Army Wives - Complete First Season DVD Review

Posted by Wendell Mitchell on 07.22.2008

A well constructed story about the non combatants that serve our country with just as much at stake as their brave spouses.

Starring

* Kim Delaney as Claudia Joy Holden
* Catherine Bell as Denise Sherwood
* Sally Pressman as Roxy LeBlanc
* Brigid Brannagh as Pamela Moran
* Wendy Davis as Lieutenant Colonel Joan Burton
* Sterling K. Brown as Dr. Roland Burton
* Brian McNamara as Brigadier General Michael Holden
* Drew Fuller as Private First Class Trevor LeBlanc

* Ben Younger - director
* Katherine Fugate - executive producer, creator and writer
* Mark Gordon - executive producer
* Deborah Spera - executive producer
* Jeff Melvoin - executive producer
* Harry Bring - co-executive producer

Directors & Writers

* Joanna Kerns
* Rob Spera
* Perry Lang
* Patrick Norris
* Tanya Biank
* Dee Johnson
* Rama Laurie Stagner





Greetings and Salutations everyone. This week I tackle the critically acclaimed Lifetime series, Army Wives. Based on Tanya Biank's non-fiction book, The Unwritten Code of Military Marriage, Army Wives focuses on the relationships, struggles, and triumphs of Military spouses and how the Army life affects them.


DISC 1

Four episodes comprise the first disc. A Tribe Is Born,Introduces our main characters. Roxy, a good ol' gal, who impetuously marries Private First Class Trevor LeBlanc after a courtship of four days. Claudia Joy laments the unfair base politics that she believes have blocked a promotion for her husband Colonel Michael Holden. Roland Burton is reunited with his wife Lieutenant Colonel Joan Burton after two years. Pamela is married to Delta Force Operator Chase Morgan and pregnant with twins. Denise supports her by the books, hard ass husband Major Frank Sherwood, who has given their seventeen year old son no choice other than to attend West Point and follow in his footsteps.

One by one, the five non military halves of our main couples interact with one another, slowly forging friendships with one another as they endure sick children, domestic abuse, and the spectre of their spouses having to deploy at a moment's notice. We are also introduced to Lenore Baker, the antagonistic wife of the newly appointed Brigadier General Theodore Baker, who will do anything to get ahead and Marylin Polarsky, the resident gossip monger.

Claudia Joy, Denise, Roland and Roxy cement their friendship with Pamela after she confesses that the twins she is carrying are not hers and that she plans on saying they died once she gives them to the couple that hired her as a surrogate. All four assist in the delivery of the babies at the bar Roxy has recently starting working and end the episode on a happy note.

After Birth deals with the aftermath of the previous episode. Pamela's secret is threatened when the parents of her twins are out of town. Claudia Joy houses them for her. Meanwhile, Roxy agrees to let Trevor adopt her kids, but is crushed by the news that after less than a month of being married, her husband is off to Iraq. Roland has to deal with the fact that his wife is not properly acclimating to non-combat base life. Denise tries to stay strong despite Frank's deployment and her son Jeremy hitting her. Pamela and Chase are at odds because Chase doesn't seem to care about her well being and is only focused on the money they made from her ordeal. Their group take turns nursing the babies and further bonding. Roxy even teaches Denise boxing to increase her confidence.

Paranoia sets in and Joan accuses Roland of cheating on her while she was away. In Art of Separation, she expresses her desire to return to the front lines as soon as possible. First she deals with one of her men, Sergeant Belgrad, who is suffering from delusions of still being in Afghanistan and needing to save a young girl. Denise threatens to kick Jeremy out of the house if he ever puts his hands on her again. Lenore Baker gets confrontational with her rival Claudia Joy in a bid to further take Colonel Holden down a peg and Marylin continues spreading her rumors until Pamela confesses to everyone what really happened to the twins. That bit of drama concluded, the ladies enjoy a lovely evening of wine testing, only to be blindsided with the news that Frank may have died in a helicopter crash.

One of Our Own picks up with Denise's devastation by the uncertainty of her husband's fate and her irrational decision to go to him. Claudia Joy manages to dissuade her. Claudia also manages to make Jeremy man up and take care of his mother., Denise decides she has to go to Frank. Jeremy receives the brunt of his mother's anger and Claudia Joy convinces her not to be so irrational and later explains to Jeremy what his role has to be while she deals with this. Meanwhile Trevor becomes the adoptive father of Roxy's kids. More light is shed on Joan's tour in Afghanistan after Roland and Claudia Joy are held hostage by an unstable Belgrad who wants Joan to pay for her crimes.

Extras We get two separate commentary tracks, one from the producers and the other from the director and director of photography. Nothing ground breaking here.



Disc 2

The next five episodes of this series (Independence Day; Who We Are; Hail and Farewell: Only the Lonely; and Nobody's Perfect) continues the trend of mixing triumph and tragedy. Frank is alive and Denise becomes a nurse much to his surprise. Their son decides to enlist while Claudia Joy and Amanda attempt to persuade their daughter not to date him. As Amanda becomes further infatuated with Jeremy, she and her parents become estranged to the point Amanda confides only to Denise. Joan gets treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder only for Roland to cheat on her with a reporter doing a story about him. Roland's guilt arises as Joan begins putting him before her military duty. Pamela is distraught over Chase's sudden deployment and momentarily entertains thoughts of infidelity when an old friend shows up and admits his past attraction to her.

Extras Another commentary track, this time adding Kim Delaney (Claudia Joy) and Catherine Bell(Denise) to give their perspective on the characters they play and onset chemistry.



Disc 3

With our final four episodes, we start by airing some Dirty Laundry. Claudia Joy's friend, Hannah causes strife between Claudia Joy and Michael. After discovering how her husband really died, Hannah goes to the Supreme Court to testify. Michael is livid and demands Claudia Joy find Hannah another place to live because it looks bad for them to house someone that is perceived as anti-army. This causes a rift between Pamela and Denise, the former thinking Hannah is completely in the right. Roxy refuses to take sides and Pamela yells at her for trying to have it both ways. Several Truth and Consequences arise as Lenore spreads rumors about Amanda's paternity. Frank comes to the realization that his son was acting out because he wasn't there for him. Pamela and Roxy make up. After initially refusing, Pamela accepts an offer to do a base radio show. Roland admits his affair and onces Joan calms down, wants to save their marriage. Roland has other plans though. Rules of Engagement teaches Roxy the cruel truth about being an Army life when she reveals her idea of opening her own bar. Roland wants a divorce and begins looking for jobs in Chicago. Chase returns, but Pamela's steamy radio show about how good a lover he is, embarrasses him and strains their relationship yet again. Finally, we bid a Goodbye Stranger to the last episode of the season. Amanda discovers she is not pregnant, but Joan is and unsure of whether or not to keep it. Terrorist threats abound when they discover missing weapons and Trevor, Frank, and Chase are among the soldiers immediately being deployed. Roland tells the ladies he has decided to move to Chicago. After a tearful farewell to their men, Roxi, Denise, and Claudia Joy convene at the bar to vent. Roland stops by on his way to Chicago for a final goodbye. But their good times are crashed by Marylin's insane husband.

ExtrasA bit more extensive on the final disc.

Army Wives Gone AWOL (4:08) - Blooper reel with the customary cursing and missed cues. Highlights include a lot of kissing and secret relationships. Not laugh out laugh funny, but it put a smile on my face.

Deleted Scenes with Commentary Less than five minutes worth of cuts. Nothing integral to the story and one is simply Claudia Joy getting ready for a social event.

Hump for the Lump (2:47) - A deleted storyline focusing on raising money for Roxy's boss and also served to introduce Marylin's husband. Despite it being a personal favorite, the storyline was cut to make the final episodes flow better.

Wives on the Front Line (11:49) - The Cast and Crew put together an event to celebrate real life Army Spouses.

Have At It With The Army Wives/Executive Producers (14:07)/(3:17) The first feature is an actual fan submitted Q and A session with the cast. They poke fun at one another and just have fun with the questions. The second feature is just the EPs talking about how they approached making the series.

The 411: I thoroughly enjoyed this first season from start to finish. For those of you a bit wary because it's on Lifetime, don't be. It's well written, the characters grow, and the actions of one affect everyone in realistic ways. Plenty of intimate scenes between spouses, tension diffusing comedic moments, fist fights, snipers, this show has it all and then some. I highly recommend this to anybody that likes a good story.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]