I once called “Strike Back” the show that Spike TV wishes it had. But it is so much better than that.
“Strike Back” makes no apologies for what it is: a balls to the wall action show that throws in sex scenes nearly every chance that it gets. Sullivan Stapleton’s ass makes so many appearances that it should be getting third billing in the opening credits.
As fans in the UK know, “Strike Back” had an initial season with a very different cast prior to landing on Cinemax. The show was rebooted in 2011 with Stapleton’s displaced American soldier, Damian Scott joining Michael Stonebridge (Philip Winchester) and his teammates in Section 20, a secretive British paramilitary unit that hunts down terrorist threats all over the world. But mostly in Africa, where the bulk of the series is filmed.
The first season seemed to write Stonebridge out of the series as he retired from active duty to be near his wife and unborn child. Early in season 2, Stonebridge is given an excuse to come back to Section 20 after his wife is murdered by Curtis Hanson (Shane Taylor), a renegade soldier whose PTSD suffering brother was killed by Stonebridge after he went berserk during a training exercise. Now you know why this season is called “Strike Back: Vengeance” internationally.
Stonebridge’s tale of revenge weaves into and out of the primary story of the season; which brings in “Game of Thrones” star Charles Dance as Conrad Knox, a millionaire who dreams of making Africa into a world power through some stolen nuclear weapons. Knox is no Tywin Lannister, but Dance brings a sense of menace to the part as well as Knox’s misguided love for his adoptive continent. It’s telling when Knox openly declares himself to be African, but some of the indigenous people actually laugh in his face when he makes that claim.
While Stonebridge is wrapped up in his grief and his search for Hanson, Scott gets a storyline of his own when a rogue CIA agent, Christy Bryant (Stephanie Vogt) offers him a way back to America if he betrays the trust of his Section 20 teammates. It’s a little bit of a rehash of Scott’s season 1 dilemma, but Stapleton does a good job of making Scott conflicted by the opportunity. Scott’s most compelling side story comes when he tries to save a Mossad agent named Rebecca (Lyne Renée) from self destructing under the pressure of her job.
New to the mix this season was Rhona Mitra’s Major Rachel Dalton, the new commanding officer of Section 20. Mitra gave “Strike Back” a much needed female character who could convincingly go head-to-head with Scott and Stonebridge while ordering them around. Although Dalton doesn’t get a really personal story this season, she shines in a very harrowing episode in which one of the Section 20 members is brutally killed. Dalton is a legitimate action heroine even when she’s on her own.
The storyline plays out over ten episodes, all of which are included in this set. The creative team behind “Strike Back” are particularly good at staging action sequences far beyond anything else on television. Frankly, “Strike Back” outshines several movies in that department as well. The cinematography and direction are top notch and both of the lead actors seem game for anything, including their own dangerous stunts. On DVD, the visuals are especially cinematic.
However, it’s bizarre that the DVD set is severely lacking in extras. Four of the episodes feature commentaries from the actors and directors, but that’s it. I don’t consider video recaps and preview trailers to be extras, although they are included. Even the Blu-ray set is without specials extra features beyond the DVD release and there’s no discernable reason why. I know that the “Strike Back” team filmed several behind-the-scenes featurettes for this season because we ran them on this web site. So why aren’t they included in this set?
In terms of of the main series, this DVD set would get a 9 or a 9.5. “Strike Back” Cinemax Season 2 is a lot of fun to watch the first few times and I’m highly recommending it for that reason alone. But the presentation of the set could have been much better and the lack of extras does drag it back down.
