Skeleton Crew

**Originally never aired in the US until USA Network bough the syndication rights to JAG and then only aired once on December 5, 1999. **

By Shirley

I had heard quite a lot about this Season One episode, which had only been shown outside of North America. Skeleton Crew had been intended as a season-ending cliffhanger, before NBC stupidly cancelled the series. Once NBC cancelled JAG, they decided not to show Skeleton Crew, as obviously the second part would never get made. I saw Death Watch in Season Three, which contained footage from Skeleton Crew. I think that one of the production insiders said that if someone had seen Death Watch, then they've seen Skeleton Crew, because it used so much of the footage from the original show. I beg to differ. The two are as different as night from day.

I was really curious about this episode, and so was quite excited when I was able to acquire a snowy [no complaints from me] copy of a copy of a copy. I didn't know what to expect. I certainly didn't expect to be completely blown away by the impact of this episode. TPTB may have used about 60% of the original footage to make Death Watch, but what they had cut to fit the Death Watch script completely gutted the essence of the original. It was quite fascinating, really, and probably would serve as a wonderful case in study for students of screen writing and editing. Snip, snip, a line here, a scene there, and the entire sense and integrity of the episode is destroyed. It was such an eerie feeling. I had seen the scenes before, yet I haven't. It was an entirely different perspective.

Even before I saw Skeleton Crew I had been of the opinion that Death Watch showed unmistakable signs of having been cobbled together, and was for me, a most unsatisfactory episode. Now that I have seen Skeleton Crew, all I can say is that it must have hurt Donald P. Bellisario like heck to have to chop his work up like this. The term butcher's work comes to mind.

The storyline is essentially the same. Lt. Diane Schonke is murdered, and Harm and Meg are sent to investigate. Harm runs afoul of both the civilian investigator, NCIS Agent Brian Turkey, and Cmdr. Krennick. As the investigation proceeds, gradually evidence begins to build into a case against Harm. When the murder weapon is fished out of the harbour, and Harm's fingerprints are found on it, Turkey arrests Harm for the murder of Lt. Diane Schonke. The episode simply ends there, with no "to be continued" across the screen. We will never know who killed her. I only know it wasn't Harm. I also know that I don't buy the Death Watch version, all the more now that I've seen the real thing. Death Watch is the pale imitation. Don't settle for it.

The Skeleton Crew scenario is quite different from Death Watch. The relationship between Harm and Diane is definitely platonic. Harm and Diane were like brother and sister. Harm told both Turkey and Krennick that he and Diane were like brother and sister and I believe him. I believe too that Harm loved Diane, but he was not in love with her. There is a big difference. Again, I base this on my perception of Harm as a one-woman man. He could not have been in love with Diane and had relationships with other women. It just is not in his nature.

The other interesting aspect of this is the quite blatant hint that Diane was gay. Turkey in his obnoxious way blathered on about lesbianism. Diane's roommate, Lt. Sara Williams, showed a quite unnatural intensity when talking about Diane. Her manner was more that of a lover than a close friend. I find the theory that Diane was gay completely believable in the context of this story. There is no way that Harm would not have known that. Therefore, there could never be anything more than a very close friendship between Harm and Diane. In point of fact, Harm's responses to the questions posed about his relationship with Diane supports the gay theory. Something else that supports the gay theory was Harm's immediate reaction to Lt. Williams' open burst of grief at meeting him. He hugged her - a complete stranger - comfortingly stroking her head. I believe this proves that he was well aware that Sara Williams was Diane's lover, and this is the natural reaction to comfort the near and dear of the dead.

Krennick was also extremely obnoxious in her questions to Harm about this relationship, even to the extent of questioning his manhood. But Harm did not betray his friend to defend himself. He merely said that maybe they had played by the rules for so long, they didn't know any other way. He was looking away from Krennick the whole time. I think he was lying through his teeth. I am reminded of the Season Two episode Heroes. Chief Connors was willing, in the name of friendship, to stand trial for murder rather than divulge his homosexual friend's secret. I believe that Harm was doing the exact same thing, protecting Diane's secret.

I said in my review of Death Watch that I did not like the flashbacks because they lacked intensity and did not do justice to Harm, Meg or Krennick. Now that I have seen Skeleton Crew, I am more of this opinion than before, and I must add Bud to the list of people who were robbed in the cutting room when they edited Death Watch. In Skeleton Crew, these main characters were true and full of depth. Cut up, they became shallow and caricatures of themselves. The most glaring example is that of Bud. He is so essentially Bud, in the way he manages to drop a copy of the autopsy file right at Harm's feet, all the while saying that Turkey had ordered him not to "give" Cmdr. Rabb the autopsy report. And I found out that this was what inspired Meg to recommend him as aide to Harm. But we don't see that in Death Watch. Or any of the other wonders of Skeleton Crew, including a shirtless scene!

Pity.