Review by Bernadette Fitzpatrick
Rating:
Season 10 of this once great show introduced too many new characters; most of them not very likeable especially the Vulvovick one. I agree that after being a devoted fan of this show for 10 years, myself and all of the other fans deserved a better finale of the long awaited romance of Harm and Mac. Instead, the final episode was dominated by the hateful new Lt. Vulcovick. Only the final seven and a half minutes of the show saw the two main characters come together.

Review by H. Bala
Rating:
It wasn’t until the complete season DVD sets started rolling around that I got into JAG, I mean, really got into it. And I’m sure other folks are now going thru painful JAG withdrawal, same as me, now that the final season is available on DVD, and there ain’t no more after this. It’s been a wait and a half for this tenth season to come out on disc, and never mind that these aren’t exactly the best episodes in the series. There are enough terrific moments here to still make it a satisfying capper. And, finally, there’s a resolution to that long unresolved thing between Mac & Harm. But more on that in a bit.

The cases the JAG officers work on remain as topical and relevant as ever. The courtroom battles revolve around issues such as combat stress, combat high, ageism, improper psychiatric counseling, communication breakdowns in the chain of command, private contractors getting in a firefight with U.S. troops, equal rights (a female sergeant – played by professional boxer Lucia Rijker – wants to fight men in the ring), how far can you take torture to garner information, etc. For me, though, the cases are secondary to what’s going on in the cast’s personal lives. Bud and Petty Officer Coates are old favorites, and they’re featured in several episodes. Bud, as calm and non-threatening a guy as you’ll ever meet, is ordered to attend anger management classes, and that notion alone is enough to elicit a grin, if you know your Lieutenant Roberts. Later he goes up against the “Dream Team” of Commander Rabb and Lt. Vukovic in court, and manages to get the better of them. Since Vukovic happens to be the lead counsel of that team and an arrogant pup who likes to cut corners, this goes down very gratifyingly. This isn’t A FEW GOOD MEN, and Vukovic isn’t Tom Cruise.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Coates, reformed thief turned indispensable yeoman to the JAG corps, is a compelling character, and I perk up whenever she’s on the screen and quietly running things (doesn’t hurt that she’s cute, too). “There Goes the Neighborhood” finds Coates’s past haunting her, forcing her to step out of military protocol and call on her hard-knock experiences in the streets. In “The Sixth Juror” Coates gets drafted as a juror on the very same case with which she’d been assisting Harm and Mac. Meanwhile, Mattie’s father is more in the picture than ever and he’s seeking custody of Mattie, which leaves Harm more or less out in the cold. But then something happens…

“JAG: San Diego” is another interesting episode, especially since it gives us another chance to see the enthusiastic mystery buff Lt. Graves (we first meet her in “Automatic for the People”). This episode was intended to pave the way for a possible spin-off, except that CBS chose not to roll the dice.

With David James Elliott opting to leave the show – I think he got tired of waiting for JAG to get its eleventh season pick-up – new characters were introduced. Rear Admiral Chegwidden having retired, the headquarters up in Falls Church, Virginia come rife with rumors regarding the identity of the new Judge Advocate General. The no-nonsense, don’t-eff-with-me marine who ends up in the JAG chair doesn’t exactly fill Commander Rabb and Colonel MacKenzie with optimism. But, bar none, the most annoying new character is Lt. “Vic” Vukovic, who I guess is supposed to be this charming rogue, except he comes off as weasely and really unlikable. Plenty of times, I felt myself wanting to skip over scenes involving him and, to be honest, he kinda soured me on some of the episodes. Especially since he was taking away from more time with the rest of the cast.

Now I do resent that the writers strung out the audience for so long with the whole Mac & Harm “Will they, why won’t they?” soap opera. Nine years is an exhaustive wait just for the final episode’s almost perfunctory resolution, although I suppose it’s better than nothing. Still, those final fifteen minutes are not nearly enough, not by far, and I do feel cheated. At least “The Four Percent Solution” aired a few months before that, and featured Mac’s flashing back to a day spent with her shrink as they explore her very big emotional and psychological baggage. And, yes, one of the issues she’s been working thru concerns Harm. Mac and Harm have been so good at internalizing their feelings that something like “The Four Percent Solution” is necessary, letting us know that the writers haven’t forgotten one of the key elements in the show which drew in the viewers week after week.

And, yes, the special feature isn’t that special and, with its brevity, is barely a feature, although the sentiment passed on by David James Elliott and the cast and crew is appreciated. But, again, I feel cheated by the lack of more bonus features. Despite this and the inclusion of the shady Lt. Vukovic and also that Harm and Mac’s romance is given short shrift, I’m still rating this 4 stars out of 5. Ultimately, I still love this show, great comfort television that it was.

My guess, by the way, is that it’s Harm who ended up retiring…