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.

Dead End Before the Weekend

I'm referring to Dead End Books, where tonight, owners Paul and Eileen Lutz welcomed expert card-handler and author James Swain. Swain writes about casino security specialist Tony Valentine in a flat-out fun series of books written with the flair of a great magic trick.

Instead of reading from his latest book, MR. LUCKY, Swain demonstrated various card tricks and casino scams ingeniously designed to fool the eye, the mind, and the security cameras. Even when I know the secrets behind a trick, I still marvel at its execution.

Again, I believe the best writing is like magic. One sentence draws readers' attention, the next holds it fast, and so on. Glad to hear Swain is under contract to write five more books.

I also bought SILVERFIN, the first Young James Bond book, by Charlie Higson.

Today's Story

Yet more back-door creativity. Friends have been bugging me, and I've been bugging myself, to write a second Chris Harvey P.I. story. My left brain wants to, but my right brain and fingers don't. Instead, they chose to write a story aimed for Crime Spree, which requires all submissions be related to crime fiction.

About a month ago I wondered how I'd ever write a story like that, and today I drafted it. No details until I find out whether Fiction Editor Jen Jordan wants to to see it.