‘SEAL Team’: David Boreanaz Explains Jason’s ‘Tactical’ Gamble
When we think of SEAL Team, we think of action-packed episodes, character-driven plots, and both have had an impact on Bravo. That was seen at the end of Season 6, first with Jason (David Boreanaz) speaking out publicly about his TBI, then with other SEALs stepping up. And as a result, when Season 7 begins, Bravo is inactive. Instead, the team members are basically doing the last thing they want to do (which leads to hijinks), although Jason gets to spend time with his kids and Ray (Neil Brown Jr.) gets to see what life will be like when he retires in eight weeks.
And when he does retire, Ray will be able to focus on helping people the military doesn’t; nothing is being done on the TBI or PTS front. Jason then calls DEVGRU’s new commanding officer, Captain Walch (Dylan Walsh), about it, and Walch says that Blackburn (Judd Lormand) had a proposal for warrior brain health waiting on his desk when he started a month ago, but Jason’s “public outburst” didn’t win any of his hearts or minds. But Jason doesn’t want his teammates to suffer for his actions; they’ve been robbed of something they love. But consequences are important. And so Jason offers his trident if Bravo is sent back to the field.
And so, when Bravo is brought in for questioning, Jason asks Blackburn if Walch will accept his deal. Blackburn doesn’t answer, and it’s unclear by the end of the second episode whether that deal actually goes through.
“It’s a gamble, right?” Boreanaz told TV Insider of Jason’s offer. “It’s a deal breaker. It’s a tactical negotiation move. It’s a business move in a lot of ways. It’s tactical. That’s what I like about the new character coming into the fight. This season is like that. I think it’s a give and take. Jason sees this [captain] of the company, like, ‘Oh, here’s an opportunity that you can do and help people and you take this deal? And you’re not doing what you said you were going to do, so what do I have to do to really shake that cage? I’m willing to do this. I’m putting it on the line.'” As he points out, Blackburn “knows Jason so well” but he has to “be Switzerland here” and “manage these two guys.” Boreanaz even brings up the Summer Olympics as a comparison. “I don’t know if you’ve seen Snoop Dogg do live badminton highlights. It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. It would be Jason Hayes and this other guy [playing] badminton, [going back and forth]. I want this. I want that. Yeah, take that, take this, take that, take this, take that. And you see that come back, all that personality. So that’s what it’s all about.”
Bravo is sent to Sweden to spend a month working with the officers there, and they’re joined by Drew Franklin (Beau Knapp), who has a reputation; he allegedly cheated in a sniper competition and paid his superiors to keep him, and his father is a senator. Though the team is supposed to be confined to the Swedish base, they sneak out—and end up in the middle of a major situation at a shopping mall after a bomb goes off. The SEALs are the ones tending to the wounded and going inside to stop the shooters. While doing so, Drew saves Jason after a hand-to-hand fight for his life; Bravo 1’s hands are bloody and shaking. (The second episode is a pretty intense 20 minutes.) But on the way home, Jason learns that the commander isn’t happy about them risking their presence by running into a fire, so it looks like he’ll have to return to shore duty. He admits to Ray that the guy killed him before Drew intervened, but Ray was sure he could get through it like he had before. Jason, however, seemed less certain. Later, when he got home, he woke up from a nightmare but told Mandy (Jessica Paré) that he was fine.
But at the end of the second episode, he admitted to Mandy that he had gotten too comfortable on the sidelines and apologized for lying and putting up his walls again. But this conversation proves he’s not that guy anymore, she points out. With all the work he’s put into himself, the TBI treatments, focusing on her and the kids, he’s found a balance and he likes it, but he worries that jumping back into the fire will undo the progress he’s made. She doesn’t think that with all the work he’s done, the pendulum will just swing back. But is she right?
