Story goes AWOL in military action drama

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This article was published 18/01/2017 (3212 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It hardly matters how much firepower you’ve got if you keep completely missing the target.

The new History TV scripted series Six is all loaded up with weaponry, good intentions and testosterone, but its ham-handed attempt to turn military special-ops heroics into compelling TV drama ranks as one of this prime-time season’s complete misfires.

Six, which premières today at 9 p.m. n History, purports to be inspired by the real-life exploits of the U.S. Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six. It’s a modern-day military adventure that aims to advance the network’s position as a creator of original content but is destined to fail in its attempt to capitalize on the History’s recent success with scripted period dramas such as Vikings and Hatfields & McCoys.

Six opens with the titular special-ops team on a mission in Afghanistan, arriving just in time to save an outnumbered squad of U.S. soldiers pinned down in a firefight it was otherwise destined to lose. The scene is clearly intended to establish the Team Six members as the baddest of the American military’s badasses, but what’s really on display is the modest (read: inadequate) budget available to the series’ producers to create the battle scenes that will be crucial to its credibility. In this case, what’s on screen looks and feels very much like something shot on a Hollywood backlot.

The real reason the Team Six is in Afghanistan is to hunt down a bin-Laden-esque Taliban leader responsible for numerous terrorist attacks; after a night raid (and another low-budget shootout) fails to turn up the high-priority target, a frustrated SEAL named Rip (played by Walton Goggins) makes a questionable and violent heat-of-the-moment decision that threatens to divide the rest of the squad.

The action flashes forward two years, and the team members — minus Rip — are back in the U.S., relaxing in Virginia Beach while awaiting their next deployment. Team leader Joe “Bear” Graves (Barry Sloane) remains emotionally distant while his wife tries to engage him in a conversation about parenthood; meanwhile, Ricky “Buddha” Ortiz (Juan Pablo Raba) has just learned his wife is pregnant again and is feeling pressure from her to file his discharge papers and pursue a more stable, at-home post-military career.

These tepid subplots serve as only fleeting distractions from Six’s real purpose, which is to showcase the brothers-in-arms antics of the SEALs.

Somewhere in Africa, meanwhile, Rip is engaged in mercenary work for a private security firm hired to protect oil-company workers in the jungle. When an ill-considered photo-op visit to a remote girls’ school is interrupted by Boko Haram terrorists, Rip is among a couple of dozen hostages rounded up by the attackers.

When word reaches the U.S. that an American is among those taken captive in this latest African attack, plans for a rescue mission are quickly put in motion. And the elite force chosen to carry out the extraction, of course, is SEAL Team Six. It’s painfully obvious, but no moreso than any of the other elements in this clumsily executed effort.

Simply put, this is a series whose title seems perfectly appropriate… if its quality is being scored out of 20.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @BradOswald