"Scimitar" is an episode of JAG that first aired on December 9, 1995. Directed by John Mc Pherson. Written by Robert Cochran.
Corporal Edner and Corporal Anderson (Ron Livingston) are searching for the El-Wadi Oasis in Kuwait when they inadvertently stray into Iraqi territory. The Iraqi military spots them and opens fire. The confrontation ends with Edner dead and Anderson captured.
Saddam Hussein announces that Edner's body will be returned to America, but that Anderson will be tried for espionage in Iraq; as a show of largesse, American military lawyers will be allowed to defend Anderson.
Lt. Commander Lindsey (W. K. Stratton) dispatches Lt. Rabb and Lt. Austin to Iraq, but not without first having Rabb take a crash course in SEAL tactics: the plan is for Rabb to make contact with an Iraqi double agent code-named "Scimitar." Then he'll get a transponder to give to Anderson so that a rescue team can wrest him away from Iraqi custody.
No one expects a fair trial for Anderson. Rabb and Austin meet Colonel Barzan (Nicholas Kadi) and Lt. Dumai (Natasha Pavlovic) of the Iraqi Army. Rabb thinks that Barzan is Scimitar. Barzan expresses a strong interest in Austin, and also claims to be intimately acquainted with the judge; predictably, he turns out to be the judge presiding over Anderson's case.
The first prosecution witness is Sergeant Talfah (Joseph Haj), who says the Marines showed cowardice in their confrontation. Austin gets up to cross-examine Talfah but Barzan orders her to sit down.
Austin whispers a few things to Rabb, who then proceeds to show that taking Talfah's testimony at face value means that the Iraqis actually trespassed into Kuwait. Barzan orders a recess.
The next day, Talfah amends his testimony to place all parties involved within Iraq's borders; Rabb's request for a read-back of Talfah's earlier testimony is dismissed as unnecessary. That night, Lt. Dumai shows up at Rabb's room with the strangely urgent announcement that the showers are once again working (Rabb and Austin had used the shower and the TV earlier to confound eavesdroppers, until the eavesdroppers disabled both the shower and the TV).
With the shower running, Dumai declares that she's Scimitar. Mistakenly under the impression that Barzan is Scimitar, Austin went to dinner with him. Rabb and Dumai burst into the room where Barzan has a scimitar to Austin's neck and is demanding that she reveal the identity of Scimitar.
Dumai shoots Barzan, and then helps Rabb and Austin escape by pretending to be their hostage, taking Barzan's bulletproof limo. They go to Al-Mataha prison, break Anderson out, and then rush through the desert into Kuwait.
"Scimitar" contains examples of the following tropes:
- Career Versus Man: Colonel Al-Barzan is fascinated by the strong-willed Meg Austin, leading to a discussion (and dismissal) of this trope:Colonel Al-Barzan: How can work compare to the caresses of a man you love?Lt. J.G. Meg Austin: I wasn't comparing them, Colonel. You were.Colonel Al-Barzan: A woman like you needs a strong hand.Lt. J.G. Meg Austin: I already have a strong hand. My own.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Colonel Ahmad Al-Barzan obviously works for Saddam Hussein, but for plot purposes he is the highest ranking official the heroes have to deal with.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Rabb is still fixed on the idea that he and Austin are partners, like maybe they would be if they were cops.
- First-Name Basis: Austin wants Dumai to call her "Meg," but Dumai doesn't think it would be proper.
- Genre Savvy: Harm suspects their rooms are bugged, so he has Meg join him in the bathroom and turns on the shower so they can talk without being listened in on. When the shower mysteriously stops working later, he turns on the TV instead. When the TV stops working, he resorts to using a battery-powered radio in his suitcase.
- Great Escape: Assuming the trial turns out to be rigged, Harm's backup plan is to find him and bust him out of prison.
- Gunship Rescue: When the heroes are being chased across the desert by a Iraqi Soviet-made Hind gunship, an U.S. Army Apache gunship pops up to intervene.
- Kangaroo Court: The Iraqis put Corporal Anderson on trial for espionage. Harm and Meg are invited to act as legal council, but have sufficiently little faith in the Iraqi justice system to have a Jail Break backup plan ready to go.
- Men Use Violence, Women Use Communication: The US military's plan has Harm acting to bust Corporal Anderson out of prison, while keeping Austin entirely out of the loop and believing their primary goal is to get him acquitted at the trial. Meg isn't thrilled when she learns of this. This neatly mirrors the relationship between Lt. Dumai and the male Iraqi officers.
- The Mole: One complication is that Harm and Meg do not know who the mole with codename scimitar is, and they must find out without revealing themselves. Scimitar's identity is finally revealed when Lt. Dumai arrives at Harm's room and turns on the shower so they can talk in private.
- Nonviolent Initial Confrontation: The Harm and Meg are officially there to act as legal counsel, so the Iraqis, including the villain, treat them as welcome guests at first.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Commander Lindsey states that in theory, the Iraqi constitution guarantees defendants most of the same rights in a trial that the American constitution does. He goes on to mention that in practice, the courts do pretty much whatever Saddam Hussein tells them to do.
- Similarly, the way Lt. Austin is kept out of the loop on the secret mission to free Corporal Anderson mirrors the dismissive attitude that the male Iraqi officers have towards Lt. Dumai.
- Poor Communication Kills: Meg is not let in on the secret part of their mission and is left to improvise when she discovers that Harm is in danger.
- Run for the Border: In an armored limo, chased by an Iraqi gunship helicopter, assisted by a US Army attack helicopter.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: Lt. Dumai tells off Lt. Austin for her attitude towards Iraqi gender attitudes:Lt. Dumai: Your country is like a child who has learned nothing yet thinks it knows everything. Let your civilization survive its first thousand years; then perhaps we'll begin to listen.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Lt. Dumai is not terribly well respected by her male peers, and does her best to keep her head down rather than draw their ire.
- Stock Footage: Harm and Meg are edited into stock footage of meeting Saddam Hussein.
- Tap on the Head: Scimitar refuses to go with them to Kuwait, and intends to stay behind to help fix the problems in Iraq, and insists on this to make it look like the heroes took them prisoner before leaving them behind. Harm balks at this, so Meg does it instead.
- Theme Music Power-Up: As an American helicopter shows to help in Anderson's exfiltration.
- Translation Convention: Colonel Barzan and a subordinate have a conversation in English even though the conversation takes place in a room with no subordinates present.
As you were...
Dismissed.
