Special Unit 2

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Special Unit 2
Season 2 cast
Genre	Horror/comedy
Starring	Michael Landes, Alexondra Lee
Country of origin	USA
Language(s)	English language
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	19 (List of episodes)
Production
Location	Chicago, IL
Running time	60 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	UPN
Original run	April 2001 – February 2002
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Special Unit 2 is a short-lived, American horror/comedy television series that aired on UPN for two seasons from April 2001 through February 2002. The show focused upon the exploits of a top-secret Chicago police division known as Special Unit 2, charged with the task to police the city's large population of mythological beings, known as "Links."

In 2007, SCI FI started to re-run the episodes at 8PM Eastern on Fridays.

1 Plot
2 Episodes
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Plot

"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 among the human population. On occasions when a Link is seen by a human, they are usually dismissed as hallucinations or optical illusions, except by those who are especially perceptive.

Detective Nick O'Malley (Michael Landes) and his newly assigned partner, Detective Kate Benson (Alexondra Lee), are the two central characters. Nick is a maverick veteran in Special Unit 2. His initial callous, jaded, and at times cruel demeanor is revealed to be a result of the loss of his previous partner to a particularly vicious Link who cut her up into "600 inch-sized cubes." Kate is one of the rare individuals who acknowledges the existence of Links instead of finding a more acceptable (albeit incorrect) explanation for the traditionally unexplained phenomena that they cause. Her refusal to deny her observations jeopardizes her career as a police officer and estranges her from her fellow officers. Kate's tenacity and conviction leads to her recruitment by Special Unit 2.

Supporting characters include Captain Richard Page (Richard Gant), SU2's commanding officer who sports a fake wooden hand that plays in multiple gags to comedic effect. The unit's liaison with the Link community is Carl (Danny Woodburn), a verbally expressive gnome with kleptomania and an antagonistic attitude towards Nick, which Nick returns in kind. The antics of Nick and Carl's love-hate relationship contribute a significant element of humor within the fantasy universe of the show.

Other members of the unit are the technical experts, who provide background, research and technology on various Links. Initially the primary technician is the matter-of-fact Sean Radmon (Sean Whalen), succeeded in later episodes by Jonathan (Jonathan Togo), SU2's obsessively enthusiastic technician who analyzes Link evidence and produces a seemingly endless stream of Link-related inventions with positive glee. Another recurring character is Alice Cramer (Pauley Perrette), who is the Unit's public relations person and acts to convince the press and witnesses that the crimes and strange events committed by Links are merely toxic spills, mass hallucinations, drugged out street gangers, etc.

A partial list of Links encountered by SU2 in the course of the episodes include a trash-talking Gargoyle, the scheming Pied Piper posing as a children's television host, the homicidal Sandman, and deadly snake-haired Medusa, all revealed to be criminals in these particular cases. Most of the monsters are portrayed as behaving rather human-like, forming urban communities. Considering this, it can be noted that SU2 does not always treat suspects respectfully. They refer to "Link" suspects as "scum" and make use of harassment, unlawful arrest, torture, and willful murder against them on a regular basis; Nick in particular. This would seem to stem from the fact that Links and humans are fundamentally incapable of existing together (many Links seem to treat humans as food).

[edit] Episodes

1-01 – "The Brothers" (originally broadcast April 11, 2001)
1-02 – "The Pack" (originally broadcast April 18, 2001)
1-03 – "The Wraps" (originally broadcast April 25, 2001)
1-04 – "The Web" (originally broadcast May 2, 2001)
1-05 – "The Waste" (originally broadcast May 9, 2001)
1-06 – "The Depths" (originally broadcast May 16, 2001)
2-01 – "The Grain" (originally broadcast October 3, 2001)
2-02 – "The Skin" (originally broadcast October 10, 2001)
2-03 – "The Years" (originally broadcast October 17, 2001)
2-04 – "The Invisible" (originally broadcast October 24, 2001)
2-05 – "The Eve" (originally broadcast October 31, 2001)
2-06 – "The Rocks" (originally broadcast November 7, 2001)
2-07 – "The Drag" (originally broadcast November 14, 2001)
2-08 – "The Beast" (originally broadcast November 21, 2001)
2-09 – "The Wall" (originally broadcast November 28, 2001)
2-10 – "The Straw" (originally broadcast January 16, 2002)
2-11 – "The Love" (originally broadcast January 30, 2002)
2-12 – "The Piper" (originally broadcast February 6, 2002)
2-13 – "The Wish" (originally broadcast February 13, 2002)

[edit] Trivia

Although the series takes place in Chicago, the initial series promo takes place in New York with the same cast. Some of the footage in the promo was used in the pilot, but with small changes to hide it being set in New York.
The Special Unit 2 base of operations is hidden in an abandonded subway station under a dry cleaners. At one point, an armed man attempts to clean out the cash register at what he believes is a regular dry cleaners only to discover that the employees are all armed police officers.
The overall premise of this show is very similar to the 2006 British series Torchwood.