Simply when issues appear to be settling down for Group Bravo, “SEAL Group” delivered what needs to be its most stunning and heartbreaking episode ever. Trustworthy viewers are certain to be confused, devastated and possibly even offended at how the story unfolded in Season 6, Episode 8, which was launched on Paramount+ on Nov. 6, 2022.
Every part after this paragraph will likely be a spoiler for “SEAL Group.” If you wish to expertise the story’s full influence, click on away now to learn our earlier interview with “SEAL Group” Government Producer Spencer Hudnut and return after you have watched the present to seek out out what Hudnut needed to say concerning the stunning developments.
All of us knew that Clay Spenser’s storyline was going to be diminished going ahead, as a result of actor Max Thieriot is now starring within the hit CBS collection “Hearth Nation,” which appears to be like set for a future on the community. There isn’t any means Thieriot might keep lead roles in two collection without delay.
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Nonetheless, this episode of “SEAL Group” supplied hope for Clay, his spouse Stella (Alona Tal) and their son, Brian. Clay realized that he did not need to return to coaching Inexperienced Group and that one of the simplest ways he may very well be of service can be to assist different veterans in disaster. He asks Stella the place she’d reside if he was keen to go away Virginia Seashore and the couple discuss a brand new life in California.
That looks like a beneficiant and strong ending for Clay Spenser’s story. He’ll all the time have points, however he will get to start out a brand new life along with his household in a faraway location. We might not see him each week on “SEAL Group,” however we all know he is secure and constructing a brand new life along with his household.
Viewers did not get that storybook ending. Close to the top of the episode, Clay will get a cellphone name in the course of the evening from troubled veteran Ben, a man he is been attempting to assist work via his traumatic service experiences. Clay goes to fulfill him and finds Ben with a loaded gun exterior an Air Pressure Recruiting Heart.
There is a 99.9% probability that anybody who’s watching this episode has seen “American Sniper” and has begun to fret that Ben’s going to shoot Clay earlier than killing himself. That will have been a horrible ending, so there’s a terrific sense of aid when Ben provides Clay the gun. Perhaps Spec Ops Warrior 1st Class Spenser has a future in counseling.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a safety guard seems, sees the gun in Clay’s hand and fires. Clay drops to the sidewalk and begins bleeding out.
Let’s not faux that Clay goes to miraculously cheat demise yet another time. Hudnut confirmed that he is gone. “Yeah, it is fairly brutal. It is tremendous, tremendous upsetting for me; I’ve a very laborious time watching it,” Hudnut stated. “And I nonetheless type of catch myself now and again questioning it. That was such a merciless, such a brutal method to exit. However you realize, on the finish of the day, I really feel prefer it was what was greatest for the present shifting ahead.”
Looking back, going out alone in the course of the evening would possibly look like a nasty choice on Clay’s half, however Hudnut thinks it is what the character needed to do. “In my thoughts, it was Clay’s final spin up,” he stated. “These are guys who put themselves within the line of fireside for individuals they’ve by no means met earlier than. Clay bumped into the hearth for somebody he cared about, somebody he did not need to see go down the highway of his good pal, Brett Swann, who, sadly took his life in season two. So it was actually a heroic second.”
I had a powerful response to the best way the episode ended, and to be clear, Hudnut would not actually go together with my interpretation, however I will put it out right here anyway.
It was particularly merciless that Spenser was gunned down by a safety guard, a man with a gun who possible would’ve by no means made it previous the entrance door of the recruiting station the place Clay died. America is crawling with guys with badges who faux that they are operators however have zero concept of what it takes to really carry out on the degree required to be a spec ops warrior.
Spenser was killed by a man who did every thing improper when he was confronted with an actual scenario. The safety guard will proceed to think about himself as a “good man with a gun,” and Clay will nonetheless be useless.
After all, what comes subsequent is the actually scary half. How will Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz) react to Clay’s demise? Will he work out a method to think about that he is someway accountable? What about Sonny? He is invested a lot of his life in serving to his pal recuperate after Clay misplaced his leg in Mali. Will he have the instruments to manage? How will Ray take care of the truth that Clay was serving to a man he met whereas visiting Ray and Naima’s veteran middle? What’s going to Clay’s demise imply for the way forward for the undertaking?
Hudnut acknowledges that these questions are going to dominate the ultimate two episodes of this season. “There’s going to be collective survivor’s guilt,” he stated. “As we have seen previously, these guys are all in a means ready to lose one in all their teammates on the battlefield, however for this to occur after they suppose somebody’s residence secure with their household, it is only a completely different tablet to swallow for them. It may be harsh.
“On the flip aspect of that, they’ve a job to do. Whether or not or not they really feel like they will try this job is definitely a part of the story. We’ll have a look at how these guys compartmentalize as they’re attempting to maneuver ahead. Clearly, it may be a battle. How they put one foot in entrance of the opposite is basically what we study within the coming episodes.”
“SEAL Group” with out Clay will likely be a a lot completely different present. How Group Bravo offers along with his demise will make for some robust viewing the following couple of weeks, and the repercussions will observe the characters if the collection continues after this one.
RIP, Clay Spenser. You had been all the time a greater man than your dad, and it is tragic that you simply will not get an opportunity to be a greater father to your son than Ash Spenser was to you.
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