The First Season

The television drama J.A.G. first aired in 1995 and it ended its ten year run in 2005. At the end of J.A.G.'s first season, the series was cancelled by network NBC. Because of the cancellation, the season finale "Skeleton Crew" was not aired and has since only made rare appearances on syndication. The episode, however, has been included in this DVD set. Despite J.A.G.'s cancellation, it was given a second chance with network CBS. CBS picked up the series for season two and continued to support it until its final season.

The series is about the judicial body of the United States Navy, Judge Advocate General's corps (J.A.G.). The individuals who serve in J.A.G. are Naval officers with specializations in legal matters; they are military lawyers. J.A.G. officers investigate, prosecute, and defend crimes involving persons and property connected to the Navy and Marine Corps. Their investigations take them all over the world, wherever U.S. military presence may be. In this television series, the J.A.G. officers investigate a myriad of crimes, which include homicide, treason, espionage, terrorism, conspiracies, hostage situations, and other criminal acts. Despite the fact the main characters are military lawyers there is little focus on the legal aspects of the prosecution of a crime, i.e. the trial processions. Instead, the series' first season format is focused more on the investigation aspect, which always comes to a close with the J.A.G. officers revealing all of the nitty-gritty details of the crime. Throughout the investigations, there are usually some action packed scenes, complete with gunfire, explosions, fist fights, and military aircrafts.

The main character is Lieutenant Commander Harmon "Harm" Rabb Jr. (David James Elliott), a former Naval pilot turned J.A.G. officer. Harm followed in his father's footsteps to become a pilot, which he was forced to give up after he was diagnosed with night blindness. His expertise as a former top gun pilot proves useful on more than one occasion. In season one, Harm is partnered with two different female officers. In the pilot episode, he joins Lieutenant Caitlin "Kate" Pike (Andrea Parker). After the pilot episode, Harm was given a new partner. Kate made additional appearances in "Brig Break" and "Ares". The partner who replaced Kate is Lieutenant Meg Austin (Tracey Needham). The pilot episode withstanding, Meg joins Harm in every case. Meg is a former Navy weapons specialist and fluent in Spanish. Her expertise in weapon systems, computer technology, and Spanish come in handy during their investigations.

Of the main characters, only Elliott really feels right. He is a guy you can easily like and follow as he searches for the truth. His season one partners are not particularly strong characters. There is far too little of Kate in the season to get a really handle of her and Meg fails to shine. The real problem with Meg is that she is not a strong character and fails to be convincing in her role. Nor does she ever feel like an integral part of the show. Elliot as Harm is what drives the show. Fortunately, in season two the lovely Catherine Bell joins the cast as Harm's partner Mac. Overseeing the J.A.G. officers is Commander Ted Lindsey (W.K. Stratton) in the early episodes. He is replaced by Commander Allison Krennick (Andrea R.Thompson). Krennick is the aide to the J.A.G. commanding officer Admiral A.J. Chegwidden (John M. Jackson). Both Krennick and Chegwidden offer strong supporting characters in their roles.

The series two-part pilot episode tackles an issue that was very controversial at the time, women in the military serving in combat situations. Harm partners with Kate to investigate the death of a female top gun pilot. The pilot's death has yet to be determined as accidental, suicide, or homicide. The female pilot, Angela, recently returned from her first successful engagement with enemy fighters. She came back shuck up from the event and wrote a letter of resignation. Her state of mind and the letter indicate possible suicide. On the other hand, her fellow male pilots are hostile towards her and the idea of murder isn't implausible. Additionally, the Department of Navy wants the incident to be cleared as an accident because of the repercussions of suicide or homicide would be awful for the Navy. Harm is sent in, expected by his superiors to clear the death as an accident, but he shows them his abilities as an investigator and reveals the death as homicide.

In the following episode "Shadow", Harm is shocked to find out Kate has been transferred and he has a new partner, Meg. The two are being sent aboard the Tigershark, a submarine being held hostage by a disgruntled civilian contractor. The contractor is a software developer with control of the submarine and he is threatening to take lives if his demands are not met. This is one of the episodes where Meg's skills with weapon systems and computers are key to the investigation.

"War Cries" takes Harm and Meg to the U.S. Embassy in Peru. While on guard duty on the premise, a young corporal shoots an intruder climbing over the walls. It turns out the individual he shot was a fifteen year old boy, who also happens to be the brother of the woman the corporal was involved with. She recently found out she was pregnant and the brother intended to kill the corporal to reclaim her honor. The J.A.G. officers come to the embassy to find out there is more to the story than a sordid love affair.

"Brig Break" opens with Petty Officer First Class Quinn attempting to leave the Sea-Tac Naval Base without vehicle inspection. In the trunk of his car he had a stinger missile launcher with plenty of extra ammunition. Harm and Meg meet Kate at the naval base to conduct an investigation about the incident. However, while Meg is interviewing Quinn, a prison break occurs and she is taken hostage. Harm, with Kate's help, must defuse the situation and save Meg's life while a trigger happy major intends to stop the escapees without consideration for Meg's health.

In "Scimitar", two marines get lost on the Iraqi border and accidentally venture into an Iraqi patrol. Upon engagement, the Iraqi's fire and kill one of the marines and the other is taken prisoner. The Iraqi government offers the United States a chance to defend their soldier as he is tried for espionage. Harm and Meg go as representatives of the United States to save the marine. With the help of an Iraqi insider, codename Scimitar, the Navy plans to extract the marine if the case goes sour. This is an exciting episode with lots of action.

In "The Brotherhood", Private First Class Hanson, an African-American, is found beaten on the training beach at Camp Pendleton. The attending physician called J.A.G. in response. Apparently, the squad Hanson is from has the highest injury-rate and most of them are African-American men. The physician believes it is race-related. However, when Harm and Meg interview the commanding officer, they are taken back when they find out he is African-American. During Harm's investigation, he learns the problem lies in Hanson's former ties with gangs.

In the next episode "Defensive Action", Harm is promoted from Lieutenant to Lieutenant Commander for his exemplary service. Almost immediately after, he is deployed to serve as defense counsel for Captain Thomas Boone (Terry O'Quinn). Boone was the commanding officer of the dead female pilot in the pilot episode and also the wingman of Harm's father. Boone is facing a court-martial after violating a ceasefire and shooting down a Bosnian helicopter. He claims the helicopter was firing on his men. Unfortunately, the only proof Boone is telling the truth is the surviving pilot, who is missing in action. Harm takes it upon himself to go on a one man rescue mission to save his client's career. In this episode, Harm faces the Navy's best prosecutor, Commander Krennick, who becomes his commanding officer in D.C. soon after.

"Smoked" is another intriguing episode that takes Harm, Meg, Krennick, and the Assistant Secretary of State Blair into Cuba to negotiate the return of a downed jet fighter and its pilot. Lieutenant Commander Keeter was flying near Cuban airspace when his Tomcat was struck by lighting and he was forced to make an emergency landing in Cuba. The J.A.G. officers and the secretary hope to negotiation the prompt return of the jet fighter because it has state of the art aviation software controlling its computer systems. Cuba, however, hopes to use the jet as a bargaining tool for oil with Iran.

In "Hemlock", the events are very dramatic when Meg is shot by an assassin and they get even more intense when Harm and Krennick try to find him. In the opening of the episode, a fax was mistakenly sent to Meg's office, which contained a confidential itinerary about a foreign delegate's visit to the United States. The assassin went to Meg's office to retrieve the document and permanently silence her. It is a race against time as Harm must battle his own ranks (Navy Intelligence), the local authorities, and others to catch the shooter.

The episode "Ares" takes place in White Beach, Okinawa. A sailor is murdered with only a sign across his chest that says "Go Home Yankees!". There is some hostility from the local population about U.S. military presence. Wanting to solve the issue quickly and efficiently, Harm and Meg are sent to the Daniel Boone (the ship the murdered sailor served on), where they join Kate and Commander Brockman, a J.A.G. officer who has it in for Harm. The J.A.G. officers unravel an intricate plot about an advanced artificial intelligence called Ares. Ares was designed to automate defensive systems and the Daniel Boone is the first ship to be put Ares to practical use. Their task becomes especially hectic when Ares takes control of the ship and locks everyone out.

The season finale "Skeleton Crew" is an episode that has only made rare appearances on syndication. NBC pulled the plug on J.A.G. before airing it. According to various online sources, portions of the episode were used in the season three episode "Death Watch". The episode guest stars Catherine Bell (who becomes Harm's partner Mac in future seasons) as Lieutenant Diane Schonke. In the opening sequence, Schonke is found murdered in her car. Harm, Meg, and Krennick work the case with an N.C.I.S. Agent Turkey (John Ashton). The catch is Harm had a personal relationship with Schonke. She was an old girlfriend and the love of his life. The story takes several twists and turns as they look for the killer and a motive. Unfortunately, part two of the episode was never written due to NBC's cancellation and the story is left unresolved. Some closure is provided in the season three episode "Death Watch".

In the end, J.A.G. proves to be an intriguing series and its inaugural season offers twenty-one exciting episodes. The episodes include lots of action with some well-written stories about espionage, homicide, treason, and other criminal acts. Elliot gives a great performance as Harm, a top gun pilot turned into a J.A.G. lawyer. It is, however, unfortunate his partner for this season does not provide the same confidence as a character. I look forward to season two when he is partnered with Catherine Bell and the series also takes a change in its pace with less action and more focus on the legal aspect.

Episode Guide
1. Pilot
2. Shadow
3. Desert Son
4. Deja Vu
5. Pilot Error
6. War Cries
7. Brig Break
8. Scimitar
9. Boot
10. Sightings
11. The Brotherhood
12. Defensive Action
13. Smoked
14. Hemlock
15. High Ground
16. Black Ops
17. Survivors
18. Recovery
19. The Prisoner
20. Ares
21. Skeleton Crew

The DVD

Video:
The video is given in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color. The picture quality is not great, but it is not awful either. The picture has a fair amount of noise with noticeable dirt and grain. The picture, while rough, is still very viewable and should not ruin the viewing experience.

Audio:
The audio track supplied is an English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo surround sound track. The track is pretty clean sounding. Spoken dialogue is audible throughout the episodes. There is also a fair usage of the surround sound setup used with sound effects from gunfire, explosions, military aircrafts, etc. There is also support for closed captioning.

Extras:
The extras include an audio commentary and three featurettes. The commentary covers the pilot episode with creator/executive producer/writer/director Donald P. Bellisario. In it, Bellisario provides an interesting discussion about various aspects of the show, including the specifics about cast, the episode, and also comments about the series in general.

Next is the featurette "How The Series Took Flight (7:05)". In this short, Donald P. Bellisario, Charles F. Johnson, and Jon Koslowsky discuss about how the series started, the direction NBC wanted for the show (more action, less courtroom time), portraying women in the military, some personal experiences, the pilot episode, and reflections about working on the show.

"JAG: An Inside Look (13:03)" provides more commentary from cast and crew about the series with clips from the season one episodes. Donald P. Bellisario, David James Elliot, Charles F. Johnson, Andrea Parker, Patrick Labyotreaux, Diamond Farnsworth, George Tuers, and Harriet Margulies star. The topics of discussion include casting characters for the pilot episode and season one, characters Bud Roberts, Kate Pike, and Harm Rabb, production/stunts, the audience, the show's success, and their experiences.

The final extra is the featurette "The Military Accuracy (4:21)", which stars Donald P. Bellisario and Charles F. Johnson. It opens with Bellisario talking about how the Navy was reacting to the show's concept. They were not happy about the idea of having a show that focused on people in the Navy prosecuting their fellows in the Navy for committing criminal acts. Their opinion, however, changed after J.A.G. got underway. The remainder of the featurette discusses how accurate the show was in its representation of the Navy and it includes senior military advisor Matt Sigloch.

Final Thoughts:
J.A.G. is an intriguing television drama about the judicial body of the United States Navy. The storylines the episodes cover include lots of drama as Harm and Meg solve cases involving homicide, conspiracy, espionage, and international relations. In addition, some of the stories include catchy action scenes to help keep your interest. In the end, season one of J.A.G. is a solid television drama that should make anyone who enjoys a good investigation with an occasional focus on the legal aspects happy. This season set comes recommended.