Deja Vu, October 21, 1995

As reviewed by Rosepetal

Part of review by Yali

As reviewed by Shirley

In this episode, Harm and Meg are sent to investigate the murders of several Navy Lieutenants.  We learn a little bit more about Harm in this episode.  We learn that when he was 16, he traveled to Viet Nam to a village called Laos for the summer to look for his MIA father, Harmon Rabb Sr.  While in Viet Nam, he met a Vietnamese girl named, Gym, and fell in love with her.  He was traveling with a man called if I remember the name correctly, Striper.  Well Gym decided to travel with Harm and Striper to search for Harms dad.  While traveling over the border into Laos, Gym was killed by the Border Patrol. 

While at a party for a Vietnamese Ambassador, he meets the Ambassadors wife who looks so much like Gym.  The Ambassador and his wife, Angelique, are both suspects in the murders of the Navy Lieutenants.  Harm suspects it is the Ambassador who is the murderer or his bodyguard. 

Harm and Meg go try to speak to Angelique who was the last one to see the latest murdered Lieutenant alive, they must speak with the Ambassador, the Bodyguard, and the wife who is not allowed to answer any questions.  Harm *accidentally* drops a bunch of photos, one of which includes a pic of the murder weapon.  Angelique looks shocked but doesn't say anything.

Later, she finds Harm and gives him a knife from her kitchen.  It is an exact match to the knife that was used in the killings.

Meg, meanwhile, is having dinner with the civilian detective, named Axelrod.  She is trying to gather information on what he knows.  They have a very good chemistry those two and I wished it had been played out a little more.

This next part of the review was submitted by Yali

The bodyguard covered Angelique, who was the real murderer(ss), because he was in love with her.  And it was the Ambassador who killed him in return.

Angelique was killing Navy officers because she was the estranged daughter of a Vietnamese woman and an American Naval officer who abandoned both of them.  Her mother got sick after that, and Angelique was sort of traumatized.  When she drugs Harm with the chocolate bonbon, she begins to hallucinate and to call him "father."  Harm is still a little conscious because he didn't drink the champagne, thinking that it was poisoned, and asks her about her motives, and then she spills her story to him.  Then Meg saves the day (it should be "night") by immobilizing her.

By Shirley

This episode is destined to be one of my favourites. It had everything: terrific acting, exciting action, romances for both Harm and Meg, subtle comedy, and a good storyline. This is an example of entertainment at its best.

Let's start with a brief synopsis of the story. Harm meets the wife of the Thai Ambassador at a party, and becomes totally fascinated by her as she reminds him of the girl he fell in love with when he was almost sixteen. He had gone to Vietnam to look for his MIA father in Laos that summer. He met the Vietnamese girl, Gym, and the two fell in love. She was killed by a border patrol on their foray into Laos. Harm has always carried the guilt for her death because she accompanied them for love of him. Now, many years and a lifetime later, he meets Angelique, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his dead love. Angelique and her husband the Ambassador are both implicated in a series of murders of American Navy lieutenants. Harm and Meg are assigned to the investigation. From there the story unfolds in exciting fashion, moving along at a smart clip.

I was rather disappointed with the previous episode, Desert Son, which seemed to be very flat and predictable. Déjà Vu met my expectations and then some. It was so good to see W.K. Stratton in his scenes with David James Elliott and Tracey Needham. We see three good actors with impeccable comic timing who play their parts with restrained confidence. Cmdr. Lindsey is so naïvely pleased with his new duties as head of JAG in Washington. And Harm and Meg so obviously like the man. We see that clearly in their good-humoured show of respect for him, nicely underlined by their total awareness of exactly how to handle him. I also loved the little joke of Lindsey working hard at learning how to play the clarinet. In the pilot, I had thoroughly enjoyed Admiral Brovo's musical display. It was a nice touch to have Lindsey innocently try to completely fill the Admiral's shoes. And it was done so subtly, too. This viewer really appreciated the subtleties. Thank you for not insulting us with the predictable, TPTB.

Speaking of not being predictable, the civilian detective, Axelrad, was anything but. I had initially written him down as the usual detective with a chip on his shoulder type. Then he turned the tables on me, the viewer, as well as Meg, by turning out to be a wonderfully perceptive guy with a terrific sense of humour. At the end, he looked so boyishly eager and shy, I was really hoping that TPTB would allow Meg to call him up for a date. After all, the usual formula is for the hero to save the day and get the girl. Well, Meg is the hero of this story, so she should get the guy, Axelrad. Fair's fair.

Yes, boys and girls, Meg is the hero of this story. According to the gospel of JAG as expounded by its creator, Donald P. Bellisario, he believes in strong women in his shows. Here's what he had to say about the character of Meg.

"Lt. Meg Austin is a very strong female role, one of many that will be introduced on the series," explained Bellisario. "As the military becomes more 'modern', women are becoming empowered in ways they have never been before ..." [quote from the JAG production notes].

"I had a writer who wrote a scene where he had David saying to ... Meg to wait there, because he wanted to do something - and it was because she was a woman ... And I said, "No, we're not doing scenes like that. She's an officer in the Navy, they're working together, he doesn't say, 'Well, ... You're a woman, you wait here while I go be the hero.'" So you won't see things like that." [quote from The Stuart News, March 10, 1996].

This very acceptable philosophy was amply illustrated in Déjà Vu. As a woman, I like this heroine who is beautiful, strong-willed, smart, brave, and can more than hold her own in a man's world without sacrificing her femininity. Some women have had to give up part of being a woman to play with the boys in the big leagues. It's encouraging to see a woman who can compete in a man's world on her own terms, not theirs. I hope that TPTB will keep faith with their initial vision and further develop this theme. I like it.

Onto the action and the main romance. I was very impressed by the judicious use of flashbacks and the way they merged into the present. Flashbacks can be used to good advantage, or they can disrupt the story. In this episode, they added poignancy and succinctly conveyed the young Harm's love for his Juliet, Gym. There were moments when I wondered whether he would totally forget that Angelique was another man's wife and a suspect in the murder investigation, and see her only as Gym. I liked the romantic scenes between Harm and Angelique. When reading the TV Guide blurb, I wasn't quite sure about the Harm falling for the Ambassador's wife bit. I really didn't want him to go that route. I want my heroes to have good morals. But they handled it very well, and even the kiss was not revolting to my old-fashioned sense of morality under the circumstances.

I loved Harm's action sequences. His use of the garbage truck as a moving shield was straight out of the summer action flicks. He looked great in the tank top, unbuttoned shirt, and blue jeans as he dodged the bullets. Meanwhile, the band played on!

Another character that caught my attention was Col. Patano. He didn't turn out to be your typical tough grunting heavy either. I think the first hint of that came in his encounter with Harm outside the embassy. He actually smiled with respectful enjoyment when he realized that Harm was up to his weight in any fight situation. He's not really a bad guy; he's just trying to protect the people he loved.

What else did I like? I liked Harm and Meg and their bantering. It was light, easy and full of sexual innuendo, but never overdone. It was lovely to watch.

Most of all, as a woman, I liked the fact that TPTB allowed Meg to be the one to save the day. Meg was the one who put two and two together to come up with the real murderer. Not only that, she saved Harm's life. I felt like cheering when the heroic JAG theme music blared, and Meg came running in to disarm the killer, while Harm lay there helpless, wounded and drugged.

Two wonderfully heroic people, one great team!

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