Fortunate Son, March 18, 2003

By Michele Blackburn

Memories of Vietnam, illegal immigrants, the good-child syndrome and an audit make for this very intriguing episode of JAG.

Fans of The Pretender should recognize Jamie Denton who played INS agent Roadman. He had a good part on this episode and by the end made me wish for recurring status. Webb joined recurring status in the second season and look how developed his character has become. To sum up Harm and Sturgis' case, Vietnamese immigrants were brought over to work in sweat shops and some were married off to Americans. This had a familiar theme to it as just Sunday I watched the same thing on The Division (FYI, Tracy Needham ex-Lt. Meg Austin plays on the series).

Harm is turned in circles by his client, who won't tell the real truth. Only when he talks to the wife does he begin to understand that the Hien's are being used to get illegal immigrants to the States in order to get Mrs. Hien's sister to safety. Harm remembers seeing the girl in the Sunshine Brides office and gives Roisman the ledger of the immigrants coming over so he can go in arrest the main woman. In exchange, Mrs. Hien's little sister should be taken to the family. The arrest goes down and the Hien's are united with the little girl.

For those who never saw the first season (Deja Vu), the flashbacks Harm was having would not make any sense to you. Harm explained it to Mac, but those who have kept up with the show since it's beginning in '95 knew what was going on. Harm went to Vietnam when he was sixteen to search for his father with a man named Striker. He met a young girl who was killed when they entered the Laos jungle. The flashback he was having were of Gym, the fourteen year old girl.

While this is going on, Commander Lindsey has returned with a vengeance to audit the JAG corps. He makes sure the Admiral knows he holds no resentment about a few years ago when he was turned down for promotion. In reality, he does everything he can to undermine everyone around him, starting with Bud. Lindsey goes on and on about Bud's rapid recovery, Harriet working closely with Bud at JAG but working for the IG and then Singer. Lindsey then starts in on Mac. This is where he made me mad as he brought up everything that happened to Mac and ending it by asking her for a beer. Lindsey's lucky he walked away with all his teeth.

But wait, he's not done yet. He starts in on Coates. Was it just me or did Lindsey react oddly when he found out Singer was pregnant. Could we be possibly looking at the father of Singer's kid. Wouldn't that just make everybody's day to find out that they can get Lindsey out of the Navy with that news?

Sturgis speaks up for the group by telling Lindsey that he's working with some of the best people he's ever worked with. It seems Sturgis has had a change of heart since that day last year when he asked the Admiral to be reassigned because he didn't fit in with the 'family'.

Lindsey ends his audit by saving the best for last as Harm mentioned. Lindsey left Harm with the fact that they were all going to be reassigned because of how close they are. Harm told him he was suffering from good child syndrome: Lindsey being the good child gets left behind while Harm and the others who have done everything wrong go ahead of him.

I had to rewind the tape after the show, but I thought that Lindsey had picked up the wrong hat and I was right. When he walked in to Harm's office, he put his hat next to Harm's hat. When he left, he picked up the hat next to his. I don't know what that means and how they're going to work it into the show. I'm guessing though that the reassignment is going to have something to do with the season's final shows.

CONGRATULATIONS to David and Nanci on the birth of their second child Wyatt born March 3 at 12:59 AM. Wyatt has a nine-year old sister, Stephanie.

Best Quotes Of The Show:

"Inspired to be a Marine by the Marines who rescued him."~Harm (about Lt. Hien)

"The Washington Post wants to know what a two star is doing tooling around the friendly skies with a lawyer at the helm?"~SecNav

"Ah, if it walks like a duck."~Roisman
"Hardly a legal argument."~Sturgis

"Commander, we're being audited and the investigator sent to do the job doesn't like me."~Admiral
"I find that hard to believe."~Harm

"My face tells the story of who my forefathers were; the uniform on my back speaks of the level of patriotism I was taught."~Sturgis (to Roisman)

"I'm sorry."~Lindsey
"You touch me like that again and you will be."~Mac

"This group of people has one of the most unorthodox interpersonal dynamics I've ever worked with which could be the only explanation for their exemplary track record."~Sturgis (to Lindsey)

"Saved the best for last, Commander?"~Harm
"I won't rehash incidents like turning your hallowed halls of justice into a shooting gallery. You personally burned through a quarter of a billion dollars worth of flight equipment nine tenths of which was after you left flight status to become a lawyer."~Lindsey

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