ARMY WIVES: 3.18 “Fields of Fire”
Army Wives is probably the only show I know that successfully pulled off an explosion in the first season that killed off a main character–all without jumping the shark. Honestly, it kept me hooked all hiatus, just so that I could jump right back in for the shocker premiere episode, where we discovered that, yes, Amanda died.
I bring this up for two reasons. The first is that this one season finale has set the standard for the rest of the season finales for Army Wives. How do you live up to this season to season? Well, last season, it kinda failed. The big cliffhanger was Emmalin’s running away, which seemed rather anticlimactic. In fact, I kinda didn’t care about her and Logan, so I didn’t really care if she ran away. Plus, you knew they wouldn’t move to Germany (get rid of Claudia Joy? I think not), so it was kinda determined before it started that it would work out.
So to top the first season and the second (lamer) season, we now have wartime violence surrounding Joan, Pamela leaving Chase, and Jeremy possibly killing himself.
This leads me to the second reason to bring up Amanda’s demise: It was his relationship with Amanda that brought Jeremy to sign up for the army. Could we really kill off Amanda, then do the same to Jeremy?
So let’s start there. I would be surprised if they really killed off Jeremy. While it would give a lot for Denise and Frank to do next season, it just seems like they wouldn’t do it. I think we’re all enjoying watching him develop and handle his new surroundings (and guilt), so to drop that storyline like dead weight seems wrong. Plus, there aren’t that many younger people in this show anymore–basically Jeremy and Emmalin. Could we get rid of one of two?
Anyway, to go with the other storylines, I think Army Wives has one problem. Honestly, these wives can’t do anything–divorce husbands, die, etc.–without getting kicked off the show. After all, they’re ARMY wives. If they divorce their husbands, as we almost saw with Denise, then we have a main character kicked off the base. Or, if Joan were to die (which I think she won’t, but who knows?), Roland disappears.
I could highly see Joan getting hurt–possibly so much so that she’s unable to perform the details of a wife. Maybe she’s in a coma. Maybe she’s been injured. Maybe it’s severe burning. Out of all the women, I think she’d be an easy sympathetic kill, but the ramifications of Roland’s role on the show would be very difficult to handle.
So I don’t know. These are all hypotheses. All I know is that I’d miss Jeremy terribly. As long as Roland remains on the show, I’m a happy girl, but I think he’s a great character to deal with some difficult challenges. And as for Pamela and Chase? I’m adoring this storyline and I can’t wait to find out what’s next.
