Saturday, September 30, 1995

Shadow - 3

A malignant, computer nerd, techno-pirate, consultant, Mr. Grover, took control of an experimental "shadow" torpedo with his laptop which was also rigged to blow up remote bombs strategically placed around the submarine Tiger Shark. Teddy Lindsey picked Harm up in a helicopter disturbing the morning jog of president Clinton (in a cameo). Meg Austin is assigned to H now as Adm Brovo had made Caitlin Pike his aid. After the senate had grilled Lindsey on the Sea Hawk incident, Brovo told him to "get out of dodge." Transporting to the Tiger Shark in inclement weather H was about to pull Mg back up and she un-hooked dropping into the ocean. H jumped in 50 feet after her. Captain told them that Grover was demanding 40 million in gold and to be taken to Cuban waters or he would cause the Shadow to blow up a cruise liner. From his laptop he had caused the Shadow to dive below a thermocline but, when the sub followed to slip above it again looking like it had disappeared. Grover was an arrogant SOB who blew a bomb to show H & Mg he "was prepared to die."

H discovered that Mg was claustrophobic on sub and told her that he didn't like her because she had not disqualified herself. Mg said that she had broken computer codes in less than 30 seconds - and as long as three days, but that was in Chinese. Mg wanted to take Grover's laptop saying that his claim he needed to "contact" the Shadow randomly or it would attack was "bogus." H, however, wanted more proof and got Grisham, the sonar operator, to look at the tapes. He found a "fish fart" that revealed Grover's "trick" with the Shadow but agreed with Mg that he couldn't still be in touch with the Shadow. They deduced that a limited range "repeater" was placed in the new sub's hull along with the strategically placed bombs. H told Mg to go "sit with" Grover and she balked at having to "play the faint hearted female." He told her "she didn't need to PLAY," making her angry. Adm. Drake told Teddy that the president had agreed to pay the ransom and to take it out of their budget. He told him to: 1- deliver the gold to the Shark; 2- deliver Grover to Cuban waters; and 3- (most important) if he accomplished 1 & 2 his next assignment would be on the Arizona (at the bottom of Pearl Harbor). He said "get it back."

When the captain told H that his job was over, H had Grover arrested and took his laptop. Mg got close to breaking the code. She got through 4 levels, 2 booby traps and a fake program; but, she didn't think she could complete in the 20 minutes left. H noticed that all the bombs had been place in non-critical spaces so Grover wasn't REALLY prepared to die. He brought Grover to the bridge and set up a ruse that they had broken his code. He showed him turn the Shadow but it then targeted the Tiger Shark. The Captain took all kinds of evasive measures to no avail and, finally, Grover told Mg the secret pass codes to detonate the torpedo without actually harming any ship. Only afterwards did he realize he had been tricked. Sailing on the surface H & Mg were alone on the conning tower. She told him that she knew he was only making her mad to take her mind off being claustrophobic. He told her she was "ok," and he wouldn't mind being teamed with her again.

Saturday, September 23, 1995

JAG (2-Hour Pilot) - 1

[This was the pilot episode which introduced: lazy JAG admiral Brovo, simpering "Teddy" Lindsey his legal side-kick, ex-pilot turned lawyer Harmon Rabb and Harvard law graduate Kaitlin Pike. The character, later to become "mikey" also had his debut as fisherman's son Antonio as well as the CAG and Bud Roberts.] Antonio and his fisherman father watched as the CAG and his Radio Intercept Officer (RIO) Angela Arruti, flew overhead to engage a Serbian fighter jet. Resenting women on a carrier, the CAG tested Arruti by ordering his wingman to "watch his six" while he took on both of the Serb jets. He turned off their main missile, over Arruti's panic'd objections, and was able to destroy one jet with a smaller missile; then the other with their 20MM guns. Arruti really "lost it" and when she challenged the CAG after landing, he said that he "wanted to see if you had the guts for a knife fight... and you don't!" Coincidentally, a reporter was coming to interview her the next day for being a woman who had downed two planes; but, listening to her own recording that she made of her whining and fearful voice, she wrote a letter of resignation on her computer. She had a "butch" roommate, Lt Puller, who was a pilot who had made an enemy of Lt "ripper" Carter by beating him at weightlifting. Incensed, Carter had been giving her extra wave offs on her landings which hurt her flying record. Puller interrupted Arutti's writing and tried to talk her out of resigning; but, Arruti left, wearing Puller's "LOBO" flight jacket. She went to the fantail where the COD was tied down and made love to someone unknown inside the plane. On the way back to her quarters she got caught in a moving deck part and went over the side; but, she caught on some rigging and pulled herself back to the top. When she finally got back on top, she was again pushed overboard by someone also unknown.

Lindsey had to interrupt Brovo, who was watching Jay Leno, to tell him that Arruti was missing. Realizing the political implications of a missing femal pilot, Brovo told Lindsey to send the expendable "junior officer" Rabb who was less likely to intimidate the Sea Hawks captain. And, in case they needed to talk to the press, "a female JG who was easy on the eyes"- Pike. Bud Roberts was their host aboard the Seahawk and told them that the captain wanted to see them immediately. But, when Harm found that a reporter had been held incommunicado since the morning, he went to talk to him first. The reporter, De Palma, had met H when, at 16 years of age, H had gone to Vietnam to try and find his MIA father. De Palma agreed to "sit on the story" for 48 hours under the condition that he be given two rides over Bosnia in a jet. H revealed to the captain that someone had sent an anonymous encrypted message that "she was murdered" so they were there to investigate. The CAG asked H if his step-father, who was a Sr. VP at Chrysler, was still a "used car salesman."

H was harassed by a pilot, Lt Mace, about Hs crash, several years previously, in which his RIO was killed. Mace's RIO, Lt Painter, seemed to already know about the "being murdered" issue. Mace told them that Painter and Arruti were "tight in RIO school" but she had been "ice" on the cruise so far. Teddy had to wait until Brovo finished playing the clarinet before he could tell him that a Serb Terrorist had shot down a C130 UN relief flight with a MASH unit on board and that H still hadn't decided if it was murder or accident. Brovo told him that without incontrovertible evidence H's report must call it "accidental death" otherwise their investigation would be challenged in congress by either the feminists - if it was suicide, or the anti-feminists- if it was murder. "And," he said, "a junior officer always gets thrown to the sharks first."

Brovo was summoned to the Whitehouse by the first lady to talk about the Sea Hawk investigation. While there he met Adm Drake, who was lobbying for a naval "alpha strike" in retaliation for the downing of the UN flight, and suggested he use the reporter aboard the ship to "spin good press." Pike argued with the CAGs opinion that Arruti's death was suicide. She had her friend Zane, in crypto, restore Arruti's cassette tape of her mission, which Puller had erased. She also found from Painter that he had been Arruti's undisclosed husband and was the one who sent the encrypted message about her being murdered. While in the COD that night, he had talked Arruti out of resigning, so had been going back to her room to erase her resignation letter when she was killed. H & Pike confronted Puller who admitted to erasing the tape and the letter so she became a suspect. Painter also told Pike that the RIO, who had died in Hs night landing crash, was Mace's brother; which, was why he was so abusive to H. Arruti's body was eventually found by Antonio and his father in their fishing nets. She had died of drowning and had evidence of struggling on her fingertips. H noticed she was wearing a flight jacket with the name "Lobo" and had assumed that it was her call sign.

Resentfully, CAG took De Palma up for the flight that H had promised him and turned up the heat in the cockpit, did loops and pulled negative "g's," all designed to make him airsick and throw up. Then, when the alpha strike had finally been authorized and he was going up for an ATARS recon flight, the CAG offered to take De Palma up again for his second flight but he refused. H volunteered and was taken on the flight. The CAG had been Hs dad's wingman on the day he went down in Vietnam. In the flight H noticed that Puller was the CAGs wingman and was actually the one with the call sign "Lobo"; so, he realized that Arruti had been killed by mistake, probably by "ripper" Carter who thought it was "Lobo.". During the flight the CAG was shot and H had to fly the plane. He refused to "punch out" with the unconscious CAG on board and had to "fake" radio interference so he wouldn't hear the orders. The captain eventually told the air boss to let him land. Puller helped him with the alignment and checklist because he hadn't had a trap in 5 years. But Carter was the landing boss who H realized would probably try to give him a wave-off so he would crash. He radioed to Pike about Carter and she arrested him so he couldn't give H a wave off. H did land safely and saved both their lives.

In the hospital the CAG told H about being H's father's wingman on a similar recon flight over Vietnam. He said he "called the sandies and flew cap until he was bingo fuel. 5 minutes later when the sandies arrived Rabb was down. He had a tail wind and landed with 80 pounds of fuel so he could have stayed about 4 minutes longer over Rabb's punch out site, which might have made a difference to Rabb. He said he made a judgment call and has had to live with it; but, told H that his "eyes are not a judgment call and you have no need to 2nd guess." Mace was also shown giving H some aviators wings as a token of his getting over his anger. De Palma played up Hs rescue of the CAG on television and Brovo called him a "hero." Lindsey asked Brovo if he wasn't still worried about their finding of murder and Brovo said the sharks couldn't go after H because he was a hero. "If anyone goes it will be me," he said, "or you teddy." [Actually, and fortunately, when the show was finally picked up it was Brovo who left!]