My appreciation of last night’s episode of Army Wives was significantly dampened by the knowledge that it wasn’t the season finale. Think about it for a moment … we were hit unawares by Trevor’s and Joan’s new orders. Then we were completely blindsided by the news that Frank and Michael would be deploying as well. Might it not stand to reason that our wives seeing their husbands off to war would be a good place to end things for now? Does doing otherwise scream anything different than an upcoming cliffhanging injury?
Not to belittle the significance of that, of course, but again? Understanding that this show is about Army families in a time of two wars, isn’t it still somewhat of the “easy way,” writing-wise, to keep doing the same thing?
It was nice to be reminded that Claudia Joy, strong as she may be, is still just a wife sending her husband off to war. True Michael (and Frank) won’t be fighting on the front lines, but chances are Command will be touring in some pretty dangerous places, not to mention the unpredictability of a guerilla war in the first place. Her nightmares were a bit much, but I enjoyed seeing her back on equal footing with everyone else. And I’m glad that things are so completely repaired between her and Denise that Claudia Joy will be replacing Frank as Denise’s birthing coach.
For the birth of Molly, of course, the little girl due after Frank deploys. It’s really sad that he’s going to miss that yet again. And I’m going to miss him … I was displeased with the manner in which he and Denise reconciled, not to mention what she did to him in the first place, but the two of them together are one of the best parts of this show. And Frank’s developed into such a wonderful person. It was funny when he realized that Denise had already known that they were having a girl when she and he had agreed to allow her to pick the girl names.
Roxy lives on her own planet. “I want your sperm” was disturbing enough, but that she put absolutely no thought into the practicality of the request, not to mention the costs…. I feel badly for her and Trevor that they lost a pregnancy, but she needs to find something to ground her in reality. And fast.
Pamela’s story is cute, but she’s quickly become such an outlier that she seemed totally out-of-place seeing the soldiers off at the airfield. Is that the producers’ plan? To make her so foreign that we’ll applaud her getting spun off the show? I’d rather she stayed, even like this.
I was never a Joan fan, but this season I was finally coming around to her, as first her recuperation in Germany, and then her new assignment building schools in Iraq, afforded us the opportunity to see a very different, and likeable, side of her. But with her first giving Roland a hard time (for the umpteenth time), and then being so blind to the fact that deploying with her men wasn’t a reasonable option, I’ve been finding her to once again be the distasteful person that I originally saw her as.
Well, she can now be applauded for firmly cementing that opinion in my mind — the very idea that she could even consider not being at the airfield to see her men off, because she was embarrassed, or whatever, is just so … so … selfishly disgusting. If you want to talk about actions that make someone a leader, we need to also consider the things that turn them back into a poor example for others to follow. Even if she did show up in the end, Joan proved herself to be wholly lacking in leadership qualities.
I hope Michael made a note of that for the future.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jul 19, 2010 @ 15:30 EST5EDT
So far this season, the show has seemingly been on one predictable path, only to veer in another direction. So you never know.
I can imagine the cliffhanger being a complication with Denise’s pregnancy (either with or without other war theater injuries, since Army Wives tends to pile the cliffhangers on). If that were the case, it would be very interesting if the focus was on Frank’s experience of it while away, instead of the usual spouse at home having to deal with the not-knowing of their loved one in the army. His character has grown into one of my favorites, a far cry of what he was initially. (I was reminded last night of the conversation Michael and Claudia Joy had a while back, when Sara Elizabeth got sick, and Roland didn’t tell Joan since he didn’t want her to worry. Michael was REALLY upset. I guess a cliffhanger like this would bring that dilemma more into focus.)
For almost every episode this season, this show keeps on reminding me of what sacrifices our soldiers and their families are making. Sometimes it’s in a not-so subtle way, but I do appreciate it. Though I was already crying at that point, that little girl not wanting to let go of her father last night brought the tears to another level.
*POST AUTHOR*
Could be interesting … I wonder if it could even then be Claudia Joy or Roxy in a medical situation, considering they’ve both been through some lately. Maybe we’ll have another “bomb at the Hump Bar,” so everyone at home is in danger and everyone in Afghanistan can worry about them. ;)
I have this terrible feeling Micheal is not returning. The way he said good bye to everyone, totally out of his character. And now the dreams and panic attacks, i mean come on this cant be the first time she has had to see him off to deployment. It was like he was saying good bye forever. Maybe this is what they wanted us to believe, who knows. All i know is this season has very much disappointed me. In the past it was more of a story you followed, this year they have an issue and its solved by the end of the show, which led way for some very lame fill in episodes. They did not even give you time to wrap your head around what was going on and how it would play out only to find it was resolved and on to the next subject. Every week i thought ohh cant wait this is going to be a good one, only to find they had taken bits of the conversation and made it look interesting but really it wasn’t. I was always told if it isnt broke dont fix it.
*POST AUTHOR*
I can see what you’re saying about Michael, but as a commenter on another post pointed out recently, if he goes so does Claudia Joy and Emmalin (yeah!). It could be that he’ll be kidnapped for a season … that would be an interesting wrench in the mix, allowing us to see how the families of kidnapped soldiers carry on every day. But I can’t see him being killed off.
why is their season different then other shows ?
It seems like army wives airs different the other shows and then takes so long for next season to start . Why??
*POST AUTHOR*
The cable networks generally air short seasons, like 8-12 episodes at a time. Army Wives actually has a pretty decent sized season for a cable show, somewhere around 18 episodes. As for returning, I think it usually consistently comes back in the spring every year. But I know it seems longer when you’re waiting for a show you like! :)
Usually the seasons ends with a feeling of OMG and made you excited about the next season . This season was not like that . I think the end is coming soon. I hope not because I love the show .