"King of the Fleas" is an episode of JAG that first aired on October 21, 1997. Directed by Tony Wharmby. Written by Dana Coen.
A wheelchair-bound street musician (Kevin Conway) who appears to be a Vietnam War veteran, is rapidly playing his accordion, when an East Asian man approaches him. The street musician appears to have been triggered and has a Vietnamese phrase flash in his mind over and over. After he finishes playing, he asks the Vietnamese man to lean closer — and then stabs him.
The veteran appears at JAG headquarters and accosts Lt. Commander Rabb. Because the veteran makes vague statements, Rabb thinks him a crank and passes him off to Lt. Roberts, with an implied instruction to get rid of him. The veteran then introduces himself as Marine Second Lieutenant Willy Minkies, who was reported missing in action (MIA).
This man claiming to be Minkies confesses to killing the Vietnamese man and mentions that he was at a prisoner of war (POW) camp at Dong Ha. Minkies mentions that Rabb's dad may have been there too — then makes the most damning accusation — that Rabb's dad may have been a collaborator.
Tropes
- Asshole Victim: The Vietnamese man knifed to death was a brutal POW camp commander at Dong Ha, who routinely beat and tortured prisoners, threatened to kill a third of them unless a collaborator revealed the identities of three Wild Weasel pilots to visiting Russians, then executed everyone except the collaborator.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Routinely experienced by the Dong Ha prisoners of war.
- Dead All Along: Willy Minkies was dead all this time. The guy in the wheelchair, whose real name is Roscoe L. Martin, found his body in a ditch, took Minkies's dog tags to inform his family, got captured, survived a horrific massacre, and was honorably discharged as Roscoe Martin. Unable to deal with PTSD, Martin assumed Minkies's identity.
- Driving Question: What happened to Harmon Rabb Sr. in Vietnam? He was shot down over Vietnam on December 25, 1969. That's all Rabb Jr. knows for sure. With this episode, the son considers some possibilities about his father he hadn't considered before, but he's no closer to actually knowing what happened.
- Leave No Survivors: After the Vietnamese POW camp commander identified three Wild Weasel pilots among his prisoners, they were taken away by the Soviet advisors. He then executed all remaining prisoners.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Willy Minkies aka Roscoe Martin.
- Sole Survivor: Willy Minkies aka Roscoe Martin. He was the only one who survived a disastrous raid on a VC-controlled village. Then he was the only one to survive the camp at Dong Ha.
- Trauma Button: When Minkies sees a middle-aged Vietnamese man applauding him, he flashes back to a memory of a POW camp Commander screaming a Vietnamese phrase over and over, that means "Don't stop!!" Turns out, that camp commander screamed that phrase to taunt the prisoners while force marching them for 24 hours without any food or rest.
