- Home
- Television
- Army Wives
- Review: Army Wives 2.17 - All in the Family
Review: Army Wives 2.17 - All in the Family
- By Havoc the Cat
- Published 10/25/2008
- Army Wives
- Unrated
Havoc the Cat
Havoc is not, in fact, a cat, though she has got the curiosity of one. She lives in the Chicago suburbs, loves to belly dance, and has the same cares and concerns as any other fangirl out there. As you may have figured out, she watches a LOT of tv, and as may not be obvious, she likes female characters. That would be because women are awesome.
View all articles by Havoc the Cat
I'm guessing that the title of this episode is supposed to be a shout-out to the old TV series, but I'm a little less jazzed on that than you'd think. I was never a big fan of anything having to do with Archie and Edith Bunker. Maybe that's because when it was on in re-runs, I was a budding little geek of a girl who wanted to grow up to be Princess Leia. (She gets a gun, speaks her mind, and gets to be a leading member of the Rebellion. Hard to go wrong with that.)
Shout-out or not, this episode is about the families of the five women that are the stars of the show, though whether it's all kept in the family is another thing entirely. (The answer: Not so much.)
Denise continues to expand her career and her social life, and ignores Frank's calls. I can't help but cheer her on. Frank reminds me of some of my less pleasant ex-boyfriends. If Frank were willing to who a bit more open-mindedness, or try to change, I'd be willing to give him some more benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, he's stuck. He wants things to stay just the way they always have, and right there? That's what's driving Denise away.
But right now, Frank is back in Iraq, and so is Jeremy, their son, who's been kept in the dark about his parents' trial separation. That's going to come out messily, I'm sure of it. Frank also meets an attractive military woman, and, in the grand tradition of dramas everywhere, they've been assigned to work together. You know that means UST, right? I'm happy for Frank. I am. She's in the military. She gets it. Except that I think Frank is going to have some problems when he realizes that Denise spending 20+ years of her life making his life as unchanged as possible isn't the norm.
Denise is still riding her motorcycle, despite Getti's death, and is still beautiful in her riding leathers. I've been told this is all Catherine Bell's bike and clothing, so, um, wow. That's a lot of awesome.
Claudia Joy and Michael are worried about Emmalin. Her pen pal, Lucas, came back from Iraq, and the two of them have been spending a lot of time together. Lucas is nineteen, and has been to war, and Emmalin is 16, and still in high school. Of course Claudia Joy and Michael are worried. What I loved about this plotline is that they continue to bring Amanda's memory, and their experiences with Amanda last season, into the series now.
There are a lot of TV series that could learn from this show. When a person dies, they don't vanish from our lives. My grandmother died when my mom was young, and her absence is still a vacuum in the lives of Mom and all her sibs. The fact is, Amanda died in 2.01, and that her presence - and her loss - is still felt in 2.17 is a testament to the ability of the writers to create warmth and emotional depth in all of these characters.
The ramifications of Emmalin's blossoming relationship with Lucas are felt through the base. Lucas gets in a fistfight over it, and Lieutenant Colonel Connors is right there to bust it up along with Trevor (after a nice bout of harassing poor Trevor, might I just add).
We already know that Connors is a bit, ah, ethically dubious, especially when it comes to Joan and her position, which he wants. We're left to discover that his wife, Jennifer, is a bit dubious as well. She's got two Coldplay tickets, and she stops by to "drop stuff off" for Claudia Joy, but times it to run into Emmalin alone. She confides in Emmalin, tries to make her feel comfortable, and then gives her the Coldplay tickets, despite Emmalin saying that her parents don't want her to see Lucas any more.
Emmalin proves herself both like Amanda in temperament, and yet very different than her in the final choices she makes. Instead of sneaking out and going to the concert with Lucas, Emmalin gives them to Claudia Joy. This is even after Claudia Joy tells her that she and Michael will allow her to date Lucas. (Lucas had better watch himself. I'm sure he thinks Michael is scary, but Claudia Joy is the one to watch out for.)
It's wonderful to watch Emmalin blossoming into a young woman, instead of a girl, and to watch her deal with her grief, and her desire to have a life that continues, even though her sister's has ended.
They recast Emmalin for this season, and I'm glad that Katelyn Pippy is able to handle the emotional scenes called for in this role.
The scene with Claudia Joy confronting Jennifer about the Coldplay tickets is priceless. It's also not at all in the family.
I can't stop laughing at poor Joan and Roland in this episode. Mr. Havoc and I fled like fleeing things on our first night out after the kidlet was born. My birthday is two months after the kidlet's, and we took advantage of my parents' offer to babysit. We didn't need to be coaxed the way that Joan and Roland did.
Joan and Roland were finally convinced, you see, to let Michael and Claudia Joy watch their daughter. Just for the night. Just, even, for a few hours so they could go out to dinner. Roland is wonderful. He's sensitive, and caring, and befuddled with sleep deprivation. He's this impossibly understanding man who is, in fact, everyone's perfect TV boyfriend. (Well. Everyone who's attracted to men, anyway.) When they're out at an elegant French restaurant, he orders their food to go, because Joan's fretful about leaving the baby.
They get home, and see, through the front door, that their daughter is sleeping and content with Michael and Claudia Joy, so they have a candlelit dinner out in the park.
See? Roland is just that sweet. Joan is just as type A as I am. It's impossible for me not to love watching Joan and Roland together.
Last of all, there's Roxy. Oh, Roxy. I love her being the most forthright one of the group. She's always willing to stand up and challenge "the way things are." Even if she's not always right, she's there to stick up for herself, her friends, and her family. She's grown since we first saw her, finding a relationship that's healthy (Trevor!), and then fighting to keep that relationship healthy. She's struggled with the reality of a husband who wants to put himself in danger. (Because it's his duty, not from being a thrill-seeker.) She's gotten her GED and discovered that she's not dumb, but she's dyslexic. Not the same thing as dumb, and it shook her world up hard enough that she had to find the inner strength to sit the GED exam.
She's found a surrogate mother in Betty, and become a business owner, but now Roxy's biological mother is back. Marda means well. Marda always means well, but what Marda doesn't get is that you can mean well, and not do well. Once all your good intentions get tossed away with that empty bottle of alcohol you just downed, they stop counting.
Marda doesn't understand Roxy's distrust. After all, she means well. This time, she shows up with her fiancé, and things look like they might be on the upswing. Sort of. Right up until the moment Pam finds nearly $400 missing from the register at Betty's, Roxy's bar and restaurant.
Roxy's not one to be afraid to stand up for herself, and she goes to get the money back from Marda. Turns out Marda didn't take the money. Her fiancé did. Well. Shoot. (Still not kept in the family. I'm thinking it's a theme that, likely, is a very deliberate contrast from the episode's name) Good-bye, fiancé, but hopefully this is another step in Marda's understanding of how she wrecked Roxy's childhood.
Marda knows, now, that she's supposed to take care of Roxy. What Marda still doesn't quite get is that Roxy's had to take care of herself for too long. Marda doesn't get to look after Roxy. She lost that privilege when she became addicted drugs and alcohol and ignored her child.
Pam, I'm sad to say, has been relegated to support in this episode. It won't stay that way. Every one of the leads has episodes like that, and Pam has had a huge arc that just ended recently. So while I missed her, I'm confident she'll be in a bigger role another week.
Army Wives isn't my typical, genre-laden fare, but the lack of explosions and space battles is more than made up by the character growth and the continuity that we see every week. I'm looking forward to seeing how and where all these plots wrap up, and if we're going to get another season-ending cliffhanger. We'll find out in just a few episodes, though.
Shout-out or not, this episode is about the families of the five women that are the stars of the show, though whether it's all kept in the family is another thing entirely. (The answer: Not so much.)
Denise continues to expand her career and her social life, and ignores Frank's calls. I can't help but cheer her on. Frank reminds me of some of my less pleasant ex-boyfriends. If Frank were willing to who a bit more open-mindedness, or try to change, I'd be willing to give him some more benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, he's stuck. He wants things to stay just the way they always have, and right there? That's what's driving Denise away.
But right now, Frank is back in Iraq, and so is Jeremy, their son, who's been kept in the dark about his parents' trial separation. That's going to come out messily, I'm sure of it. Frank also meets an attractive military woman, and, in the grand tradition of dramas everywhere, they've been assigned to work together. You know that means UST, right? I'm happy for Frank. I am. She's in the military. She gets it. Except that I think Frank is going to have some problems when he realizes that Denise spending 20+ years of her life making his life as unchanged as possible isn't the norm.
Denise is still riding her motorcycle, despite Getti's death, and is still beautiful in her riding leathers. I've been told this is all Catherine Bell's bike and clothing, so, um, wow. That's a lot of awesome.
Claudia Joy and Michael are worried about Emmalin. Her pen pal, Lucas, came back from Iraq, and the two of them have been spending a lot of time together. Lucas is nineteen, and has been to war, and Emmalin is 16, and still in high school. Of course Claudia Joy and Michael are worried. What I loved about this plotline is that they continue to bring Amanda's memory, and their experiences with Amanda last season, into the series now.
There are a lot of TV series that could learn from this show. When a person dies, they don't vanish from our lives. My grandmother died when my mom was young, and her absence is still a vacuum in the lives of Mom and all her sibs. The fact is, Amanda died in 2.01, and that her presence - and her loss - is still felt in 2.17 is a testament to the ability of the writers to create warmth and emotional depth in all of these characters.
The ramifications of Emmalin's blossoming relationship with Lucas are felt through the base. Lucas gets in a fistfight over it, and Lieutenant Colonel Connors is right there to bust it up along with Trevor (after a nice bout of harassing poor Trevor, might I just add).
We already know that Connors is a bit, ah, ethically dubious, especially when it comes to Joan and her position, which he wants. We're left to discover that his wife, Jennifer, is a bit dubious as well. She's got two Coldplay tickets, and she stops by to "drop stuff off" for Claudia Joy, but times it to run into Emmalin alone. She confides in Emmalin, tries to make her feel comfortable, and then gives her the Coldplay tickets, despite Emmalin saying that her parents don't want her to see Lucas any more.
Emmalin proves herself both like Amanda in temperament, and yet very different than her in the final choices she makes. Instead of sneaking out and going to the concert with Lucas, Emmalin gives them to Claudia Joy. This is even after Claudia Joy tells her that she and Michael will allow her to date Lucas. (Lucas had better watch himself. I'm sure he thinks Michael is scary, but Claudia Joy is the one to watch out for.)
It's wonderful to watch Emmalin blossoming into a young woman, instead of a girl, and to watch her deal with her grief, and her desire to have a life that continues, even though her sister's has ended.
The scene with Claudia Joy confronting Jennifer about the Coldplay tickets is priceless. It's also not at all in the family.
I can't stop laughing at poor Joan and Roland in this episode. Mr. Havoc and I fled like fleeing things on our first night out after the kidlet was born. My birthday is two months after the kidlet's, and we took advantage of my parents' offer to babysit. We didn't need to be coaxed the way that Joan and Roland did.
Joan and Roland were finally convinced, you see, to let Michael and Claudia Joy watch their daughter. Just for the night. Just, even, for a few hours so they could go out to dinner. Roland is wonderful. He's sensitive, and caring, and befuddled with sleep deprivation. He's this impossibly understanding man who is, in fact, everyone's perfect TV boyfriend. (Well. Everyone who's attracted to men, anyway.) When they're out at an elegant French restaurant, he orders their food to go, because Joan's fretful about leaving the baby.
They get home, and see, through the front door, that their daughter is sleeping and content with Michael and Claudia Joy, so they have a candlelit dinner out in the park.
See? Roland is just that sweet. Joan is just as type A as I am. It's impossible for me not to love watching Joan and Roland together.
Last of all, there's Roxy. Oh, Roxy. I love her being the most forthright one of the group. She's always willing to stand up and challenge "the way things are." Even if she's not always right, she's there to stick up for herself, her friends, and her family. She's grown since we first saw her, finding a relationship that's healthy (Trevor!), and then fighting to keep that relationship healthy. She's struggled with the reality of a husband who wants to put himself in danger. (Because it's his duty, not from being a thrill-seeker.) She's gotten her GED and discovered that she's not dumb, but she's dyslexic. Not the same thing as dumb, and it shook her world up hard enough that she had to find the inner strength to sit the GED exam.
She's found a surrogate mother in Betty, and become a business owner, but now Roxy's biological mother is back. Marda means well. Marda always means well, but what Marda doesn't get is that you can mean well, and not do well. Once all your good intentions get tossed away with that empty bottle of alcohol you just downed, they stop counting.
Marda doesn't understand Roxy's distrust. After all, she means well. This time, she shows up with her fiancé, and things look like they might be on the upswing. Sort of. Right up until the moment Pam finds nearly $400 missing from the register at Betty's, Roxy's bar and restaurant.
Roxy's not one to be afraid to stand up for herself, and she goes to get the money back from Marda. Turns out Marda didn't take the money. Her fiancé did. Well. Shoot. (Still not kept in the family. I'm thinking it's a theme that, likely, is a very deliberate contrast from the episode's name) Good-bye, fiancé, but hopefully this is another step in Marda's understanding of how she wrecked Roxy's childhood.
Marda knows, now, that she's supposed to take care of Roxy. What Marda still doesn't quite get is that Roxy's had to take care of herself for too long. Marda doesn't get to look after Roxy. She lost that privilege when she became addicted drugs and alcohol and ignored her child.
Pam, I'm sad to say, has been relegated to support in this episode. It won't stay that way. Every one of the leads has episodes like that, and Pam has had a huge arc that just ended recently. So while I missed her, I'm confident she'll be in a bigger role another week.
Army Wives isn't my typical, genre-laden fare, but the lack of explosions and space battles is more than made up by the character growth and the continuity that we see every week. I'm looking forward to seeing how and where all these plots wrap up, and if we're going to get another season-ending cliffhanger. We'll find out in just a few episodes, though.