History Characters / JAG

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Mac and Harm, for 9 seasons. [[spoiler: TheyDo, but break it off when Harm gets called back into combat and Mac finds an opportunity at the State Department, according to the tenth season finale of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles''.]]

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Mac and Harm, for 9 seasons. [[spoiler: TheyDo, but break it off when Harm gets called back into combat and Mac finds an opportunity at the State Department, according to the tenth season finale of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles''.]]

* DeathBySex: [[spoiler:Becoming pregnant with a love child got her murdered.]]

* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]: Big Bud Roberts' idea of discipline was beating up his kids. He never quite comes to regret it, unfortunately.

* GrumpyBear: Chegwidden often displays such characteristics, even though he has more gentle sides and genuinely cares for his staff. Even though he often hides behind military protocol and the authority that comes with being an admiral to distance himself from interpersonal relationships beyond the strictly professional, he deeply cares for the people that work under him.

* {{Nerd}}: Bud describes himself as a Nerd in "The Colonel's Wife".

* CourtroomAntics: Harm fired a loaded submachine gun into the courtroom ceiling during a trial to challenge the assertion that it malfunctioned during combat. [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten No one lets him forget about that either, particularly the judge presiding over the case.]]
-->'''Bud [on Harm]:''' ''He's like Michael Jordan in the courtroom''.

* ADayInTheLimelight: "Retreat, Hell" was one where Galindez had to protect a Korean War deserter he was transporting back to Washington for court-martial from a CorruptHick sheriff who was trying to take away his family's land.

* AdultFear: In "Nobody's Child", pregnant Harriet accidentally gets to see crime scene photos of the corpse of a brutally murdered girl and freaks out. A few episodes later in "The Adversaries" she sees the dead girls identical twin sister and gets flashbacks of the photos.
** Lt. Singer uses this against her when she's a witness to a fatal assault aboard an airplane, exploiting her fear that the plane would crash and kill her and her unborn child to claim her memory of the events is unreliable.

* BaldOfAwesome

* BaldOfAwesome:

* TheMaidenNameDebate: Following her marriage with Bud Roberts, Harriet continues to be referred to by her maiden name, Sims. It’s likely done for convenience (because there would otherwise be two lieutenants Roberts in the same workplace) and it’s unknown if she changed her legal name.

* MixedAncestry: Mac has, other than presumed ancestry from the British Isles given her name, Cherokee and Iranian ancestry. The Native American ancestry is only mentioned in "''The Return of Jimmy Blackhorse''", while the Iranian part is mentioned in several episodes.

->'''Played By''': Creator/Sibel Galindez

* {{Hypocrite}}: He chastises the men of JAG for all being secretly somewhat in love with Mac, yet he himself not only eventually falls in love with her, when he proposes, he admits that he did so [[LoveAtFirstSight the minute he saw her]]. ([[FridgeBrilliance which actually explains how he picked up on the other men's feelings so easily]])

* RecklessGunUsage: He once emptied the magazine of a sub-machine gun into the ceiling of a packed courtroom to disprove testimony that a Navy [=SEALs=] weapon jammed during an operation. [[RealityEnsues He subsequently had to pay to repair the bullet holes]] and would have been on the hook for an enormous repair bill several years later (water seeped into the building and caused structural damage) had Bud not found a way to bury it in the annual maintenance budget.

* GuyInBack: A Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) by training and flew with Harm in man missions.

* RecurringCharacter:

* AcePilot: Literal ace, from the Vietnam War. His EstablishingCharacterMoment from the pilot is getting into a dogfight with two Serbian MiGs - and winning.

* PutOnABus: Not seen after mid Season 7.

* EverythingIsBigInTexas

Appeared as the female lead in seasons 2-10. A Major in the United States Marine Corps, Mac works with Harm in investigating crimes but also often serves as opposing counsel to him in the courtroom.

* ColonelBadass:

* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: Zig-zagged. It becomes a plot point that as a JAG lawyer, his promotion opportunities are few and far between and that there's a good chance that he'll be forced to leave the Navy as a Lieutenant if he's passed over too many times. Admiral Chegwidden uses the last of his clout within the Navy to promote Bud to Lieutenant Commander before retirement.

-->'''AJ [to Bud's father]:''' ''Don't you hurt that boy.''\\
'''Big Bud:''' ''No, sir.''\\
'''AJ:''' ''Because if you do then you'll answer to me Master Chief, you don't want that.''

-->'''Meredith [to AJ when talking about Harm & Mac]:''' ''You are not their father AJ. They're adults.''

* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: The Judge Advocate General is a 2-star "terminal" appointment, meaning that Chegwidden's career in the Navy ends when he retires.

-->'''AJ:''' ''My name is Admiral Chegwidden. I am the Judge Advocate General of the United States Navy. Before I leave this hangar, I will know the why and the how of Lieutenant Douglas Marion's death, or Commander Rabb, here, is gonna have your ass... and I'm gonna own your soul.''

* ADayInTheLimelight:

* ADayInTheLimelight: "Retreat, Hell" was one where Galindez had to protect a Korean War deserter he was transporting back to Washington for court-martial from drug runners that wanted to kill him.

-->'''Webb:''' ''I have a hand in everything.''

* DadTheVeteran: Retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer (non-commissioned officer).

* TellMeAboutMyFather: He served with Harmon Rabb Senior tour he was shot down and went [=MIA=] and occasionally tells his son Harm Jr. a story about his time with Harm Senior.

* BunnyEarsLawyer:

** Also, contrast him with Lieutenant Pike when they both arrive aboard the ''Seahawk''. He effortlessly exist the helicopter, holding his cap in his hand. Pike is helped down by a deckhand, and her hat is promptly blown off of her head by jetwash, thus hinting at Harm's familiarity with carrier flight deck operations.

* TheMcCoy:

* MirandaRights: Harm has his rights read to him twice, first by FBIAgents in "People v. Rabb", and Article 31 rights by Leroy Gibbs in "Ice Queen".

The female lead in the pilot episode. Appeared a few times in season 1 and in one season 6 episode

Appeared as the female lead in seasons 2-10.

->I keep forgetting you're a non-combat officer. I guess the only land mines that you dodge are legal ones.

* AbusiveParents

* BigBrotherInstinct: Bud to Mikey.

* PapaWolf: God help you if you threaten or hurt his daughter or anyone under his command. He'll even terrify his own people when they hurt each other. When Harm and Mic accidentally broke Bud's jaw with punches intended for each other, the Admiral threatened to horsewhip and keelhaul both of them. But because Bud was covering for them and claiming it was an accident, [[LaserGuidedKarma he, with Mic's superior's permission, locked Mic and Harm in a room and told not to leave until they had inflicted the same level of harm onto each other as they did to Bud.]]

* AdultFear: In "Nobody's Child", pregnant Harriet accidently gets to see crime scene photos of the corpse of a brutally murdered girl and freaks out. A few episodes later in "The Adversaries" she sees the dead girls identical twin sister and gets flashbacks of the photos.

* FakeGuestStar: Karri Turner never received star billing despite regulary appearing on the show for 9 seasons.

* AscendedExtra: Tiner went from an extra and became a minor character in his own right after a few seasons, and apart from the lead characters, appeared in the highest number of episodes.
* LivingProp: Petty Officer Jason Tiner slowly transisted from this state to a character in his own right during seasons 2 to 5.

Appeared in seasons 4-6. First came as an Royal Australian Navy exchange officer on duty in the United States for the first year, then went back to Australia and later came back to work as civilian attorney in Washington. Went back for good when his engagement with Mac broke up.

Appeared in seasons 5-7.

* ADayInTheLimelight:

* DrunkWithPower: In "''Tribunal''", when Admiral Chegwidden is away overseas and has designated Lieutenant Singer as ''Acting JAG'', one of the first things she decides to do is to have a fire drill and to have Lieutenant Sims to review and update all internal administrative manuals.
* InformedJudaism: Subverted, as Singer only pretends to be Jewish in "The Promised Land" to badger a Marine deserter and convertite who had joined the IDF. Her first chair Commander Turner calls the bluff by testing her knowledge of judaism.

* RealLifeRelative: Nanci Chamber is the real-life wife of David James Elliott.

->'''Played By''': John M. Jackson

* ActionGirl: She makes it abundantly clear she is a Marine who just happens to be a woman, rather than a woman Marine.

* LadyOfWar: