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'Army Wives': "I'm no virgin when it comes to liars and cheats."
Despite the presence of an odd cameo by Stephen J. Cannell, a man who may very well be responsible for producing the greatest quantity of lowbrow schlock in the history of the medium of television, this was a really strong episode of Army Wives. Writer John E. Pogue gave us some interesting plotlines, but more significantly, he gave us far and away the strongest dialogue of any episode of the show yet this season. There were as many juicy and quotable pieces of dialogue in this episode as there were in probably the rest of the season to date.
Pogue's lengthiest and most significant IMDB credit to date was working as a writer on Everwood for several seasons, so it should come as no surprise that families are the focus of this episode. The bulk of the episode deals with parent-child issues, talking about mothers and daughters, fathers and sons. Pamela and Claudia Joy take to the radio waves for a controversial discussion of parents in the Army, encouraged to go in that direction by the fact that both parents of a friend of Emmalin's are set to go overseas and leave their teenage daughter behind. Roxy and Betty reach the climax of their relationship, as they accept the fact that Roxy is the daughter Betty never had and Betty has become more of a mother to Roxy than her real mother is. Roland worries about being a father, while Roxy worries that being a father and husband is no longer the most important thing in Trevor's world.
It starts when Emmalin and her friend Sarah are arrested for shoplifting booze from the PX. Seriously, kids, if you're going to steal alcohol, don't do it at the PX. That's just dumb. Emmalin insists that she had no idea her friend Sarah was going to be stealing. Sarah's father is already over in Iraq, and her mother is a soldier too, set to deploy to Afghanistan. Emmalin rationalizes that Sarah has been freaking out lately because her mother is going away. "A lot of soldiers deploy. That does not give their kids permission to steal," Claudia Joy declares.
Meanwhile, Pamela is approached by Jack Farraday, a talk radio station program director from Atlanta, who wants to discuss Pamela's career. He's got a job offer. "You're brash, you're unfiltered, and you've got a voice we can really use," he butters her up. It's a weekend position, meaning Pamela would be able to still live on the post and just commute to Atlanta on weekends. Pamela demurs and says that she does her radio show because of the attachment she has to the people on the post, and she isn't sure she'd ever be able to establish the same sort of familial connection to a metropolitan audience who aren't tied by the common bond of post life. Ah, but there's a nice little salary attached to this job offer. Remember, Pamela gets bupkus for the radio show now.
Claudia Joy is talking with the gang about the unfortunate situation of both of Sarah's parents going overseas, and Pamela suggests that it would be a good topic to talk about on the radio show, since so many of their listeners are parents raising children on the post. But Claudia Joy ends up inadvertently tripping up a red flag when she makes a proclamation that it would be noble if the Army wouldn't send both parents in a two-parent family off to war at the same time. That suggestion brings an instant call from post command, who tell the radio station director that Pamela needs to stop that discussion immediately or the radio broadcast will go to dead air. They can talk about feelings all they want on the radio show, but policy proclamations are not at all welcome.
Pamela being Pamela, she flips out and demands to know what's up. "You can't just pull the plug when you disagree with something," she assails Joan. It turns out that it was Evan, the new guy who's going to be stepping in for Joan, who made the call. He calls Pamela's show and the conversation on it "reckless." Ooh, Evan's a villain. There are too many nice characters on this show since Lenore Baker went away, so you knew we had to have a real villain at some point. Evan lectures Pamela that she needs to "steer clear of Army policy, and we should be good to go." Then he just keeps on coming with the condescension. "It's just a little radio show for the housewives," he scoffs, belittling the whole thing.
Pamela quits on the spot. If they're not going to give her freedom of speech, she isn't interested in doing the show anymore. Pamela goes home and starts venting to herself. "Mommy, why are you talking to the food?" asks her daughter Katie. Heh. Then Pamela calls up Jack Farraday to ask if the job offer is still on the table. Because nothing says freedom of expression like a corporate megalith.
To that end, as soon as Pamela takes the job, Farraday hands her a list of talking points and suggested topics for discussion, starting with celebrity couples. That's not going to fly. Pamela asks what the hell is going on. She has a thoughtful, meaningful show, and she thought that's why they wanted to hire her. No. Not the case. "People want to be entertained, not engaged," Farraday says. He says she's got a great personality, and should just apply that personality to issues with more wide-ranging demographic appeal. Pamela says no, no way. "If I can't talk about what matters to me, then I would rather not be on the radio at all."
Fortunately for Pamela, she'll soon have her old job back. When Evan went over Joan's head to shut down Pamela's show, it also meant he went over Michael's head, and Michael is now going to make his voice heard. "It's not meant to be a cheerleading service for the military," Michael instructs Evan of the radio show. If the show wants to seriously discuss issues, they need to be given the freedom to do so. Michael says that it's healthy to have a forum for discussion. "If the Army can't stand up to that, we're in big trouble," he reasons. Michael orders Evan to rehire Pamela, and apologize to her. And moreover, he reams Evan out for going over his head and acting without consulting Joan. Joan gives a little smile at that, thankful to know that Michael has her back.
As far as the original issue that prompted this mess, the fate of Sarah's family, Michael at first can't be so flexible. "I mean, I know it's hard, but they chose a military life and to raise a child within it," Michael says to Claudia Joy. The mother, Carol, can't just abandon her responsibility to the Army now, no matter how great her responsibility is to her daughter. Having seen what Sarah is now going through, that's exactly what Carol wants to do, to forget about the Army and take care of her daughter. Claudia Joy works with her to see what they can figure out. She ends up writing a letter supporting Carol's request for a deferment, and the request is granted. Carol gets to defer going away for six months. It's a temporary stopgap, but it's the best they can do.
While Carol and Claudia Joy are dealing with the stress of teenage daughters, Roland is already stressed out about parenthood, and his own kid hasn't even been born yet. "I'm having a hard time figuring out where I fit in," he admits to Joan. Joan will automatically have a connection to the baby, since a mother's connection is natural, but Roland admits he's lost. "When our baby is born, we're going to be equals. Equally clueless," Joan comforts him. Trying to be a little less clueless, Roland's been reading a whole library's worth of baby books, but nothing compares to the real thing. Pamela suggests that he should talk to Denise about volunteering in the hospital nursery, spending some time with some actual babies.
While Denise helps Roland out with that, she has more pressing matters on her mind. Rumors start spreading about Denise's joyride on the back of Dr. Getti's motorcycle. The gossip mill is the most productive little cottage industry at Fort Marshall, and nothing beats some news about possible infidelity. It could be worse, Denise. You could live on the Upper East Side.
Getti is aware of what's going on too. "What is this, high school?" he laughs. He's aware of how he's being painted in the public eye, and wants to make it very clear that he has only the most honest of intentions. He wants to be Denise's friend, and that's all. "Hitting on another guy's wife just ain't my thing," he proclaims. He says he really likes her, but only as a friend.
But Denise says that despite all that, she has to do what's best for her family, and what's best for her family is to not put herself in any possible position where Frank might hear things and would be hurt. She says they have to stop the motorcycle rides, and just be professional acquaintances. Now that that's over, Frank calls up and, right on cue, says that he's sorry about the way he reacted with the motorcycle, and he's OK with Denise keeping it. "If I can let you be a nurse, I can let you ride a motorcycle." Denise jumps all over him for the suggestion that he "let" her be a nurse. Oh, no, Denise, this fight was over! Don't keep it going like that!
Frank just says it was a bad choice of words and not really what he meant, but Denise isn't buying it, and suddenly they're back arguing again. So Denise, refusing to accept the idea that she is subject to the whims of what Frank says she can and cannot do, decides she's making her own decisions. And that starts with, as she calls it, "breakfast with a friend," and a ride to meet Getti at the pancake house. Apparently they have pancakes the size of manhole covers there.
Roxy, meanwhile, is beginning work rebuilding the bar. But she can instantly tell that the contractor making a bid for the job is trying to take advantage of her because she's a lady and because she's new to the business. "Balls as big as church bells on this guy!" Roxy sneers. "I may be new to the construction business, but I'm no virgin when it comes to liars and cheats," Roxy finally confronts the guy. When the guy continues to have a condescending attitude, Roxy fires him on the spot. But the foreman of the contractor's crew is impressed by this new client's chutzpah. He steps up and says he wants to do the job himself, and Roxy hires him.
And now that Betty sees that things are in good hands, she has an announcement to make. Her cancer isn't getting any better. So she's going to make a preemptive move while she's still got the strength to do so. She signs over control of 50% of the business to Roxy, declaring Roxy to be the principal owner and saying she will now only be a silent partner. Roxy isn't quite comfortable with Betty's grand gesture, but Betty isn't taking no for an answer here. "If it's not you it's gonna be some stranger, Roxy. And you are the closest thing to family I've got." Roxy gives her a hug. "OK, let's not get crazy now," Betty scoffs. Heh.
And now that we've come to the natural endpoint of this plotline, Betty's getting out of here. Betty's driving to California, to a cancer center out there, and she's not coming back. Betty did what the character needed to do to move the plot along. She gave Roxy the bar, and then she left. It could be worse. She could have just left Roxy the bar and then died right away.
It's bad enough that Betty suddenly announces she's leaving, but Roxy is also deeply uncomfortable with how clear Trevor is making it that he's itching to leave the post as well and head back to Iraq. Trevor spends all his time either talking about how he should be with his unit, or being mentally unavailable while he's daydreaming about being with his unit. Roxy notes that even the boys are aware of how Trevor doesn't seem to have much interest in hanging around with them. "It's almost like he'd rather be dodging bullets in Iraq than playing with his sons or sleeping in his bed with his wife," Roxy sighs to her friends.
Roxy finally tells Trevor how terrible it feels. The only thing Trevor has talked about since coming home is going away again, and that really hurts her. But Trevor can't really apologize for the truth. Trevor insists that he should be over there, with his unit, and being anywhere else in the world just doesn't feel right. And despite the fact that Roxy says he can talk about it with her, Trevor says he really can't. "You're not a soldier. I'm sorry," he declares, heralding the start of the biggest rough patch these two have been through in their young marriage.
FYI, if you didn't get the Stephen J. Cannell reference at the top,
start here with his IMDB page. Cannell is one of the most prolific writer-producers in the history of television, but he made a rare cameo appearance as an actor here, playing Jack Farraday. (It's not really a random cameo – the episode's director is Cannell's daughter.) But Cannell's career primarily spanned the era that happened, not to put too fine a point on it, before TV was good. He created a murderer's row of series that were big hits at the time, but which today would all be (hopefully) considered way too stupid to exist: The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, Baretta, Silk Stalkings, Renegade, 21 Jump Street. You could make the argument, as I suppose I did at the top, that Cannell is responsible for more hours of bad television than any other individual in the history of the medium. To that end, I did appreciate the fact that his character in this episode is an unapologetic schlockmeister who wants Pamela to do lowest-common-denominator, bottom-of-the-barrel radio programming. If that's a nod and a wink at his own career, then well played, sir.What did you think? Do you understand Trevor's position, or do you think he needs to make a better effort of mentally being at home while he's physically at home? What would you have done if you were in Carol's position and were being forced to leave your daughter without either parent? Is Denise about to do something she'll regret? Does Fort Marshall need its own Gossip Girl to filter all the nasty rumors running around? Did you get whiplash from how quickly Betty was whisked away after giving Roxy the bar? Who did you want to smack more: Evan, Roxy's contractor, or Jack the radio programmer? And could you down a pancake the size of a manhole cover? Have at it …
I could be wrong here...but I thought the ARMY actually *had* a policy where both parents couldn't be deployed at the same time? Does it change once your kids reach a certain age or something?
Of course, it's a TV show...bla bla bla...
:)
Ashley | Jul 13, 2008 11:40:55 PM | #Hey. They are rerunning Greatest American Hero on one of our local channels. It isn't that bad!
Loved Roland going to the hospital to volunteer. Great scene...all fathers should have to do that!
Where do you find an honest contractor? You just have to hope they get enough done that you can finish before you have to fire them. THEY ARE ALL CROOKS.
I do enjoy this show. I guess Denise's son comes back next week and meets Getti? We'll see how mature they all are about that!
Tillman | Jul 14, 2008 11:11:54 AM | #I don't blame Denise for bristling over Frank's comment. IMO, he MEANT it that way!
I feel badly for Roxy ... it IS hard to understand Trevor's feelings. I hope they don't take this too far ... I love this couple.
Evan is going to continue to be a pain in the butt for Joan (and anyone else who gets in his way of future promotions, etc).
I was surprised that two parents can be deployed at the same time. This is kind of the reverse of the Sullivan Act, right? Any military folks out there know if this is realistic?
Unfortunately, there are many military families where BOTH parents are deployed - my daughter and son-in-law are both in the Air Force and one of the first things they had to do was designate who would be responsible for the children if they were both deployed. So far they have not been, but I hear the Air Force is better to their people than most armed forces branches.
Denise's husband is a jerk, pure and simple. What about her son? They don't even mention him this season.
I really don't like the way Claudia Joy's character doesn't even mention her daughter who died - I know she is supposed to be "over it" but no one recovers that quickly when they lose a child.
I could pretty much see the whole Betty giving Roxy the bar thing coming from a mile away - no surprise there.
Denise appears to be taking a que from the soaps in her job as a nurse - first she doesn't really have any more school, she just immediately goes to work as a nurse, and second, she works on every floor and in every department!
The writing on this show is just so predictable. I just had to turn it off last night after the radio thing. Right now, I feel like I won't miss a thing by just reading the recaps. Too bad, this show started out with promise.
Betty | Jul 14, 2008 12:54:34 PM | #Thanks for answering my question, Betty.
Since you turned last night's episode off early, you missed a brief mention of Amanda by Claudia Joy as well as the previews showing the return of Denise's son, next week.
Regarding Trevor's position, the way I take it, is he comes from strong working-class stock. He's probably had part-time jobs since high school or before. He's probably never gone a summer without working. So, when he's sidelined from what he considers his job, and what is a job, and the only thing that his employer, the US Army, has him doing, is appearing as a talking head and cheerleader for the Army, he feels that he's not really performing the job he signed-up for. As for Denise, I just hope and pray that they don't go the cliched route of possibly killing-off her husband in Iraq, then her finding solace and comfort in the arms of her doctor friend, and then bringing Frank back, and having that old tired triangle. WAAAAY too soap opera for my taste.
Heather | Jul 14, 2008 6:58:18 PM | #I only got as far as the first paragraph & had to comment. I do agree that Stephen J. Cannell's appearance was sort of odd, but to insult his tv accomplishments by using the term "lowbrow schlock" makes me wonder what you might consider quality tv. his credits might be dated, but he wrote, created and/or produced some of the most entertaining tv of the past - "The Rockford Files", "21 Jump Street", "Wiseguy" & the innovative, before it's time gem, "Profit". like i said they may be dated, but they are, in my opinion, not "lowbrow schlock"! (in fact Entertainment Weekly included "Wiseguy" on it's top 100 tv shows of the past 20 years just a few weeks ago). I am sure i am not alone in thanking Mr. Cannell for his fine contributions to the entertainment community!
S | Jul 15, 2008 1:28:35 PM | #I, too, feel compelled to comment upon your remarks regarding Mr. Cannell's career. Some of the most beloved TV shows of my younger days were crafted by Mr. Cannell, and I still enjoy many of them to this very day, thanks to home DVD.
While I agree with your view that there is a relatively high(er) quality of writing in evidence on TV these days, which many of us applaud, appreciate and welcome, I believe you may have insulted a larger percentage of your readership than you may realize by underestimating how many of us were at one time, or, in many cases (such as my own), still are, staunch fans of Mr. Cannell's body of work. If you're too sophisticated or highbrow to appreciate it, then at least please try to refrain from being so condescendingly judgmental of those of us with what you must surely consider lower standards. You are, of course, more than entitled to your opinion, but please don't automatically assume that your entire readership agrees with it.
BTW, did you happen to catch Mr. Cannell's cameo on a 2-part episode of "Diagnosis Murder" a few years ago? The episode was titled "Trash TV", and it was a hilarious and very pointedly satiric sendup of truly bad or ill-advised television programming (of which Mr. Cannell's character was a very prolific producer). If you truly believe that Mr. Cannell's overall body of work seriously falls into that category, then I'm afraid you wouldn't have gotten the point anyway. At least Mr. Cannell gets the joke, and he knows he is NOT the true butt of it.
I thank Mr. Cannell for all the wonderful entertainment he has provided over the years, of which I am very proud to declare myself a fan. His work was, and still is, appreciated by many in Television Land.
Linda | Jul 16, 2008 8:01:32 AM | #
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