Army Wives – Beware inclement weather

A hurricane was one way to welcome Army Wives back from a hiatus filled with significantly less questions than most. In fact, the biggest unknown was at what point following the farewell to Fort Marshall we’d rejoin the cast.

It turns out I was both right and wrong. We did return six months after last season’s finale, but everyone had yet to be scattered all around. Still, they were only days away from saying goodbye … Denise and Roxy to Fort Hope — congrats to Frank on his promotion to Brigade Commander, and to Trevor on his bump to Second Lieutenant — Pamela waiting for the end of the school year to join Chase in California, Joan set to stay behind to close up shop, and Claudia Joy still waiting to hear just where Michael was to be relocated to.

I wasn’t all that surprised at Michael’s decision to retire after he received word that he was being reassigned to the Pentagon. Since discovering that his career had effectively reached its zenith, we knew that Michael wanted out. I was potentially more surprised that he’d been awaiting his next assignment before pulling the trigger.

I didn’t quite get why David, whose adoption was finally finalized, kept on asking where Joan was. I assume we were supposed to feel his anxiety at being left behind, but the double episode did a poor job of establishing that fear, assuming that’s what it was. I like the David story, but if all it’s going to be is an opportunity for us to experience David’s anxieties, I’m not so sure that it was worth it for the show to go in this direction in the first place. Joan and Roland might as well have had a second biological child.

Roxy’s denial was kind of boring, and frankly I never thought that the base would be closing anyway. The show would never survive its leads splitting up — part of the reason why I don’t see Pamela moving — so where was the suspense in that story line? I didn’t know exactly how they’d turn things around so that Fort Marshall wouldn’t have to close, but you could see it coming since the base closure was introduced last season.

I was shocked that Army Wives would do another elaborate, cheesy dream sequence. Denise imagining that Jeremy was alive, that Molly was a big girl, and that Tanya was pregnant was absurd. A nice thought, sure, but rather silly all things considered. And how ridiculous was Denise getting blown backward after getting too close to a window that exploded? The entire thing was rather silly.

As was Roxy’s car flipping over. It seemed as if the writers had felt the need to stall for a few days before the big Fort Marshall news, so they inserted a hurricane to slow the story a bit. But what did we get from it? None of the suspense was suspenseful, and none of the drama was dramatic. So what was the point? I mean, Pamela and her kids finding themselves in a shelter after their home is deemed a hazard? What?

The one thing I am thankful for is that Denise woke up by the end of the second episode. That means that we won’t have to deal with her coma dreams anymore. Yay!

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 05, 2012 @ 00:44 EST5EDT