The Working File

Well, this has certainly taken me all week, but fitting, perhaps, because this is a cliffhanger 2-part episode. The episode had 2 main storylines. One, about Kim and her shady boss is concluded in this episode. The second, about the team planning and executing a raid on a supposed anthrax manufacturing plant in Uzbekistan, is carried over into part 2. There is also a new development in Red Cap’s story.

The team is forced to plan and execute a mission by a Department of Defense bigwig played by Michael McKean. He keeps changing the intel, which they never trusted in the first place. Sensing their reluctance, he visits their base to take over command of the mission.
This has a direct effect om the Kim story. Because Bob is sent on a mission without Col. Ryan’s approval, Kim is needed to continue her undercover work for her criminal boss, even though she and the Unit suspect he killed his previous nanny. That situation deteriorates rapidly when one of his associates visits, speakds too openly, and makes clear his intention to murder Kim for overhearing him. When her boss Isaac kills the associate to defend Kim, things just get worse, as Isaac enlists Kim’s help to cover-up the murder.
I didn’t love this plot, as it turned too predictably into a damsel in distress situation, and Kim was rescued by a helicopter dispatched by Col. Ryan. It ended well, and I did appreciate the moment shared by Kim and Ryan when she suggested that Bob might be better off not knowing about the episode, including the danger she faced.
Meanwhile, the Unit itself has to deal with the DoD functionary Dr. Metz — played in capable smarmy fashion by McKean. The anthrax factory turns out to be nothing more than a heroin plant, and the Unit turns on Metz when they rescue a survivor from a prior mission in a way that makes clear that Metz
is too willing to sacrifice the men he commands.

The episode ends with the team traveling home, but being diverted to a new hot zone. Jpnas lets Metz know in no uncertain terms that he cannot be offloaded before they land, and that he — who boasted about his prior combat experience in Gulf War I — will be expected to participate.

Finally, Col. Ryan erases Red cap’s Army records and identity and sends her overseas when a JAG officer and MP shows up to arrest her for violating the law in sending air rescue to pick up the team when they rescued Jonas’s daughter in Syria.

I suspect the Unit writers have been uncertain how to use her character. She started out helping with missions in the field, and assisting in the relocation of the team families when their security was compromised. Then she was suddenly relegated to working in the mission control room. I hope they figure out a more active role for her. The team still feels incomplete after Hector’s death last season and I liked the idea of an unexpected female replacement.

The video below shows Col. Ryan sending off Bridget and the team planning with Metz.