‘La Unidad Kabul’ closes as one of the best Spanish series without the attention it deserves

Three seasons like three suns. ‘La unidad’, the fiction created by Dani de la Torre and Alberto Marini about a police group that works to dismantle jihadist cells and prevent terrorist attacks, has come to an end with its third installment, recently released on Movistar Plus+ and with a change of location. It is undoubtedly one of the best series that the Spanish audiovisual industry has given in recent years but, despite this, it has not had the recognition it deserves.

And it’s not just that ‘La unidad’ is good in the national context; we could compare it with foreign fiction of a similar nature, such as ‘Homeland’, and it would come out of the comparison more than graceful, having on its side some points in favor. Because if the North American fictions that deal with terrorism suffer from something, it is from that excessive patriotism that eliminates all possibility of nuances and from that heroicism that, from a European perspective, is so lazy. On the contrary, ‘Unity’ makes realism its hallmark and strives, and succeeds, to endow its protagonists with humanity, stripping them of the hero’s cloak.

From more to still more

With its first season, ‘La unidad’ already proved to be a round series -well written, directed and produced-, although it was overshadowed by a ‘Riot gear’ that made more noise among critics in 2020, without having anything to envy. It didn’t do him any favors that between that and his second installment there were two years apart, but this one knew, for those who saw it, to raise the ante, refine its formula and grow bigger. De la Torre’s direction is spectacular like few others, but not gimmicky, and The story balances very well the advances of the thriller plot, to glue the viewer to the seat, with the drama of characterswhich is where the heart of the proposal resides.

Without this second element, ‘La unidad’ could be just another fiction, a very expensive one, but one that didn’t leave a mark. Instead, he bets on stopping, in the middle of the hurricane, so that we get to know those who have such transcendental missions in their hands and we can verify that they are fragile and mundane people like any other. There are no heroes, just men and women with complicated purposes trying to rise to the occasion..

Last destination: Kabul

For its closure, the fiction has not followed a continuist path but has become a kind of spin-off of itself; hence the change of title to ‘La unidad Kabul’, which not only marks the change of location from Spain to Afghanistan but, in some way, also tells us that It is the same series and, at the same time, a different one. With only four characters from its initial cast, the previous premise of anti-jihadism gives way to telling the convulsion of the capital of the Islamic country when it was taken over by the Taliban.

It is a golden opportunity to portray something that we have so marked in our collective memory, once again fleeing from the bombastic approach of North American productions, without renouncing the hectic nature of the danger, and without losing sight of the people who suffer the consequences of the politics and war. Adrenaline, drama and intensity reinforced with very good performances result in a season that is capable of elevating what was already raised in the previous stages of the project. There is only one thorn left: thinking that if ‘La unidad’ were on an internationally broadcast platform, it would be the series that everyone was talking about. It has potential for global success, of course.