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Special Unit 2 – Season 2 (Review)

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The second and last season of UPN's monster comedy aired during the season 2001/2002

“Links” are the common monsters from folklore and mythology (except vampires, whose existence is specifically identified as preposterous), and are described as being the missing link between apes and humans (although other human-like species have evolved, for instance gargoyles, who are identified as humanoid descendants of dinosaurs). They live in hiding and/or disguise among the human population. On occasions when Links are seen by humans, they are usually dismissed as hallucinations or optical illusions, except by those who are especially perceptive.
Special Unit 2 is the top-secret division of the Chicago police specifically designated to handle Link-related cases. Other units of the police department are specifically ordered to stay out of Special Unit 2′s way, which provides a great deal of leeway and access for cases.
Detective Nick O’Malley (Michael Landes) is a maverick veteran in Special Unit 2. His initial callous, jaded and at times cruel demeanor is revealed to be a result of guilt over the loss of his previous partner, Julie, to a particularly vicious Link, The Chameleon. Nick’s partner, detective Kate Benson (Alexondra Lee) is one of the rare individuals who acknowledge the existence of Links instead of finding a more acceptable (albeit incorrect) explanation for the traditionally unexplained phenomena that they cause. Both are teamed up to fight the criminal Links and new-found villains from the unknown underground.

Episode 01: The Grain
Well, it was a boring episode with a boring story, a boring Sandman (Mike Desabrais) with boring intentions, and the character interactions between Sandman-Kate and Nick, as well as Nick and Carl (Danny Woodburn) were badly written and absolutely ridiculous with missing humor. And the conclusion of the episode, Nick’s idea of letting the Sandman kill itself, was totally lame, and not even a real ending. So, the Sandman obviously can get himself together in water or what? Or was the Sandman actually so stupid and hoping in surviving the day with parachuting above the river? Sorry, but that was completely lame…
Other than that, the story had boring little twists, and I only liked the death of the mail man, since it looked like that the Sandman really is dangerous. But except talking shit and being stupid, the writers didn’t have much for him. At least Alice (Pauley Perrette) was a great character to introduce and I hope she will be in the series a bit longer, and not just in this episode. 5/10

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Special Unit 2 – Season 1

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Darwin was half right. Scientists think they have never found the missing link, when the truth has been staring at them in the face. The monsters of every child’s nightmare are the missing links, which is why every culture has the same fairy tales about the same creatures such as baby eating ogres, virgin loving dragons, 200 hundred year-old trolls. They are all real except vampires; they are complete and total fiction. If it is not man or beast, it is known as a Link. To combat the threat of dangerous links, Chicago PD formed Special Unit 2, known to the rest of the department as a deep-cover plainclothes unit. Men like Nick O’Malley (Michael Landes), ex cop Kate Benson (Alexondra Lee), gnome Carl (Danny Woodburn) and chief Richard Page (Richard Gant) hunt them down and eliminate them.

Episode 1: The Brothers
For a pilot episode unsurprisingly lame, for a normal episode alright. This series is nothing spectacular. No real characters, no good actors who play the boring characters, an old series plot, bad special effects, no seriousness. Everything is just for fun. Don’t think about it, just watch it, find it bad, find it good, whatever. Kate was believing all the stories really fast and Nick’s little background story about his partner was just there to put some emotions in it.
Like I said, the series is just for fun, and it is short, and it is procedural-y. A little funny show for the side. Carl is a cool gnome. But the pilot was lame. 5/10

Episode 2: The Pack
Haha, the effects when Nick jumps off the building: laughable and really bad. The episode itself was okay; the werewolf theme a bit changed, Nick is a werewolf, Kate is worried, Carl didn’t do any funny things or didn’t say something funny. So, the second episode did it a bit more serious than the pilot and it looked good this way. It just wasn’t good enough.
By the way: How long is Kate in the SU2 now? And already leading a team? Wow, wonderful dream career. 6/10

Episode 3: The Wraps
An average episode. A mummy on the loose, abducting three women as his concubines to be the big mummy warrior. Boring plot, it was told better a thousand times, and here it is not better. The little side plot with the man in the cleaner looking for his sweater was interesting, but just filler. The conclusion, Nick’s fight with the mummy, had a good choreography, I wished to see some more seconds from the fight. 6/10

Episode 4: The Web
A good episode with an idiotic outcome. Some hot black widows on the hunt of men, sucking their lives out and SU2 trying to catch them – nothing special in here. Just the twist of Alice (Nikita Ager) being one of them was idiotic. For what? And how boring is the finale? Everything before the 35 minute mark was alright (okay, except this terrible special effect from the house blowing up), just a little more humor would be nice. 7/10

Episode 5: The Waste
Another average episode with a shitty plot. A fat “link” with a “brain” – one little deus ex machina after another to keep the “story” on. But like I said before, don’t think about it and let yourself flow. The funny parts were okay, Carl gets on my nerves, because he doesn’t get any storyline and just is in the episode to make it funny – boring. And Kate and Nick are boring characters; in this episode more than ever. Even Nick’s former partner was full of stereotypes and completely useless.
If you say it so: The series is boring. 5,5/10

Episode 6: The Depths
Just one quick question: Why do the aquamen collect the souls of the virgins, keep them together and when they’re out, everyone of those links will be killed? Where is the logic in that? Or did the authors forgot about the proper conclusion?
Kate and her sister – yeah, was okay, it was clear to put her in danger (hey, her character would be useless anyway); her boyfriend – forgettable. And what was it with the scene where he escaped? One minute wasted time. At least Carl had one funny scene.
Average episode, like the rest. 6/10

Season average is 5,92. Don’t forget that it was a very short season. When I saw it first, it was funny and cool, now it is just plain dumb. I have the second season as well, I watch it, when I have space in my schedule.

Written by Christian Wischofsky

July 5, 2009 at 9:41 PM

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