Forgotten Television: Special Unit 2

Kate Benson (Alexondra Lee) as a child could see things that no one else could fathom.  It wasn’t that they didn’t see them, but their brains wouldn’t let them believe what they saw, but Kate was different.  Now grown up and an ensign on the Chicago police force, Kate sees two winged gargoyles abduct a child while investigating a string of missing people cases, and reports exactly what she saw, which lands her with a suspension from the force since the creatures she saw “can’t exist”, but they do.  But as she is leaving the station, she is approached by Nick O’Malley (Michael Landes) who is part of the mysterious Special Unit 2, a covert section of the Chicago Police Department that investigates “Links”, a variety of creatures from folklore and mythology whose existence remains hidden since the average person can’t fathom that they are real.  Kate and Nick originally don’t get along but find they must work together to stop the hatching of multitudes of gargoyles who plan on eliminating humans while also saving all the missing people who are being stored to be used as nourishment for the newly hatched creatures.  Kate is more the brains of the operation and when Nick is also abducted, uses her intellect to figure out where the gargoyles are hiding, saving Nick and all the other victims.  Kate’s temporary assignment to Special Unit 2 becomes permanent along with a promotion. And the two become a formidable team with clever and witty banter.

Special Unit 2 is an American science fiction comedy television series that originally ran on UPN for two partial seasons with only a total of 19 episodes being broadcast having been cancelled due to UPN’s change in management.  It aired on April 11, 2001 and ended on February 13, 2002.  It was later re-run on the Sci-Fi Channel.   Even with its limited amount of episodes, the show did develop a fan following and is fondly remembered by many. The show was created by Evan Katz who was the executive producer on the more popular series 24, and the series was filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia.

I did not watch this show during its initial release, and I do like the premise, but even if I had started watching then, I probably would not have continued.  I like quirky zany shows that mix comedy with drama especially when you pull in paranormal elements.  Warehouse 13 and Eureka are two of my favorite series with similar comedy infused dialogue and situations.  But, unlike those shows, this falls short mainly due to casting.  Alexondra and Michael may be fine actors on their own, but in this series, they lacked any chemistry and on the whole gave the audience little reason to connect with them. Their comedic line delivery is labored and unnatural and for the most part felt fake.  There are some good one liners and the banter between Nick and Carl (Danny Woodburn) the gnome, can be funny, but after awhile got tiresome and tedious. The series wasn’t all bad and I did like the set designs and monster creations and I love the fact that they pulled more obscure beings from mythology instead of the same old tired vampires (which they emphatically say don’t exist).  If I was really bored, I suppose this show would be entertaining enough, if just for it’s campy nature.  I think with different cast members this show could have been really great, but as it is, it left me flat.