'Army Wives' Season 5, Episode 9 Recap

['Army Wives' - 'Countermeasures']

There was no way tonight's episode of 'Army Wives' was going to be a downer, right? How could it be, when the division was returning home from Afghanistan? The timing couldn't have been more perfect considering the fact that in real life, the U.S. military killed Osama Bin Laden just last weekend!

And yet, there was plenty of trouble among the tribe even as there was a general feeling of wellbeing with the troops back home. The way I saw it, Claudia Joy overreacted to Grant's kiss.

It was just a kiss, and it had been a highly emotional moment, but she insisted on confronting him and then, later, spilling the beans to Denise and then Michael.

Frankly, while Michael was grateful that Claudia Joy told him everything, his reaction was too John Wayne for me. It just seemed clichéd that he would threaten Grant over something that Claudia Joy had already handled. A more secure man might have trusted his wife to avoid any future "situations."

Roxy has successfully ruined her relationship with Trevor, although he's played a big part in it, too. But Roxy's idea that hot sex would make Trevor more accepting when she explained why Whit was living in a trailer outside the Hump Bar was naive at best.

If Pamela really wanted to help Roxy, her advice needed to be more than telling her to send Whit back to Alabama. Shady's objection made Whit's exit a no-go, but Roxy still vacillated, and it cost her. Yes, Pamela pressed Roxy to be honest with Trevor, but maybe she didn't push hard enough.

Still, while I sympathized with Trevor finding out the way he did, does he really believe that Roxy cheated on him? There's been miscommunication between the two, but Roxy's a fairly upfront woman when it comes to her emotions. I don't believe she would have been eager to have sex with her husband if she'd been unfaithful to him ... and Trevor should know that about her. Trevor's feelings for Roxy have changed -- could he have fallen out of love with her?

So, now that Whit's shuffled back to Tuscaloosa -- leaving the truck stop unfinished -- and Trevor's packing his bags (in the preview), Roxy has a major catastrophe on her hands. That one moment in the preview when he said he hasn't been happy for a long time was a shocker. The LeBlanc marriage may not be salvageable.

The Burtons were positively gooey about getting started with the private adoption of an infant. But, once Bobby seemed to be available, it looked like they would just become his foster parents. Nothing is ever that easy, and thus we learned about conflict of interests, etc. And it's too bad, because the boy was clearly a fan of Dr. Burton.

The bottom line is, that Joan and Roland want another child. The experience with Bobby opened their eyes to another way to expand their family. My concern is that this Joan that we're seeing is the sweet, domesticated Mrs. Burton. She's a doll to deal with, but she's not Col. Burton. Will Joan be able to balance home life with Army life if her family needs her?

It was nice to see progress on the Frank and Denise front. Yes, they were struggling with the fact that Jeremy would not be coming home, but Denise showed real grit by going to the ceremony. Her connecting with Jeremy's friends was therapeutic. And what was so nice was that, at first, she didn't know they were Jeremy's friends; she was just reaching out to soldiers who had nobody there waiting to greet them. Frank's reaction was also heartwarming. The scene was one of the high points of the episode.



Pamela's basically been out of the loop since her wedding to Chase. Her scenes were all with Roxy. I guess Chase and Pamela are in a honeymoon phase and we're not seeing much of their readjusting to married life. Not yet anyway. Of course, if Delta calls Chase back to active duty, then all bets are off.

'Army Wives' airs Sundays, 9PM ET on Lifetime.