'68 Whiskey' plays out as military version of high school drama with stock characters on a realistic set
This spoiler-free review is based on the first three episodes
Mining the Afghanistan war and military stories of the "68 Whiskies" aka medics on the army bases, '68 Whiskey' promises to be fun. But don't expect it to be an all-out comedy. The humor is sprinkled like garnish on what seems to be essentially a military medics drama.
Since its main characters are in the war as doctors, they are battle adjacent and mostly stick to the relative security of the army base but also venture out and interact with locals and run lucrative side deals from the base. But death and war form the merciless and constant backdrop of this TV series executive produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.
The show also heavily relies on tropes that have worked well for the genre, from the love triangle that precipitates steamy forbidden sex, the three musketeers around whom most of the drama centers, to stock characters like the macho soldier (Derek Theler as Sasquatch), the incompetent newbie (Nicholas Coombe as Anthony Petrocelli), the gruff but understanding base commander (Usman Ally) to the flawed, but essentially good, main hero, Cooper Roback, played by Sam Keeley.
Roback is friends with a black man (Jeremy Tardy as Mekhi Davis) and a Latinx woman (Cristina Rodlo as Rosa Alvarez), covering diversity bases -- and the series depends on their camaraderie.
There is Grace Durkin (Gage Golightly), the base commander's favorite soldier, Sasquatch's girlfriend, and Roback's f**k buddy, who models army equipment as a side gig. We also have Roback's boss, the tough-as-bullets medic unit head, Sonia Holloway (Beth Riesgraf) who isn't sentimental but nevertheless falls for a multilingual Afghani patient in her care.
A good way to think about '68 Whiskey' is the military version of college/high school dramedies. There are the indie-cool kids aka Roback and his gang, the nerds are like Petrocelli, the jock is represented by Sasquatch and Durkin is the popular cheerleader.
But there is enough here for an enjoyable weekly watch. The situational humor mixed with high drama plays out on a realistic set and makes the action and stories of these characters come to life.
'68 Whisky' premieres January 15, Wednesday, at 10/9c on Paramount Network.