Vanished, October 28, 1997

By Shirley

In Vanished, a Tomcat and its pilot literally vanished into thin air. This was even more serious in light of the fact that this Tomcat had a full arsenal of missiles. Harm, Mac and Bud are sent to investigate. I believe that this was one of those "ripped from the headlines" stories. In the real story, the pilot and aircraft are found in the mountains, in pieces. We get a happy ending here. I can live with that. I like happy endings. The only problem is this story did not work that well. It felt awkward and lame. I never at any time got into the story.
 

There were memorable moments in the episode, chiefly the Harm/Mac tête-à-tête. When asked what she wanted in life, Mac told him "a great career, a good man and lots and lots of comfortable shoes." If that isn't a come-on I don't know what is. What did Harmon Rabb do? He backed off and steered the conversation onto safer ground. This of course inspired endless debate amongst both adherents and opponents of the Harm/Mac relationship. Questions: 1. Is he too shy? 2. Too scared of commitment? 3. Or is he plain just not interested that way and doesn't want to hurt her? I opt for number three. Yes he is kind of shy but I don't believe that that would stop him if he were really interested. As for number two, I don't believe that he is afraid of commitment. I think he is ready for it. He just hasn't found the right woman. That's right, this fan does not believe that Mac is the right woman for Harm.

As for Harm being so worried about the possibility of Mac leaving JAG, I agree that he was both curious and worried about Mac's state of mind. He was curious because that was his nature. He made no bones about that aspect of his character when he quizzed Kate about her affair with Brockman in Ares. And he certainly was not jealous of Brockman. (Brockman! Kate was out of her mind, obviously!) So it makes sense to me that he would be equally curious about Dalton, (good continuity here). As for his slightly lame explanation that he didn't want to have to break in a new partner, well, I think he was worried about how Mac would fare in the world out there and he didn't want to pass along his doubts. After all, he does genuinely care for her as a friend, and this is a man who takes his friendships very seriously.

There were little bits of slightly amusing business with Bud and the Bermuda Triangle, and Harm's close encounter with the two nerds. Oh dear! Things are starting to 'vanish' from my memory. Do I remember anything else? Tattoo? No, no! I hate needles!

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