Oh, the children. Could it be that Army Wives is making a concerted effort to shift some of the focus of the show to the next generation? I mean, beyond Emmalin, Amanda (Kim Allen), and Jeremy, whose stories had more to do with how their nonsense affected their parents, than on the kids themselves.
Oh, no … now we’re talking about Finn (John White Jr.). Little Finn, the cute guy who went out on a date with Claudia Joy last season? That Finn. And I’m talking the Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire) cute Finn, not the I’m-getting-older-and-more-awkward Finn.
Apparently, our little Finn has “being a bit slow” troubles. First of all: the what? Even on Nurse Jackie, where daughter Grace’s (Ruby Jerins) troubles came out of nowhere, we had a little bit of an evolution. Army Wives seems to be in a particular rush to get it all out this season, and the character and plot development have suffered, as a result.
And, speaking of Nurse Jackie: as with Grace, Finn’s problems are assumed to be of a serious, and detrimental nature. Now, I’m not telling you what I’d do as a parent in either of the two situations (anxiety, and trouble with studies, respectively), but the swiftness with which schools seem to point a finger at children today is alarming. Why is something always wrong with the kid?
Yes, this is television, so a good result is just as expected as a bad one, but shouldn’t his teacher owe some amount of contrition to Roxy, after testing found Finn to be advanced intellectually? It’s like we thank our teachers for keeping such a close eye on our kids (if we’re lucky to get a good one), but never question them when they’re so far off-base; doesn’t it say something about how much attention they were paying in the first place to have merely assumed the worst, without noticing that he’s just smart beyond his years?
And would that the fast-track only end there. Emmalin went on a I’m-not-as-good-as-Amanda rant, after telling her parents that seeing Haneen (Aleene Khoury) off was more important than the SATs, but, by the end of the episode, was in the warm embrace of Michael. Sure, why bother to address anything that she’s done that deserves lectures, punishment, and possible banishment. It’s not like it’s also important to teach kids life lessons for the future….
Another warp-speed story has been Frank and Denise. I’m beyond discussing this reconciliation on its merits; I will only say that there was no rush to move back in together. I think Frank’s a guy who can sprint forward once he’s determined to put things behind him, and he seems to have been able to do that with Denise’s infidelity.
But, the bigger picture is that they haven’t rebuilt the cracked foundation that led to their problems in the first place. Denise was pushing for that, in the beginning, but somewhere along the way she lost sight of common-sense. Meanwhile, Jeremy, back in Iraq, probably has no idea of what’s happening at home, and my wife suggested that this time, he might hit Frank out of anger for taking a cheating Denise back. I’d love to see him try … Frank would bury him up to his neck in dirt, with one punch.
The flip-side to the Frank/Denise sprint is Frank’s inevitable recall to Iraq. We knew it was coming … hell, I don’t quite understand how he was back on base long enough for even the lightning rekindling to take place (not to mention the divorce proceedings that preceded it). With his shipping out in mind from the beginning, however, I personally thought it would make more sense for them to date a bit before he left, and then leave things as repairing while he was gone.
She could move back into the house, but not back in with him, and they would continue to work on their problems with the, in this case, helpful distance of war possibly making them see things in a new light. Then, when he returned, they’d take it from there.
But apparently it was more important to see Catherine Bell in her underwear now. Story takes a back seat, I guess.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Aug 03, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
