"Body Talk" is an episode of JAG that first aired on May 16, 2000. Directed by Terrence O'Hara. Written by Dana Coen.
The episode begins with a skipping record playing a Billie Holiday song, to which Teresa Coulter née Chaddock (Trisha Yearwood), who isn't in the Navy yet, arrives to find her dead mother.
We then cut to the present day where now-Lieutenant Commander Teresa Coulter's father, Captain Chaddock (Michael MacRae) is being retried for his wife’s murder, with Commander Harmon Rabb defending (Lt. Bud Roberts as second chair) and Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie prosecuting. Coulter is not happy to say the least.
After Mac puts forward evidence of Captain Chaddock's alcoholism and history of frequent emotional and occasional physical abuse, Rabb focuses on Coulter's ex-husband Rory Coulter (Jeff Kober) who had a public argument with the deceased.
They find out that the argument was about him taking a job in California and thereby forcing Teresa to move away from her mother. However, after noticing a discrepancy in the autopsy report, Commander Coulter reluctantly agrees to exhume her mother's body to determine the true cause of death.
This, and an unfulfilled maintenance order for the house's heating and cooling system ends up clearing Captain Chaddock. Mac urges Coulter to reconcile with her father before it's too late.
Meanwhile, Admiral Chegwidden convinces Army General Piper (Ryan Cutrona) to give up his reservation for a plot at Arlington National Cemetery so that Lt. Irene Charlton (Laura Cayouette), a young Navy officer diagnosed with a terminal condition, can be buried next to her father.
Piper had secured his spot at Arlington long before the no-reservation policy was instituted. He's willing to give up the spot if Chegwidden dances with Marjorie Kranz (Irene A. Johnston), an old woman eager to marry another high-ranking military man. Chegwidden agrees.
The next day, Lt. Charlton tells Chegwidden the good news that she was misdiagnosed, and thanks him for trying to get her the plot. Chegwidden doesn't tell her that he did get the plot.
Chegwidden visits the cemetery with Dr. Walden (Cynthia Sikes), but then decides he would much rather be eating than thinking about his own mortality. So they leave to go to some restaurant.
Tropes
- The Alcoholic: Captain Chaddock.
- Artistic License – Military: Regarding rank.
- As a prisoner serving a sentence awarded at his first court-martial, Chaddock's rank is technically E-1, yet Commander Rabb refers to Chaddock as "captain" (O-6).
- Once the retrial is ordered, Chaddock is presumed innocent and regains his rank, and potentially back pay if he's not found guilty again. This means that his court-martial panel (the jury) should consist of captains and colonels, and maybe generals and admirals, yet there's an enlisted man among the members. There are no exigent circumstances to justify the empaneling of an enlisted man in this case.
- Clear Their Name: Rabb tries to overturn Captain Chaddock's murder conviction.
- Continuity Nod:
- To "Second Sight", in which Mac's father died.Coulter: You forgave your father?Mac: Yes.Coulter: Was it hard?Mac: It took me a while.Coulter: What did you say to him?Mac: Nothing, he was in a coma by the time I was ready.
- An extremely subtle one to "Drop Zone", in which Dr. Walden said Navy men are "so vigorous" and Mac had a Freudian Slip in which she called Chegwidden "Admiral Vigorous." In this episode, Dr. Walden responds to Chegwidden's compliment that she looks luminous saying that he "looks vigorous."
- To "Second Sight", in which Mac's father died.
- Driven to Suicide: Teresa Coulter's mother committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning due to despondency over her inability to live on her own. She had thrown out her abusive husband and her daughter was moving away.
- Repetitive Audio Glitch: A haunting one of "When Your Lover Has Gone" by Billie Holiday was playing when Teresa Coulter discovered her mother's corpse."When you're alone... When you're alone... When you’re alone..."
- We All Die Someday: Lt. Charlton says that because she was misdiagnosed, she will not die. Then she corrects herself: she will die, just not any time soon.
- Whip Pan: A few times during courtroom scenes.
