SEAL Team proves the brotherhood is a family in the most heartbreaking episode

SEAL Team writers blew fans away with the most heartbreaking episode of the series to date. The Worst of Conditions made it extremely clear the brotherhood is a family and SEALs will always be there for each other.

We knew SEAL Team Season 2, Episode 3 was going to be an emotional episode. The trailer made that point, showing that Alana wasn’t going to survive her accident. What I didn’t really expect was the pure heartbreak and raw emotion to come through in “The Worst of Conditions.”

The SEAL Team writers blew fans away. Those live tweeting made their thoughts clear throughout, consistently praising the writers and David Boreanaz for every scene in the episode. This wasn’t just about a man losing his wife, which is sad enough on its own. This was about a SEAL losing his soulmate; the one who’d kept him together and the one he never expected to lose in a million years.

SEALs spend their whole working life knowing they or their brothers may not come back from a war or a mission. All soldiers are prepared for one of their own to die on a battlefield–and spouses will always worry, regardless of how dangerous the missions initially sounds. What soldiers don’t expect is to lose a family member back home.

But the writers didn’t just bring the raw emotion from Jason’s viewpoint. We didn’t just see Boreanaz slay it in every scene and every moment. This was about the whole cast, showing that the brotherhood is a family. SEALs stick together.

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At one point, Alona Tal’s Stella mentioned how civilians wouldn’t know how to cope. She witnessed spouses and other SEALs step in when needed. Ray’s wife quickly rallied the spouses to help out in various parts of everyday life. Others stepped up to help with the laundry, with the dishes, and simply with just being there for Emma, Mikey, and Jason. Even Stella, who hasn’t been in the family for that long, stepped up to ring around for casseroles and beer (not the micro-beer, Clay pointed out, bringing back memories of his first days on the team).

Then there was Ray. Once again, Neil Brown Jr. made it extremely clear that he cannot go anywhere. Despite everything that he and Jason are going through personally, he was the first one by Jason’s side at the hospital. Whether the SEAL Team writers knew what that would mean to use as fans or not isn’t clear, but they did the best thing possible.

This is where family comes up again. Two brothers may have their differences of opinions but the minute one of them loses a spouse, good brothers will always be at each other’s side. They’ll put their differences, their problems, aside and will be there for one another, just as Ray did for Jason in those opening moments of the episode.

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And we can’t forget Sonny, who clearly took Alana’s death hard. Why do I get the feeling that Jason and Alana was the couple he looked up to and idolized? If he was ever going to settle down, Sonny would want someone like Alana in his life. But through his grief, he made sure Mikey was looked out for.

While everyone else spent time in the kitchen and dining room to look out for Jason and Emma and just help stay on top of life, Sonny was there for the younger child; the one we hadn’t seen up to this point in the episode.

During my interviews with both AJ Buckley and Judd Lormand, we’d discussed the family that SEALs become. This episode drove home that idea of family. I can’t praise the SEAL Team writers enough for their beautiful and raw episode. The heartbreak isn’t over yet considering the big decision Jason has to make moving forward.

What did you think of SEAL Team Season 2’s “The Worst of Conditions?” Did you see that idea of family from all around? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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