Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Unit - Silver Star
I haven't posted about this show in awhile, but since we are in winter haitus with all of our other normal shows, I was actually looking forward in watching this one.
This particular episode peaked inside the human mind and how people choose to react. We had examples of racism, courage under fire, self preservation, honor, spousal abuse, and above all integrity.
The show starts off with Jonas celebrating with his father receiving the Silver Star some 50 years after the fact - at the time, you just don't award enlisted men the Silver Star, especially if they were black. The family is all together - celebrating this momentous occasion, Jonas is taken back by his nephew who is a recent Iraq war veteran, abusing his pregnant wife.
OK, mistake number one, you do not want to get an army ranger pissed off at you - the nephew is a bloody mess and that's just in the first 5 minutes. The nephew feeling sorry for himself, is convinced his behavior is justified because of post traumatic shock syndrome. Jonas will have none of that as we all know he was tortured during last weeks episode and he came home fine :)
One of the better lines of script for me was the deflection of the chicken hawk argument, well what do you know, you've never been to war - you have no idea what I am talking about - whereas Jonas responded with a reference to the Grand Canyon, I've never been there either, so that means I can't talk about that either?
Jonas and his nephew are having a man to man conversation in the bathroom, and during this conversation, Jonas is talking about his father - fighting in Korea - in an all white army, later on, moving forward in a bus with a young Jonas in Alabama facing a couple of KKK members brandishing a gun and chain. In all of these little stories, Jonas talks about the character of his father, and how he measures himself to the high standard his father set. Am I worthy enough is the question Jonas asks.
Jonas is very proud of his father, and he wants his father to be proud of him, so when his dad asked him are you still shuffling papers at Camp Lejune, I thought maybe Jonas would whisper in his ear what he really did. But no, even with his own flesh and blood, duty and honor takes precedent over family.
The last scene with Jonas talking to his niece was a wow - didn't see that one coming. The niece ran up to Jonas as he was getting into the car, and asked him, did grandpa kill those men (the KKK dudes), without hesitation, Jonas responded, he sure did. The show then flashed back to that moment when Jonas went into military survival mode and took them both down.
