Webb of Lies, February 9, 1999

By Shirley

It's sweeps time again, ladies and gentlemen, and TPTB and the network have pulled out all the stops in their attempt to get the demographically desirable eyeballs focused on JAG during the 8:00 P.M. timeslot on these crucial February Tuesday nights.

All right, I agree, I sound cynical. What do you expect after the November sweeps? Once burnt ... We've barely flushed the suds down the drain!

Last week, TPTB and the network did a terrific number on the fans with their promos of Webb getting shot and supposedly dead, Harm in boxers, Harm holding Mac's tearful face, and Harm getting shot. I take my hat off to them. They pressed all the right buttons. No wonder so many millions tuned in. As for the episode itself, here are my thoughts.

First off, since the title is Webb of Lies, I must say that I'm glad Clayton Webb isn't dead. I have a soft spot for the character. Plus I think he's very useful for the show. That said, I wouldn't have shed any tears though if it turned out he was really dead. They can easily write another character. Sorry, Webbies. It was amusing, though, and so true to life, that the JAG staff eulogizes him as only a good guy, brushing aside his nasty characteristics when they thought he was dead. Talk about it being fun to attend one's own funeral! Yes, I do believe that Webb has a good heart and when all the chips are down, he'll side with the angels. But until that time, watch out!

Just consider what he did in this episode. He arranged for his 'death', and involved his best friend Harm without so much as a by your leave. Of course he knew that his phone call would be traced, and the bad guys would go after Harm. And what the heck was he expecting Harm to do when he called him? I bet his plan was that the bad guys would go after Harm, leaving him free to complete his mission. Ruthless? Yes. Cold-blooded? Yes. It is this element of cold-blooded ruthlessness that is missing from Harm's character. We see this very clearly when Webb would not back down at Palmer's threat to Jordan Parker but Harm did, immediately. I believe that if it had been Webb on board the frigate in Tiger,Tiger, he would not have given in to the terrorists to save little Erin's life, as Harm did. This is why Harm is the hero. He will always give in when someone's life is threatened. It doesn't matter if it makes sense to do so or not. He will do it. That is his nature, and Palmer read him like a book.

Palmer also read him like a book with his arrangement of the romantic rendezvous at Harm's apartment. Much as I dislike the character, (what a nasty nasty villain you are, Clark Palmer, damn your wild eyes and flapping ears! <G>), I have to say that he is one perceptive creep. His fake message to Jordan and the entire so romantic set-up in Harm's apartment was perfectly in character for Harm. It was so perfect that Jordan, herself no mean student of human nature, did not even suspect that it wasn't Harm. The interweaving of the scenes between the ship and the apartment was very well done in the last act. The men, so tense and firmly entrenched in reality, and Jordan, completely given over to the fantasy, innocently delighting in the red roses, the champagne, and the gift - a negligee, but not one of those too explicit black ones, rather, a softly flowing one in virginal white. Very bridal, actually. Our Harm is a romantic! <long long sigh>. Ooops! I'd like to change my mind about Clark Palmer. If he can provide us with such delicious insights into Harm's character, let's keep him around. Villain, stay! <LOL>

I started off by remarking on the fine job TPTB are doing in exciting the fans. The entire sequence with Mac spending the night at Harm's apartment is a perfect illustration of that. If ever there was a scene made to fan specification, this was it. We have Mac, 'protecting' our hero from the crazed killer in the lonely reaches of the night. We are given Harm, dressed in only his boxers. Oh my goodness!!! We are given a tearful scene with Harm cupping Mac's face in his hand. And finally, we get a one liner with lots of double entendre. But even though I was one of those throbbing with excitement at Harm in boxers, I still couldn't help but see that this particular interlude was as false as Webb's death. Why? It came up out of nowhere. It didn't make sense. It was not necessary to the story. Its only purpose was to pander to the fans. Because since when is Harm so helpless that Mac (a.k.a. Ninja Girl) has to spend the night at his place to watch over him while he slept? (OK, TPTB, time to 'fess up! Whose fantasy are you tapped into now with this particular scenario, huh?) I can see that he acquiesced probably because he sensed that it was she who was in no state to spend the night alone, but still, it is kind of hokey. And TPTB were sly. They give with one hand, and take with the other. This was the perfect set-up for a scene with lots of sexual tension. There was none. I discerned not one iota of sexual energy in the scene. Harm's body language was entirely on the slightly exasperated "what now" level throughout this scene. It is very reminiscent of the scene with Walter in the hospital room in Code Blue. As for his gesture to comfort, it was exactly that, to comfort. And the one liner? It was quite out of line. How silly can you get? Here's Mac, supposedly there to protect Harm, and in the middle of her watch, she renders inoperable their only weapon by "stripping it down". Duh.

Speaking of weapons, a final word on our not-yet-departed friend Webb: he sure handles a gun well for someone who in The Game of Go supposedly doesn't know which end of the gun is the butt. Of course it is ludicrous to think that Webb has not had complete weapons training. This episode throws into further disrepute The Game of Go from Season Two. It is quite clear now that in that episode TPTB had not yet decided on the direction to go with not just the Webb character, but the Harm and Mac partnership.
 

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