SEAL Team - Action-Packed Glimpse At Modern Warfare

written by Juan Ayala

Just a few weeks into the new season, we’ve seen a number of new military dramas including The Brave on NBC and Valor on The CW. CBS’ take on the modern warfare stories stars David Boreanaz (Angel, Bones) as Jason Hayes, leader of the elite Navy Seal team, Tier One. Hayes has gone through the loss of his good friend and teammate Nate is killed during an op gone wrong. Some time later, Hayes is in a mandatory therapy session, much to his chagrin and we see his difficulty with balancing his family with his job, a plot device we’ve seen time and again.

Hayes goes on to oversee the training simulation of wise-cracking young trainee Clay Spencer, played by Max Thieriot (Bates Motel) who is eventually assigned to Hayes’ team, despite the team leader insisting that Clay is not ready. We meet Hayes’ witty partner Ray, played by Neil Brown Jr., and their CIA analyst Mandy Ellis, played by Jessica Pare. The team’s assignment: capture and bring in Abu Samir Al-Masri, the ISIL leader they were after the night Nate was killed. Ellis has a strong desire to capture Al-Masri as she had an opportunity to do so two years ago but failed.

Boreanaz, Brown Jr. and Thieriot in CBS' SEAL Team

When on a recon mission, the team discovers Al-Masri has an American hostage with him and they get a new objective: capture Al-Masri alive and rescue the hostage. En route, one of the helicopters malfunctions and their mission is change to a rescue. During the op, the team successfully finds their hostage while Clay proves his worth speaking several of the local dialects. An opportunity opens up to still capture Al-Masri and eventually Hayes and Ray find him cornered. Clay was ordered to watch the tunnels but stops an enemy unit from getting to his team and proceeds to help, killing Al-Masri in the process. Hayes is furious as Clay disobeyed orders and killed the person they were supposed to bring in alive, but at the end of the day, he tells their superiors that it was a ‘clean op’.

There are some great visual moments throughout including bodycam footage, scope and night vision shots that really immerse you into the operation and gives off a strong ‘modern warfare’ vibe throughout. SEAL Team is also grounded in reality more than the other military shows out there as if focuses more on the planning and strategy of each op instead of worrying about wowing the audience with explosions and combat. Though, let it be known, the opening firefight is still very well-executed and finishes off with a bang.

What misses the mark is Hayes’ personal side plot yet they manage to hit every trope on the list:
-Work-committed father splits with wife
-Wife has a douchey new boyfriend
-Wife scolds father for not being around for their kids
-Father gets called away to work in the middle of an argument
-Episode ends with father nearly missing a recital/sports game/other nonsensical activity but makes it in the nick of time.

Though there are some solid performances from Boreanaz and Thieriot, plus some great cinematography, SEAL Team is filled with nearly every trope, cliché and plot device that we’ve seen in military and police procedurals over the past twenty years. I will continue to watch to see if any of the several exposition points are developed and if things improve from here. It’s not a groundbreaking new series, but it’s another solid one-hour drama.

SEAL Team airs Wednesdays at 9pm on CBS.


Did you watch the premiere of SEAL Team? What did you think? Let’s talk! Share your thoughts in the comments below!