Recap / JAG S01 E12 "The Brotherhood"

"The Brotherhood" is an episode of JAG that first aired on February 3, 1996. Directed by Michael Zinberg. Written by Donald P. Bellisario and R Scott Gemmill.

During a training exercise, a missing member of a Marine company is found unconscious and buried in the sand, having evidently been there some time. Harm and Meg investigate and learn that he, like the other black troops, was commonly singled out by their commander, a black captain. Suspecting foul play, our heroes soon learn that the victim may have had ties to a local gang.

Tropes

• Badass Boast: Overton invites Tyler to "go ahead, blast away", confident that the poorly maintained revolver is far more dangerous to its user than its target. He's right about the gun.
• Boomerang Bigot: Captain Overton, due to being a former gang member.
• Brick Joke: Meg Austin's "Hook 'em Horns" handsign means something entirely different in Italy, as Harm explains to her early on. When she flashes the handsign again at the end, Overton quickly asks Harm if she knows what that means in Europe...
• Converse with the Unconscious: Captain Overton visits PFC Hanson in the hospital and talks to him about how he needs to wake up. When he sees Hanson is still unconscious, Overton begins to berate and threaten him and orders him to wake up, even as the doctor is trying to pull him away and has one of the nurses call for the MP's
  Overton: He isn't a kid, he's a Marine! I'm talking to you, Marine! ATTEN-HUT!
  (Hanson slowly opens his eyes and then sits up)
  Hanson: Sir.
• Defiant Captive: Captain Overton, after he is captured. Among other things, he points out that none of the gangsters have the first clue in how to safely use a gun and are more likely to shoot themselves than him.
• Fingertip Drug Analysis: Done by Captain Overton. Lampshaded by Harm.
• Fingore: What happens when Reaper tries to shoot Overton.
• Hand Signals: The topic of Gang Signs gets brought up, and Meg flashes Tyler the "Hook'em Horns" (she's a Texas Longhorns fan). Harm informs her that in Italy, that symbol means you're accusing someone of being a cuckold. Meg suddenly realizes that this must be why the guy she was dating when she was stationed in Italy broke up with her. She just assumed he wasn't a football fan.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face / Reckless Gun Usage / Reliably Unreliable Guns: The gangsters are not well-versed in weapon maintenance or safe usage, resulting in rapid-fire instances of all of these tropes. Captain Overton makes a point to lampshade this.
• Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: Stick yanks Harm's Aviator "wings" off his uniform to remind him who has the leverage in their negotiations with his gang.
• Inter-Service Rivalry: Rabb and Austin discuss how Marines are crazy, right before some concealed Marines surprise them with rifles pointed at them.
  Rabb: What, they dump him [Pfc. Hanson, unconscious] on the beach where they know he'll be in the middle of a landing? That's a little crazy even for Marines.
  Austin: Nothing's too crazy for Marines.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Captain Overton tries to force his way into Stick's hideout to drag Tyler out. He ends up beaten and tied up for his trouble.
• The Nicknamer: Stick likes to assign nicknames to people. Harm is Top Gun and Meg is Snowflake.
  • Overton gives Reaper one when he tries to shoot him: Lefty.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  Reaper: "Be all that you can be." [gun misfires]
  Overton: That's the Army slogan, Lefty.
• Shout-Out:
  • To Rambo: The gangbangers' nickname for Overton.
  • To Dennis Rodman: According to Pfc. Hanson's mother, the flamboyant basketball player dyed his hair green.
  • To Dean Stockwell and Quantum Leap: Mentioned by Hanson's mother at the hospital. Austin is also familiar with the show. Of course Donald Bellisario is the creator of both Quantum Leap and JAG, and he wrote this episode with R. Scott Gemmill.
  • To Top Gun: The gangbangers' nickname for Rabb, after dropping the initial nickname of "Rambo 2."