Five years ago we learned that Harmon
Rabb, Jr.'s father was MIA. Although we heard Admiral Boone tell Harm what
happened viewers never got a chance to see what happened. Not until
tonight. Tonight, Harm met a woman named Jenny (who had an uncanny
resemblance to Mac) at the Wall where she was visiting Harmon Sr.
As the snow fell around them, Jenny told the story of how she met Lt.
Harmon Rabb, Sr. The actors and makeup artists deserved an award for this
show. All but two re-occuring guest stars appeared on tonight's episode.
Those were Dana Sparks (Caroline Imes) and Steven Culp (Webb). Both could
not be in the episode because of prior filming commitments. Kudos to
Anne-Marie Johnson and Karri Turner who pulled off spectacular alter egos.
Johnson as Diana Ross and Turner as Phyllis Diller. Both were spectacular.
Even Trevor Goddard lost his Australian accent and donned a mustache and
John Jackson dropped several ranks and played a nerd.
This
was a love story that IMO didn't even seem like Mac and Harm. It was Jenny
and Harm Sr. Catherine Bell looked wonderful in her outfits and red hair.
Even her husband (who played the drummer) said he was having Tina Louise
fantasies. Nanci Chambers (DJE's wife) also starred in the episode.
I was overcome with sadness as Jenny sang "I'll be home for Christmas" and
at the same time Harm Sr. was bailing out of his Tomcat.
Overall, this Christmas episode surpassed last years
I said I wasn't going to do any more JAG
episode reviews. And I wasn't even tempted to reconsider that decision
despite some very flattering pleas from visitors to this site (thank
you!!!). But here I am emerging from retirement to do one more review. I
feel I owe it to myself. <bg> Ghosts of Christmas Past was shown in rerun
on December 19, 2000. I had to fast forward through my tape to do the
screen caps for the reviews that were submitted and in the process, was
forced, willy-nilly, to re-watch parts of it. I found that my initial
assessment of the episode remained the same and that I detest it even more
now, in hindsight, than I did a year ago. Why?
For
4½ seasons of JAG Harm Sr. has been an inspiring presence. He was the
reason Harm Jr. became a naval aviator. He was the person Harm is always
trying to live up to. His was the unseen influence that molded the
character of Harm. Harm is who he is because of Harm Sr. Now, in this
"Christmas present" episode - KIP (JAG production insider) said that
Donald P. Bellisario wrote this episode as a Christmas present for JAG
fans - we are given a Harm Sr. who is definitely not an inspiring role
model. This is a man whose hubris is such that he would methodically
pursue an obviously emotionally unstable woman to satisfy his own carnal
appetites. I don't care if he flew umpteenth missions. This man is not a
hero in my book. Harm Jr. hero-worshipped his father because he embodied
all the best qualities of a man, not just because he was a naval aviator.
To paraphrase Congresswoman DeLong in Crossing the Line, just because a
man served his country well doesn't mean he can't be a pig.
Isn't that just showing him as human? It is human to err. After all,
Harm's view of his father was the impossibly idealized one of a young
child. Well, despite all the studies that show infidelity to be rampant, I
believe that there is a very large percentage of people of both sexes in
this world who do not cheat. I would still characterize these faithful
types as human.
But it was wartime! My answer to that is: so what? Our behaviour under
severe and terrible stress is the best test of the stuff we're really made
of. Harm Sr. failed the test.
Okay,
so he blathered on about his love for his family and for his little son
Harm to Jenny Lake. Isn't that sweet? Oh yeah, except that in the next
second, he's kissing Jenny Lake. Right! We see how much you really care,
Harm Sr. Hmmm, here I thought your word was your bond and once you gave
it, you could not be moved from it. (King of the Fleas). So, what of your
marriage vows, huh? As for the "who are you kissing" bit, gosh! It's
wonderful that Harm Sr. was able to find a stand-in for his wife Trish,
isn't it? After all, it's almost Christmas Eve! He's gonna be MIA the next
day. And isn't that almost like Harm and Mac kissing? Oh good grief! It is
Harm with a fake mustache and Mac in a red wig!
KIP helpfully told us that it was up to the viewer to interpret whether
Harm Sr. and Jenny had sex. Yes or no. Well, according to my
interpretation, all the yes indicators were there: the camera fading out
on the two in a passionate clinch, Harm Sr. being late for duty the next
day, the knowing looks and little remarks ("you two need some alone time")
from those on board. These were devices the television industry used back
in the sixties to indicate to the adults in the audience that a couple had
sex together the night before. The final clinching indicator is that if
these two did not have sex, I'm sure a production insider would have
denied it most strenuously. KIP and company certainly have not been
backward in setting the fans straight on other aspects of the show. The
fact that this was coyly left to the fans to interpret can only mean that
TPTB want to have their cake and eat it too.
Some
Christmas present! That must have been Harm's feeling when he began to
digest the implications of Jenny Lake's story. "I never knew about him and
you ..." he said. No, poor Harm. You never dreamt that your father could
be unfaithful to your mother, your mother who waited uncomplaining, like
faithful Penelope, for him to come home.
And what kind of woman was this Jenny Lake, this woman who would blithely
tell some poor sod his father was unfaithful to his mother? And on
Christmas Eve too! Tut tut! Definitely not a class act! But you know,
Harm, he really loves you and your mother, he told me so. <let's hear the
violins wail!> I hope Santa reserves her a permanent spot on his naughty
list.
Why
did Harm place his father's wings at the Wall? What else could the poor
beggar do? His memory of his father has been shattered by this old biddy.
Harm knows the value of an aviator's wings. He knows what it takes to earn
them. He knows what it means to lose them. And he must have wondered, as
must have Trish, all those times through the years when they looked
lovingly through Harm Sr.'s effects, where his wings were. And now he
learns that Dad gave them away, lightly and without a second thought, to a
one-night stand. More, Dad even wished that "life were different". No,
those wings were best left at the Wall.
What does all this mean? So Harm Sr. got lucky that night. So what? Big
deal!
IMHO, it is a sad indication of the change in direction JAG has taken. In
Season One's Pilot Error, Meg states very clearly that neither she nor
Harm would consider being unfaithful. It was not who they were. Here we
are now and I'm not sure that I know any longer who Harm or any of the
other characters are. I'm not too sure I care much any longer. TPTB have
abandoned Harm the hero. They have done their best to make him "human" by
making him ordinary. His father was a great hero? No problem, we'll make
him just another horny sailor. So now Harm can be just like everybody
else. They have cut the hero down. I know that there are some very
vociferous fans that are tired of heroes and want ordinary "human" people.
Yet in my book, part of being human is the heroic element in all of us.
The hero is part of our humanity. It is human to be a hero. I watched JAG
because I feel uplifted and inspired by heroic behaviour. I now feel
betrayed. Do I have any right to feel this way? I believe so.
TPTB
have constructed this JAG world where integrity, loyalty, faithfulness,
discipline, honour and patriotism are not dirty words. Men and women were
allowed to be heroic in this world. They have spent several seasons
telling us viewers that Harm Sr. was a shining embodiment of these
qualities. I bought into this world. TPTB have now destructed this with
the tearing down of one of the pillars of the JAG world - Harm Sr. They
have taken the pieces, placed them in an expensive box padded with vintage
USS Ticonderoga fluff, twined extravagantly with ribbons of nostalgia,
decorated with an American sacred cow of a bow - the dedication to Bob
Hope and the USO - and grandly given it to JAG fans for Christmas.
This
was a love story that IMO didn't even seem like Mac and Harm. It was Jenny
and Harm Sr. Catherine Bell looked wonderful in her outfits and red hair.
Even her husband (who played the drummer) said he was having Tina Louise
fantasies. Nanci Chambers (DJE's wife) also starred in the episode. 
Okay,
so he blathered on about his love for his family and for his little son
Harm to Jenny Lake. Isn't that sweet? Oh yeah, except that in the next
second, he's kissing Jenny Lake. Right! We see how much you really care,
Harm Sr. Hmmm, here I thought your word was your bond and once you gave
it, you could not be moved from it. (King of the Fleas). So, what of your
marriage vows, huh? As for the "who are you kissing" bit, gosh! It's
wonderful that Harm Sr. was able to find a stand-in for his wife Trish,
isn't it? After all, it's almost Christmas Eve! He's gonna be MIA the next
day. And isn't that almost like Harm and Mac kissing? Oh good grief! It is
Harm with a fake mustache and Mac in a red wig! 
Some
Christmas present! That must have been Harm's feeling when he began to
digest the implications of Jenny Lake's story. "I never knew about him and
you ..." he said. No, poor Harm. You never dreamt that your father could
be unfaithful to your mother, your mother who waited uncomplaining, like
faithful Penelope, for him to come home. 
Why
did Harm place his father's wings at the Wall? What else could the poor
beggar do? His memory of his father has been shattered by this old biddy.
Harm knows the value of an aviator's wings. He knows what it takes to earn
them. He knows what it means to lose them. And he must have wondered, as
must have Trish, all those times through the years when they looked
lovingly through Harm Sr.'s effects, where his wings were. And now he
learns that Dad gave them away, lightly and without a second thought, to a
one-night stand. More, Dad even wished that "life were different". No,
those wings were best left at the Wall. 
