How To Live At The Max Level Spoiler

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for SEAL Squad Season 6 Episode 8, "Aces and Eights."]

The members of Bravo squad just lost one of their brothers on SEAL Team — but it's not something they could have seen coming.

Dirt (Max Thieriot) has been trying to figure out his next steps since losing his leg at the start of Season six, and it seemed like he constitute his purpose helping at Ray's (Neil Dark-brown Jr.) vet eye. Only just after he'd talked a vet, Ben, downward from breaking into the Air Force recruit eye, and then taking his own life, Clay was the one holding the gun when a security baby-sit showed upwards — and the one who took a bullet to the chest as a result.

Executive producer Spencer Hudnut explains why Clay was killed off and how everyone will be grieving. (Bravo volition find out what happened in Episode nine, which y'all can meet in the promo at the bottom.)

So Clay is dead?

Spencer Hudnut: Clay is dead, yes. Clay does not make it unfortunately. And yep, it'due south super gut-wrenching. Information technology was the hardest determination I've had to make at SEAL Squad by far. Super painful for me. I dearest Max so much. I love that character so much. Such a large part of my life for the last five years. When I was watching it [being] filmed, I had to get up and walk abroad. I've watched it a hundred times through the editing process, and information technology's been super painful every time. It's really gut-wrenching, and it's painful and shocking, and and then I'm sure it's gonna upset a lot of people, just information technology'due south upsetting that nosotros ever got to this betoken where this had to happen. But ultimately, information technology felt similar the all-time decision for the show moving forrad.

Is this because of Max's availability, or did he desire to leave?

No, it wasn't that he wanted to get out. Obviously, he started developing Burn State, and even going back to the end of Season 5, that bewilderment was motivated by the fact that in that location were some questions if Max would really even be dorsum for Season 6, and so I wanted to do everything in my ability to keep Max involved in the evidence. Merely once his show was picked upwards and greenlit for series, it became clear pretty quickly that this wasn't gonna be a job share. Fire Country — he created it and is the number one — was the priority. And so once he went off to shoot that, we weren't gonna get him dorsum. The logistics, [and] how we would comprise him moving forrard when our shooting schedule — because we exercise short orders — is all over the place, information technology just became clear that unfortunately he wasn't gonna be able to proceed frontward with the show.

Monty Brinton/Paramount+

And and so, the question became how do we make his difference accept the biggest bear on? At that point, when his evidence was ordered to series, nosotros had already been writing for ii and a half months, and then we had written one-half the season. Nosotros didn't have vi months to effigy out, OK, he's leaving, how's the best mode to do this? He's starring on a 22-episode CBS television testify, so it wasn't viable to motility forward with him here. Nosotros're all so proud of him and excited for him, and the bear witness's then great and such a success, he's gonna be doing that for the next four or five years, for sure.

Talk about killing him off in the way that y'all did. Did you consider whatsoever other possibilities?

Aye, there were a lot of ways to exit his character. For a long fourth dimension, I really weighed maybe he and Stella (Alona Tal) and Brian practise motility out to California and live that life that they talk nearly in this episode. Simply because of his traumatic injury to his leg, he has a long route alee to recover, and because the show is so much virtually vet issues and what our men and women in uniform bargain with when they come up home, it simply felt disingenuous to send him off and simply deed like he'south riding off into the sunset, everything'south gonna be fine. That's non a story worth telling, and it likewise didn't experience like that would have such an impact on his teammates and the rest of our prove. Then, unfortunately, aye, information technology felt like him dying would [have] the biggest impact.

And so it became a question of how do you do it? His story with Ben is sort of a total circumvolve moment from his story with Swanny (Tony Curran) in Season two when he got involved with a vet with bug, and unfortunately, Swanny took his ain life. Here, he'south able to save Ben from taking his. And so, in my mind, it's a actually heroic moment for him. He dies a hero.

It'due south awful. The reality that he'd be safer on the battlefield with his teammates than at home is kind of shocking. Merely over again, [for] our men and women in uniform, the issues don't merely exist when they're on the battlefield. They come home with them, too. And and then this was a way of really drilling that point home. Again, because we were so far into the flavor, at that place weren't a lot of scenarios to figure out some other way to exit him. But having that connection with Ben and saving Ben and letting him get out a hero was important to us.

Ray had admitted that he was worried virtually what the next blow would practice to Jason (David Boreanaz) when it comes to his trauma, especially since Clay had been the one helping him and we've seen Jason blaming himself this season, then how worried should we be about Bravo 1?

He and Clay always had an upwards-and-down relationship, merely I think the respect and bond were and then articulate throughout this season, particularly in Episode six, that talk they had on the loma. I don't think he'd always acknowledge it, but Jason admires Dirt in so many ways, and Clay so looked upwardly to Jason. And Jason's faulted himself for Adam [Michael Irby] dying even though he wasn't on the mission. And I call up, yeah, this is a real threat to Jason. What's skillful for Jason is that he's opened himself upwardly to people, [and] people understand what's going on with him. He's torn downwards the walls he built up in the past. He has a good support group.

But that survivor guilt will exist spread not just to Bravo 1, but everybody on the team in some way volition feel they could have washed more for Dirt. Nosotros'll be exploring that in those last couple [of] episodes. Everybody's gonna feel the loss only feel some guilt every bit well.

Monty Brinton/Paramount+

Especially since Bravo just most lost him, merely he lived, and I am so worried about Sonny (A.J. Buckley).

Aye, Sonny is the closest to Clay. Dirt's really his brother. The episode where they went upward to the cabin, we got to see how strong that bond is and how strong that friendship is. So yeah, y'all're not solitary. I think there are several people inside the Bravo family unit who are gonna be most concerned about Sonny. Sonny really felt like he was Clay'south caretaker after the injury, and so to take non been effectually, Sonny will experience some responsibility, some sense of, "if I wasn't in Syrian arab republic, I could have prevented this from happening."

It's gonna be a struggle for all of them. Obviously, these guys have all dealt with losses, the loss of a teammate before, but they're almost wired to be able to handle information technology when information technology's on the battlefield and makes sense to them. But this is so tragic and, again, the nature of what happened, and they're non gonna become a full pic of information technology for a while. And so it'due south really gonna be confusing, and it simply makes information technology all the more upsetting for them.

How volition Stella handle the grief, and how much will nosotros see? Because they had only been talking nearly their next chapter.

Information technology's evidently gonna be such a blow to Stella. We really were with Stella every step of the way in Episode 601 when she was dealing with the news of the injury. We actually went nearly it a little differently in these next few episodes, simply I think her reaction on some levels volition surprise people. She's gonna be devastated, she'southward gonna be crushed that she's lost her husband. But she'south gonna have a perspective that is really valuable to some members of the Bravo family.

Ray is planning to retire, simply there have been moments where it feels similar he might be reconsidering. Is what happened to Clay going to play a function in that decision, whether information technology's that he wants to stay for Jason or he more than than always sees the practiced he tin practice dorsum habitation with the vet center?

It'southward a good question. Unfortunately, with the connexion between the vet center and Clay'southward death, Ray's gonna experience guilty nearly that on some level, and it taints the vet heart on some level for Ray. I will say that the domino effect of Dirt's death and the choices that other Bravo members make will impact Ray's determination moving forward in terms of not only whether or non he wants to retire but whether or not he's able to retire.

SEAL Team, Sundays, Paramount+

Source: https://www.tvinsider.com/1068480/seal-team-season-6-episode-8-clay-dies-max-thieriot-leaving/

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