Army Wives – Let’s hear it for the men

Ah, the old time jump trick. Nine times out of ten, I really dislike it when a show jumps ahead instead of letting us watch stories as they progress (Weeds, anyone?). So when last night’s episode of Army Wives included that little nugget of information, I was wary to say the least.

And I’m still curious, after-the-fact, as to what we may have missed in the bypassed six months. But what an episode! Let’s hear it for the men indeed.

Pamela looks to be halfway out the door of the show. She’s living in an apartment, struggling for money, hocking family heirlooms, and talking about going back to Boston. Not that a change couldn’t have been made, but what I read about her proposed spin-off had her re-joining the Charleston, South Carolina police department, which would at least keep alive the potential for crossover appearances in either direction. But shuttling her off to Boston would just suck. Might a military funeral be in store for Chase this season, thus freeing Pamela up to move? It’s possible.

In an effort to make sure that every story was touched, Denise and Frank are busy preparing for the impending birth of their second child (we still don’t know what Jeremy had to say about the news), Emmalin is rehabbing her leg, and Roxy and Trevor are still trying to get pregnant again. Oh, and Claudia Joy is struggling in school.

Really? That’s the meaty plot that the writers came up with for her? She’s struggling in school and is now a member of a study group? Do we even need to get into how pathetic that is?

Joan’s situation is a bit puzzling. First of all, when her orders got changed and she came home, I didn’t expect that it would be for so long. I’m not trying to rush her out the door … I was just surprised. But what’s going on with her? At first I thought it might just be exhaustion — we’ve all been there, work and kids leaving us feeling incapable of performing even the most menial of tasks — but now I wonder if there aren’t some lingering effects from the injury she sustained in battle. Could her eye injury have done something neurologically that the doctors overlooked? Even more importantly, is another health scare really what this show needs? But I did love to see her with Sarah Elizabeth, and watching how nervous she was to leave her for the first time since coming home was sweet.

Which segues nicely into the absolute greatest thing that this show has produced — the combo of Frank and Michael. First of all, I loved Frank offering to watch the baby. This is totally not the Frank we met in the first season, but I think he’s progressed to this point a lot more organically than Chase has grown from truck buying Chase to brooch repurchasing Chase. And when he picked up the phone and called Michael for help? Oh my God! Incredible!

Their scenes could easily have been hokey and corny, but instead they were both sweet, and also incredibly entertaining. When Michael started singing I almost lost it, and then when Frank jumped in, and they started doing a little coordination conducting? If you want to do a spin-off, wait until Army Wives has run its course, and then develop a show for Frank and Michael. These two guys — and the proper acknowledgement has to go to Terry Serpico and Brian McNamara for jobs incredibly well done — are phenomenal. They’re wonderful together, and they’re also both wonderful soldiers, husbands, and men.

By the way, Roxy and Trevor’s stuggles to get pregnant could have dragged in an unpleasant way; I think it’s very interesting for Trevor to have been transferred, with a looming deployment date to Afghanistan. These are the ways that the show originally handled its drama — not compartmentalized. I think this twist will make things very interesting.

Maybe Michael and Frank can discuss it and work out a solution.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jun 14, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT