Army Wives – Deployed, deployed, deployed … divorced

It is, without a doubt, good to have our wives back. And I’m not talking about Big Love (although I’m certainly happy to have the HBO series back as well); what I’m referring to is the return last night of the Lifetime original series, Army Wives.

Here’s a quick recap if you’d forgotten where season four left us: Denise and Frank had a baby girl while Frank’s still deployed; Jeremy got engaged; Claudia Joy’s in law school; Michael survived capture; Emmalin graduated high school; Roxy’s lonely without Trevor, who’s deployed; Pamela and Chase are separated and Pamela’s considering pursuing a job opportunity in Atlanta (spin off?); and Joan and Roland are … finally enjoying being together? Who knows. But that’s basically where we are.

As season five opened we discovered that our wives (the women) are now the four “Ds” — Denise, Claudia Joy, and Roxy’s husbands are all deployed, and Pamela’s divorced. As for Roland? He’s still enjoying Joan being around after her injury. Not like that’s likely to last.

I like that things picked up more or less where they had left off. At the same time, life marches on: Claudia Joy spent most of the episode escorting Emmalin to college. Are we finally going to be spared her presence? Because that would be nice. Meanwhile Michael’s on the short list for Superintendant of West Point … while I understand Claudia Joy not being thrilled at the prospect of not being able to finish law school (she could always transfer), more than anyone she bought into the army life long ago. I’m surprised that Michael’s professional life would suddenly seem an inconvenience to her.

Pamela got the job offer in Atlanta, and is struggling with pursuing it or sticking around to try again with Chase. I think her partner has a solid point about her staying without trying again with Chase … although I’m not sure if he’s right for her. Meanwhile, I assume Pamela’s life on the show is directly tied to whether or not Brigid Brannagh’s spin off is a go. I know feelings about the embedded pilot were mixed, so take this news as you will.

I feel bad for Denise. I’m not sure why we’re going through another “baby in peril” tale — Sarah Elizabeth went through something similar — but juggling a baby alone after raising one kid to adulthood, while trying on the new role of mother-in-law can’t be easy. It doesn’t help that Tanya’s (Erin Krakow) been a train wreck so far, but I’d cut her some slack. By the way, shouldn’t Denise feel a responsibility to warn Tanya that Jeremy has a history of hitting women?

I find Joan to be an incredibly selfish person. It’s a fair question to ask if I’d feel the same were she a man, and I think the answer is yes — because I’m judging her based on how she handles things, not just the decisions that she’s made — but part of me believes that when she became a mother she took on certain obligations that she owes to her children.

I also don’t think she ever changed her mindset from single person to half of a couple as far as her considerations go, so she certainly never added a baby into her thought processes. It is a positive that garrison commander will keep her home — until her orders change — but the flippant way that she changed her mind about another baby and retirement, without even pretending to talk it  over with Roland, was another example of how egocentric she is.

I wasn’t sure what we were meant to take from Roxy’s story. If Finn’s father only came around to do something right, okay. If he wants to get to know his son … tricky. But if his presence awakens some long-dormant need inside Roxy to be living wild and free, and she does something to rattle the life she and Trevor have built for themselves…. That would be a bad move.

So who else is psyched for another go-round?

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 07, 2011 @ 12:00 EST5EDT