Jonas Blane - Character Overview

Character Overview

Jonas (often referred to by his men as "Top") is Alpha Team's Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge. Blane is a former Ranger and Special Forces-qualified senior NCO, leading Alpha Team of the 1st Special Actions Group (official cover as the "303rd Logistical Studies Group"). He is competent in Arabic, French, German, Persian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Blane and his wife, Molly (Regina Taylor), have one daughter, Betsy (Angela Wainwright).

His sidearm of choice is a Kimber Custom TLE II or Kimber Warrior .45ACP Model 1911A1-frame Semi-Automatic, but as an off-duty concealed carry weapon, he uses a Smith & Wesson .380 pocket pistol. In tropical climates he wears a distinctive Australian slouch hat, which he considers a lucky charm. He is a confidant of 2 different U.S. Presidents who both use him for personal secret missions outside the normal chain of command. His hobbies seem to be collecting antique militaria and fishing. Outside of his teammates, his best friend is Ron Cheals, a former member of the Unit who was crippled during a mission and forced into retirement. He is also a friend of Tom Ryan, but this is stretched by Ryan's behavior in the later seasons.

During the series pilot of The Unit, Blane takes down a private jet with five terrorists on board, incurring the wrath of the FBI for violating the Posse Comitatus Act. However, Blane and his team are let off the hook. At the end of the 1st episode, when a mechanical speaking toy repeats an Arabic phrase, he pivots around and fires 2 rounds from his pistol into a bedroom mirror, a reaction presumably caused by stress. When the incident is uncovered, his wife states that she fired the rounds in an attempt to eliminate a rat.

While in the Balkans, the war criminal who Blane's team apprehends gets a good look at Blane. When the criminal escapes from U.N. custody, he tracks Blane back to Fort Griffith, the 303rd's headquarters. When Alpha Team leaves post to celebrate the marriage of unit commander Colonel Tom Ryan, the war criminal kills a few workers and injures Mrs. Ryan and Blane.

A few months later (during the second season), after being assigned to active duty once again, while in Pakistan, Blane and his team prevent the spread of weaponized smallpox by members of al-Qaeda. His team is also responsible for the downfall of the world's foremost illegal weapons dealer. When a member of his team, Hector Williams is killed during a mission to Beirut, Jonas conducts an unauthorized mission of personal vengeance on those he holds responsible.

In season 4 Jonas leads his team in the rescue of the president-elect from an assassination attempt and later works to destroy the terrorist network responsible, including thwarting a chemical weapons attack on a small California town. When his daughter Betsy Blaine is captured in Iraq whilst serving as an army officer there, he leads a private mission to rescue her and succeeds in doing so. In the last few episodes of the season, Jonas foils a nuclear attack on Washington. At the end of Season 4, Molly decides to live away from Jonas after he refuses to retire for her.

In the provisional storyline outlined by the writers for season 5, Jonas would begin an affair with fellow Unit member Bridget Sullivan. When she is killed on a mission mid-season, the combat stress that affected him in the first episode resurfaces. Leaving Mack Gerhardt in charge of the team, Jonas works through his feelings with the help of his daughter and father, both of whom also experience posttraumatic stress disorder (his father, also a soldier, was awarded the Silver Star medal during the Korean War); the storyline allows the series to address the issue of the treatment of traumatised soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The series would end with Jonas' reuniting with Molly and retiring from the army to help her in her real estate business. According to remarks made by executive producer Shawn Ryan to The Futon Critic: "Jonas was finally going to be seeing his run end", and " The final season was going to be, I figured the fifth season was going to be the last... It was going to be a long, sort of final mission for Jonas. He's not medically cleared, Mac has to go in and sort of change the medical records so that Jonas can keep on . We had a whole thing planned, it was going to be good."

Jonas' personality is that of a hard taskmaster. He effortlessly commands the respect of his men and is extremely patriotic, pushing himself hardest of all. However this self-centeredness sometimes alienates people outside The Unit in a detrimental manner. He is also very ruthless, never hesitating to kill in cold blood and nearly always putting the mission first. On three occasions, he has tortured enemies for information by shooting them in the kneecap. In the course of the series, Jonas kills at least 58 people. His medal ribbons include a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, although they were, presumably, awarded before he joined The Unit, whose members do not seem to receive decorations for their heroism. He also wears the Kuwait Liberation medal, indicating that he began his military career as early as the late 1980s.