I sort of agree. I'm all for socially responsible storytelling but the veteran scene wasn't that. Agnes Nixon's strength was always mixing socially relevant storylines with traditional soap stories and that's why they worked. So when Ruth gave her famous speech it resonated with people because the war had hit close to someone that they already knew and loved. We don't know these veterans so to me, it sort of came out of nowhere. NOW, if Jake had been injured and was at the hosptal and you had real veterans mixed with a chararacter with ties to the show then THAT would have worked better I think.

I think we're still kinda talking about the same thing.

The vet scene was like OLTL's Odyssey House/Cathy Craig way back in the day. It may seem sort of PSAish but the way Agnes Nixon married real-life accounts with the s/l of one of her fictional characters really drove the story home. A viewer couldn't dismiss the weight of the issue b/c it was "just T.V." Now THIS go round, we're getting the situation in reverse... we've met the vets first, and now we'll meet Brot. No, we don't "know" him yet (please, we barely know Taylor who's been mentally/emotionally disabled), but we're getting a double whammy with Brot b/c he's both a fictional character and a real life account all rolled into one. The vet scene sort of ushered us in to what Brot's life has been like. That scene was probably supposed to happen after Brot's intro but they had trouble finding the right person for the role. I think it worked out great b/c we kind of got instant backstory and point of view about a man like Brot through the stories of these other vets.

I think that's a good point--it can be seen as a sort of cheater or primer for Brott's situation. (sure some could call that lazy but I think it's cleverly and powerfully done)