Whiskey Cavalier Deserves A Lot More Than What It Got

In your lifetime, there are many shows you will love and be entertained with. FRIENDS, 30 Rock, Doctor Who are for me to name a few. Sometimes, you get invested in those shows that you want to be in them and want to protect and envelop them in a bubble because you relate to the characters or because they make you happy every week. I had three, let's just say, that I literally got emotionally attached to, shows where you will cry over every small thing that happens to the characters. These three are Parks and Recreation, Castle, and most recently, and was a surprise, Whiskey Cavalier.

Whiskey Cavalier means so much to me. After Parks and Recreation and Castle, there isn’t any show that gives me something to look forward to or something I can rewatch over and over. Nothing that makes me happy, ecstatic, and leaves me with a smile on my face after watching, letting me forget any stress and problem. Nothing where in one viewing of an episode, the story will stick. Nothing where if there is a cliffhanger will make you think of what will happen the next time.

In a way, I was there with Whiskey Cavalier from the start so the twice-over cancellation really was really hard. I say "in a way" because I was busy with work and ballet recital rehearsals the time they premiered that the "Pilot" sat saved in my laptop for weeks...until a good friend told me that I need to watch it.

Here is a show with so much potential but isn't given a chance to exhibit that potential. It's like a dancer not given a chance to fully expand what he can do because he had met an injury he fully recovered from. Whiskey Cavalier has it all: drama, mystery, murders, action, comedy, romance, exotic locations notwithstanding. The body count in the first three episodes would probably rival that of Game of Thrones in five episodes (of course not but you get my point). There hasn't been a show in recent years that had themes like this show. And Whiskey Cavalier also has the most diverse cast - both main and guest - on TV that does not scream representation. It's not one is Hispanic/Latina  or one is African-American because they needed to be. The show never saw colour or race; they worked as a team, as one family - equals.

Team Whiskey

It's baffling that the reason they gave is declining ratings, which is a given with EACH AND EVERY show, when it actually gains more than 100% in viewership and target demographics on the Live+7 results, especially today when streaming is more popular than watching live. This show has the potential 30 Rock* had before. And honestly, the story, the characters actually developed in five episodes then "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" comes along and creates a shakeup that they overcome. I’m really confused at this explanation especially now, four months later, that they are still defending the decision when asked. And that's saying something because why do entertainment blogs still ask. It means that the show, given its mostly positive reviews, made a mark and not because of the twice-over cancellation. Something else, something different, something that has people remember television of yore.

THE MOMENT I KNEW...BECAUSE FRANKIE

I knew that the moment Frankie Trowbridge, code name Fiery Tribune and played by Lauren Cohan, entered that bar I want her to be my best friend. That's the same feeling I had when I first watched “Flowers For Your Grave”, the pilot of Castle - when Kate Beckett walked into that crime scene and then the interrogation with Castle, I'd love her. And one thing that Castle has taught its fans is that the stories in each episode, whether from the current season or the previous, are connected. It soon became like that with Whiskey Cavalier.

Badass Frankie, which reminds me of Lauren's other badass character, Alice Kerr

This is one of the great reviews that the show received. From Spoiler TV’s review of the 12th episode, "Two Of A Kind".

"Frankie’s journey has been one of the brightest arcs on network TV this year."

Coming from the Castle fandom, if I compare her to Beckett, the latter took a while to really open up for the same kind of fear - losing a loved one. It took four years and some prodding early on (as some sort of background for Nikki Heat). As Esposito said, she is not a sharer. But for Frankie, all she needed is someone who will balance her out and that is Will and she learned to accept that fact in just a few episodes. As Will said, she got a pulse and a heart and the capacity to feel. She only has the team to rely on and basically no one else. She is an orphan.

"Not even when she was shot has Frankie ever looked that scared, or that relieved, or shown that much emotion in general."

Actually, I think she was scared or she wouldn't have said that it was okay for her to bleed out instead of Will using that kitchen knife to take out the bullet and the shirt piece. She was already panicking and Will knew that that he quipped she should really learn how trust. That's why she agreed, telling Will to give her a cute scar.

There is something in that scene about Frankie's vulnerability, and the way she was holding on to Will’s arm, in that situation I can't pinpoint that I had to rewatch it over and over. She also panicked when Will was kidnapped by the organ harvesters and tried solving how to get him back alive alone. It's not because she's used to being alone. Frankie panics whenever someone, in most circumstances Will, gets hurt or will get hurt on the job.

I know that there is possibly no chance to know what Frankie's background is but I want to know if is there a memory triggered when she looked at the vinyl collection of the people who owned the Spanish villa that she and Will crashed for the night in "Spain, Trains, and Automobiles". I hope it's a good and happy memory that is more or less connected to their situation at the moment. Or why she said it was fine for her to die on that kitchen table so that Will wouldn't use a kitchen knife to operate on her.

Drinking buddies (Spain, Trains, and Automobiles)

AND THEN THERE’S WILL

"Still got it! Mic drop." (The Czech List)

Balancing the character of Frankie is the titular character, Whiskey Cavalier, real name Will Chase and played by Scott Foley. Like what was described in print promos, he is an emotional type of male which is not your typical male protagonist. In a way, he is the anti-male hero. He is in touch with his emotions unlike any male character that I’ve watched recently. He cries, calls his friends, and just lets it all out. Being emotional is his superpower.

What I love about Will is that he is mostly unfazed at Frankie’s unemotional behaviour towards him. Yes, he tries to connect with her because she is emotionally challenged and he likes changing them because it’s fun (which is the ONLY part I didn’t like in his characterisation because there is literally nothing to fix. It is Frankie’s prerogative aka choice to be who she wants to be. Good thing he never actually did and let Frankie open up on her own.). But he soon finds out that Frankie does care for people and has a feeling that even if she says she doesn’t do emotional attachments, she soon becomes emotionally attached to him especially after she kisses him whilst pretending to be a married couple (“Mrs & Mr Trowbridge”) leading her to have sex with someone because she can’t accept that feeling. It hurt Will and that’s when he told her she has the capacity to feel. That’s when things turned around and Will let go of whatever he’s feeling for Frankie. But not for long. And not just because they are a team, or family. He knows that there is something in her that makes up who she really is. And he never actually pressured her into telling him. Another one of the qualities that I love about Will Chase.

THE TEAM....THE FAMILY

W: As of today, we are all officially working together. F: As a team. Both: Led by me. (Pilot)

It’s not just Will and Frankie that make up the whole Whiskey Cavalier. There’s also the team, who call themselves family and they do treat each other as if they are related to one another. There’s Susan Sampson (Ana Ortiz), the top FBI profiler who is also Will’s best friend and confidante. Jai Dutta (Vir Das), who is Frankie’s right-hand man, so to speak, and a weapons and spy technology expert. Edgar Standish (Tyler James Williams), a NSA super hacker and considered by the fans as Whiskey and Fiery’s son because they are mostly assigned on missions with him, just like when they all first met. Of course, Ray Prince (Josh Hopkins), who everyone hates because of what he did to Will, considering they are best friends - he dated Gigi for seven months whilst she was engaged to Will. Quirky as they are, this group is great at what they do and they do not tell each other that one is different or that they are needed just because s/he is of that colour or race. There is nothing of the sort in Whiskey Cavalier. They are just...family.

THANK YOU, WHISKEY CAVALIER

It is such a great show with great reviews and positive feedback. And now, it’s final. They’re finished and my heart is crying. But we made a good fight. I’m still holding on to a little hope that we do get the closure we want, a movie perhaps to close everything out. It’s just heartbreaking and I really want to cry. This is just... 😭 I dunno. Just when you find something that you really want and come to love and get invested and emotionally attached to it, they rip it away from you. I guess this is different from Parks and Rec and Castle because this was just starting and taken away suddenly.

This show means so much to me (and to the other fans). After Parks and Recreation and Castle, there isn’t any show that gives me something to look forward to or something I can rewatch over and over. Nothing that makes me happy, ecstatic. Nothing where in one viewing of an episode, the story will stick. It means getting emotionally attached to the show AND the characters because you can relate to them. For Parks, it was the friendship and the determination of Leslie Knope who never stops at anything to get her ambitions but still values her friends and family (who I now realise is the opposite of Veep’s Selina Meyers). For Castle, it was the love story of Castle and Beckett, how they are similar yet still different, the respect they have for one another and forgiving whatever mistakes they do,  and that makes them a pretty good team. For Whiskey Cavalier, how someone can change and grow - Frankie - by finding the right partner to balance it all out - Will - who, in the process will also grow.

Thank you, Whiskey Cavalier. You made me happy (and every other fan) every week, even for a short time. Thank you for making me look forward to another episode even though I’d just finished the last one. Thank you for making me smile when I watch it that all problems and stress just go out the window. Thank you for introducing me to Lauren Cohan! :) Friskeyheads will never forget this wonderful series that brought together a global family. And we will remain to be a global family. We fought a good fight.

*I mentioned 30 Rock because during its first two seasons, its ratings were very low. A lucky circumstance called Sarah Palin upped the ante and the ratings, come Season 3 and continued on until its ending. It went out with a funny bang and what was in everyone's minds all along ("Hogcock/Last Lunch"), that Kenneth Ellen Parcell is indeed immortal, in Season 7.