It was rather surprising that the Claudia Joy Foundation for the new park in her name was unable to reach its financial goal, but that's what we learned in "Jackpot."

The ace in the hole? Holly as a math whiz could take them all to a casino and win the remainder of their money playing blackjack.

Except she was winning too much for the tiny casino and the pit boss moved her to a table with higher stakes. What that meant was Holly was drinking (underage - why didn't they bring that up? She was, essentially, robbed illegally of her money via that booze) and the girls had to let it ride on craps. 

The best part of the casino storyline was seeing everyone all dolled up. Catherine Bell (Denise) may be one of the "senior" ladies on the cast in her mid 40s, but when they were all walking in and she was in that red dress, she blew the rest of the cast out of the water. Coming in second were Maggie's shoes. 

I knew there would be an Achilles heel for Kat Young, and now we know what it is: Family. She's brusque and all business, but she loves her daughter and lost her husband in 9/11. Dammit! Now I don't hate her.

Not only did she quite easily accept her daughter's decision to abscond from the Air Force to fly Apache helicopters in the Army, she also apologized to Michael and suggested they start fresh. Foiled again! At least we weren't forced to suffer through a multitude of episodes of her being a complete HellKat before she became understandable.

Perhaps the decision to ease up on her so quickly had something to do with the giant restructure of the cast. There are just so many new cast members that even one who is too over the top could upset the apple cart. Plus, Michael needs that new start. Is there anyone out there who disagrees that's going to happen?

That caught breath over the warbler found on the land they no longer had to purchase said it all. There's romance on the horizon. Michael Holden and Kat Young are on the way.

The Pat/Gloria/Hector triangle is still up in the air, even though it seemed to be over mid-way through. Eddie had talked Pat into giving up Gloria for the morale of the squad, but when a mortar shell hit, something changed in Hector. By the end of the show he had ripped up Gloria's photograph. 

I feel like I missed something, but maybe it was just the close call that made him realize holding onto something that was no longer there and keeping Gloria from having something she wanted was wrong. It was too easily resolved for that to be the end of the discussion.

Finally, I'm still really enjoying the differences in the way Pat and Eddie think on combat. This line, in particular, stuck out:

Eddie: Due respect, Sir, mission first, men always. | permalink

Pat wants to show his men he's there for him, but he's been taught all his life that it's all about the mission and the rules. To break away from that will take some hard hits, but the more mortar attacks they fall under, the quicker he'll come around to Eddie's way of thinking. Taking orders sounds great, until strictly doing so causes you to lose men. Hell, I felt badly Truman lost his chickens.

Don't be hating on me, but I don't miss Pamela, Roxy or Roland at all right now. Or Claudia Joy. The characters are really working for me and feel very natural in their places in the story. They aren't replacements, but they fit. What are your thoughts?

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.