SEAL TEAM Post-Mortem: Spencer Hudnut on Ray’s Gamble, Jason’s Season-Long Arc, and Clay’s Big News

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Sunday, October 17 episode of SEAL TEAM.]

After keeping his PTS from his teammates, Ray (Neil Brown Jr.) opened up about how his kidnapping and subsequent trauma had changed him on the Sunday, October 17 episode of SEAL TEAM.

“There’s an element of risk to it, because if word gets out about what Ray did in terms of freezing up on the battlefield, if word gets out that Ray is suffering from PTS, there is the possibility that he could be removed from operating,” SEAL TEAM boss Spencer Hudnut says. “Which is obviously not what he wants to happen. And so he [was] really weighing is honesty worth the potential risk down the road? And he ultimately realizes that being truthful to his teammates is the most important thing.”

“If anyone has a problem operating with him, then it’s within their right to say something,” he continues. “And so he realizes that Bravo Team operates best when everyone’s on the same page and everyone has faith in one another.”

Ray isn’t the only member to keep an eye on: With Bravo’s leader Jason (David Boreanaz) suffering from headaches and memory loss, there’s the very real question of what is going on with him.

“This season, and this year, marks the 20th anniversary of the war on terror,” Hudnut notes. “Jason Hayes has fought and been in it from the beginning. Throughout the series—but even at the end of season 4, with the headache in the bar—we planted the seeds that all that combat and all that trauma is going to catch up at some point.”

Unfortunately for Jason, this comes at the worst possible time. “What’s really heartbreaking for Jason is that he’s continued to evolve as a person and as a leader,” Hudnut says. “He says in the first episode that he really has a chance of having a balanced life that he struggled with before between [leading] the Bravo Team and having a personal life [he was engaged in]. He’s making such great progress. But the question is, will his body and his mind allow him to get there?”

And this will continue throughout the season. “It’s going to be something that he starts to confront,” Hudnut teases. “But those around him are also going to realize that they may need to confront him at some point, too. He’s going to be on a collision course with someone because of what’s going on with his head.”

Complicating matters is the fact that “all the combat and all the traumas, it’s also something that’s very hard to diagnose,” he continues. “It’s never really going to be certain what’s going on with him, but concern will be there.”

But it’s not all doom and gloom: Stella (Alona Tal) and Clay (Max Thieriot) are going to have a baby!

“Clay through season 4, we really got to see him pursuing this lane of whether it’s fair or not to bring Stella into this life; he ultimately made that decision,” Hudnut says. “But he has this goal of where he thinks he can be Jason Hayes, the operator, and Ray Perry, the family man. And I think it’s really an arrogant goal, which is in line with Clay—it’s a very ambitious goal.”

“It’s one that he’s going to really struggle with, given the increased responsibilities he has both on the home front and within Bravo Team,” he continues. “So, he’s just going to try to be the leader on both fronts, and it’s really going to spread him thin at times, and strains both his relationships within the team, and also at home. Clay’s got a very full plate this season.”

SEAL TEAM, Sundays, 10/9c, CBS

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