#SEAL Team Season 5 Episode 4 Review: Need To Know

Well, that’s one way to annoy the fans who won’t be following SEAL Team to Paramount+.

SEAL Team Season 5 Episode 4 started slowly, but a surprise mission set the stage for deadly encounters and a genuinely bonkers cliffhanger.

We’ll start with the cliffhanger because I thought Jason’s mind was playing tricks on him.

Mandy being captured is deeply personal for the team because it raises many questions about how long she’s been in Africa, and more importantly, how she got captured.

The show is no stranger to wild twists, but on an already stuffed installment, it felt like it was only thrown in there to get people excited for SEAL Team Season 5 Episode 5, which they may never be able to watch.

The decision to move SEAL Team to Paramount+ was said to be an inventory issue at CBS, which had too many shows on deck.

The revelation about Mandy had to be corroborated by someone else for me to believe it. There’s no way Clay would have believed it coming from Jason’s mouth alone, so at least Ray was on hand to confirm what could have been a figment of Jason’s imagination.

If you watch SEAL Team online, you know Jason has been in a lot of trouble because of his memory issues, and the last thing he should be doing is heading back out into the field.

I must sound like a broken record, but he’s really starting to infuriate me. He’s acknowledged there is an issue with his memory and is now taking supplements to try to help things.

For someone like Jason, it’s tough to admit he needs help. He’s managed to keep his life intact throughout his career, but when the truth inevitably comes out, he might not be trusted to return to his job.

There is also the Ray of it all to consider. How can we expect this team to flourish and look out for one another if they’re hiding so much from each other?

Ray’s PTSD has been a very good storyline because it is highlighting sensitive topics we don’t usually see represented on the small screen.

But now that we know the team has been compromised in Africa and that two of them are not performing as well as they could be, well, it leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

Jason is so fiercely protective of Bravo Team that he couldn’t even tell the truth about Ray when he was confronted. This is such a big red flag, and if it comes out, the team as we know it will be over.

People have clearly been talking about Ray if it got back to the team’s superiors, meaning that it may not be long before people are talking about Jason.

Emma trying to get through to her father to get permission to live with Brad, came out of the left-field, but I was loving Jason putting Brad through his paces.

You would think that after 18 months of dating, Jason would be able to get on board with the relationship, but it seems he doesn’t want Emma to be in a relationship with someone who is in the line of fire for work.

Jason knows fine well what he had to give up to be a member of the Bravo team, and the effect it had on his personal life. He may not want that for Emma, but she can choose Brad if she wants at the end of the day. She’s an adult.

Clay bumping into his father shouldn’t have been a surprise after the emphasis on their fraught relationship on SEAL Team Season 5 Episode 3.

There is so much bad blood between these two that the only way was down for their conversation. The shocker that Ash has cancer came out of nowhere.

Even though Clay will never be able to have a meaningful connection with his father, you could see that he was worried about him.

Will they be able to put the past aside to carve out a bond? I’m not so sure, but stranger things have happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do find a way forward, but time will tell.

Maybe Clay helping Ash will prove to be a therapeutic process that will give him the clarity and the answers he’s needed about his father for much of his life.

“Need to Know” was a robust installment. It had action and character progression. I’m curious to see what the show will be like on Paramount+ and whether there will be many changes.

The show works in its current form, so hopefully, nothing significant will change. I was a bit worried something bad would happen to Jason to change the direction of things.

What did you think of the CBS finale? Do you think the team will be able to locate Mandy?

Are you surprised Jason still hasn’t told his superiors about his memory loss?

What do you think will happen with Clay and his father?

Hit the comments.

Seal Team Season 5 Episode 5 drops on Paramount+ Monday, November 1.

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.