Friday, November 16, 2007

Hammerhead Is Down!

I'm rarely moved by episodic television. I think it's very difficult for TV production values to connect with someone like me emotionally. Me, someone who has lost... so many men in the field.

The last time I clasped my hands in front of my face and widened my eyes in sheer shock and horror was during the summer of 1994 when I was watching the second season finale of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. A Jem'Hadar warship destroyed the starship Odyssey with a Kamikaze run. It was most unexpected. But at the end of the day, it was just sci-fi and you kinda need something to happen in a season finale right?

However, I admit that I was completely unprepared for the unexpected loss of Sergeant First Class Hector Williams (callsign: Hammerhead) a character on the The Unit, a series with which I can obviously relate to. It came obviously unexpectedly at the end of just the 7th episode of the third series.

In the episode, as The Unit's medic, he patched Sergeant Grey back together on a kitchen table in Beruit. Some Marines showed up to rescue them (ain't that the truth) and The Unit piled into their transport but Hector got a sniper bullet through his neck and went down instantly. What followed (in part two - Episode 8 of the series) was easily one of the finest examples of television ever as each member of The Unit played his part in seeing his friend and colleague begin his journey home to rest forever without anybody knowing what really happened to him.

It serves as a moving tribute to all those who have fallen, but we can never know how.

The Unit will continue but Hector will be missed.

Rest easy soldier.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is he leaving the show?, is he trying his hand at movies?, or have the writers been truly courageous and deliberately killed off a much loved character?, if so thats bloody heroic writing. It lends a air of realism to the show as the other characters now have to deal with his death, Wait a minute, we're not just playing cowboys and injuns here? On a more practical level it also encourages the actors to toe the line.

Anonymous said...

Well you could have knocked me down with a feather... Hector's dead, I can tell you it brought a tear to my eye, especially as he was just getting a relationship together.. at least Jonus went all ape shit trying to make some good of the situation..

But there were a lot of bullets in that box

Major General Creedon said...

Hmmm. It's difficult to say what happened. Either he pissed someone off like Lt. Ford in Stargate: Atlantis (it's strange that Hector was digitally removed from The Unit's opening sequence). But on the other hand we learned the hard way in the G.I.Joe comic book that even the toughest military heroes can't stop a bullet and say "it's only a scratch" in today's hyper-realistic world.

Bruce Russell said...

Hang on, how did Ford piss someone off on Atlantis?

Major General Creedon said...

He was a bit of a party-man and kept on turning up late on set up to the point where they missed an outsourced special effects deadline. I think that was the last straw for them. He was an unconvincing USMC Lt. anyway, it's not like he's missed.

Constance said...

I was wondering what happened to that guy! He was such a drag on the show. I'm sorry I ever saw his screen test - it was a train wreck and colored his whole tenure on the show. Was he a Marine? I always thought that he was Air Force. What irritates me most is that he still has billing in the description on the tivo.

The verification thingy contained the word "cue!"