Going Dutch Recap S2E7: Major Shah’s 20-Year Milestone Sparks Retirement Doubts and Big Changes

Twenty Years of Military Service

Major Shah has completed twenty years in the U.S. Army. General Davidson congratulates him as the base celebrates his accomplishment. Major Shah tells all his friends and family how much his military career means to him. He is grateful for all the friends and family he’s made during those twenty years. Corporal Papadakis gives him a balloon because Major Shah loves the movie Up. He has eighty more in the van and promises to bring them in to test if they can get lift-off in a high-ceilinged room. Major Shah can’t wait. Sergeant Conway gives him a hard candy wreath with all his favorite candy flavors: brown, light brown, and beige. He loves that, and Captain Maggie’s gift fills him with joy. It is an inappropriately somber singing cactus.

Captain Celeste Shah stands quietly by, watching her husband gleefully enjoy all his friends’ goofy gifts.

Celeste didn’t bring him a gift and says she didn’t know it was a “thing.” Major Shah and Captain Maggie quickly say it’s not. Colonel Quinn comes over and contradicts them. He says it’s the biggest thing. It is the time Major Shah gets his lifetime healthcare, pension, and respect—and acknowledgment from moi. Colonel Quinn gives Major Shah a challenge coin with six different colors. Shah is humbled. He thanks them all and tells them he loves them and all their gifts.

Moved by the emotional moment, Celeste gives her husband the matcha drink she’d been sipping as her gift. Everyone stays quiet except, of course, Colonel Quinn. He says what no one else will. He puts Celeste on the spot and questions her gift choice. Major Shah thanks her and hesitantly asks if he has to drink it.

Retirement Possibility

General Davidson goes to see Colonel Quinn in his office before leaving. He came to antagonize him one last time.

Quinn is packing for a camping trip with Major Shah. The general says it’s great they are having one last hurrah before Major Shah retires. Shah is considering retirement and has met with a transition officer in Baumholder.

Colonel Quinn doesn’t believe the general. There’s a funny scene where Major Shah enters Quinn’s office to give him some paperwork, and Quinn tries to find out if Shah will still be there in 6–12 months without outright asking if he’s retiring. The information the general shared was privileged. Major Shah doesn’t know what the general and colonel are alluding to, so he chooses to leave and let them figure it out.

Colonel Quinn tells General Davidson he will convince Shah not to retire and become a lifer on their camping trip. The general says that will only convince Shah he should have retired five years ago. Colonel Quinn tells General Davidson that he needs a hobby, to which the general indicates antagonizing the colonel is his hobby.

Love Triangle

Captain Maggie and Sergeant Conway sit in the dining facility talking about Major Shah’s twenty-year service celebration. They both agree Celeste really messed up with her gift. Conway says she knows Maggie loved seeing that. Maggie says she didn’t, because she still has feelings for Major Shah. Celeste comes over to join them. She asks if Abe/Major Shah was upset that she didn’t do more for his twentieth celebration. She wants to run some gift ideas past them so they can tell her which ones are good. None of Celeste’s ideas are good. The hot-stone idea is way out there. She was going to gather some stones from their yard, heat them in their stove, and place them on Abe. YIKES! Sergeant Conway explains why that is such a bad idea. Celeste asks them to help her plan a dinner party with Shah’s friends as her gift to him. She says her marriage is on the line. Conway tries to get out of it, but Maggie agrees to help. She says they are going to save the Shahs’ marriage.

Nature Time

Colonel Quinn and Major Shah pack up the van and get ready to leave for their camping trip. Shah is confused when Quinn gets in on the passenger side when he was about to get in himself. He asks who’s driving, and the colonel says Corporal Papadakis is. It’s one of the perks of the twenty-year club. Papadakis will stay in the van during their trip.

They are about to drive off when General Davidson stops them. He tells the colonel he’s coming with them to make sure he doesn’t talk Major Shah out of retiring. He also brought two lifers, Merkle and Funt, who are coming too. They arrive at Colonel Quinn’s campsite in the Dutch countryside. Quinn begins his lifer campaign with Major Shah. He tells him how good it will be when he becomes a lifer. He says that’s when the body finally lets you reach peak physical condition.

They have fun throwing axes at a target in the woods and enjoying nature. Papadakis begins listening to an audiobook of the Bible in the van. It’s narrated by Hank Azaria, and he loves the start of it. At the biergarten, Captain Celeste and Maggie plan the celebration dinner party. They will have it at the authentic Indian restaurant in town where they serve food like his grandmother used to make. Shah really loves it. Celeste agrees to everything.

The general and colonel drink a bottle of alcohol in a sweat tent. General Davidson and Major Shah sweat rivers, but Colonel Quinn doesn’t perspire at all. Shah finds out they know about his appointment with the transition officer. He says he hasn’t decided anything. Celeste is the one leaving the Army, and she wanted him to meet with the transition officer and possibly retire too. He says that was a way to possibly save their marriage.

General Davidson and Colonel Quinn begin arguing again. Major Shah stops them. He just wanted some time in the woods. Instead, it turned out badly. Maggie becomes overly helpful to Celeste. Sergeant Conway sets her straight when she finds out Maggie volunteered to write Celeste’s speech for the dinner party. Conway leaves in frustration.

Major Shah goes walking in the dark while semi-drunk. He trips and falls over something. The next morning, Colonel Quinn and General Davidson are arguing again outside. They hear a sound and head toward it. It’s Major Shah. He sprained his ankle.

The colonel and general make a stretcher. Merkle, Funt, Quinn, and Davidson carry him to the van about five miles away. Colonel Quinn tries calling Papadakis in the van but gets no answer. Papadakis is still listening to the Bible audiobook.

Celebration Party and Let’s Call It Quits

They make it back to Stroopsdorf and hold Major Shah’s twentieth-anniversary celebration party. Shah tells the colonel he is thinking about leaving the Army. The colonel tells him to think about it carefully. Celeste gives her speech, and they toast Abe.

Later, Celeste tells Shah she didn’t plan the party or write the speech—Maggie did everything. They decide it’s too much work trying to save their marriage. Maggie receives a visit from Rick Silver, the CIA operative from her past. They had broken up, but Maggie Facebooked his mom and she contacted him. He arrives at Shah’s party to see Maggie.

Major Shah asks Sergeant Conway and Jan if they’ve seen Maggie. They point across the room. She’s having fun in Rick Silver’s arms. Twenty years of military service was a sobering moment for Major Shah. He was unsure whether to stay in the military and become a lifer or leave with his wife. This is something many people face in real life.

The camaraderie between Colonel Quinn and General Davidson was nice to see. Captain Maggie’s super-niceness and inability to say “no” went too far, and Sergeant Conway had to talk some sense into her. So Maggie finally gave up on Major Shah and decided to find someone—or something—to help her forget her feelings for him. She did.

One question that wasn’t answered: did Major Shah and Celeste actually decide to break up?

The episode hit some good points and had some good laughs.

I give this episode 4.7 Stars out of 5.

What did you think?

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