"ARMY WIVES: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Catherine Bell as DENISE SHERWOOD Brigid Brannah as PAMELA MORAN Wendy Davis as JOAN BURTON Sally Pressman as ROXY LEBLANC Kim Delaney as CLAUDIA JOY HOLDEN Rated TV-14 Studio: ABC Studios Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
After the bombing of the Hump Bar by a jealous husband, the families at Fort Marshall pick up the pieces of their lives. Roxy (Sally Pressman) helps to rebuild the bar while supporting Trevor (Drew Fuller) on his first deployment. Claudia Joy (Kim Delaney) and her family suffer a devastating loss but continue to hold their heads high as the first family of the base. Joan (Wendy Davis) and Roland (Sterling Brown) adjust to her pregnancy and learn to change their lives for the better. Pamela (Brigid Brannah) sees more success with her radio show, which also introduces some new threats. And Denise (Catherine Bell) sees her strained marriage with Frank (Terry Serpico) start to crumble.
WHAT I LIKED
I reluctantly watched the first season of “Army Wives,” only cracking the case because I was sent the DVD for review. However, while the at-home soap opera is not necessarily my cup of tea, I recognize this series as being very well produced, acted and executed. After watching two full seasons of the show, you can’t help but have the characters grow on you a little bit, and I will admit that I did find myself getting interested in their day-to-day lives. (And, my wife enjoys it quite a bit, which gives us some television bonding time.)
I have a friend on Facebook whose husband is in the military, and I had mentioned that I was watching the show. She had a lukewarm reaction, saying that she started watching the series in its initial run but quit after two episodes. This was interesting for me to take into my watching of the bonus material because there was a featurette explaining how the series began working closely with the Army in season two in order to be more realistic. Similarly, Catherine Bell points out in a behind-the-scenes interview that more drama happens in these on-screen lives than in any real-life situation.
I think this military advising and self knowledge of the show’s soap opera elements are what makes the series work even more in its second season. While there is still plenty of drama in this season (still arguably more than the real Army wives face on a daily personal basis), things have been toned down a bit. Joan is no longer battling the cliched PTSD; the problems in the relationships of Pamela and Denise are more personally driven than Army situationally driven. (Is it more realistic for a real Army family? I don’t know, since I am not one. However, it gets an A for effort here.)
This season seems to have struck a balance between a dramatic soap opera for women and a docudrama about the lives of families on military bases. The characters have settled down a bit, and this lets the show be strangely compelling to even a red-blooded American male like myself.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Even with a more tempered character palliate on the show, the series does fall a bit into cliches and unfavorable stereotypes. There are certain plot lines that I’ve seen a few too many times before, in particular, Trevor’s dependence on pain medication. It wouldn’t be so bad if the character from “Brothers and Sisters” (another ABC Studios production) didn’t run the same storyline this season as well.
The show does get to be a bit predictable, especially with the storyline of Emmalin, Claudia Joy’s daughter. And as the season wraps up, there is a bit of a forced hand in trying to give everyone a cliffhanger. Such is the case with series television, I suppose.
DVD FEATURES
Like the first season, this season’s DVD bonus material offers some standard bits as well as showing its support for the Army and the Army wives at home. The featurette “Active Duty: The Cast of Army Wives at Fort Bragg” follows the cast and crew as they visit Fort Bragg to experience some real training elements and interview personnel and their families.
“Operational Intelligence: Getting the Army’s Support” is a particularly interesting featurette because it shows how the Army reached out to the show to provide some technical support in this season – from equipment availability to realism in the writing to how to properly wear a beret.
“The Tribe” is a spotlight on the characters of the show and how they routinely gather to deal with their problems. “Army Wives Gives Back” spotlights each of the main female cast members and how they reached out to a real-life Army wife with a show of support and a product placement-laden gift.
Rounding out the special features are a dozen or so deleted scenes and a pretty funny blooper reel.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Lifetime television viewers and women who like women’s programming.
