Chains of Command, March 3, 1998

By Shirley

The writers get to kill off Dalton Lowne in this episode. This satisfied their thirst for blood. This also rid JAG of a rather commonplace self-satisfied pain in the neck. I don't think there were any tears shed for Dalton in JAG fandom. I believe that we all shared the reprehensible Coster's sentiments, namely, that Dalton's killer did Mac a favour.

There were two stories in this episode, the main one being that of Mac's crazed stalker, and the auxiliary but equally important one that of AJ's daughter's visit to Washington. The writers did a good job of interweaving the two stories, and making the two work together in harmony and counterpoint.

Dalton put himself beyond the pale in the previous episode, Chains of Command. When he utterly violated Mac's trust by stealing her notes, he finally revealed his lack of ethics. Worse than that, he couldn't even begin to understand why his actions were despicable. He could not discern the difference between winning with honour, and just plain win at all costs. Dalton was not a man of honour. Mac's tears were as much for having been so completely fooled by Dalton, as for having given him herself, albeit temporarily. All right, death may have been a bit drastic, but the way Dalton was carrying on, it was actually the only way to end the matter. Besides, the writers needed a dead body, and there weren't any other likely candidates. They did it well. I for one did believe at one point that perhaps Dalton was the stalker. But of course, once Coster showed his face, the finger of suspicion immediately pointed his way. I didn't like the current client, Sevalas, who embodied the usual male attitudes, but it seemed a bit farfetched that he would go to all the trouble of stalking Mac.

If King of the Fleas was DJE's episode for dramatics, then The Stalker was CB's episode for the same. She did a good job with the material, and showed a fair range, from drunken bitchiness to guilt and remorse. Some of the material was beyond comprehension, such as the little scene between Mac and the Admiral in his bedroom at the party. But she carried it off, and did so with conviction.

Now for the secondary story, that of Francesca, the Admiral's lovely daughter. TPTB apparently decided to make her older than she had appeared previously. She looked no more than barely out of her teens when AJ talked to her on the phone. Here, with the change of hairstyle, she looked like a self-confident young woman, who was more than capable of knowing what she wanted and going after it. And what she wanted was Harmon Rabb. Francesca was one smart cookie. She took one look at Harm, and knew. She also went about it the right way too, piquing his interest with her air of mystery and cryptic phone calls. I would say that Harm was a bit more than intrigued. However, he was still involved with Annie and he was also in the midst of the hunt for Mac's murderous stalker. He was not in the mood to be more than slightly amused by a flirtation, however intriguing. He played along just to be polite, but this is a man who takes his friendships very seriously, and would not be diverted from the job at hand when it counted. Hence he took off like a rocket after Mac when she slipped away from the party.

Coster was one bad villain, all the more villainous for being a detective and supposed to be a good guy. It was creepy to see how he did his stalking, and his very sane-sounding arguments just made him creepier. I do hope that he doesn't get early parole and come back. Let's get a new villain.

The last little scene in the hideout was well written and well done. It was just offhanded enough to balance the intensity and suspense of the previous few minutes. It also showed that Harm and Mac are good enough friends that they can joke about the really tough times. That's what friends are for.

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