The Best Episodes of JAG

The episode starts with a short recap of where we left off last season: Bud & PO Coates walking along a dirt road enroute to attend the ground-breaking of the new school, when they spot a small boy playing in a field that had yet to be cleared of mines. As Coates runs for help, there is an explosion behind her. She turns in time to see Bud injured in the explosion and runs to his side. Coates insists that Bud must be transported on the helo that brought them in, that Bud won't be able to wait for the proper medevac chopper. Bud is airlifted to a field hospital, critical, but still alive. As luck would have it, ZNN reporter Stuart Dunston just happens to be at the base camp when Bud is brought it. Dunston reports the arrival of an injured JAG officer that was brought it, but does not report the name. Chegwiggen advises Harriet, but reminds her he is still on the Seahawk. She tries to contact him by instant messaging, but does not receive a reply.

Director: Jeannot Szwarc

Writer: Charles Holland

Harm and Mac defend a former Navy Seal, now a homeless man, but still a highly trained killing machine, who is accused of using excessive force in killing three men who tried to hold up a convenience store. It seems like an open-and-shut case of triple homicide until Harm and Mac discover that the former Seal, Paul Bauwer acted instinctively at the store as he sought to protect a young boy -- who happened to be his estranged son but didn't recognize him. Bauwer, embarrassed by his own vagrancy, wants to keep his identity a secret from his son. As a result, Harm and Mac must devise a successful defense without divulging their client's relationship to the only witness to the incident, while at the same time proving that Bauwer acted in an appropriate manner.

Director: Michael Schultz

Writer: Jack Orman

On board the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea, Harm & Admiral Boone await the arrival of the transport plane to take them back to DC. Harm was onboard the carrier to review the new Atlantic Fleet JAG command structure, while Admiral Boone was onboard making a business representation to the CAG of the Coral Sea. Admiral Boone, reassigned when SecNav Nelson was replaced, tells Harm that he's retired for good. Just before they board their aircraft, the CAG tells Adm. Boone he was impressed with his presentation, but when Harm goes to shake the CAG's hand goodbye, the CAG refuses to take his hand, brushing him aside. Harm is left wondering why the CAG, who he had never met, appears not to like him. They then exit to the flight deck in time to see their plane about to land. The landing however, doesn't occur, since their tailhook broke away & landed on the deck.

Director: Kenneth Johnson

Writer: Dana Coen

(The time is 1980, several Russian soldiers are guarding a prisoner who is Harmon Rabb, Sr. at a train station. The KGB take a photo of the persons gathered there - a photo which has made its way to Harmon Rabb, Jr. in the present time.) Clayton Webb meets with Harm at JAG and tells him who the men in the photo are. Webb mentions that one of them, Victor Lushov is now working in San Diego. Harm requests from the Admiral to take an F-14 hop to San Diego to visit his mother, keeping secret his true intentions. In San Diego, Harm meets with Lushov who turns out to be a Russian pilot who was instrumental interoggating Harm, Sr. after he was shot down over Vietnam, later befriending him. He tells Harm Jr. all about what happened to his father, that Harm Sr. fed all kinds of disinformation to the Russians, which was worse than telling them nothing. Lushov gives Harm Jr. the KGB file number for his father. And says he wants to live and will not repeat what he has said to anyone.

Director: Tony Wharmby

Writer: Larry Moskowitz, Donald P. Bellisario

A murdered JAG officer teams up the JAG staff with agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS).

Director: Donald P. Bellisario

Writer: Donald P. Bellisario, Don McGill

When a pretty female petty officer is arrested by the MP's for impersonating a Salvation Army 'bell-ringing' Santa & pocketing the cash, Harm is assigned as her attorney. However, since she has a history of unauthorized absences, she is ordered to be held in custody. But with the holidays, the brig & pre-trial detention center are unavailable, she is estranged from her father, so she must spend the holiday with Harm or with Mac. Cmdr. Ted Lindsey (as the SecNav's administrative assistant) notifies Bud's brother Mikey that each year, the SecNav nominates 170 enlisted personnel for admission to the Naval Academy and that Mikey is being considered for one of those nomination spots. Bud & Mikey's father, a retired Master Chief though is not at all thrilled with having another son becoming an officer and insures that everyone knows it.

Director: Terrence O'Hara

Writer: N/A

Hospitalized with a knee injury, Harm is forced to take action when the Hamas, a terrorist Islamic Resistance group, takes the hospital hostage. An Israeli diplomat undergoing a heart transplant provides the Hamas terrorists with the perfect negotiating tool. They take over the operating room -- as well as the entire hospital -- and use the diplomat as leverage while demanding the release of one of their imprisoned leaders. Meanwhile, Mac is trapped in the hospital cafeteria trying to negotiate with two terrorists.

Director: Tony Wharmby

Writer: R. Scott Gemmill

When a fully armed and piloted Navy F-14 disappears during a storm, the JAG team is called in to investigate all possible scenarios, from pilot suicide and terrorism to the curse of the Bermuda Triangle and UFO interference. When the plane's co-pilot surfaces, bloodied and disoriented, Harm and Mac get some new information that steers them away from Twilight Zone explanations and instead points them in the direction of kidnapping, terrorism and a hard-core militia group's plot to assassinate a PLO delegation heading for Washington by using the pilot -- and his plane -- to do the dirty work.

Director: Alan J. Levi

Writer: R. Scott Gemmill

Mac becomes upset when Harm tells her at the last minute that he will not be attending her rehearsal duty in order to complete his 6-month required carrier landing qualifications. He assures her that he will be back in time for the wedding. At the church, Chloe is still wary of being friends of Mic. On board the USS Patrick Henry, Harm learns that the LSO who will be grading him thinks of him only as a "land-based Washington weenie." His fears that he won't be graded fairly are realized when he is ordered to land after his first attempt is waved off. After convincing the LSO that they were flying they way that the LSO taught them, he allows Harm to try again. After passing, he then completes his required night traps and requests to head back to Andrews AFB. With an approaching storm, all air operations are suspended, but is assured that he & Skates can be on the first Tomcat, once its forecasted to be safe. With a break in the storm, he & Skates are allowed to go.

Director: Scott Brazil

Writer: Dana Coen, Stephen Zito

Admiral Chegwidden, Lt. Singer & Cmdr. Turner move over to the Pentagon War Room to easily coordinate & share intelligence information on Kabir Atef's planned attack on the U.S. When an Afghan school is destroyed in a bombing raid, Bud & PO2 Coates fly to the scene to survey the damage. Once there, he promises to the locals that the US will re-build the school. Meanwhile, Harm & Mac are still in Afghanistan attempting to pick up Kabir's trail, still looking for the mysterious truck that disappeared during a raid. ("In Country"). They come under fire, but are unhurt. Once they repair the damage to the vehicle caused by the gunfire, they continue driving all night and find an abandoned truck that appears to be the one they're looking for. They find the driver dead of suspected origin. Continuing onto the next village, they find villagers in the same condition. A medical team is brought in and they determine that the villagers are suffering from radiation poisoning.

Director: Bradford May

Writer: Charles Holland

General Cresswell informs Harm and Mac that they are being reassigned. Harm to London and Mac to San Diego. With their deadline quickly approaching. Harm and Mac must sort out their lives and resolve their feelings for each other.

Director: Bradford May

Writer: N/A

Harm and Mac play a deadly game of hide-and-seek in the Appalachian mountains when they are tracked by backwoodsmen poachers who have just killed a game warden. While on their day off, Harm takes Mac for a flight in his vintage airplane, only to be forced to make an emergency landing in a mountain clearing because of mechanical problems. While in search of help, they unwittingly surprise a band of poachers who have just murdered a game warden and who are now determined to kill Harm and Mac. Their lives in jeopardy, Harm and Mac must utilize every evasive military maneuver they've ever learned in order to escape the murderers who are now hunting them.

Director: Alan J. Levi

Writer: Jack Orman

When a luxury yacht owned by a reputed South American drug trafficker mysteriously sinks and the Navy is suspect, Harm, Mac and Bud are put on the case. Meanwhile, Artemus Sullivan, a World War II Navy veteran, with the help of his aged cronies, devises plans from a nursing home to make sure the drug dealer responsible for Sullivan's grandson's death is brought to justice. But when Sullivan is kidnapped by the drug dealers, his mettle is tested, as is that of Harm and his team as they race to rescue the war hero.

Director: Greg Beeman

Writer: R. Scott Gemmill

Bud has his hands full when his obnoxious and abusive father, Big Bud, and his younger brother, Mikey, arrive in town for his wedding. Big Bud throws a stag party at a boisterous strip club where Harm's dress whites end up on the body of a stripper. A fight breaks out and Harm, Bud and Chegwidden find themselves in the slammer on the day of the wedding. While Mac goes downtown to bail them out, Harriet begins to have second thoughts about the imminent nuptials.

Director: Alan J. Levi

Writer: R. Scott Gemmill

When Harm and Mac set out to find C.I.A. Agent Clayton Webb's killer after his body is found aboard a burning ship, they inadvertently uncover a rogue government spy agency. Retracing Webb's steps, Harm and Mac learn that he was on a top-secret mission to deliver a high-tech weapons project to the proper authorities when he was stopped. Waiting for Harm and Mac when they discover this, though, is none other than Harm's former nemesis, ex-C.I.A. Agent Clark Palmer, now working with the rogue spy agency, who will stop at nothing -- including Harm's murder -- to get his hands on the top-secret project.

Director: Mark Horowitz

Writer: R. Scott Gemmill

**June 20, 2001** Still aboard the USS Guadalcanal, Mac is called upon to prosecute a Major accused of negligent homicide by the ship's Captain. Much to Mac's surprise and dismay, Harm arrives on board to defend the Major and also try to clear the air with Mac regarding their relationship. But as they both become entrenched in the case in which the victim drowned during a nighttime exercise in extremely bad weather conditions, they're hard-pressed to find time to discuss their personal business. Meanwhile, Admiral Chegwidden has his hands full with his teenage goddaughter who has run away from home.

Director: Bradford May

Writer: Dana Coen

Harm, Mac and Turner go up against the CIA's top counsel when the agency tries to keep a 1968 Navy sub tragedy, in which 129 men died, classified. In so doing, they must find a way around the CIA's classified information rules in order to follow the orders of the new Secretary of the Navy.

Director: Bradford May

Writer: Philip DeGuere Jr.

Harm meets with a Russian 'contact' in order to purchase documents that will prove his father was taken to Russia after being shot down in Vietnam. However, during the transaction, they are interrupted by a KGB agent, Col. Parlovsky who shoots & kills the Russian, then runs off as FBI agents show up, finding Harm over the body, with the gun & documents he wrestled away. As the FBI wants to hold him for the murder of the Russian, Adm. Chegwiggen manages to have Harm transferred to a military brig, and court-martialed, much to the dismay of the FBI agents. CIA agent Clayton Webb, knowing that it was Parlovsky, not Harm that committed the shooting, arranges for Harm to escape from custody in hopes Parlovsky will contact Harm. In the end, Parlovsky makes contact with Harm, but they both get away before Webb can catch them. Parlovsky tells Harm the documents were a fake and burns them. He then leaves, refusing to help clear Harm of the shooting.

Director: Greg Beeman

Writer: Larry Moskowitz

Annie Pendry, a widow, comes to Harm for help after her young son, Josh, witnessed a murder while on a class trip to Andrews Air Force Base. After Harm and Josh are the targets of a drive-by shooting, Harm moves Josh and Annie into his apartment -- and into his life. Harm discovers that the original crime and the drive-by shooting are tied to a ruthless international arms dealer, but not before Josh is kidnapped by the dealer in order to silence him as a witness.

Director: Greg Beeman

Writer: Stephen Zito

Having been shot at by Russian fighters, Mac & Harm are forced to eject from their plane, which then noses into the bottom of a very deep lake. The Russians announce to the world that Harm & Mac have been killed, which is broadcasted back to the USA by ZNN reporter Chuck DePalma. Webb tries to convince the Admiral that they have been killed, but when A.J. learns their bodies haven't been found, A.J. becomes irate and vows to go to Moscow himself to look for them. The SecNav orders A.J. not to go, who replies that the SecNav doesn't want to try & stop him. In Russia, A.J. meets with DePalma who tells A.J. that he doesn't believe the Russians, that certain things in their story don't add up. In the woods, a husband & wife gypsies come across Harm & Mac. They are disappointed when they learn that Harm & Mac are not American Spies as at least the spies have gold coins to give to Russians that help them.

Director: Tony Wharmby

Writer: Donald P. Bellisario

Harm is sent to Washington, D.C., to join a committee formed to judge the validity of a shocking television report -- that U.S. forces used sarin gas on fellow Americans during the Gulf War. What he uncovers, though, is so unexpected that he can't present it without testimony from a key witness, Sgt. Morrison, who was actually on the mission in question in the Gulf, but has been missing ever since. Meanwhile, Mac is caught off guard when an old flame, Christopher Ragle suddenly reappears in her life.

Director: Jeannot Szwarc

Writer: Stephen Zito

Harm and Mac find themselves too close for comfort when they are sent to investigate an international incident on a nuclear submarine. When Harm and Mac, who are already getting on each other's nerves, find themselves in the cramped quarters of the submarine, their relationship is stretched to the absolute limit. Their attempts to stay out of each other's way as much as possible are futile since they must work together to find out why the sub surfaced miles off course, sinking a Norwegian boat in the middle of a regatta. Initially, it seems that the incident was the result of reduced staffing due to a breakout of E-coli. However, as more health problems begin to arise aboard the sub, Harm and Mac suspect a more criminal element than disease.

Director: Alan J. Levi

Writer: Dana Coen

When Harm views the body of the severely neglected, abused and abandoned young girl, he unexpectedly becomes emotionally involved and decides to call in the help of Teresa Coulter to help him identify the child and find her killer. After Teresa performs her own autopsy, she uncovers some clues to the girl's history that lead her, along with Harm and Mac, to the last place the child lived -- as well as to a recently released convicted child molester.

Director: Tony Wharmby

Writer: Stephen Zito

As Harm considers his future at JAG, he learns that Charlie Lynch -- the ex-Navyman responsible for the murder of Annie, the abused child whose death still haunts Harm -- has resurfaced, placing the little girl's twin sister, Dar-lin, in danger. Putting his career decision on hold until he closes the chapter on Lynch, Harm tracks him to a shipyard where the vicious killer is holding Dar-lin hostage. Overflowing with anger against all Lynch's grisly acts of murder, Harm finds himself in an intense stand-off with him that will leave only one man standing.

Director: Jeannot Szwarc

Writer: Stephen Zito

Harm & Mac defend Adm. Boone in court against the charges that he was responsible for massacrering civilians. Although he is eventually acquitted, he decides that it is probably best to retire from the service, despite Harm's objection that the Navy need men like him.

Director: Terrence O'Hara

Writer: Stephen Zito