When will I ever learn? I’ve gotten suckered in by subtext yet again. Those deeply meaningful looks held those few extra seconds, the unusual number of little touches, the ardently sincere declarations of undying friendship … sigh.
This time around I’ve got Army Wives toying with my affections, and you can bet I haven’t missed an episode. And now comes the news that the show has been renewed for a second season. All the better to parse every excruciating (excruciatingly ordinary?) moment of warmth between Claudia Joy (Kim Delaney) and Denise (Catherine Bell).
“I’m here for whatever you need,” avows Claudia in the following promo, but do I really need these games again?
And darn it all if Catherine Bell isn’t coyly playing along, if her quote in TV Guide is any clue:
“It’s so nice to have girlfriends on set. We all hang out together on weekends. There’s a lot of joking, too. The biggest joke is about having sex with each other. We’ve done these fake blooper reels where one of us pops up in the bed of another couple. It’s Desperate Army Housewives.”
One wonders if that reel will ever see the light of day, given the show’s unctuous desire to remain “apolitical.” You thought the war was divisive — try adulterous lesbian affairs on a military base, carried on while the menfolk are off making the world safe for democracy. Actually, imagine the power that story line would have to unite the Lifetime audience against the war!
One of the strongest dramatic moments so far comes during a speech by Claudia Joy in episode 5: “I have also had to put my personal opinions aside to truly understand that our defenders of freedom are fighting a bigger battle. Not a political one. Their battle goes beyond politics, beyond religion, race or gender. They are the defenders for us all, they are the defenders of our differences.”
Just how different are you, Claudia Joy?
