Hemlock, March 27, 1996

As Reviewed by Rosepetal

As Reviewed by Shirley

In this episode we see Shepard, an assassin steal an itinerary from a government office for a foreign diplomats upcoming visit, he then goes to fax the itinerary to himself but ends up messing up some numbers and faxing it to Meg and Harm's office at JAG. 

Meg the next morning gets the fax and tells Harm about it when he comes in late to the office, and he puts in the safe and leaves to go to lunch with a friend, who he tells that they have this fax and its in the safe, the friend a CIA agent, tells him to forget that he ever saw the fax.

Shepard, figures out that it was sent to Meg and Harms office and poses as a British Naval officer to get the papers, after he gets the fax from Meg, he then shoots her in the head.  Krennick is just coming into the office to speak with Meg and Shepard starts to shoot at her too but he misses and gets away. 

Meg is rushed to the hospital, where she lies in a coma after surgery.  While in the coma, she has flashbacks to her childhood with her dad.  We learn that her dad was the most important person to her when she was a kid and she is so happy to be reunited with him.  Harm goes back to the JAG office after being out at lunch with a friend.  He learns what happened to Meg and realizes it must have something to do with the fax they received.  He goes into the safe and notices that it is missing. 

Harm rushes to the hospital to get an update on Meg, and now that he knows what is responsible for her shooting and that he can do nothing for Meg at the hospital, he vows to find the killer.  Harm calls Ollie to tell him the news and to help figure out who the assassin is that shot Meg and who is trying to kill a diplomat because no one else will give him the information he needs.  The CIA doesn't really believe that Shepard really exists, that he is only a myth that another country made up.  But Krennick and Harm know that he really does exist and will stop at nothing to find him.  Including going to a hacker who Ollie tells him about to get some information that only he can provide.  The hacker tries to get a date with Krennick in exchange for the information.  Krennick and Harm go back to her car where a bomb has been planted by Shepard to kill her because she is the only other person who has seen her alive.  Shepard ends up killing the hacker as well. 

Harm and Krennick finally figure out that the intended person that the assassin is assigned to kill is none other than Boris Yeltsin who is coming into the country for a dinner.   Shepard poses as a Russian Security guard to get close enough to Yeltsin to shoot and kill him.  But Harm and Krennick arrive at the dinner and spot him.  He takes off and Harm runs after him.  Shepard gets into a car and tries to drive away but not before Harm gets off a shot which kills Shepard.  Meg's dad in her coma tells her that she must go back now and that they will be reunited again one day.

All in all, one of my favorite episodes for Season 1 because of the flashback scenes and the caring that Harm shows towards Meg in his response to Krennick's statement that he needs to get some rest.  I don't normally like Krennick in any of the episodes but I liked her in this one because she showed real caring for Harm instead of the hitting on she normally does.

By Shirley

I think that this may end up being one of my very favourite episodes. I enjoyed watching it immensely. The story is good and topical. It's tightly scripted and superbly acted. All the little touches necessary to elevate a show from the merely good to great were there. There was nothing extraneous. They even managed to get Ollie back for a second tour of duty.

Andrea R. Thompson returns for another episode as Commander Krennick. I hope she becomes a regular. She is such a gifted actress, and Krennick's character adds so much to the enjoyment quotient. I confess I enjoy watching Krennick chase Harm. In Hemlock Krennick carried on right where she left off in Smoked. She's still zeroing in on Harm, and he's having a grand old time jousting with her. Those opening scenes in the office were so funny! Dragon Lady! And there was Meg, the complete innocent, sweetly counselling Harm to be nicer to the Commander! Hey Meg, don't you know that Krennick is deeply suspicious of your relationship with Harm?

I found the scene in Harm's car quite touching. Krennick's demeanor was almost maternal (Oops, I didn't mean that, Commander Krennick! Please don't threaten to eat my liver! Let me rephrase that.) ... quite fond, as she said to him, "You haven't slept in two days." (Whew!) My heart was wrung for her when she asked Harm in an uncharacteristically hesitant way whether he would be as concerned and upset if it were she instead of Meg lying in that hospital bed. Poor Krennick! You've got it bad, haven't you?

I found the order of precedence or who goes first from point A to point B interesting. Krennick as the superior officer preceded Harm until they got to the real action part when they were chasing Hemlock. Then he not only led the way, he gave her orders, and she followed and obeyed. I guess on the field, he's the senior line officer though junior in rank, and as such, is in command.

Meg's presence was there in the background throughout this episode, though Meg herself was not seen much. The casting for the young Meg was excellent. That is exactly how I would picture Meg as a child. The dream sequences were well done and evocative.

As for Hemlock, that was one scary bloke. It was neat the way they showed him in his different disguises. So that's how it's done. And that's why he's a myth.

My favourite funny scenes were the ones with the hacker. It was priceless the way he bargained to get a date with Krennick. And as for his question "Er, are those real or did you buy them?", staring hard at Krennick's well-endowed chest. Ha ha ha!
 

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