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Date Posted: 23:18:43 06/22/02 Sat
Author: Yali V..._
Subject: Hooray! Another one I found! :)
In reply to: - 's message, "season seven: In Country, May 14, 2002" on 16:51:33 06/22/02 Sat

Synopsis- Harm and Mac are sent to Afghanistan to investigate a mishap during an ambush on an Al-Qaeda convoy crossing from that country to Pakistan. Webb makes Gunny, who is part of the USMC operations there, to joing him into following Kabir's path. Bud showcases his legal skills aboard the USS Seahawk and Harriet gets even with Singer.

This episode was not apt for cardiacs. There was a lot of mounting tension, and that wasn't seen lately in JAG.

I need to get this out of my chest. Didn't I say it? The catfight! (Well, sort of...) Singer met her match in Harriet, who said "enough!" when the first one began to blab around around Harm and Mac's possible MIA status in Afghnistan. "Why we don't forget that we are lieutenents for just a moment?"-Harriet snapped. Singer scoffed disdainfully and followed Harriet to an empty office (Bud's, perhaps?), with an "what you can do against me" attitude. The door closes and... SLAM! A letf jab right into Singer's fresh face! Harriet stepped out with only a strained hand, but poised as usual. Tiner asked what was going on, and Harriet just nodded. The next day, Singer's bruise called the attention of everyone. She dismissed it ironically with a "I slammed into a door, sir" when the admiral asked. One glimpse to Harriet, and the admiral knew. Don't mess around with sweet-looking Lt. Sims-Roberts, because looks can be deceiving! Yet Singer insinuated that she could take action against it. Let's see...

I must confess that I liked seeing Gunny and Webb in this episode. This was their episode. Some people have complained that they had too much screen time, but hey, they're also part of the JAG world. If we'd had A.J. Chegwidden-only, Harm-only, Mac-only, Bud-only eps -even a SecNav-oriented one, why shouldn't they? After all, it was Gunny who initiated the action that called for Harm and Mac to travel there. And when he caught Webb with his "connections" tricks, he was pulled in as a way to keep him quiet. (I just had to laugh when Webb answered his cell unit with the code name "Sexy Beast". If you haven't seen the movie, I recommed it just for the joke of the code name. But it's pretty good, for real.) Whoa, talk about "self-impression" and "love thy neighbor as you would love yourself"!

Speaking of that, Gunny had a one-way crush on an Afghan itinerant professor, Fareezah. When she failed to alert the village on the US attack to a Taliban convoy that lurked nearby, Mac suspected that she could easily be a double-agent. Gunny refused to believe so, insisting that she was forcded to flee with the terrorist. Harm and Mac attributed it to a love-lorn feeling. It turned out that he was right. Fareezah was abducted indeed by the very one Kabir, who arrived to the village first than her and conviced the people that she was the double agent, who planned to hand them to the American troops to have them killed. Sadly, she died on the raid.

Some people said that such Gunny portrayal was un-Gunny. Why Gunny cannot be allowed to have and show feelings at least for once? Mac has also showed hers, not every time portaryed the best way, but that doesn't make less Marine. Even Webb looks human every now and then.

Speaking of Webb, for sure he can be scary sometimes. When he was chatting with Gunny about Fareezah and being unlucky in love, and he mentioned the Guatemalan folk singer he liked once in a mission in Central America, I feared that he had to kill her for the sake of his mission. Something in his voice tone when he replied "Classified" when Gunny asked what happened to her gave me the chills. At the end, when Fareezah's death was confirmed, Webb's song was chilling too. "Our love is the son of a cruel father." It reminded me of a neo-classical painting, Love between the Remains, which depicts a young couple embracing hidden in the ruins of a building, while an army battalion retreats on the back.

Lt. Comdr. Theresa Coulter was called to analyze the body remains of Al-Qaeda's suspected officers. Hence the term "in country"- to do everything in a specific place because time is so valuable to waste it traveling in and out to get results. That sums up much of this episode. Her studies were conclusive- on the first raid, there were mostly civilian deaths; on the second one, Taliban warriors were killed as well as Fareezah, but Kabir flew away. He thought that he could fool Allied troops by cutting his own ring finger to make it appear that he was blown to pieces in the attack. But Lt. Comdr. Coulter then found out that it was cut with something sharp. Even Webb was impressed with such devious planning. On a side note, I have to agree with some fans that have complained about Trisha Yearwood's short and scattered appearance. Judging by the publicity made around the episode, it could lead us to believe that she would be a key figure on the story. She did a great job, no doubt about it, but it was more like a "touch and go".

Bud has showed a lot of initiative as the JAG aboard the USS Seahawk. The way he handled that buttoned-up CIA agent and the reluctant Taliban prisoner was just great as well as creative (the Star Trek dialogue props). Even the skipper couldn't argue with his methods, and P.O. Coates was impressed. She's not in love in him, though. It's only sheer admiration.

And speaking of movie props, Mac's confession to Harm that the life-saving move she concocted to free him from the Soviet butterfly-type mine she learned it in a movie was hilarious. But Harm's reaction surprised me a little. If you have seen the First Season episodes, you must remember that Harm used to spawn similar moves, and to Meg's shocked expression, he grinned and for all answer he would say that he saw it in a movie. Writers' alert- check script continuity. It's very important to maintain quality level in the storylines. The viewers don't forget that easily. It won't hurt if you check JAG past episodes.

Another comment on continuity- if Gunny wasn't totally responsible of the Khandahar fiasco at the beginning, who was, then? Because Mac promised Gunny that he would be cleared from any charges filed against him, and then Harm and Mac were almost blasted during the second raid. Another mystery from the JAG's Twilight Zone (eerie music, preferabily from Star Trek).

What shippers expected to be the TV version of Love between the Remains, it was just a matter of survival. You and your partner have just survived a minefield explosion and lost your transport. There's no more water, and no food ration. You're starnded in the desert, and although the base camp is relatively near, you won't reach it until morning, because there can be enemy troops lurking by. To make things worse, the desert can be pretty hot during the day, but temperatures drop way too low at night. How can you thing of romance when your life depends on hiding on a cave, beware of scorpions and save the last bit of corporal energy to resume march netx morning (in the best of cases)? I'm pretty sure that they were more aware of keeping an eye on their surroundings, and later to ran for their lives when the second raid struck pretty near from their hiding place. However, I sort of expected Mac to talk about her one-month staying in Red Rock Mesa- a place very similar to the Arizona desert. Again, continuity, misters.

On the end, Kabir managed to slip away, minus a finger. What does he has in mind? Why there are Russian Navy officers aiding him? What will happen next? Don't put away that oxygen tank, because JAG Seventh Season finale promises to take our breaths away!

Harmyrates (on a 10-scale):

Hot-hot-hot= 10!!! (and in such desert fatigues, another 10+)

Legal skills= 1.0 (little space to show them off; it was mostly a criminal investigation because of the disappearance of Fareezah)

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Replies:

This is great Yali. I just chose a review to read at random...and wow! I'm impressed. Thankyou! (NT) -- Cece...haven't read the rest yet...but I'll be back., 19:43:04 06/27/02 Thu