The Working File

This episode seems to have left a lot of people scratching their heads, but I liked it. There were really just 2 stories, apart from the cold open, instead of the usual 3: Sam (Whiplash) attempts to rape Bridget (Red Cap), and flees; and Mack and Tiffy inherit a home in Western Springs, Wyoming, where Mack has a chance meeting with a troubled kidnapper in a local church. The opening shows the Unit — still minus Charles for reasons not fully explained — capturing an American Taliban in Afghanistan. Jonas, Mack, Bob and Sam each shoot one of his comrades, then easily take him into custody. As they load him into their truck, he boasts about how the unit is outmanned and outgunned and will never get away with him, just as a single US bomber destroys his base camp.

Bombing Run.

One note before continuing: the CBS site for “The Unit” calls this episode “Whipflash,” but most everyone else calls it “Whiplash.” I suppose CBS could make a mistake, but until there is confirmation of that I would consider CBS to be authoritative.

The Mack story begins in a small home in Western Springs, Wyoming, where someone, presumably an attorney, gives Mack and Tiffy the details on Mack’s opportunity to inherit the home from his great-aunt’s estate. Mack considers the house undersized, but Tiffy finds the prospect of a stable home — not subject to transfers and base closings — very enticing. She very much likes the idea of knowing they will have a place to land whenever Mack leaves the Army and the Unit. Mack agrees to consider accepting the house.

We next see him in a church, alone until a woman enters from the door behind the altar. Mack presumes she is the minister, and while she does not affirm this directly, she does not disabuse him of the idea either. As their conversation develops, however, it becomes clear that she is even more troubled than he is, and we quickly learn she has kidnapped a newborn child from a hospital as a replacement for a child she recently lost. Mack, and later Tiffy, try to get her to tell them where she has left the child, but she says she needs more certainty that that is the right thing to do. She came to the church looking for the minister to ask for guidance, but the minister is away. She wants to know that Mack is a good man who has renounced his sins.

Eventually the police arrive, and Mack asks for more time, believing he has built a rapport with the woman that would be lost if the police intervened. They give him a bit of time, and the woman asks Mack to make a pledge, which neither we nor Tiffy hear, before she tells him where the baby is. Tiffy asks Mack a few times what pledge he gave, but he always avoids the question. The most likely inference is that Mack agreed to give up his worst sins, which all relate to his work in the Unit, and potentially this could mean that Mack would leave the Unit.
Back to the Whiplash story: the team is celebrating in a bar after the successful mission capturing Johnny Taliban in the opening. Whiplash makes some demeaning comments about Bridget, who decides the best course of action is to leave. Stopping in the rest room first, when she exits Sam accosts her and asks her for s ride home and a place to stay for the night. She tells him to back off, and Bob intervenes and gives the same message, telling Sam it is his one warning. But Sam doesn’t let go, and he is there to meet Bridget in the parking lot outside her apartment, where he eventually attacks her, with the clear intent to rape. He runs when some neighbors happen upon the scene.

The next day, she shows up late to a mission briefing, with bruises and scars on her face. Sam does not show at all. Jonas and Bob insist that he tell them what happened, and the wheels go into motion. Ryan begins an official inquiry, which Bridget does not want because she does not want to be known as the rape victim. But she does not have that choice. Jonas and Bob search Sam’s apartment, and find his wall of Bridget photos we saw previously, and realize that he has fled. Jonas goes after him alone, because as Bob explains, it is a job for one man or one thousand. Nothing in between will work.

Jonas catches up to Sam in a public storage facility, from which Sam is able to run. But all he can do is hole himself up in an office in a public building. Trapped, he sets some C4 charges and lets Jonas know he will not leave willingly. When the media blackout is broken, Ryan tells Jonas to move. He blasts open the door to the office and captures Sam, handing him over to local police authorities until the military can take custody.
Back on base, Jonas, Bob and Bridget share a lengthy awkward moment whose meaning is unclear. I think the most likely interpretation is that all three know that, partly because of this incident, and partly just because she is female, she can never be a full member of the team and will always be an outsider. At the same time, it appeared that all three were trying very hard to establish that they could do the exact opposite. Meanwhile, the local police prove fully incapable of holding Sam, who escapes as the episode ends.
This whole Whiplash episode seems kind of rushed. We met him, he displayed an almost instant obsession with Bridget, and fell apart almost immediately. Was he obsessed with her before joining the Unit, or did this develop the moment he first saw her? Also, while I understand that psychological analyses are imperfect, it seems that whatever tests are run on prospective Unit members should be able to identify someone who could break down this easily. We will have to see where this leads. Finally, yet another episode without any Charles Grey. What is he doing? Where is he? And what is the status of the investigation into Joss?