Saturday, April 30, 2005

All You Need to Watch

I taped JAG's series finale last night, and actually watched the last ten minutes first-run. I already knew from episode descriptions that Harm and Mac would be transferred to London and San Diego respectively.

In the last ten minutes, Harm is packing up his apartment—did he ever fully unpack?—when Mac shows up and says, "Let's talk about us."

From this I gather they haven't had a chance to talk all episode, and as usual the conversation is strained by the eight-year-old "I love you, but I'm in a bad place right now" subtext.

When they finally decide it's okay to kiss and Harm proposes marriage, it's supposed to be the payoff viewers have been waiting for, but it isn't (see eight-year-old subtext).

In the next scene Harm is ordering a drink and grinning widely (I wonder what happened). Mac shows up and they kiss an obvious morning-after kiss. Bud and Harriett arrive, and Bud calls Harm "Captain." (and I remember the first time I heard Capt. Kirk called "Admiral," and when John Gardner promoted James Bond to captain, and finally when Robert B. Parker's homicide cop became "Captain Quirk.")

The rest of the staff arrives, and Harm says "Mac and I have an announcement to make. We're getting married." (Still not feeling the payoff.)

In order to stay together, one of them has to give up a career. They can't decide who, so they let Bud flip a coin. The frame freezes before the coin lands.

Come on, you knew it would.

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