ARMY WIVES: 5.05 “Soldier On”

I didn’t know what to expect with this week’s Army Wives, considering last week’s tearjerker. Certainly, the entire episode wouldn’t revolve around the aftermath of Jeremy’s death, but I didn’t know how they’d balance it out. Well, I feel that they did a successful job — with the exception of Joan, who sucks.

Roland was actually one of my favorite people to watch on Army Wives this week. He was clearly still feeling Jeremy’s death; after all, he was the one who gave Jeremy the ok to go back into combat. He was hesitant to release another soldier to go back, as we saw in his office, too. I understand he was trying to look strong and appear that nothing was bothering him, but even for Roland, that was impossible. It was written across his entire face.

Which is why I spent a good portion of the episode audibly yelling at stupidface Joan, who sucks. You’d think that as his wife, she might realize that something was bothering him (and take the giant leap — ok, the baby step — realize what it might be). She just seemed to not care that anything was bothering Roland. Probably because she’s incredibly self-absorbed, as we’ve seen all season.

Ok, ok. I’m sure we’ll soon find out that she just has a different attitude toward a soldier’s death than others because she’s a soldier herself. She looks at it in a different way. And as someone who is higher up on the totem pole, she might be looking at it more as another man down than someone who meant something to the people she claimed were her friends.

Yes, I’m still bitter.

Joan aside, I loved Roland’s last scene. This scene really stole the show this week, despite Denise’s own reactions to the death. Seeing his own toddler daughter put on her mother’s military hat was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He could see his own daughter enlisting, becoming a solder like her mother — and like Jeremy — and dying in combat. He’d lose her. It was really a heartbreaking but beautiful moment.

Meanwhile, we had Denise struggling with her own grief. Personally, I’m surprised that Frank was ready to go back so soon. There’s that military mentality that you don’t realize, coming back to the surface. But he had a good point. There are thousands of men and women — sons and daughters — out there that he could be helping to keep alive. Still, a week seems soon. As for Denise, well, this is going to be one ugly road. Not much progressed this week, other than the fact that she really can’t function on base anymore, but I’m not all that surprised by that. That’d be incredibly hard for anyone.

As for Pamela and Chase, well, that was the happy news balancing out the episode. They’re happily together again, and they’re getting married. Yay.

Then, Roxy. Sadly, I don’t see anything but negative consequences to her new business venture, and it worries me that she seems to be acting more out of spite than anything else. It might be a good idea, but I do think some time to think about it, and a legitimate discussion with her husband, would have helped. But Trevor…

Trevor’s been on my bad side for a while now, and this episode didn’t help him. He’s being very unfair to Roxy. First, he gets on her a couple episodes ago for not being proactive enough in his absence and allowing TJ to shoplift. Then, she’s supposed to just sit there and wait for him to come home before doing anything that could help the family monetarily. Overall, he’s just being controlling and mean. I’m not liking it. I’m afraid, though, that we’re going to find out that she shouldn’t invest in this truck stop and that he was in the right anyway. I hate it when jerky people are in the right.

I do wonder what’s going to happen to those two, though. They’re building up to something…I just can’t tell what.