Season 1 of the Spike TV series The Kill Point concludes tonight with a two-hour episode. It’s a fairly engaging series about a bank robbery gone bad that results in deaths and a drawn-out hostage situation (with very strong performances by Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo), though it’s nothing essential, by any means.

There is, however, one interesting angle. The robbers/hostage takers are a former platoon of U.S. soldiers back in country after their tours are over. The leader (Leguizamo) is a former sergeant who was court-martialed after he refused to send his men into a particular site in Iraq. After his refusal, the higher-ups sent another platoon, and they were all killed. So instead of being considered a hero for saving his men and warning of disaster, he’s been made the fall guy for their catastrophic mistake.

Well, as an image of how competent and honest government generally is, the story angle makes sense. As an example of how the U.S. military actually works, however, it seems more than a bit unfair. Yes, poor decisions are made, and cover-ups happen, but this sort of thing is thankfully the very uncommon exception, not the norm. And although one of the characters, herself an ex-marine, points out to the ex-sergeant the obvious truth that other people’s wrongs don’t justify robbery and murder, the central premise of the mission gone bad and hero turned martyr remains.

Also part of this plot point is the fact that the leader of the robbers uses their status as ex-soldiers to score points with a left-wing press eager to politicize every occasion. Out on the street in front of the television cameras, he characterizes his men as neglected heros who have been driven to crime by the failure of the federal government and the American people to take care of those who fought to preserve their freedom. As an image of how easily scummy people can exploit left-wing politics, it’s impressively accurate and evocative.