Boot, January 6, 1996

As Reviewed by Rosepetal

As Reviewed by Shirley

By Rosepetal

A private is found hanging from a repel tower and Harm and Meg are sent to investigate.  Meg will be going undercover as a private into Boot Camp and Harm will be sent to be the JAG officer investigating the incident that resulted in the death of Private Shuler. 

Harm arrives at Parris Island to speak with the Major in charge.  They come to the conclusion that Private Shuler did not commit suicide but was actually murdered.  Harm questions the Major about the drill instructors.  There are two, one is Carrington who has been in for 15 years and is married to the service and the other is Gonzalez who has been in the corp. for less time but just is as tough as Carrington.  She has just applied for Enlisted Commissioning Program. 

Meg goes in as Private Macintyre.  Right off the bat, her and Drill Instructor Carrington don't hit it off.  She had laughed in line while on a run when someone had made a joke.  Carrington heard her laugh and made everyone run some more because she laughed. 

A Private Johnson also has it out for Meg because she caused the group to have to run more.   While doing an obstacle course, Meg stops to help another private who was very tired and thirsty, she gives the private some water from her canteen and Carrington busts her for it and punishes her by making her scrub the bathroom.  Meg finds out that Private Shuler who was the one who died also cleaned the bathroom alot.  While Meg was cleaning the bathroom she found a article behind a tile, from Shuler's hometown.  Johnson comes in and pours stuff on the floor of the bathroom.  Meg says no to clean it herself, they start fighting and Carrington comes in and breaks it up.  She takes Johnson's free time away for a week.  Johnson threatens to kill Meg.  The drill instructors come in the bathroom but don't see Meg in there and they start talking bout how Harm knows that one of them was not in the barracks that night.  Carrington says there is no way of proving that.

Harm questions the whole platoon on the death of Private Shuler, including Meg.  When Meg comes in to the office that Harm is in, she gives him the newspaper article that she found.  The platoon then goes into a gas chamber.  Someone pulls Meg's gas mask off which causes her to leave the gas chamber and collapse.  She is brought to the base hospital where Harm goes to see her.  He tells her she is coming out of undercover and she says no.  She tells him that Johnston threatened her and he decides she is the one who killed Shuler. 

Harm sees Gonzalez going into the Major's office at night, he follows her.  Meg sees someone leave the barracks and follows her.  Harm walks in on the Major and Gonzalez and finds out that they are married and also sees the rest of the newspaper that the article was in.  On the other side of the article is a report on a murder suspect on the loose, it is the private the Meg helped. 

Meg follows the private through the swamp and finds out that it was the private she helped and finds out that she was the one who killed Shuler.  She finds the private in quicksand, she offers to help pull her out.  She helps the private out only to have the private push Meg into the muddy quicksand.  Harm comes with the drill instructors and the major and pulls Meg out of the quicksand and captures the private who was the murderer.  He then introduces Meg to Carrington.  Carrington is speechless and salutes Meg.  Harm decides not to turn Gonzalez and the Major in and while the platoon marches by when Harm and Meg are leaving they salute Meg and she salutes back in her way.

One of my favorite episodes with Meg because it shows how strong and capable she is.

By Shirley

This episode was broadcast out of order. It should come after Defensive Action, as Harm is now Lt. Commander.

It's a good showcase for Meg. Meg shows us that she can be a lady and an officer even under trying conditions. Plus she still looks stunningly beautiful. The fight sequence with Johnson was particularly effective. It was a vicious enough fight for a family timeslot. Then we see Meg just gently tap Johnson on the helmet to signal the victory. That's the mark of a good officer, showing leadership by example.

As for Harm, I find it strange indeed that he can go into this particular setup with all these young women, and not a single one of them notices more than that he is the JAG officer doing the investigation. Come on, TPTB! Let's get real. There should have been a few comments or covert leers.

I liked the way that Meg 'got back' at Carrington, by sharing her mud. The Semper Fi parade inspection at the end was perhaps a bit sugary, but Meg had earned it.

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