CALL ME IN THE MOURNING

Here we are in the penultimate episode of this limited series and I am already getting separation anxiety. I really have emotionally connected to the show and the characters and would be sad to see them go. This week, we get a tragedy, and to be honest, I wasn’t totally surprised. I kind of had an idea this would happen, and of course saw the previous of a soldier dying so in my head I put two and two together. And I knew Richard would not take it well, and would blame Sarah. But we also see how everyone else reacted to the tragedy – how the guilt manifested to Jenny in  totally different way, how it solidified Danny’s ‘faith,’ how it brought together the young kids (minus Danny) to visit the house where they last partied.

And of course, how it affected Fraser. We could see him walking around the base aimlessly, ending up at the movie theater (That scene where he looks for Jonathan is reminiscent of Elio looking for Oliver as Sufjan Stevens ‘Futile Devices’ play) For me, it totally makes sense that he ends up at the movie theater because that’s where he saw Jonathan – he is larking back to a happy memory because he is so sad. And when he ends up at Jonathan’s apartment with Martha, all the emotions explode – his shock seeing Marta there, the curiousness when he goes in, the passion, the heady promise of something intimate when he gets in. I know this is a weird scene, but it is also alluring – we never really know where the scene would eventually end up. And when we see him running from it, we ask: is it because he realized that what he feels for Jonathan will be unrequited? Is it because he realizes he is too young for what was about to happen (he is fourteen years old, after all) or did he get scared about going all the way, whatever that way is. It makes total sense he reaches for Jim Beam when he finally got home – the confusion of it all will make anyone want to escape. What an exhilarating scene, I was speechless and out of breath. It was so real, and so true, and we have all been there, whether we care to admit or not.

And by the end of the episode, we are at a crossroad – will Sarah use her friend from Yale to have Richard and Jenny (and Caitlin) stationed somewhere else. It seems like Sarah knew all along about Jenny’s affair. How would this affect Fraser and Caitlin’s friendship?