Six is a drama series with a solid premise, blending the working and personal lives of Navy SEAL team members: armed combat abroad; interpersonal and financial challenges at home. SEALs, we learn, are highly trained, though not immune to getting shot, and aren’t paid well enough to afford private school tuition or IVF treatments.
The cast is a good one, led by Walton Goggins (Justified), Barry Sloane (Saints & Strangers) and Kyle Schmid (Copper). Somehow it doesn’t quite gel, though, at least in the four episodes reviewed. The stateside family stories feel like they are tacked on and, of course, aren’t as compelling TV as a raid on Boko Haram or a firefight in Afghanistan.
A Homeland-lite secondary plot involving a radical Islamic (American) terrorist who wants revenge against Goggins’s character pops in and out. Goggins’s “Rip” Taggart, after washing out as a stressed-out SEAL, is put into a situation where he must summon up his best action hero moves and, we hope, rescue the innocent civilians and redeem himself as his former colleagues rush to his aid — if they can find him on time.
As with other History productions (see Roots, Vikings), the action does feel authentic and the Boko Haram aspect is interesting. It just doesn’t measure up to a full Six.
