Ok, so I’m giving this one mixed reviews.  And here’s why:

First things first….the team in action, or lack thereof.  We’ve lost something along the way.  The first episodes made us believe that we were going to have an action packed series, watching Tier One operators perform their missions.  Well, the past couple of episodes have left me wanting more.  Episode 6 showed the run up to the mission, but not the mission.  Episode 7 shows a lot of observing and a lot less doing (although they did a “quickie” at the very end).  There is SO much information in each episode that I really believe that this could be a two hour show for each episode.  Slow it down a bit writers and let us get a better picture of what’s truly happening.  I have to watch the episode 2-3 times to pick up on everything.

Having said that, there are many, many layers to each episode.  One BIG one is the intersection of Jason and Clay.  On that subject, we start the episode with the question from Ray about Clay…once he finishes Green Team, will Jason draft him into Bravo Team?  To answer that, we need to look at the bigger picture.

In ‘Borderlines,’ we watch Clay as he reaches the final phase of his green team candidacy training – the dreaded SERE training (Search, Evasion, Resistance and Escape), which is brutal.  While Clay is being tortured, drowned, and beaten he has hallucinations of his famous father Ash and his deceased buddy, Brian. Brian’s message to Clay is “some things you can’t fight, just give up and say goodbye.”  Also, “don’t fight what can’t be fought, it’s a waste of energy.”  Clay heeds that message and lets go of the struggle his father, Ash. Ash never did him any favors, and like Ash himself said,  “The Team is his true family.” 

At the same time, it appears as though Jason stops protecting Nate and shares Nate’s secret with Alana.  But has he truly let Nate go?  I guess we will find out.  At the end of ‘Borderlines’ Jason And the Team ‘liberate’ Clay and green team from their POW status.  Jason is there as Clay is being revived and holds his hand out to shake Clay’s hand.  Does this mean he’s considering drafting him into Bravo Team?  This, we shall also see.  Another quote from Jason in this episode is “everyone breaks.”  What is this quote foretelling and where does it fit in?

We also see Jason and Ray trying to hold things together with their families on the home front.  It is true…the hardest job in the military is being a military spouse.  We watch the guys in their comfort zone – together with the team, and in stark contrast – together at home with their families.  Ray seems to be in denial of what has been going on at home, while Jason has embraced his reality and is now doing his best to pick up the pieces and keep together what little he has left.  I do love what Ray does at the end as he “dives in” to the bills with his wife and says,”It’s okay, we are family and we are in this together.”  This is very telling that Ray does not want to go down the same path as Jason and his family.  He had asked Jason in the TOC about  how he handled things with the home finances and when he got home, he did the exact opposite.  Go Ray!

SEAL Team airs on Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS.

Critic Grade — B+

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