bulldogenthusiast

For all the action junkies who love the fire fights or T1 Ops scenes, you are forgetting what this show is about. This series isn't merely an action yarn. SEAL Team is about the sacrifice and challenges that real warriors are experiencing everyday in the special forces community, and this show aims to shed light both on the professional and personal impact of carrying a soldier's burden.

My biggest critique of this series has always been the MacGuffin format--there seems to be a new enemy each week with no real serialized progression. The reason this episode is so important is that it finally answers the questions--why should we care about these characters? Who are they really, and how did they get here?

We've all enjoyed the episodes highlighting SEAL missions, but at the expense of learning what really makes each character tick. This is a tremendous look-back episode and critical in building the pathos that helps us identify with, or better appreciate, the characters we've grown to love over 4+ seasons. The casting and portrayals of a younger Sonny and Ray were terrific. I'd give this 10 stars, if only this episode could have been in an earlier season to help build the background stories sooner.