SEAL Team's Final Season Premiere: Some Hits and Some Misses

Let me begin this critique by stating that I am a huge fan of SEAL Team and think it was one of the best drama shows on TV during its first 6 seasons. The acting and writing have always been top notch and far better than most network drama shows. I hope season 7 continues its outstanding legacy, and the premiere was a good start—not perfect, but good. The acting by the main cast and the recurring characters, as always, was excellent. In this instance only the writing had a few detours that made the ride a little less smooth than in past seasons (but the action sequences were pretty much flawless, and it was great to see Pepper in action).

[Be warned:  There are definite spoilers ahead, so if readers haven't watched both episodes, they might want to watch those before reading.]

To be honest, season 6 would have been a great final season, and the final episode of that season put the writers in something of a tough spot: in season 7 the writers had to address the serious consequences Jason faced after he revealed he suffered from TBI at his public medal ceremony and somehow get him out of whatever punishment he'd been given. As viewers find out in this episode, all Bravo members—not just Jason—received punishment. So now the writers had to create believable punishments and get all Bravo team members out of their punishments in a way that would, at least, seem more reasonable than not. They were more successful in getting the guys out of their punishments than they were with some of the punishments, but they had to address both before there could be any substantial action sequence. And viewers have come to expect action sequences second to none, along with the quieter dramatic scenes, and all-in-all, the writers delivered in these episodes. 

The episode began quietly enough. We saw or heard about the various forms of punishment that had been handed out to the members of Bravo—and some of the punishments meted out make command look like it's made up of a bunch of juveniles. I mean, having Tier 1 operators scooping dog poop? And would SEALs be as squeamish about it as much as Sonny,  whose family owns a ranch with cattle, seems to be (dog poop ain't got nothing on cow pies). Angry, yes; squeamish, no. But more than that what an absolute waste of professional resources when their punishment could have been mundane, boring duties that would, at least, have put some of the skills the U.S. government has spent millions developing to better use, especially when one of those scooping poop is fluent in languages other than English. The punishments seemed unnecessarily extreme in their childishness, but maybe DEVGRU command is that juvenile when embarrassed by one of their own.

It was nice to see the guys—Jason, Ray, and Sonny—with their personal families. Jason spending time in California with Emma  and her fiance (who's going through BUD/S) and his son, Mikey, was relaxed and at ease, much of his new demeanor the result of the work he's done on his TBI and his relationship with Mandy which, as we learn in the conversation, he's still in. (The kids and significant others in this show have always played an important role because they help ground the characters and separate their work life, chaos, and trauma from their "civilian" life with its more normal, relatable pace and responsibilities even though it isn't without its own challenges as we saw with Alana's death, Ray's troubled finances, and the premature birth of Clay and Stella's baby.) Spenser House has proved a success, and we see Ray practicing a presentation for additional funding and donations to expand the facility in front of an audience of Naima and his kids. We see Sonny return to Stella and Clay's apartment after an outing with Brian and Leanne where he runs into Lisa, who's visiting Stella after returning from Tampa and SOCOM.

Later, there's a scene in the Bulkhead—What SEAL Team episode didn't have a scene in the Bulkhead?—and most of the Bravo guys are together for a beer, joined by Lisa. (We see Clay's photo on the wall. It's nice that the writers didn't ignore his character even though he's no longer on the show.) Part of the conversation between the team guys is about command still ignoring the health of those doing the actual fighting. Jason takes issue with Blackburn over the punishment of his teammates for his actions, and it's after this that the Bravo team members are sent to Sweden to assist in training their special forces, and then the action begins, but not until we meet the new guy, Drew Franklin.

I'll be honest: I'm not a fan of Drew. First off, the character feels like a phony character, a collection of clichés: a loner, says he's not interested in "making friends" (but his actions contradict that), has a reputation as a guy who does questionable things, nobody really "knows" him even though he's been around for a while and must've been on a team once for at least a little while unless DEVGRU has Tier 1 operators that "float" between teams. Second, it seems weird to me that any of the guys on Bravo, after everything they've been through, especially during the past year or so—the op in Venezuela, Mali, Clay's injury, the op in Syria, Clay's death, Jason's revelation, their punishment—would give a flying fuck about this dude or anyone else. This would be especially true for Sonny who's pretty much always been slow to warm up to people and who just recently lost his best friend and battle boo. Besides, Bravo team is a badass legend, and Jason Hayes is one of the biggest legends in DEVGRU. They've paid their dues a hundred times over. (It also seems as though other operators would be, at least, silently, supportive of them because of Jason's willingness to sacrifice his career to tackle the health issue that affects them all head on. There's  competition between the teams, but there's always the recognition that they're in this together. Most of the operators who showed up in support of Jason in the season 6 finale weren't Bravo. That they're not showing any kind of support for Jason and his teammates makes the whole idea of "brotherhood" among SEALs seem not so much a thing anymore. It made me wonder if the SEALs in this DEVGRU would show up at Steve Porter's house.)  Anyway, Bravo wouldn't be interested or impressed by Drew. If anything, they'd more likely feel about Drew the way Jason feels about Beau of Charlie team: they have to work with him, but they don't have to like him. And since they're only going to Sweden to conduct training, why would there be this effort to make him feel like one of the team? That made no sense to me. Since when did Bravo team guys, especially Sonny, become all touchy feely towards strangers? And once they get to Sweden, Drew just becomes more unbelievable as do the reactions of Bravo. Drew knows "unconventional" methods (because, of course he does) and on his own teaches the Swedish guys for money. He then tells the Bravo guys he took a field trip off base, but since that's news to Bravo, it makes them look a little like dumb asses. I mean, neither Jason nor Ray know when one of the guys under Bravo's command has left the base? Seriously? And then, when they're all playing hooky from base, and when Drew decides to leave the group, Sonny is the one who cares about him leaving. Why would Sonny care if he left or not? That he would try to make friends with someone as standoffish and aloof as Drew is truly out of character for Sonny. It makes me think that the writers are trying, desperately, to make Drew a substitute for Clay by making Sonny trying so hard to bring him into the team. If that's the idea, that's a terrible move in my opinion. If all the other Bravo team members remain from season 6—and they all appeared in these two episodes—it would make more sense for Sonny to partner with Omar if he's gonna partner with anyone since Omar's been with the team longer and Drew's a "loner." (I seriously hope the writers aren't trying to make Drew Sonny's battle boo.)

So what things, besides Drew, didn't work for me in these episodes? Besides the mistake of getting Blackburn's rank wrong, there were a few things, some more problematic than others but nothing that can't be—and probably will be—fixed during the following episodes. 

The first meeting between Sonny and Lisa in Stella's apartment seemed very awkward, and it wasn't clear why. Yes, Lisa mentioned the investigation into Decker's assault, but Sonny said he'd already been questioned, which made it clear he hadn't implicated Lisa. Why would she be worried? Even if it's discovered that she'd had access to the unredacted files, the reason  she'd wanted them made sense given her position on that op, and telling a little white lie—that she'd not shared that information with anyone else—doesn't seem such a difficult thing to do, especially when she supported Sonny's actions earlier ("I'd say you stood up.") and even more so when, later, she's willing to keep quiet when the officer who gave her the redacted file asks her to. Would Lisa be more willing to protect a fellow cake-eater than Sonny? Not the Lisa from seasons 1-6. 

I can't see Sonny, Omar, Trent, and Brock pulling the stupid pranks with bumper stickers and dog poop on command members in retaliation for their punishment. These are serious men, not 8 year olds or Green Team guys, and no matter how angry they might be, I can't see them resorting to such inane, puerile behavior, especially if they want Bravo to be reinstated and return to operations.

Whatever happened to Lisa's white paper and her seat at that table? She seems to have completely dropped her concern for the health and welfare of the actual warfare fighters in pursuit of her own career goals, and it's not a good look. (I read another review that believed her effort to change how and what battles DEVGRU assets fight is her attempt to keep warfare fighters safe. Maybe that's true. but I didn't see that, and it doesn't address the need to care for the health issues these fighters already suffer with from their tours in combat.)

Blackburn's character has changed over the seasons. Where he once had Bravo's back (in season 1 he went to bat for them when they hunkered down in China and even lied to a general when they went to rescue Clay), now he's much more a "cake-eater," seemingly  concerned more with his own position and rank than in helping the men he once commanded. It's also not a good look and points out that command is only as good as the men & women in it. (It's hard to imagine Harrington ever not having his men's backs.)

There's a logic problem when the mall's attacked. Why didn't the Swedish soldiers Bravo's been training respond? The Swedish military has been used inside its homeland in response to terrorist attacks before, and the mall wouldn't have been very far from the base. Surely, it would make sense that the Swedish military would've sent some tactical units, especially when the alternative was to stand back and wait hours for police tactical teams while Swedish civilians were being attacked and killed. And if not tactical units, then medical units. And Swedish police carry firearms. Do they use those to "write tickets"?

How likely is it that Jason would take Drew, an unknown quantity, with him into the mall instead of Bravo 2? Not very. I know it's a way to develop some sort of relationship between the two characters, but it's not very believable given Jason's character: he trusts people he knows, he doesn't trust people he doesn't know. Having Drew "save" Jason was another cliché moment (and with a shot any guy on Bravo could've made). The idea that both Sonny and Brock would leave Jason without backup in the mall when Ray and Omar were already outside—along with the police and their vehicles—to intercept the BVID is NOT what teammates would do, and to have Drew—the non-teammate guy show them what it means to be a teammate—was really a cheap shot by the writers. There's no need to make Bravo look like dumb asses in order to make Drew look good.

The whole watch scene between Sonny and Drew was . . . just so unreal with Sonny still trying to be friends with Drew. And Drew giving him the watch? Boy, if nothing else pointed out that under all the rumors about him not being a teammate and his standoffish behavior, he's really just a misunderstood, lonely guy with a screwed up family life who needs a buddy and teammates, that did, and not in a subtle—or realistic—way. And looting the mall, the site of a terrorist attack where people were killed and wounded, to get the "Texas douche bag" a watch? Even as a joke, that was in bad taste and Sonny accepting the watch taken in such a way was unbelievable.

Not sure Jason wanting to get back into the fight is a realistic symptom of TBI. It seems more related to his temperament and personality and what he's been shaped by, his experiences, rather than a brain injury, but maybe it could be a symptom (I'm not a neurologist). 

This late in the game, in a season with only ten episodes, is any Drew family angst gonna be important? Not to me.

I was sorry we didn't see both Stella and Sonny at the courthouse for Ben's sentencing. That would have been a nice way to give Stella some emotional closure, but Sonny standing up for Ben because it's what Clay would want him to do, was the most emotional scene of the two episodes and rang true for both Sonny and Clay. I do wonder what happened to the scene below between Sonny and Stella. It appeared in the first trailer, but not in either episode. Did it end up on the cutting room floor?

Overall, it was a good premiere for the final season. I'll just have to see if this season measures up to the ones before it.