Rivers Run, February 16, 1999

By Shirley

When the promos mentioned separatists, my first thought as a Canadian was "Why would they set an episode in Quebec?" Of course it isn't only Canada that has separatists. No, it is set in West Virginia and the United States also has separatists.

This episode has a good storyline that was lifted from the merely ordinary by one actress' gem of a performance. The location shots were convincing enough that I was able to get past my niggling thoughts of "I recognize that rock from Full Engagement; and isn't that the waterfall from Gypsy Eyes?" They also did a grand job with the paramilitary compound and the courtroom. Good atmosphere, and most convincing.


Rivers' Run is Montel Williams' second appearance on JAG. I felt that he gave a rather workmanlike and opaque performance in Season Three's Above and Beyond. He did much better this time around. The character of Rivers has changed. He is letting slip his shield against the world. He is joining the human race. His sorrow and contrition over the death of the boy was genuine. He's still not full of charm and fellowship, but he's thawing. There's hope yet. I look forward to his next appearance. It will be interesting to see further development in his character. In time, he may yet attain his father's towering stature as a human being.

I wasn't sure at the outset whether the separatists would only come across as ignorant hillbillies. They certainly dressed the part, and talked the part. But what a tremendous job TPTB did in casting these people. These actors were the ones who made sure that these men and women are not mere caricatures. And what interesting faces! Not a single one was chocolate box pretty. They were alive! They were wonderfully alive!

I mentioned a gem of a performance. This was by the actress who played Mrs. Yarrow. Hers was a small part, and it could easily have been insignificant and ordinary. She made it extraordinary, and in so doing changed the entire tenor of the end of the standoff from the sentimental - isn't it sweet, the child saved the day - to a revelation about these people.

I had initially thought the Yarrows a family hacked out of clichés - the father, rough and full of anger; the mother, beaten and submissive; the children, the dead boy the apple of his father's jaundiced eye, the girl, just another female. My viewpoint shifted completely in the middle of the scene in their house. Yarrow tells Amy to "... take Momma to bed." She says she's all right, and stays. But it was the way she said it, and the way she looked at him. We see that she is not submissive, and most certainly has never been beaten by her husband. Mrs. Yarrow has her own place in that household, and in her husband's heart. She makes us see that he is more than just a rough man, blind with anger and grief over his son's death. It is she who has instilled the confidence in her daughter that she, a girl child, can sit up there in that court, before this mob of men just itching to lynch Rivers, and truthfully answer Harm's questions without fear of repercussion. Amy can do that because she knows she is valued in that family. And it is because of these insights into Yarrow and Amy that it makes complete sense that Yarrow would listen to his daughter. It was no wonder that the camera kept shifting to Mrs. Yarrow throughout the trial. Smart director, Mr. Greg Beeman. That actress doesn't need words. She acts with her soul. Brava!


I was most impressed by Yarrow's closing argument as he read from the Declaration of Independence. I wondered what Harm could do, and DJE too, to top that performance. Well, Harm went to the American Constitution. DJE went to his inner being. He just quietly gave them the truth as Harm, and he did it straight from the heart. Bravo!

The part I enjoyed most about Harriet getting her promotion is that Bud immediately took advantage of their now equal ranks to indulge in the normal everyday courtesies, like opening the door for her and letting her precede him. I've often wondered how difficult it must be for military men to observe rank precedence with females at work, and then to remember to let the ladies go first away from work.

A most enjoyable episode. I am left with just one question. How come Harm and Mac look bandbox fresh after a night crammed in that cell?
 

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