PremiereWatch: 'Army Wives'

Season two of Army Wives starts with a bang. No, wait, that's not right. All puns related to discussion of this show are supposed to be military puns. Let's try that again.

Army Wives reports for its second tour of duty with minor cast changes, major overturn in the writing staff, and the burden of much higher expectations. When it debuted last summer, Army Wives was probably little more than frothy summer fun. But the show became a legitimate breakout hit, the face of the network, and now it's quite possibly the most anticipated season premiere of the summer. Hell, it's even got the presidential candidates appearing in themed promos.

But amidst these changes, the show circled the wagons with a season premiere playing to perhaps its biggest strength, the fact that it's a show about building a sense of community. The fact that the series focuses so much on community-building is one of the most appealing factors in the show's favor. A close-knit community is just not something you see all that much of on TV. So many shows are either set in suburban settings where the very premise is that everyone in a supposedly idyllic environment keeps secrets from one another, or they're set in big cities where a person is a small fish in a big pond who never really can know anybody. Army Wives is one of the few shows on TV that actually tells us that community-building is a valuable pursuit, and it's something I really admire.

The community that is Fort Marshall is brought together in the wake of tragedy. Last season's cliffhanger is immediately paid off as Pamela, via her radio broadcast, confirms that George Polarski did indeed set off the bomb he had strapped to his chest. We're saved from the possible plotline of a hostage situation where a potential killer who feels he's lost everything needs to be talked down. The show already did that plotline once, with Sergeant Belgrad in the hospital in the first season. And you don't want to be repeating the same storyline all over again.

George Polarski did indeed set off the bomb, and the season begins four days later with Pamela recapping things on her radio show. She hints that someone very close to her died. Pamela's obviously gotten to be a pro at this radio gig, knowing how to do a tease and keep people hooked. Joan follows with a press conference, confirming that there are four dead, fifteen others injured, with three in critical condition. One of the critically injured, we see next, is Roxy's boss Betty, the owner of the bar. Roland is injured too, though not as seriously. Claudia Joy and Amanda both got banged up and bruised, but they're safe and on their way to UVA. Whew, it's a good thing nothing happened to Amanda, who was one of my favorite characters ...

Pamela recounts how she has been following updates on the news, and it's a segue to Roxy dealing with her own ambivalent relationship to the news. One of the things that the show taught us during the first season is that these families back on the base have a decidedly uncomfortable relationship with news broadcasts. Everybody fears the news, because in their situation, with family members abroad, pretty much all news is bad news. The news doesn't report triumphs; it reports casualties. So people are often terrified to watch.

Roxy then demonstrates that experience. She hasn't heard anything from Trevor since he deployed, and she is frightened of the news, telling T.J. and Finn to turn the damn TV off. Trevor was supposed to call as soon as he got to his location, but he hasn't, and so Roxy is freaking out as she hears the news of an ambush and an exploded military vehicle in Iraq. She can't bear listening to this, but she also can't turn the TV off, because there's always the hope for a glimmer of anything reassuring. Roxy gets to the point where she's trapped in her own head, unable to even communicate with the support system she has built up. She does her best to avoid even Pamela, and she refuses to leave the house.

Every phone call, every knock on the door is a heart-stopping experience. Maybe it's good news that'll explain where Trevor is, but Roxy's first instinct is to fear bad news. When a couple of investigators show up and knock on Roxy's door to ask for information on the bombing, Roxy whimpers, "You're not gonna tell me that my husband is dead?"

"I can't leave the boys or this house until I find out about Trevor," she insists to a concerned Pamela and Denise. "I can't do anything until I know where Trevor is. He promised he'd call me, and he hasn't. I just need to know if he's safe. And I've called everybody, and no one can tell me anything." Denise and Pamela try to explain that this is all completely normal. Sometimes it takes a while for a phone call after the guys have been deployed. Trevor is in Frank's unit, and Denise hasn't heard from Frank yet either, but Denise tries to assure Roxy that this is OK, this is normal. "We don't worry about things that haven't happened yet," Denise assures her. "I can't help it. I just -- I feel like something is wrong," Roxy frets.

Joan, meanwhile, comes to see Roland in the hospital. When you're lying in a hospital bed, you tend to get pretty reflective. Roland apologizes for Joan for the mistakes he made. "I explained it, I admitted it, but I never apologized for it. I'm sorry I hurt you, Joan." Needing some extended recuperation, Roland is forced to stay back at the base, and back home with Joan. It's Joan actually who makes that call, telling Roland that he's coming back with her. When they get there, Roland has to ask if this is just a temporary favor or the possibility of a bridge to a reconciliation. He asks what Joan wants. "You. I want you," Joan says. Roland asks about the pregnancy. Joan says to give her a few days for things to settle down, and then the two of them can really discuss it. With so much going on in this episode, that's a plotline that'll have to be shelved until next time in order to give it the time it merits.

So that's one adultery-scarred relationship that at least has a chance to heal. Marilyn Polarski didn't get that. She and George were both killed. Pamela has to deal with the guilt of being the last person to see Marilyn before she went to the bar. Pamela blames herself for not doing anything to stop Marilyn, who was clearly in great pain. "I didn't protect her. I just let her go. I know better ..." and yet, she did nothing.

Pamela is dealing with a kind of reflected version of post-traumatic stress. That's the feeling that we're used to on this show, in the environment it has created. The wives and families of soldiers are under great stress, but it's still a very different feeling from actually being there when the trauma occurs. Pamela wasn't at the bar, but this time around, things are different for the others who were there. Everyone is traumatized by the incident, the wives suffering from a level of PTSD only their husbands have previously experienced. There has always been an odd dynamic the show illustrates between soldiers and their spouses when it comes to this Army life. They share everything together, but really, the spouses can never know exactly what soldiers go through. They can experience the secondhand stress of being terrified of what their loved ones are going through, but it's still a very different feeling from actually experiencing the trauma firsthand. So for Denise and Roxy and Roland and Claudia Joy, this is an entirely different feeling, having actually been present for the incident.

Roxy finally gets the good news from Joan. Trevor's trip to Iraq was delayed by mechanical problems, but everyone should be OK. Better yet, there's the sight of Trevor, on a DVD message he secretly made for her before he left. It's not the sight of him in person, or the sound of his voice live on the phone, but it's still reassuring. "You're not alone. You've got the kids. And your friends ..." Trevor says in the message. Unfortunately, this pretaped message also comes with a drawback, as Trevor continues on and says that it's good that Roxy also has the bar, a place where she can feel safe and proud. But nonetheless, despite that little drawback, the message is enough to lift Roxy's spirits for now. If Trevor remains gone for too long, Roxy will no doubt go back to freaking out, but for now this is enough to get her out of the house.

But just as things are looking up, Pamela throws a new tease into the mix. She admits on the radio that Marilyn is dead, but "the worst was yet to come."

In the meantime, Claudia Joy and Amanda have had a few touching scenes at UVA. There's a beautiful moment of the two really connecting and eliminating the chasm that grew between them during season one. Amanda has shown her lack of respect for the choices Claudia Joy made in her life, abandoning her career goals to have a family, but in her teenage angst, Amanda has not until this point looked into her mother's eyes and asked the question seriously: did Claudia Joy regret the choices she made? Yeah, Claudia Joy surprises her, she did at the time. "I did. I did. There were moments where I thought, 'is this it? Am I going to change diapers and pick up toys for the rest of my life? What happened to my dreams?' Then I'd lift you up, look into your eyes, and realize my dreams were changing."

Amanda, in turn, admits the truth about Jeremy. Yes, she loved him. It wasn't just some fling, or some rebellious act. "He was my first. And he was the right one. But we were going in different directions." And she's happy with the choice she ultimately made, and it's a credit to her mother that she has the convictions to make such a confident decision.

When they arrive on campus, and check into Amanda's dorm room, she's terrified. All her life she wanted to have anything other than being tethered to a family and an Army base, but now that that reality is facing her, it's frightening. "I don't think I can do this without you," she cries. "You can. This is who you are," Claudia Joy assures her. She reassures Amanda that it'll all be fine. It'll all be OK. Except that in the real world, it's not OK.

It was all a fakeout. This life at college, this is all a dream. It's Claudia Joy's dream, from her hospital bed, where she continues to recover from injuries sustained in the blast. Amanda saved her life, but she gave her own in the process. "Amanda's gone, isn't she?" Claudia Joy asks Michael. Yes, she is.

But Amanda was a great character, with a great character arc for only a supporting player. All her life she wanted to break free of being stuck in this family, to go out and find something for herself. But in the end, at the moment of truth, she sacrificed herself to save her family. It's a beautiful conclusion, and damn it if I didn't shed a tear. It's not that often that you get so emotionally invested in a character that isn't actually in the main cast. In fact, that's one of the more annoying quirks of television drama in general, that so many shows feel they can whack tertiary characters to try to provide drama for the characters that "matter." But Amanda's story arc of self-discovery and the way that it ends by embracing the family she always wanted to get away from was really nicely done. And it sets up a second season where Claudia Joy, who's always been the rock on which everyone else leans on, is now going to be the one in the most need of all.

So Pamela, on the radio, leads us out of the episode just as she led us into it. "Now is the time to tell those you love that you love them," she says. In the end, family and community are all they have. "This communal spirit, this crazy insistence that we all really are connected and each other's caretaker -- it keeps us from sinking into despair, or sliding into the abyss," she says. That's the series in a nutshell for you.

Future episode recaps won't be this long, I promise, but this episode was stuffed with chewy goodness. I'd say it was actually pretty easily the best episode of the whole series, better than any single installment of season one. So how about you? Did the show deliver on its higher expectations?

• Did the season premiere raise your expectations for season two, or did it turn you off a bit since it was so serious without the sass of a typical episode of Roxy-isms and other humor?
• And to follow up, in general do you prefer the show when it's really soapy, or when it's more serious and issue-driven?
• Did you like the second-generation Amanda and Jeremy storylines, or do you wish the show would remain focused on the Army wives? Bonus points to anybody who pays enough attention to the younger generation to realize that that's actually a different actress playing Emmalin this season.
• Since this is the debut Army Wives recap on this site, let's toss out some softballs to get the discussion going. Who's your favorite Army wife, and why? And if you're a fan of this show who wanted to get others interested in watching it, what other shows might you compare it to?

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