“DARWIN WAS HALF RIGHT.“
Back in the spring of 2001, this curious intertitle greeted anyone who tuned in for the premiere of Special Unit 2. The mid-season replacement aired right after Star Trek Enterprise on UPN, and it joined the likes of WB castoffs Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell. Unlike the now-defunct network’s other genre offerings, Evan Katz‘s series was distinctly a comedy. From start to finish, Special Unit 2 is not only a whimsical tale of good versus evil, it reminds us that humor is often the key to comprehending the horrors of day-to-day-life.
Set in Chicago, a street cop named Kate Benson (Alexondra Lee, Paranormal Activity 4) learns that monsters do exist after all. Or, as the covert division Special Unit 2 prefers to call them, “Links.” After she’s partnered with hothead Nick O’Malley (Michael Landes, Final Destination 2), Kate’s brought up to speed on how to deal with these “missing links” between animal and man. They come up against various otherworldly threats such as a fear-eating scarecrow, wall-dwelling ghouls, and sisterly gorgons. It’s never a dull day at Special Unit 2.
The X-Files forever changed how scripted television does horror. Older entrants like Kolchak: The Night Stalker paved the way, but Chris Carter made the template that modern shows follow when it comes to investigating the paranormal. Special Unit 2 doesn’t deal with aliens (or vampires, as the mere thought of their existence is “ridiculous”), but its two main characters are absolutely caricatures of the iconic Dana Scully and Fox Mulder.
Heading up this colorful cast are Kate and Nick, two good-looking twenty-somethings with complementary personalities. They first meet during a rash of gargoyle-related abductions. Kate Benson, tolerably skeptical about everything in life but the supernatural, is always sensitive to things that go bump in the night. Everyone around Kate always discounted her suspicions until she found a home at Special Unit 2. From the red hair, to the occasional bout of academic insight, she’s the Scully in this duo. Nick, on the other hand, is a crude echo of Mulder. While Fox had his fair share of skin rags, Nick is hardly shy about what he did after hours. In truth, O’Malley’s overt sexuality is a cover-up for a rather horrifying past that’s touched upon from time to time.
In a smart move, the writers never tried to force a romance between Kate and Nick. Their winsome chemistry comes from a playful revulsion towards one another’s quirks and life choices. At any cost, they always have each other’s backs when the going gets tough. Like when Nick attends Kate’s disastrous high school reunion, he recognizes how selfless his partner is even after being humiliated by her classmates. And Kate puts herself in harm’s way to save her friend when his obsessions and loyalties get the best of him. As much as they are considered an ersatz Mulder and Scully, Nick and Kate’s steadfast friendship is a large part of why fans can look past the show’s other flaws.
In charge of this troop of misfits is Special Unit 2’s boss, Captain Richard Page (Richard Gant, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday). He’s the stern fatherly figure that his employees never asked for. And when Captain Page isn’t handling Nick and Kate, he has to contend with the office gnome. Not a metaphor seeing as gnomes reasonably exist in this universe. Due to his penchant for robbery, Carl (Danny Woodburn, Death to Smoochy) is bound to helping Special Unit 2 until further notice. For all that necessary Link background, the team looks to resident biologist Sean (Sean Whalen, 3 From Hell) in the first season, and then to his eager replacement, Jonathan (Jonathan Togo), in the second. Last, but not least, Pauley Perrette (The Ring) has her job cut out for her as Special Unit 2’s overworked PR manager, Alice.
Aside from its most obvious muse, Special Unit 2 enthusiastically takes cues from Buffy, CSI, and The Matrix. It was a post-Y2K world where trance music, pop culture laden wit, and wire-fu were all used un-ironically. Slow-mo fights, dance club stakeouts, and celebrity references weren’t uncommon in the series. This all might seem like a demonstration of the show’s low originality, but Special Unit 2 was really a clever send-up of the time period.
Over the span of nineteen episodes, Special Unit 2 created an offbeat collection of beasts and frights rooted in both ancient folklore and modern culture. The episodic format of the show allowed for many single-use yet memorable adversaries. One minute mermen are targeting virginal maidens, the next a monster composed of liposuctioned body fat is looking for its next meal. It may seem as if the majority of these Links are too disposable, but there was a hint of an overarching story and a potential Big Bad. Unfortunately, the show was canceled before the writers could revisit that budding plot. Still, this sundry gang of imaginative creatures will speak to those who like hands-on visual makeup and charmingly dated special effects.
The writing was breezy and tongue-in-cheek; episodes were easy to jump into without needing too much prior knowledge. Critics at the time were unimpressed only because they took the show at face value. In hindsight, they realize Katz had crafted a misjudged, low-stakes satire of action and horror movies. Special Unit 2 isn’t great television in the conventional sense, but it is a perfect time capsule of an era where small-screen horror was approachable, weird, and just plain fun.
