FOX has released "THE UNIT: SEASON 4" on blu-ray.  After a pretty engaging 1st season, inconsistent but still gripping 2nd season and sometimes ridiculous 3rd season, "SEASON 4" took an entirely different approach, with more action than before, compensating for plotting flaws,  but it still failed to reach a large enough audience to prevent its cancellation.

 

Dennis Haysbert offers a commanding presence as Jonas Blane, a former military expert in charge of "The Unit," a secret operations force, on 24 hour alert to handle global threats.  Blane's team of specialists are die-hard patriots, regularly braving the most dangerous missions to protect America and allies from truly ruthless adversaries. The unabashed patriotism is a major appeal of the series and "THE UNIT" at its best, presents some very inspiring moments. Unfortunately, the writing team on any given season, never fully grasps the underlying direction of where the series is heading. Sometimes the series comes across as a bigger budget "A Team" and sometimes it shoots for some depth and intricate plotting with story arcs and connecting episodes. There's also a strong attempt to carry over plot intracasies from previous seasons. However, even moments that feel close to provocative or insightful, get undermined by uneven pacing and action that feels forced and formulaic.  Typically, in season 4, it's almost like the writers of "Baywatch" have been re-writing something by David Mamet. Even while "Season 4" offers plenty of gripping tension and makes for compelling and even addictive viewing, the often comic-book stereotypes of adversaries and lack of depth to its main characters, showcases the overriding problems of the series.

 

Fans of the series will enjoy "SEASON 4" but those new to the series, will likely feel lost, even while watching the simple plotting at hand.

 

FOX has provided the correct 1.78:1 aspect ratio for this 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 blu-ray.  Colors are pushed to the limits, resulting with intentional oversaturation and an unusual design, similar to what Tony Scott sought with "MAN ON FIRE." Contast is also pushed to its limits, and the result, while unique can be overbearing in large doses. Thankfully, the producers were smart enough to offer "regular" looking imagery to mediate these scenes. Detail is excellent, and in spite of consistent grain, the image is pretty sharp, even while artisticly challenging.

 

FOX has provided a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. Far more aggressive than most tv series, this mix offers everything conceivable to please its fans. There are plenty of directional and deep bass effects, complimenting the actions scenes, but even calmer, dialogue sequences as well. And, there's a lot of dialogue in this series, although little of it adds much substance, providing more exposition than dramatic force. The score, effects and dialogue are perfectly, even artfully balanced, making this one of the best tv on blu-ray mixes available.

 

Extras include: deleted scenes in standard resolution and some featurettes in HD.