Review of Obliterated

Obliterated (2023)
7/10
Betrer Than It Has a Right to Be
2 December 2023
I had never heard of this show. I was scrolling through my Yahoo news feed and saw a review of the show. The title of the review was so condescending I just had to read it. The author obliterated the show (pun intended). She was extremely critical of all the sex and gratuitous nudity. She basically said the show was a waste of time.

Of course, this made me want to watch it. I have to say, it lacks direction, the writing is poor, and there is a ton of filler to bloat it to eight episodes. Having said that, I LOVED THIS SHOW for the exact reasons the critic stated. It dumb as hell, but its a fun ride. The actors have really good chemistry and I binged watched it.

An elite special forces crew thinks they have stopped a nuclear terrorist attack in Las Vegas, so to celebrate, they get hammered on a combination of drugs, alcohol, sex, and other basic debauchery (a camel is involved). They then learn the plot they stopped was a decoy, so they have 7 hours to stop the real bombing. Still obliterated (hence the title) they spend the next 7 hours whacked out of their minds while trying to find a briefcase nuke.

Ava is a hardened CIA operative running the team who recently lost her fiance on a mission. McKinight is the Team Lead and resident hunk with an ego problem. Trunk is the muscle who can't ever seem to get something to eat. Gomez is the sniper, a Michelle Rodriguez knock off who is a lesbian and hides her emotions. Paul is the married helicopter pilot with family issues. Maya is the tech nerd who is in love with McKnight, but is too shy to say it. Lastly, there is Haggerty, the explosives expert who spends most of the series in a drug induced stupor. There is another character named Lana, a ditzy blonde who the team rescued during the original mission and she tags along as she has intimate knowledge of one of the villains. These characters all seem pretty standard on these types of shows, but the actors imbue them with just enough personality to make them stand out. Unfortunately, the villains are pretty one-dimensional which is really the biggest failing of the show.

There are a ton of gunfights, fist fights, sex, graphic nudity, humor and some pretty extreme torture scenes. In fairness, all the actors wind up nude at some point so there is definitely no inequality there.

Sadly, I think this is one of those one season events. The premise of the show could not be repeated and I don't think there is enough originality to the show for it to sustain a second season. Still, it was a fun watch and the show knew exactly what it was and didn't try to be anything else.
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