Shakedown, March 30, 1999

By Shirley

It's always a bad sign in a JAG episode when TPTB resort to lowbrow humour. This time it is Bud being assigned a case of indecent exposure and all the resultant puns that followed. To me it means that there's probably not a heck of a lot in the episode so they're trying to pad it with "humour". Unfortunately, I was right.

The Shakedown plot is a recycled one from Season One's Ares - saboteur on board using the ship's computer system for his own hidden agenda. The last time, they had the advantage of Meg and her crackerjack computer skills. This time around, in her absence, they had to use cruder methods. Mac pulled the plug.

I had wondered, back at the beginning of Season Two when the Mac character was introduced, why she was not given computer skills extraordinaire like her two predecessors. Kate was a lawyer and good with a computer. When we were given Meg, TPTB went one better. Meg was not only a lawyer and a weapons specialist, she was also one of the very best computer experts around. This came in handy for quite a few episodes in Season One.

However, when TPTB replaced Meg, they did it with two people, Mac and Bud. Mac was given the lawyer bit, and we are told she's got the usual marine weapons training. But it was Bud who was given the computer persona. That worked well as long as Bud was either along on an investigation or readily available. Now Bud seems to be going his own way. So, when neither hero nor heroine has the necessary computer expertise, use the KISS (keep it simple stupid) method. It's not sexy, but it's all they've got.

I knew Yarborrough was a bad guy as soon as I saw him. My first thought was "Hemlock!" Sorry, that was quite beside the point. Back to the review. It was obvious early on that the two civilian tech reps were the saboteurs. There was no suspense and quite frankly, Ares was a better-crafted story.

This may not have been the fault of the scriptwriter as the intent of the episode was to set up future storylines for the "big shew" in the May sweepstakes. Uh-oh, sweeps again!

I was rather bored by the far too many scenes with Sharky and the Admiral. I began to wonder about the future storyline on this front. I became very worried. Will we end up with "on this episode of JAG, we have the disease of the week" scenario? Aside from the fact that I never ever watched any "disease of the week" TV movies, are we about to see the character of Admiral Chegwidden utterly destroyed? This was what TPTB did to the Mac character this season, all for the sake of ratings. TPTB made Mac a liar, an adulteress, a murderer [all right, it was not murder, she just shot her husband], and also gave her a case of terminal stupidity. Are we in for something similar with the Admiral? This is why I'm filled with uneasy foreboding. I really hate it when characters I like betray me by exhibiting totally despicable traits.

The only really true scene in the entire episode was the one between Harm and Coulter. This could be because it was a harking back and closure of sorts for the truly wonderful episode Nobody's Child. It could also be that TPTB were not trying to do anything cute or funny with it, and so it worked. I am more and more impressed with Trisha Yearwood's burgeoning acting skills. This is a very difficult scene, involving no action or props other than the cell phone. And the focus is on expression and feeling, both in voice and face. It's akin to the a cappella singing of the lullaby in Nobody's Child. The lullaby is such a simple little tune. The singer must have perfect tone and expression. There are no dazzling technical passages to mask any inadequacies in artistic expression. Of course David James Elliott pulls it off with his usual ease. We don't even think twice about what kind of talent and expertise it takes to do this. We take it for granted that he'll get the job done with quiet magnificence.

I like the idea that Harm will go back to flying. He needs to deal with that part of his past. I just hope TPTB don't go crazy and do something really stupid. Dear TPTB, please do it properly and stay true to the character. Millions of people have a lot of emotions invested in this. Thank you.
 

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