Cover for Action

***Cover for Action*** is the 8th episode of the fourth season of *SEAL Team* and the 72nd episode of the series overall.

## Summary

When Jason returns to Bravo, tensions rise as Ray outranks him on a mission to recover military drones in Syria. Also, Sonny receives surprising news from Texas.

## Recap

Jason was handling things the worst of anybody.

He was craving the same old Bravo but things were different after his brush with domestic bliss and normal life. Lt. Soto correctly noted that a Bravo built around Jason couldn't function adequately without Jason and that was a problem.

No wonder the two were clashing in every scene they were in together. This promises to continue to be a problem until the two reach some kind of détente. And Jason is the one who is going to have to evolve because it appeared that most of Bravo liked Soto's method of operating. They all went and got lives while Jason was finding himself again. Before I forget, let's say a couple of words about Thirty Mike, who went back to Charlie Team with Jason's return: good riddance.

He was loud and obnoxious and a poor substitute as Bravo One. But at least he was allowed to live. Jason's mistress Natalie left him and moved to a better position in San Diego because he wouldn't leave his true love, Bravo. Natalie helped to make Jason a more well-rounded human being but apparently, that wasn't what he was looking for. But, hey, Cerberus stayed. Then again, he's fairly low-maintenance and doesn't require much of a commitment from Jason. You can't blame Emma for staging an impromptu inspection visit. Jason obviously requires some guidance from a female to remain a civilized human. Emma was willing to transfer away from her dream school just to keep Jason from backsliding into old habits. Which would be training, training, and more training to fill up those too-quiet hours between missions. Anything to stop him from having to process disquieting thoughts.

Likely that's Ray's problem as well. He just couldn't handle the normalcy of time with his family and requested to start his assignment two weeks early. And the fact that he refused to talk with Jason about that change makes me think that he wasn't ready to go back into the field. This is problematic since Ray's new warrant officer position is apparently going to be thrusting him into situations that might summon memories of his captivity in Tunisia and Syria.

A couple of other Bravo Team members were also falling back on old habits outside of work.

Davis saw an opportunity to find a similar position with another team that would allow her and Sonny to attempt to have a romantic relationship but one that's out in the open this time. The concern that she expressed to Sonny was that it would be too girly to make a lateral move in the name of love. He managed to set her mind at ease over that by explaining that men are knuckled raggers who wouldn't give that a second thought, which is likely right. Being unable to compartmentalize, Sonny almost blew up Bravo's mission in Syria as well.

Clay's reunion with Stella appeared likely to fail as well. Her chronicling the insanity of Jason trying the same thing over and over, expecting a different result, made Clay question whether he and Stella would get things right the second time. The undercurrent was that Jason's story could be Clay's in another 20 years, now that he's knocked himself off the admiralty track.

One thing that being knocked back to Bravo Six has done for Clay is that he's speaking truth to everyone, consequences be damned. He tried to get Jason to see the wisdom of moves being made by first Soto, then Ray, even if that wasn't the way Bravo always did things. The Syrian mission itself was a real clash of titans, as Jason couldn't handle Ray being in charge this time out. There was a whole lot of "Don't you remember who I am?" coming out of Jason and it wasn't a pretty look on him.

Ray was right to point out that it was a more covert operation than those in which Bravo usually participates so it couldn't be all shock and awe. At least the friction seemed to dissipate for a time when they were under fire.

Ray made the right call not to let Davis inform Bravo that the drone buyer was the man who tortured him in Syria. With two missing drones, there was too much at stake to have Jason riding for vengeance. I'm curious to see if Mina is going to be the new Mandy and if she's going to be sacrificed in the next episode.

## Cast

* David Boreanaz as Jason Hayes
* Max Thieriot as Clay Spenser
* Neil Brown Jr. as Ray Perry
* AJ Buckley as Sonny Quinn
* Toni Trucks as Lisa Davis
* Jusitin Melnick as Brock Reynolds
* Tyler Grey as Trent Sawyer
* Scott Foxx as Full Metal
* Kerri Medders as Emma Hayes
* Shiva Negar as Mina Hassan
* Parisa Fakhri as Naima Perry
* Kaliayh Rhambo as Jameelah Perry
* Alona Tal as Stella Baxter
* Mike Wade as Wes Soto
* Rachel Boston as Hannah Oliver

**Others**
* Philip Shabaz as Yassine "Raqqa Jacques" Kassen
* Marcelo Tubert as Ibrahim