In the plot of this episode, the writers somehow felt that trying to throw in all-too-predictable twists would make for a compelling legal drama. The opening shows two sailors in a fist fight among a supportive crowd, where a far smaller knocks out the other. The latter dies.
Of course, things are not so simple. Obviously, this guy did not just die from being punched. So, Rabb the defender gets a blood report saying that tainted puffer fish was the culprit in the deceased's demise. Of course, the story doesn't end there, as that's far too simple. Instead, the smaller sailor, who was relentlessly bullied by the deceased, tainted his food.
Now, even the writers realized how ridiculous this was. Why would the offender, after having poisoned the bully, get in a fist fight with him that would be so close to his time of death? The rather lame explanation given was that he couldn't resist the opportunity to hit him. Really? Creating totally implausible motivations for characters results in crappy drama. It looks like JAG has only one episode after this. I predict that they made absolutely no plans to tie up the loose ends of the series (particularly the sexual tension between Rabb and Mack) and it will be a rather lame end to a series that was fairly good in the earlier seasons (though never in any of its history plausible) but clearly jumped the shark multiple seasons prior to its last.
Of course, things are not so simple. Obviously, this guy did not just die from being punched. So, Rabb the defender gets a blood report saying that tainted puffer fish was the culprit in the deceased's demise. Of course, the story doesn't end there, as that's far too simple. Instead, the smaller sailor, who was relentlessly bullied by the deceased, tainted his food.
Now, even the writers realized how ridiculous this was. Why would the offender, after having poisoned the bully, get in a fist fight with him that would be so close to his time of death? The rather lame explanation given was that he couldn't resist the opportunity to hit him. Really? Creating totally implausible motivations for characters results in crappy drama. It looks like JAG has only one episode after this. I predict that they made absolutely no plans to tie up the loose ends of the series (particularly the sexual tension between Rabb and Mack) and it will be a rather lame end to a series that was fairly good in the earlier seasons (though never in any of its history plausible) but clearly jumped the shark multiple seasons prior to its last.
