TV Recap: Army Wives - The Messenger

It didn’t feel like much happened in tonight’s episode of Army Wives, but at the same time, a lot kind of did. It seemed like the whole episode focused on connections and reconnections. Claudia Joy reconnected with Emmalin, Michael and her faith. Betty and Roxy grew closer as friends when Betty admitted to the real reason why she doesn’t like kids. Denise reconnected with her past and Pamela’s husband Chase addressed his constant absence from his family once again.

Last week Pamela had issues with Chase over him constantly coming and going. This week their daughter Katie had a similar complaint when Chase confessed that he wouldn’t be able to attend her play. He made amends by spending some quality time with the kids and explaining to Katie that while he might not be at the play, he’ll be with her nonetheless. I’m not sure this is something a kid could genuinely be able to grasp but it’s interesting to see how Army families deal with things like this.

Betty’s been predictably cranky living at Roxy’s house. She states once again that she doesn’t like kids. Roxy, in true Roxy form gripes back at her but there’s no love lost. Betty’s Betty. Finally Betty admits that her cancer is spreading and she needs to start chemo soon. She goes on to admit that the reason she doesn’t like kids is because she couldn’t have any of her own. Basically she puts up a bitter front because it helps her deal with her own disappointment over not being able to have kids. We see the longing in her eyes when she looks on as Roxy and the two boys have a webcam chat with Trevor. Betty might not have a family of her own but she does have a true friend in Roxy, who was at her bedside at the end of the episode while Betty started chemo.

And speaking of bedsides, Denise met an amputee patient who is dealing with the loss of both his legs. He puts up a good front for a while but eventually it comes out that he’s of course not happy about his situation. He shares a story with Denise about a cross-country motorcycling trip he took before he enlisted. Even if he got a nice set of prosthetic legs, he still wouldn’t ride a bike again. He promised his parents that this part of his life is behind him. Denise shares a story about of her own glory days and her fondness for motorcycles. In the end he gives her the key to his bike. He said earlier in the episode that she looked like Mona Lisa with her sad smile. It’s interesting that so far we’ve seen Denise reclaim some of her identity by pursuing her goal to be a nurse. Now it looks like she might be reconnecting with another side of her that she thought was completely in the past.

Michael attempts to teach Emmalin how to drive stick. This is apparently something of a tradition for the women in their family. The tradition actually calls for the mother to teach the daughter. Claudia Joy taught Amanda but right now she’s not up for teaching Emmalin. Emmalin doesn’t see the point in needing to know how to drive stick, plus she’s disappointed that her mom’s not teaching it to her. And to add to all of this, she has a newfound fear of military people seeing as her sister was essentially murdered by one of them. It doesn’t help that everywhere she looks there’s men in uniform. She ends up talking to Roland on the basketball court and he gives her some professional advice. In the end, Emmalin brings her friend Lauren to talk to Roland. Looks like he could be the post’s schoolyard psychologist.

Claudia Joy is still grieving over Amanda. She can’t bring herself to go into church and while she’s debating whether or not to just give up, she meets a kind old man who seems to know her. He tells her God’s outside as much as he is in the church. Later she spots the man while taking a nighttime stroll (for Claudia Joy, the stroll seemed like an excuse to avoid being intimate with Michael). The old man is once again very nice to her and tries to talk to her about her loss but she just tells him she wants to be alone.

Roxy’s son Finn wants to date Claudia Joy and Roxy asks her to go along with it. While on their little date, Finn tells Claudia Joy that his imaginary friend Harry is at the bar. When she looks at the bar she sees the old man and realizes that he’s part of her imagination as well. Or maybe he’s an angel. Who knows, this is a Lifetime show after all. When “Harry” turns up sitting in Claudia Joy’s living room, she finally opens up a bit. He essentially brings up what Pamela was trying to tell Claudia Joy last week about love. He talks about Amanda’s death, saying, “We all have our time, and it always comes. Until then, love is about the best thing going. And there seems to be a lot of that around here. You just have to let it in.” Claudia Joy gets it now. After this, she reconnects with Emmalin and teaches her how to drive stick. She also gets cuddly with Michael and in the end, the whole family goes back to church together.

As I said, not a whole lot happened tonight but all the same, it was good to see some of the characters dealing with their issues head on once again. The previews for next week’s episode look like things are going to take a turn for the worst for Trevor (and obviously for Roxy.)

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.