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Date Posted: 12:17:51 12/20/14 Sat
Author: Alicia
Subject: Great Essay! On what is my favorite JAG Christmas theme, and one of my favorite overall. (inside)
In reply to: The Chief (it might need a little editing for punch and avoiding some redundancies, but I think you'll like it!) 's message, "The Gifts at The Wall" on 02:46:08 12/20/14 Sat

Even someone like me can come upon it years later, and have it resonate-- they were and remain priceless moments, and yes even with an air of magic. So I will add a few babblings.

It's funny, every time I go to pull a Christmas clip I find myself at these moments, as to me they became the heart of JAG Christmas. I just might have to post them lol.

He was as you said given many gifts at The Wall.

I think it was great where in some ways he got missing pieces of himself and his life at the place which represented his greatest loss, and the event which would shape Harm for his life and many seasons to come :-). As the years played on, you got to see the different stages of him and in some ways the relationship between him and his father evolve.

Sitting here writing this, it just crossed my mind, how it would have been good to see his mom pop up one year there.

In S5, as he learns more of his father's final days before he was MIA, he learns his father was not perfect.
Humanity meets the little boy's now man's perception of his father. Harm Sr. was at the heart of why he himself had his wings, and it kind of came back full circle when he gave Harm Sr. his wings back. The salute, the utmost showing of love and respect.

In S6, who better than his dad would have understood the decision he felt he had to make, as history was in its own way repeating itself, on more than one level.

In S7, after that very poignant sermon by Chaplain Turner, it was that time. Nice non-verbals between Harm and Mac, and her tell him Merry Christmas for me, was a nice moment. She had a "moment" of understanding. At once again the place that represents his greatest loss, he is given something back--a part of his father that lived on. Harm Sr.'s past had come full circle, and Harm embraced it.

In S8, Harm and Boone at The Wall. Boone still dealing with his "ghosts", as Harm continued to do so. Of course I still don't get the year off part here--as with it being the defining moment of his life, Harm would know how long ago it was, even if tptb had issues with it :-)
I take the bell ringing one step further, it was Harm Sr.s approval of what transpired. Harm gave his father back his wings in S6, and now here Harm was in a sense passing on his own wings to Clarence. His wings were a very deep connection to his father, and his whole being, but now at this stage he, his connection to his dad etc. had evolved past that, and he was not defined by his wings. Of course, my mind takes it back to when Mace gave Harm his wings at the beginning of his JAG journey, as well as in Angels 30 when the question of Harm's destiny came into play.

In S9, Mac gives Harm the gift of Mattie. No better place for it to happen, as under his dad's watchful eye, Harm was getting the chance to be the father that Harm Sr. was robbed of. Another piece of Harm was falling into place, and the family was coming full circle. He knew what it was to be a son, now he'd learn what it was to be a father.

In S10--well it gets real dicey for me here. I don't see Four Percent Solution as a Christmas episode. When Mac asks Harm if he went to the wall, and he says he will go next year and she smiles-- I really disliked Mac at that moment, and really disliked that whole exchange. It went against everything I thought the past Christmas shows had shown, and was not in line with 9+ seasons of Harm's character.

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[> [> [> Interesting additional points Alicia. but I have to ask, how would you have done season 10 to fit the other seasons and Harm's character? -- usmgrad, 16:23:49 12/20/14 Sat


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[> [> [> [> hmmmmmm (inside) -- Alicia, 17:50:21 12/20/14 Sat

Tough question, especially in light of the way season 10 played out.

One simple nip/tuck for me would have been Harm being at The Wall, and as he was leaving getting the call about Mac on his cell phone. It wouldn't have been as deep as previous years, but I think would have kept the continuity of the arc somewhat in tact, and the episode could have played out as it did.

I am liking the idea of mom. End S9 and S10 was Harm finally becoming more at peace with his loss - which Harm acknowledged in his way in The Man on the Bridge, which actually preceded 4 percent. In S9 there still was a level of estrangement with his mom, and with his dad being shot down on Christmas Eve, there wasn't one Christmas he spent with her during the course of the show, or any evidence that she went to The Wall. Her presence there would have perhaps brought it full circle, and his healing complete.

Or running into now retired AJ Chegwidden there. That could of been a dynamite exchange due to their relationship and its events, and their shared commonalities.

There are other ways, but it would involve a whole re-write of Season 10 :-).


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