Saturday, January 15, 2005

Editorial comment - sorry!

[The show has a list of producers as long as your arm - what are they doing? Harm and Mac's relations have long been an interesting side issue; but, now they have become a giant elephant in the room, preventing the series from progressing until resolved!! Cresswell's character is sucking enjoyment out of the program. Why, on earth, bring such arrogant, continuous, antagonism inside the circle? Didn't the "powers" learn anything from the terrible first year ratings, and cancellation, when it was basically only Harm against not only the villians, but the entire rest of the cast? [i.e. the disinterested and condescending Brovo; simpering, deceptive fool "teddy"; "king of the hill" Pike; and, angry, "agendized" SECNAV.] This show works when: "it's all of US" (insiders) against THEM (outsiders); uses military related action plots; and, when it's still based on the ideals (as Harm told Xman) "we didn't get to be the good guys by shooting first."

Yes, the military (especially politics and the world) is full of: agenda, deception, adults acting like children doing "parallel play," and arrogant "short men"; but, we don't invite them into our living rooms after a hard day at work - (for very long anyway.) And, please, plot development should, at least, be within 100 nautical miles of believability!]

Friday, January 14, 2005

The Sixth Juror - 219

[Weak (actually, completely stupid) plot with "contrived," gratuitous tension] Cr (Cr) sent Harm (H) and Mac (M) to Key West to investigate PO 2nd class Russ Foyle, who was charged with the "love triangle" murder of civilian Ben Hewitt over Lt. Eve Sorrens. Cr forced Coates (Co) on M as an assistant and kept Bud (B) in the office to continually bait him (as if it would make B jealous?) and assign him scut work. When H called and asked B for help deciphering a log book of the victims, Cr belittled B even more.

It was almost impossible to Voir Dire a jury on the small Boca Chi base. The Judge, Cdr Don Pulone, pushed Co into being the 6th juror (despite having already set in on several initial interviews with M?!) Then, when Co saw another juror romantically meeting Sorrens and reported it, Pulone accused her of "stalking" the other juror (?!) So: Hewitt was shot AFTER it had already started raining; Foyle was passed out drunk BEFORE it started raining (the flower stains on his shirt proved it!??). The judge chastised Coates for reporting juror misconduct, and juror 1was allowed to stand in the middle of the court and verbally discredit a witness! To which Coates, also on the jury, then rose and debated him! The 1st juror, who had lied in voir dire, finally admitted his affair with Sorrens. Then, now that she was openly discovered, Sorrens charged Capt Layton (her female base CO) with being sexually obsessed with her!(?!!).

B discovered that the log book, which H wanted him to decipher, actually used an old Civil War code. So, with a grand flourish, H wheeled a computer screen into court, asked for a continuance, and when the judge wouldn't grant it - called the judge to testify(?!!) The dead Hewitt was a bookie and Pulone's name was coded in his ledger for lots of money! The judge (Pulone) proceeded to hear Hs "testimony" and then testified (argued) himself in open court (!!???)

The conviening authority, Capt Layton, set aside Foyle's trial and remanded judge Palone to court marshal. Then, to cap off the absurdities, Cr pronounced his customary, final blustering belittlement of Capt Layton's positive evaluation of H, M and Coates. [This was definitely not the usual quality of work of the writer who also gave us: Wilderness of Mirrors, Walk on Wings, Answered Prayers and others!]

Friday, January 7, 2005

Automatic for the People - 216

[The "elephant" is still in the room and Creswell's attitude has long ago become tiresome. A new character was introduced, as well as yet another new "love option" for H.] Bud (B) went to his mandated anger management meeting and was baited by another participant, Korski. When another participant, PO Mooney, tried to defend B, Korski started a fight. B stood up, but knocked his chair over. As B picked up the chair, Korski rammed the instructor, Lt Harriman, into it, breaking his jaw. Cresswell (Cr) told Turner (T) that "he didn't like loose cannons in his department", and T agreed (probably thinking it was Mac (M) and Harm (H) ). When Cr mentioned he was thinking about B, T showed surprise; so, Cr asked him who "you though I meant," but T wouldn’t answer. T was assigned to investigate Bs activities, and assumed that B was at fault. Harriman explained the incident and told T flatly that B "doesn't need to be in this class!" When T exonerated B to Cr, Cr belittled him saying "you aren't objective."(!?) Finally, Cr related to B a story of a crippled veteran that he knew, who was demoralized by being the brunt of a joke. He admitted that "I was small for my age" as a child. He then, condescendingly, told B that he would "cut him some slack" (basically because he was "crippled" on duty, not because he believed him).

M had to re-qualify on weapons so Cr turned it into a competition showing up, uninvited, to her shoot. Then, when he lost to M he expected everyone to think he was magnanimous by admitting the loss "as the first step to improvement." He told M that he "would get her next time," and she said "… like hell you will."

Lt Cathy Graves (Gr) , who said she "knew 10 ways to commit a perfect murder, was assigned to H who went to China Lake to investigate the crash of an F-14 which was assigned to a Navy contractor, Larmoss industries. Gr played a doofus (as B used to be), not above using sexuality to get what she wanted; but, also like B, unexpectedly intelligent. They found that the F-14 had crashed next to a school playground and had killed a local artist who had been painting a bridge - the father of Megan Ransford. It turned out that the jet was only a drone with "Oscar," a dummy, at the controls; yet, there was unidentified DNA at the scene. A second aircraft, previously undisclosed by Larmoss, was discovered, along with the empty apartment of the fictitious pilot who had supposedly been killed. Eventually the second F-14 was found to have been piloted by Lt. Itzhak Meier, of the Israeli air force, who was testing a top secret airborne platform for a laser weapon (Deuterium Fluoride Chemical Laser). H strong armed a $2 million (probably) settlement from Larmoss. Megan rewarded him with a lingering kiss and said "don't forget about me." Gr told H that she wanted to be at JAG, and H told her "you never know."