![Ann Heche star of 'The Brave' [image courtesy of Roy Cevallos wikimedia commons]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/11/21/660x290/b_502x220x82/ann-heche-star-of-the-brave-image-courtesy-of-roy-cevallos-wikimedia-commons_1699803.jpg "Ann Heche star of 'The Brave' [image courtesy of Roy Cevallos wikimedia commons]")
“The Brave,” which has been airing on NBC Monday nights since it first premiered in September, is one of the great contemporary military series that not a lot of people are watching, but should. It avoids the anti-Americanism of “Homeland” and the soap opera of “Seal Team.” The episodes have been great set piece depictions of special operations in which a force of commandos supported by a team of analysts back stateside help America with her problems, primarily by eliminating them.
What happened in the midseason finale? (Spoilers)
The midseason finale, “Desperate Times,” involved the team going to Tehran, the belly of the beast where Islamic terrorism is concerned, to kill a terrorist mastermind named Jarif, who is the architect of a bombing that killed a number of Americans.
Jaz Khan, one of the two Muslim members of the team, was supposed to take him out from a distance with a sniper rifle. The plan goes sideways when a child gets in the way.
Plan B has Jaz infiltrating Jarif’s inner circle and putting poison in his tea. However, this gambit fails when her cover is blown, so she is forced to go to Plan C which involves strangling the terrorist mastermind to death. Unfortunately, Jaz does not get out in time and falls into the hands of the Iranians. The actress who plays her suggests that she is in for a very rough time when the show returns in January.
We’re good, they’re bad.
“The Brave” has a somewhat outside the box approach to the long war on terror, insofar as Hollywood is concerned.
The Americans and their allies are depicted as the good guys. The terrorists are the bad guys. Not one of our intrepid heroes has psychological problems, such as the character in “Homeland.” None of the terrorists or other enemies that the team goes up against are depicted as having any kind of valid point, brought on by America’s past sins.
They want to kill us and otherwise do us harm. Our heroes are there to stop them. There is no handwringing about Islamophobia.
The operations depicted on, “The Brave,” have a look of realism about them, which is the result of having a retired Navy SEAL as a technical advisor. The show depicts how such operations come together, how they can sometimes go bad, and how our heroes improvise to complete the mission anyway.
It looks, however, like the show is going to have a short first season, with about 13 episodes instead of the usual 22, unless a decision is reversed. The prospect of a second season is in some doubt. If “The Brave” gets canceled it will be another example of a great show that died before it could find an audience.
