combat veteran who has been in fierce firefights around the world. If they were to face off in Farmington, I give the advantage to Mackey, who would probably just stay off the streets and bribe/extort some Byz Lat bangers to take Blaine out. Anywhere else in the world, the advantage goes to Blaine, who is very good at adapting to rapidly changing circumstances.
In the strategy department, we have Col. Ryan running The Unit and somehow successfully hiding a decent sized contingent of Special Forces soldiers by posing them as logistics clerks. Who at the Farm could possibly be his equal? I nominate Dutch, who has broken cases on nothing more than a broken taillight or the shoes a woman was wearing when he interviewed her. If anyone could tie together all the strange happenings around Fort Griffith and come to the conclusion that it’s actually home to an elite counterterrorist strike team, it would be Dutch. The question is, would Ryan scare/kill/discredit Dutch first?
On the homefront, I would give the advantage to the Strike Team wives if ever facing off against the Unit wives. True, the Unit wives can occasionally band together to become a powerful team. However, they’re also… well… kinda dumb. Every other episode they seem to be falling for an obvious scam or blabbing their husbands into imminent danger or bickering over something silly. Corinne Mackey is a hard-nosed broad who has taken a lot of crap over the years and she can dish it out as well as she can take it. I’d put Mara, Shane’s wife, up against Tiffy and I’d be delighted to see Mara wiping the floor with Tiffy’s sorry ass. The Unit wives may be used to danger and death being around them all the time but The Shield wives just seem way tougher under any circumstances.
Of course, in a straight-up gunfight, The Unit massacres the Strike Team in about ten seconds. However, this assumes The Unit guys are carrying their usual heavy artillery. If it was men running through the back alleys of The Farm with pistols, it would be a very down and dirty fight and I think both sides would lose.
So, any other Ryan/Mamet fans want to chime in?