The Unit: 418 “Best Laid Plans”
There is a saying that “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” In this week’s episode of the Unit, no plan — for battle or for a wedding — survives contact with your allies.
As usual, there are 3 story lines:
(1) Jonas, Bob, and Mack go after Leon Drake, the man behind the assassination of the Vice President, and the chlorine attack;
(2) Col. Ryan, Red Cap and Whiplash assassinate a man in Paris, with the dubious blessing of the French government; and
(3) Molly, Tiffy and Kim help Joss plan her wedding with Charles (whowas missing from this episode — something I didn’t notice until writing this up).
Jonas and Mack infiltrate Leon Drake’s operation, and help him to hijack a truck carrying a shipment of high quality blank counterfeit passports that can be used to input any name or photo. While Mack breaks into the safe in the truck, they are stumbled upon by some Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Drake’s gang shoots and kills one officer, Bob, positioned with a sniper rifle on an overlooking hill, shoots one of Drake’s men. Jonas shoots the remaining ICE agent directly in the chest, putting him on the ground apparently dead, but, as Jonas certainly hoped, not pierced by the bullet that smacked into his vest, knocking him out.
Drake is no fool, and realizes that the shot that hit his man did not come from the ICE agents, raising his suspicion of Jonas and Mack (but mostly of Mack because Drake saw Jonas shoot the ICE agent). As a result of this unexpected interaction with the ICE agents (all local law enforcement was supposed to be cleared from the area), Jonas and Mack are forced to continue riding with Drake, who believes there is a plant somewhere in his gang. Bob, who went down to the road to provide medical assistance to the shot but living ICE agent, has to pose as an undercover FBI agent when additional ICE agents respond to the distress call of the original duo. Eventually Jonas and Mack manage to regain Drake’s trust, free the truck driver they were holding hostage, and hole up with Drake in an abandoned house. Bob eventually has to flee the ICE office, and leads a team that attacks the house. During the fire fight, Drake escapes with the passports, the remaining Drake accomplice is killed, and Jonas, Mack and Bob are left with the $500k that Drake paid them for the job.
In Paris, has his sniper rifle trained on a wealthy Arab man with terrorist ties in a hotel room. Ryan meets with his French counterpart in a cafe, who assures him the mission is authorized, but Red Cap is also in the cafe, and eavesdrops on the French agents telephone call telling him to authorize the hit, but to arrest Ryan and his team afterwards and to disavow all knowledge of the mission.
This forces that team to come up with a new plan, which is to poison their target so that it appears he had a heart attack instead of being assassinated. Red Cap introduces Ryan to a contact she knows who can supply the drug. She poses as a hotel maid, lets Whiplash in the room, and together they administer the dose while Ryan distracts the security guard and the target’s girlfriend in the hotel lobby. While descending in the elevator, Red Cap changes from her maid’s uniform into her street clothes while Whiplash lets his eyes linger a bit too long, before they exit through the lobby. Later, burning the evidence under a bridge, he goes to kiss her and she politely and firmly pushes him off.
Back in California, the wives and fiancee plan a wedding. During their laughter, Molly is interrupted with a call to her phone from the woman vetting Joss for security purposes.Joss is a bit of a mystery, with some unexplained travel to Russia in her past, and we know Russians are somehow connected to the Leon Drake activities. When Joss mentions that her scarf came from Russia, Molly questions her about it in a ham-handed fashion.
Then, when Joss is interviewed without warning, things do not go well. The wedding planning does not survive this encounter with US security. Joss returns to the group angry, and knows that Molly was aware of the suspicions. Joss informs them that she was told that if she marries Charlie he will have to leave the Unit, which is of course unacceptable. She asks for their support to fight this determination, and she unloads on Molly. Kim pledges her support, as does Tiffy, a bit more warily. Molly stays silent.
Wrapping up, Bob, Jonas and Mack leave the bag of $500k on the doorstep of the widow of the first arriving ICE agent who was shot and killed. Back in their command center, Ryan activates the tracking devices they implanted in the fake passports, and shows their locations to Jonas and his team on a global map. Red dots signifying their locations pop up in hundreds of locations world wide. Ryan says go get ‘em, and Jonas says “I love my job.”
Back in his apartment, Whiplash takes a photo of Red Cap from his jacket and tacks it to the inside of his closet door. Opening the opposite door, we see a group of additional photos of her. It appears he quickly has developed an unhealthy obsession.
Right now the show is on a nice string of solid episodes. The domestic terrorism story has provided a nice running theme, and the Joss story still has me guessing. We don’t know if she is who she seems to be, and I’m still surprised that Molly, who was there when Joss first showed up and who is the most suspicious of her intentions, hasn’t asked what prompted Joss to come to their office in the first place. She owns an aircraft factory, but comes to a company who designs aircraft interiors to find a spare engine part? That still makes no sense, and I think it has to pay off, or it’s a writing glitch. I think they will string this out, probably through at least a season ending cliffhanger (unless they expect not to be renewed). In contrast, previews indicate the payoff for the Whiplash obsession will be coming next week already.
