Army Wives: 2.14 ‘Payback’ Review
Original Air Date: September 21, 2008
After last week’s thoroughly downbeat episode, I welcomed the conclusion to this week’s “Payback,” which leaves me feeling a whole lot better about the individual states of our favorite army wives and husbands. An extra dose of love goes to Pamela, who lets her stalker have it, not have at it, at last, and also Michael Holden, who helps conclude the installment with a lovely, much-deserved wallop.
The action opens with Michael arriving at home after Claudia Joy hits Paolo in the head with a champagne bottle to stop his attempted rape. Claudia Joy, Paolo, and everybody but Michael want to brush the attack under the rug for the sake of the San Pasquale lease deal. Paolo claims the added concern of avoiding his country’s embarrassment, something he should have though of before he sexually attacked another person.
It’s no surprise, then, that I’m with Michael, who’s opinion from the get-go is “No way!” when it comes to pretending the sordid incident never happened. Yes, as Claudia Joy tells him right afterwards, duty is supposed to come before personal feelings in the military. Attempting to rape his wife falls way outside of that scope on an immediate, visceral level, however.
Unfortunately for Michael, the Pentagon decides to release Paolo with no significant consequences, partly because he has diplomatic immunity, yet mostly because the lease deal for the post abroad is their highest priority for strategic military reasons. Worse, Paolo requests Michael’s presence at the signing of the deal, and the Pentagon orders Michael to attend, despite his initial refusal.
Claudia Joy, still feeling vulnerable and angry, helps her husband realize that Paolo craves power, the very thing they can deny him by not letting his criminal act impair or alter their lives. Even so, who didn’t get all giddy inside when Michael stopped by Paolo’s hotel to deliver a nice episode-ending punch to the face? And there I was thinking he didn’t have it in him.
Meanwhile, on the Creep Beat, the episode’s second most satisfying storyline, Pamela becomes increasingly determined not to let her stalker harm her or her children. As a result, she goes on the offensive, packing a loaded gun, monitoring her home closely, and taking her kids everywhere because she no longer trusts anybody.
She suffers one lapse and breaks down when Stalker Tim calls her radio show and indirectly threatens her children — he responds to her revelation that she’ll shoot him herself if he comes around with his opinion that she can’t protect her kids all the time, and that’s how accidents happen. Smart woman that she is, Pamela recovers quickly enough to recognize Tim’s voice and several warning signs when he approaches her at Betty’s Bar & Grill later and claims his name is Dean Armstrong.
The tale-tell clues? A rose tattoo on the inside of his right wrist; an obvious disdain for his wife, who he says is serving in Iraq; and a generally creepy demeanor and appearance overall. After quietly asking Roxy to phone the cops, Pamela calls the man Tim as he leaves to see if he reacts. He does, and the stalker gets what’s been coming to him when Pamela delivers a swift kick to that special sensitive area and a shove to the ground outside. Pamela rocks!
And, of course, there’s haggard-looking Trevor, who tells Roxy after the car accident that he’s done with the pills, only to bust open the kitchen sink’s drain after she leaves to retrieve the drugs he disposed in front of her. Good thing they’re covered in muck, even if Trevor manages to get his hands on some Vicodin later.
Joan hemorrhages again and requires life-saving surgery. However, the hospital’s supply of her blood type was depleted during her first operation, and the only possible donors now are soldiers back from Iraq. Trevor is a match, but Roland refuses to let him donate because of the drug issue, a judgment call that’s hard not to understand.
To his credit, after Joan recovers, Roland apologizes for being so harsh. But even that and Joan’s gratitude don’t stop Trevor from stealing Vicodin from her room during a visit. It takes Finn and T.J.’s admission that they don’t like when Trevor yells at their mother to prevent him from using the stolen drugs and to seek professional help.
First, he and everyone else attends a formal ceremony where Michael gives him the Silver Star for his extraordinary courage in battle. Trevor, still battling with guilt over surviving, visits Dalton Wilkins’ widow soon after and gives her daughter Samantha the medal to remember her father’s heroism.
Newly (and finally!) accepting of the fact that she has changed and is no longer the same woman who married a soldier when just a teenager, Denise is the character who provides a steady undercurrent of harmony during this particular episode. She gives Frank a proper goodbye before he returns to Iraq but later admits to Claudia Joy she’s happy he and his constant judging are gone.
Then she rents a gorgeous, expensive vacation home for some R&R and invites her girls up to recharge along with her (Roland stays behind with Joan and their beautiful daughter Sara Elizabeth, named after her grandmothers). So, this week, we end on a lighter, more positive note, which is a welcome change after the previous episode’s non-stop negativity.
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POSTED IN: Army Wives, Recaps
2 opinions for Army Wives: 2.14 ‘Payback’ Review
Army Wives: 2.15 ‘Thank You for Letting Me Share’ Preview
Oct 5, 2008 at 8:29 am
[...] admit that this episode sounds a lot more calm and homey than the last one before the break, “Payback,” which makes me glad. Viewers need a little respite from all of that intensity for [...]
jennifer
Oct 7, 2008 at 3:34 pm
i would love to see a copy of that tattoo that denise wanted to get for her “Beautiful Mistake”
if anyone has a clue — please let me know
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