We knew this was coming; not least of all, because Lifetime touted last night’s episode of Army Wives as the “most emotional of the season.” We can also see a crescendo when it’s staring us in the face. And yet, who wasn’t surprised by what happened last night?
Let’s back the bus up (beep, beep, beep). First of all, it’s great to see Frank and Michael back together again. It must be a rather tricky situation to be pals out of uniform, and superior/inferior in, but Michael and Frank have always walked that tightrope really well together, and I’ve enjoyed the few glimpses we’ve gotten of their friendship.
With Frank back from Iraq, working with Michael on war-games exercises, in the midst of his crisis with Denise, we’ve had the opportunity to see something a bit different: Michael has tried to be a compassionate officer to Frank, and you can see the two personalities within the latter fighting for supremacy.
With Michael only looking out for what’s practically best for Frank, Frank’s emotions finally broke through, in his short outburst. The loyalty he showed to Denise, so long as she is his wife, and likely as long as she lives (for, she is the mother of his child), makes the entire situation all the more heartbreaking. Frank did not deserve this. No matter how difficult a man he may have been to live with, he did not deserve to be betrayed, and beaten down, by the woman that he loved.
And so, the part of me that isn’t already conditioned by television arcs, felt that Denise didn’t deserve the pardon that reconciliation will provide her with. True, nothing will magically be repaired, but taking her back means that her dalliances were not deal breakers. That her cheating on her husband, a man whose life is built on loyalties, was a hard bump in the road, not a brick wall. Does that make sense?
Believe me, I’m not looking to get into an argument about marital fidelity. My question is more for the soldier Frank than for the man Frank: would the way you’re hardwired really allow you to look past that? I’m not so sure how true to form the move was.
And, then again, we’ve discovered that Frank’s an incredible man. Sure, he’s rigid and difficult, and a lot of other negative things that couldn’t have made it easy to live with him. But, who didn’t expect him to give that necklace back to Denise? Or, for that matter, to cry when he saw it on his nightstand?
There’s a sensitivity inside of Frank that must have always been there for Denise to have fallen in love with him. Did it likely disappear as the years went by and the tours of duty grew longer? Sure. Could that distance, and Denise’s feelings of suffocation, be the reasons for her cheating? Yes, although they don’t excuse it. So, is it unfathomable to believe that his tenderness would return when soldier Frank needed it most? Not really. I just feel bad for what he’s had to endure.
You see, Army Wives really lets us take a look at each stage in a soldier’s career. Trevor is still young, unhardened by war, or distance from his family. Frank and Joan have been beaten up, and have subsequently beaten up their families, but they’ve reached points in their careers where they’re being pulled back from the dark side. Michael’s gotten past the life of a deployed soldier, and he has the luxury of being a father and husband fulltime, without the ugliness of war to color his vision.
Chase, on the other hand, is still grappling with a life of terror. Yeah, he seems like a real jerk a lot of the time, and yeah, he wasn’t like that last season. But, I believe season three Chase, as well as season one Chase, a lot more than I did season two Chase. This guy spends his life in the most harrowing, dangerous situations that any of us couldn’t imagine. Do you think he’d really have a full grip on reality when he got thrown back into normal life? Sure, the furniture, the fishing, the unguarded barbs at Pamela … they’re all ridiculous, petty, and totally out-of-line.
But the little we know about him? He goes undercover in Iraqi villages, smoking out high-profile targets, insurgent leaders, whatever. Holy crap! No wonder he’s a tad unhinged. I’m actually kind of surprised that Pamela doesn’t expect it more (not that she should tolerate it even if she does). Not only has she lived with Chase for all of these years, but she was a police officer, and while that isn’t the same, it’s closer than you or I are to that kind of lifestyle. I think the only thing that Chase can do is hold his breath until he gets past this part of his career. Then it’ll be Roxy’s turn to deal with Trevor freaking out.
Army Wives is definitely pulling itself together, but I still know that, week after week, we’ll have a campy story, and a cheesy one. The cheesy ones seem to all center around Roland these days, and I’m really not enjoying him. This Price (Clifton Powell) guy is a big question mark in my book, and I think that Roland seriously needs to be careful around him.
The campy plot, on the other hand, was a continuation of the Lucky/Jeremy (Richard Bryant) story, now transplanted to Fort Marshall, and placed in Trevor’s hands. The only good thing about that dog? Michael’s encounter with it in the office. How’d he spill his coffee twice? He’s awesome.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jul 13, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
