"Shadow" is an episdoe of JAG that first aired on September 30, 1995. Written and directed by Donald P. Bellisario, the show's creator.
The USS Tigershark is testing a new stealth torpedo guidance system called "Shadow," designed by Dirk Grover (Ryan Hurst), a disgruntled civilian technician aboard the submarine, controlling the torpedo from his laptop.
To the skipper's dismay, Mr. Grover decides to hijack the torpedo to target a tourist cruise ship. Mr. Grover will call off the torpedo only if he is paid a $40 million dollar ransom and safe passage to Cuba. The skipper (Rex Linn) plays along for the time being.
Lt. Harmon Rabb is jogging in the same park as President Bill Clinton (as himself through archived news footage) when a helicopter lands in the middle of the park; Rabb naturally assumes the helo is for the president, when in fact it's there to pick up the lieutenant.
Lt. Commander Ted Lindsey (W. K. Stratton) has assigned Rabb a new 'partner,' Lt. j.g. Meg Austin (Tracey Needham), who, in addition to being a JAG lawyer, is also an expert in computer weapons systems.
The helo goes out to sea and the Tigershark surfaces to have Rabb and Austin dropped off. The drop does not go well and both Rabb and Austin fall in the water before going aboard the sub.
Once dried off, they are briefed on the situation, discuss the veracity of Mr. Grover's claims and consider the possibility that Mr. Grover has an accomplice in the crew.
Rabb and Austin meet Mr. Grover, who demonstrates that he is in control by causing a bomb to rupture a pipe on the sub, an explosion strong enough to require a compartment to be closed off but not serious enough to endanger the whole crew. Mr. Grover asserts that he must make transmissions to the Shadow at "random" intervals or else people will die.
Rabb notices Austin is suffering from claustrophobia and expresses to her his disappointment that she did not disqualify herself from the mission. Austin says she can carry out the mission despite her anxiety and she is sure she can disarm the torpedo if she gets her hands on Mr. Grover's computer.
Eventually Rabb becomes convinced that Mr. Grover can only really control the torpedo if his laptop is within about 4,000 yards. So he grabs Mr. Grover's laptop and gives it to Austin, who then gets to work trying to break the encryption and gain control of the missile as the Tigershark sets course for the three cruise ships believed to be the most likely targets. Rabb has Mr. Grover arrested.
Austin figures out where the other planted bombs are on the sub and how to disarm them, but is having trouble getting the torpedo to stand down. From the placement of the bombs, Rabb believes that Mr. Grover is not actually prepared to die despite his declarations to the contrary.
With time running out, the crew plays a trick on Mr. Grover, who is brought into the control room and led to believe that the torpedo has actually locked onto the Tigershark and Austin can't deactivate it.
With his life flashing before his eyes, Mr. Grover blurts out a keystroke combination which Austin then punches into the laptop, causing the torpedo to detonate at a relatively safe distance from both the submarine and the cruise ship.
When Mr. Grover feels that the shock from the explosion is much weaker than what he was bracing for, he realizes he has been tricked. The sub surfaces, Rabb and Austin have a cigar on the tower.
Tropes
- Batman Gambit: In the climax, the crew informs Grover that they have seized control of the torpedo only to realize it has locked onto the Tigershark as a new target. Grover instructs Austin on how to disable the torpedo, only to find they had never been able to gain control of his laptop or the torpedo to begin with.
- Back Story: When asked how he went from flying Tomcats to being a lawyer, Rabb summarizes by saying he "broke a Tomcat" and they wouldn't give him another.
- Bad Boss: Admiral Drake is extremely abusive to Commander Lindsey, who just takes it without standing up for himself.
- Everything Is Online: Grover claims to control the torpedo via his laptop, and is able to set off various bombs he has concealed throughout the ship. It is lampshaded that the only way he is able to do this is because he arranged for extra pieces of equipment to be installed in the ship while it was still under construction.
- Fish out of Water: Both Rabb and Austin. Aviator Rabb is tall and the doorways are not. Austin is claustrophobic and finds the cramped confines of a submarine terrifying.
- Funny Background Event: Rabb painfully hitting his head on hatches and ceiling supports due to the sub's confines can potentially distract a viewer from noticing Austin's increasing discomfort with being on a submarine.
- Hollywood Hacking: Austin's failed attempts to seize control of Grover's computer led to various responses, ranging from an animation of Grover giving a raspberry, to other concealed bombs being armed.
- Interservice Rivalry: A crewman aboard a helicopter asks Commander Lindsey if the case he is escorting really contains a hundred million in gold. Lindsey demands to know where he heard that, and the sailor admits he heard it from a Marine. Lindsey jokes that the sailor should never listen to Marines. And it's only forty million.
- Invisible President, averted: We clearly see President Bill Clinton jogging, and he even waves to Lt. Rabb (this was of course accomplished by stitching together actual footage of President Clinton with footage of an actor who looks like one of the Secret Service agents).
- I Shall Taunt You: After Grover's plan falls apart.Grover: We're not at the rendezvous?
- Low Clearance: After they first board the submarine, Rabb manages to smack his head on low ceiling support twice within five minutes. He ruefully lampshades this.
- No Communities Were Harmed: Like many ships featured in JAG, the USS Tigershark is not named for any real ship in the United States Navy, and in fact isn't even named using the same Theme Naming as Real Life nuclear submarines. While American subs used to be named for sea creatures, most modern submarines are named for cities (attack subs) or states (missile subs).
- Pet the Dog: When Grover first notices Austin suffering a claustrophobia attack, his first reaction is to try and comfort her, before he goes back to taunting her. Austin is able to exploit this by convincing him to let her play games on his computer, giving her a chance to take it away from him.
- Pun: Grover relishes in saying "in harm's way" to Lt. Harmon Rabb. It doesn't help that Admiral Brovo used the exact same pun in the previous episode.
- Put on a Bus: Lt. Kate Pike has been reassigned to serve as Admiral Brovo's aide, with Lt. Meg Austin replacing her as Rabb's Number Two. As a matter of fact, while Admiral Brovo gets mentioned, he's never seen on the show again.
- Reassigned to Antarctica:
- Commander Ted Lindsey evidently got caught in the crosshairs during the Senate hearings after the events of the pilot, so Admiral Brovo reassigned him to serve as Rabb's boss. Or as Lindsey puts it, Brovo felt that Lindsey should "get the hell out of Dodge."
- Admiral Drake informs Lindsey that if Rabb and Austin can't resolve the situation before the American government ends up paying the ransom, Lindsey will be hit with this trope again.
- Stock Footage: Some carefully edited footage of Bill Clinton (making it look like an awe-struck Rabb passed him while out for a run) as well as from The Hunt for Red October (with Austin replacing Jack Ryan being lowered to the sub from a helicopter).
- Sub Story: Aside from a few scenes in the park and in the helo, this episode takes place almost entirely aboard the USS Tigershark.
- They Call Me Mr Tibbs: Grover mandates that the naval personnel address him as either "Sir" or "Mr. Grover". He gleefully notices when Austin manages to do exactly that while making it sound as disrespectful as possible.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Rabb is furious that Austin didn't tell anyone that she was claustrophobic before accepting a mission that involved her having to board a submarine at sea, and rightly points out that her inability to cope with it is putting the entire mission (and thousands of lives) at risk.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Austin is claustrophobic. It has never been a serious problem for her before, but being aboard a submarine causes her to go into a barely concealed breakdown.
As you were...
Dismissed.
