Disclaimer: this may include spoilers
Pretty female leads, hunky men in uniform and lots of action, what’s not to like? For many people this is a perfect trio. For others, it is a missed opportunity.
Our girl is about a female medic in the army who goes on a lot of tours with her unit (too many to be realistic). In the first season, 18-year-old Molly Dawes steals the screen by keeping her schoolgirl attitude, by talking back to her Corporal in basic training. Once she passes out of basic training she’s soon off to Afghanistan and put with 2-section which is led by love interest, Captain James. Here she ends up in a love triangle with Captain James and one of the infantry soldiers she works with, Smurf, who she knew from a previous encounter. Molly doesn’t follow orders and does her own thing either out of fear, being too kind or love (or just stupidity). She puts the section in danger more times than you can count, but at the end she saves the day, kills the bad guy and patches up Captain James just in time for their wedding all whilst staying friends with Smurf.
Flashforward to season two, we have a new medic, Georgie Lane. This starts off with her being left at the alter by her SAS officer fiancé Elvis Harte. It then cuts to her going on a tour where just like Molly Dawes, she doesn’t follow instructions, however, instead of saving the day, she has to be rescued (this happens on almost every tour she goes on just like Daphne from scooby doo). Every time she has been saved it has been by the SAS, which means her ex-fiancé had to get her out, which ends up being what they need to bring them back together as the tables turn and she actually ends up leaving her husband at the altar. She suffers PTSD after Elvis tragically dies whilst with her on ops. But that’s not a problem as she has plenty of other officers and soldiers falling at her feet. She carries on going on tours to dangerous places despite her PTSD and is in a lot of denial because of it, however, she does manage to power through.
The show itself is very good, its action pact and for the most part, very realistic, you would have needed to live a military life or know a lot about it to notice the mistakes they have made. Although some are easy to notice like a sergeant not taking orders from an officer. Although the show is great and is very intriguing to watch, they have just missed a massive opportunity to show women in a better way.
The fact the show is based around a female medic in the army is already a massive step forward to show that women can do important jobs in the army and that they are strong enough to do frontline roles. However, the fact they made both of the leading characters women who can’t follow orders and constantly need saving because of this just ends up fuelling another stereotype, and makes people think negatively about women in the army. In the series with Georgie Lane as the medic, she is always wearing make-up, even days into a hostage situation she looks flawless, which is not only impractical in real life, but it makes out women to be vain. She is the only woman in the section to wear make-up and Lane is in a higher position than her, this gives the impression that women need to look pretty to be powerful. Another thing in the programme that demotes women is the fact there is a constant love interest, even whilst people are being blown up, kidnapped and shot at. It just doesn’t sit right, it wouldn’t happen for starters and it makes women look empty headed, they can’t concentrate and do their jobs if there are some good-looking men around, even when it’s the man fawning over her.
The producers had a great idea creating an action programme with a leading female; however, they just didn’t pull it off. They could have done so much with this and made it into a real power inducing story, showing women in such a good light but they just didn’t do that. I would recommend the show, I would just tell you to watch it with an open mind.