"Skeleton Crew" is an episode of JAG that first aired on July 15, 1996. Written and directed by the show's creator, Donald P. Bellisario.
The Seahawk is in port, Pier 7 at Norfolk, Virginia. Lt. Diane Schonke (Catherine Bell, before she was Major MacKenzie) goes on liberty after serving midwatch, with Acting Officer of the Deck Chief Petty Officer Bennon (Glenn Morshower) authorizing her departure instead of the indisposed Ensign Roberts (Patrick Labyorteaux). Lt. Lamm (Mark Kiely) debarks soon afterwards, to chase Schonke. The next morning, Roberts and Bennon find Schonke dead in her car.
NCIS Agent Turque (pronounced "Turkay," played by John Ashton) is first on the scene. Then follow Lt. Commander Rabb and Lt. j.g. Austin. Rabb is upset to see the body is Schonke's; he was supposed to have dinner with her but she never showed. No one believes Rabb's claim that his relationship with Schonke was purely platonic.
Turque demands Rabb be taken off the case, but Admiral Chegwidden is unwilling to let NCIS dictate how a JAG investigation is to be conducted. By the same token, Chegwidden recognizes Turque's concern over Rabb's emotional entanglement in the case, and accepts Krennick's suggestion that he send her as senior investigator.
Rabb confronts the chief suspect, Lt. Lamm, at a civilian diner near the pier, and punches him in the face. Commander Krennick (Andrea Thompson) refers Rabb to Admiral's Mast. Lt. Lamm turns up dead with a typewritten suicide note, causing everyone to believe he was murdered. Agent Turque shows up at Rabb's quarters to return several letters Rabb wrote to Schonke; the letters belong to her next of kin but Turque says that giving them to Harm is a gesture of goodwill.
Rabb gets an idea about who the killer is and debarks with intent to confirm his hypothesis. But he doesn't get that far, since Turque arrests him soon afterwards, charging him with Schonke's murder. On that note, the episode ends.
Tropes
- Cigar Chomper: Agent Turque, when they first meet him.
- Cut Short: This was the last episode produced for NBC which actually never aired the episode so that the series didn't end on a cliffhanger. Instead, the episode was added to syndication a few years later. As such, Rabb's arrest is simply forgotten by the first episode aired on CBS, and the whole storyline about Schonke's murder, barely hinted at in that first episode for CBS, has to wait to Season 3 for its resolution.
- Exact Words: Turque orders Roberts not to hand any faxes to Rabb. So instead Roberts allows a few pages to fall to the floor so that Rabb can pick them up.
- Jurisdiction Friction NCIS Agent Turque characterizes his first encounter with JAG lawyer Rabb at the crime scene as "we met like junkyard dogs," so as to leave like men, he gives Rabb the letters Schonke wrote to him.
- Malicious Misnaming: Krennick can perhaps say she saw Turque's name written before hearing it, but Rabb is quite deliberate in calling Turque "Turkey."
- Title Drop: Rabb tells Williams that things are spooky aboard "a ship with a skeleton crew."
