3 out of 5

Created by: Benjamin Cavell

covers seasons 1 – 6

Baked into SEAL Team’s DNA is something of a “classic” American genre: white, straight dudes fighting against Others for rah-rah patriotism. While we have some token non-white, non-dude cast members to buffer that, and does attempt to humanize the cultures into which the Team is sent (though not the terrorists, who always remain vague, weapon-toting baddies), we’re still swimming in that DNA: of the USA as patron saint of goodness and where a big dramatic arc is if leader dude says he’s sad about shootin’ guns and almost sheds a tear. Thanks to legit military advisors (in the cast and on staff), the show does maintain a pretty distinct taint of accuracy, and good production and admittedly compelling setups in support of whichever episodic mission helps to distract from all that a bit – that you can just “override and ignore,” as these SEAL operators will quote, in relation to any emotions, and watch an entertaining military action procedural.

But along the way, though the cast doesn’t necessarily diversify, and tears are still very hard to come by, SEAL Team does start to shake loose from its template: characters become realer and more fleshed out, which allows us time to consider the impact of the lives they lead – the instability; the violence; similarly, the cycle of war itself is explored – maybe not deeply, but the repetition of actions and the moral greys the Team constantly finds themselves in, balancing “mission” with realities, are constant talking points. In other words: SEAL Team starts to poke at its own DNA, reconfiguring things slowly but surely across its first few seasons, growing into a well-balanced character study… with frequent breaks for shootin’ guns.

We never quite get into sticky territory, staying far afield of questioning politics and keeping concerns more at a philosophical level, and it takes five seasons before they start poking at sexism in the military, which is ultimately kept in the background. In truth, the bigger swings are taken during the second and third season, which are very strong as a result… and then we kind of backpedal on some of that progress and repeat a larger storyline about Team leader Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz) inability to step away from war; this is, indeed, show’s long term theme, which is reflected in various ways via the snarky rookie (Max Thieriot), or the seen-it-all CIA contact (Jessica Paré), or the family man (Neil Brown Jr.). These are all very strong performances, but, again, in keeping with a need to find its way back to being an explosion-laden action series, the show takes some shortcuts to get us to emotional resolutions, creating a divide where the show has intelligent thoughts bubbling ‘neath its surface, but cautiously remains at a distance so it can juggle plotlines as, perhaps, ratings suggest.

Nonetheless: I enjoy SEAL Team much more than I thought I would, and that is due to a general course-correct that takes place within the first season, pushing for a show that offers a bit more thoughtfulness than one might assume, and has kept earning my viewership thanks to a deep bench of well-cast and generally interesting characters. And, y’know, some pretty dern exciting action scenes.