Shadow, September 30, 1995

As Reviewed by Rosepetal

As Reviewed by Shirley

By Rosepetal

In this episode, Harm gets a new partner, Meg played by Tracy Needham.  Harm and Meg are sent to the USS Tigershark, a submarine.  The Tigershark is testing out a new missile which is supposed to follow its target before launching.  We see that the torpedo control is highjacked by the maker of the torpedo onboard the ship, Grover. 

They can't lock up Grover because if he doesn't keep in contact with the torpedo at regular shifts then it will detonate itself and sink a ship.    While onboard, Grover blows certain things on the Tigershark up just to show that he means what he says.

We find out almost right away that Meg is claustrophobic.  Harm tries to be tough on her but you can see that the only reason he is doing it is to get her mind off being closed in the submarine. 

While Meg is in the stateroom with Grover, he lets her play on his computer to take her mind off the claustrophobia.  While he is not paying attention, she looks at his files.  She has figured out a way to stop the torpedo.  They lock Grover up and take his computer away.  While trying to disarm the torpedo, she accidentally sets off another bomb but is able to disarm that bomb.  She gets into the program to disarm the torpedo but instead of the torpedo stopping its course it turns around and comes after the submarine instead.  Grover is not ready to die and gives Meg the password to stop it.  Then finally realizes they tricked him into giving the password. 

Again, all in all a very good episode.

By Shirley

This is really the first episode, after the pilot, and as is usually the case with the first few episodes of a series, tries to cram in all the aspects of the show that TPTB think will attract and get the viewers tuning in for the next episode. The result is usually uneven.

Harm gets a new partner, Meg. Blonde, and much prettier. IMHO, Tracey Needham is also a much better actress than Andrea Parker. Harm and Meg will make a good team. Meg gets put into the stereotypical got-to-prove myself in a man's navy rut a bit, but she handles it with grace and fire. We get to see a bit more than the typical 'no I'm not really a chauvinist' reaction from Harm. Good for DJE, who did his best with the words provided. Harm comes down hard on Meg, but, hey, it's for her own good, to help her deal with her claustrophobia. He's a good officer, he'll do whatever needs be to help his people be all they can be. Ooops, that's not the Navy. Here we are - it's not just a job, it's an adventure. And Meg is sure having one heck of an adventure.

I was all agog waiting for Harm to DO something heroic, and he did, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Our hero not only looks good, he's got brains and intuition.

We can already see that Harm and Meg are beginning to establish a relationship, and the final little scene with the cigar is a precursor to the sexy flirting they will engage in the rest of Season One. I also enjoyed the scene with the two of them hunched over the computer. Love the way they used their eyes.

The story itself is actually one that summer movies are made of. I thought afterwards that I don't think I'll go on a Caribbean cruise. Who knows what kook is out there playing with test missiles?

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