Army Wives Season Finale Recap

And so season 7 of Army Wives comes to a close. It is unclear if there will be a season 8, and the writers have kindly left things pretty wrapped up, so if this is in fact goodbye, we are not left with a ton of unanswered questions. However, we have officially said goodbye to Sterling K. Brown and Wendy Davis, so if the show does return, it will be almost entirely focused on the new crop of actors introduced over the last two seasons.

So how did our storylines resolve themselves?

After Tim strangled Holly in his sleep last week, she has taken to sleeping on the couch. When he approached her to wake her up, Holly immediately went into defense mode, fearing for her safety. Tim was caught off guard, unaware that he had attacked her. When he saw the marks on Holly’s neck and realized what he’d done to her, he took off. Holly called Denise and Tim’s platoon for help. Denise explained to Holly that this is a really big deal, and not something she can handle herself. Eddie located Tim and he and Hector were able to convince Tim he needed to go home. Everyone is finally in agreement that Tim is in need of professional help. Eddie smartly asks Holly if Tim keeps any guns in the house – another important reminder to family members that soldiers are not themselves when they are suffering in this way, and extra precautions need to be taken. Jesse McCartney has been stellar throughout this arc and I can’t say enough about how important this story was to tell. Bravo, Army Wives.

Gloria spent her time weighing her relationship with Hector against her relationship with Patrick. She sought out Maggie for advice and Maggie told her that when it came to Eddie, she just woke up one morning and realized she couldn’t live without him. I thought this was fairly unhelpful advice given the fact that Gloria’s relationship with Patrick was brand new. It would be totally inappropriate for her to already feel like she couldn’t live without him. The question in Gloria’s case was really if she wanted to go back down a road she’s already been down, or if she was ready to try something new. We weren’t explicitly told which choice Gloria made, but the consensus among viewers is that all signs were pointing to a reunion with Hector. I am somewhat disappointed with this choice, as I think we really watched Hector and Gloria’s relationship run its course and I believe both of them would be better off turning over new relationship leaves. The journey Hector took this season was one of the most interesting, and it was nice to see him become more of man we wanted him to be last year. I’m not sure I can ever forgive him for his unwillingness to help Penny, though, so I find it hard to accept that Gloria would be able to. And maybe I’m just bitter. You’ll get the next one, Pat.

The romantic tension that’s been building between Kat and Michael finally peaked this week as they shared a kiss after a late night dinner meeting. As (really really bad) luck would have it, Denise was walking by the doorway at the exact moment this kiss was happening and did not take kindly to the sight. She, like many of you, felt that Michael was moving on too quickly and that it was disrespectful to Claudia Joy’s memory. After both Michael and Kat share a few words of explanation with Denise, she has a change of heart and tells them she doesn’t want them to be unhappy on her account. She came around on this one way faster than I usually am able to, but she’s Denise Sherwood so I guess I’m not surprised.

Meanwhile, the Montclairs are finally getting a bit of good news. After Quincy was horrified to learn Latasha pawned her grandmother’s pearls, he made it a point to go and buy them back for her. (Side note: brownie points to Quincy for knowing what jewelry Latasha owns and where it comes from. That is not a conversation that ever would have taken place in my house.) When Latasha explained to him that they really couldn’t afford them, Quincy dropped the news on her: he was medically cleared to return to the Army! I really like Quincy and I don’t think we got enough of him this season, so I’m glad he’s going to be okay and I hope there’s a season 8 specifically so we can get some more of him.

And finally, Joan really said goodbye to the Army. I really appreciated the line at the end of her speech where she said she hopes women will follow in her footsteps and even surpass her. It echoed my thoughts from last week that Joan can’t be responsible for achieving the goals of women at large, and that she has to do what’s best for her. At the same time, she clearly knows that she was given a great opportunity and she understands the significance of where she is for women in the armed forces. She doesn’t want anybody to think that seeing a woman make her way up the ranks isn’t extremely important, even though she’s decided to stop short of the ultimate goal. I also enjoyed seeing Joan and Roland together in a romantic setting. It allayed all fears that Joan was resentful of Roland or that her decision was making her unhappy. She seems really at peace with the choice she’s made, which makes it much easier to support.

 

Some final thoughts on the finale:

– I would have liked to see a bit more Eddie and Maggie. I felt the other couples got a lot of attention in this episode and as a fan of the Halls, I would have liked some focus to be on them.

– Frank’s home! Hooray. And he fell down a flight of steps rushing to get to Denise! Amazing. (Did Terry Serpico actually break his foot? I always wonder about these things when injuries seem to be thrown in for no reason)

– For most of the series, Roland was the Army spouse in the Burton household. It was always Roland who spent time with the other wives and bonded over play dates. It was nice to see Joan have a chance to relax with some mom friends and watch her kids play.

– Patrick and Jordan? Eh, I’m not so into it.

 

All in all, I thought this season of Army Wives was very impressive. I missed my favorite characters for sure, but I felt connected to the new crew almost immediately. On a personal note, if the show doesn’t get renewed, I am really going to miss doing these recaps and tweeting with the cast, crew and fans each Sunday night.

Thanks to all involved with Army Wives for an incredible run. Hoping to see you back here soon.

What did you all think of the season 7 finale?