By Robert Scucci
| Published
Of all the action stars who rose to prominence in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Arnold Schwarzenegger has the most staying power because he’s always been the most self-aware tough guy from his graduating class. Best known for his innate ability to keep a straight face while belting out pithy one-liner after one-liner, the Austrian Oak has demonstrated that he can still make you laugh while kicking ass in the Netflix Original series, FUBAR. Playing out like a cross between Meet the Parents and Commando, FUBAR is typecast by design, self-aware in all the right ways, and a shining example of how even the most cliché of action movie tropes can still be effective if everybody on board knows the assignment.
Arnold Is A Geriaction Hero
FUBAR was on my must watch list for months before I finally decided to give it a go because I was worried that it would be one of those series that wouldn’t live up to its hype. After all, Schwarzenegger is on the wrong side of his 70s, which made me (incorrectly) think he’d half-heartedly show up for a paycheck in a feigned attempt to relive his glory days as if he were Al Bundy yapping about how he scored four touchdowns in a single game for Polk High School in 1966. Luckily, I was mistaken, and I’m glad to say that Schwarzenegger’s still got that X factor that makes him so likeable.
The Meet The Parents Connection
Similar to Robert De Niro’s Jack Byrnes of the Meet the Parents franchise, Schwarzenegger portrays Luke Brunner, a CIA operative on the verge of retirement after his last successful sting operation. Always tight-lipped about the true nature of his work, Luke has lied to his family for decades under the guise of owning and operating a gym supply company called Merry Fitness alongside Barry (Milan Carter), who also works for the CIA as a technical operations officer. Luke’s secret double life has torn his family apart, resulting in his wife Tally (Fabiana Udenio) filing for divorce before the events that take place in FUBAR.
While Luke wants to put his CIA life behind him so he can rekindle his relationship with Tally, his relationship with his daughter, Emma (Monica Barbaro), is equally worse for wear.
In FUBAR’s inaugural episode, “Take Your Daughter to Work Day,” we learn that Emma has a secret life of her own. Everybody, including Luke and her boyfriend, Carter (Jay Baruchel), is under the impression that she travels the world for humanitarian efforts like supplying citizens of La Guajira, Columbia with fresh drinking water.
When Luke is summoned to come out of retirement to extract an operative under the code name Panda from Guyana, he learns the hard truth: his daughter is Panda, and she’s trying to take down an arms dealer named Boro Polonia (Gabriel Luna). Luke’s trust is shaken when he finds out that Barry, as well as fellow operatives Roo (Fortune Feimster) and Aldon (Travis Van Winkle), knew about Emma’s involvement with the CIA, but were sworn to secrecy. Luke also has a history with Boro, as he murdered his father when he was just a boy and acted as a mentor to him while undercover.
Father/Daughter Bonding In The Form Of Counterterrorism
FUBAR has a lot of moving parts, but keeps the viewer up to speed without ever coming off as patronizing as it blasts through every single action movie trope you can think of.
First, we have the “we’re not so different, you and I” dynamic between Luke and Emma. Emma clearly has daddy issues (her words not mine) because of how absent Luke was during her childhood, forcing her to be an overachiever. Luke feels guilt for lying to his family, and worries that his daughter’s personal life will fall apart like his own as she becomes further devoted to her work. As they butt heads during their missions, they develop a newfound appreciation for each other because Luke was one of the CIA’s top agents, and his little girl is clearly doing a great job following in his footsteps.
We also see a lot of “zero hour” tropes play out throughout the eight-episode run, as there’s always a bomb that needs to be disarmed, a runaway train that’s about to derail, and Boro, who’s always seemingly one step ahead of the CIA while on the run.
My favorite action comedy trope in FUBAR, however, is the wise-cracking banter between Luke, Emma, Barry, and Roo. Roo has a foul mouth, speaks her mind, and always ends up having to dress in less-than-flattering disguises to carry out her missions while offering Barry relationship advice.
What’s more, when Luke and Emma are forced to see an occupational psychologist named Dr. Pfeffer, they immediately start calling him “Dr. Pepper” and name dropping other soda brands to get under his skin. After getting called out for making an egregious amount of soda puns, Luke simply tells Dr. Pfeffer (Scott Thompson) that he must be “fanta-sizing,” proving that our favorite action hero still knows how to crack wise this late in his career.
Streaming FUBAR on Netflix
If you grew up watching Arnold Schwarzenegger during his action movie heyday, then FUBAR is the next series that you should watch on Netflix. Schwarzenegger and company approach their secret spy lifestyle with a wink and a nod in every scene, and the action sequences are of a feature-film quality, making the series all the more enjoyable. Between every single explosion and round of gunfire, FUBAR has a lot of heart thanks to its family dynamic, and has a laugh-per-minute ratio that you wouldn’t expect if you went into streaming the series with zero expectations like I did.
FUBAR is a Netflix Original series and can be streamed with an active subscription. And if you like what you see, Season 2 is slated for a mid-2025 release.
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