"Embassy" is an episode of JAG that first aired on September 29, 1998. Directed by Alan J. Levi. Written by R. Scott Gemmill.
Professor Dubotu (Ben Guillory) almost gets mugged by a white guy (Manu Intiraymi) but is then instead kidnapped by some Sudanese men.
The Secretary of the Navy (Paul Collins) approves an operation in which Lt. Commander Rabb and Major MacKenzie go to a party at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington as a pretext to hack into Ambassador Moshak's computer for the CIA.
Rabb and Mac are briefed on that Prof. Dubotu was kidnapped and that the two major factions in Sudan are now vying for control: one faction, led by a general, is not sympathetic to the Americans, the other, led by Ambassador Moshak, is. So of course the State Department would prefer Moshak gain control. Moshak (Vince Riotta) likes to surround himself with military types.
The mission goes according to plan until a Colonel Shohala (Michael Chinyamurindi) takes the party guests hostage and makes an announcement on television but does not make any demands.
Rabb and Mac learn that the hostage situation is actually a scam to make Moshak look like a hero. Moshak takes a bullet to the arm and for the cameras declares that he will not leave the Embassy.
In a second broadcast, Shohala reasserts his opposition to Moshak, but instead of making demands, winds up dead in a staged struggle with Moshak.
Rabb finds the captive Dubotu, unshackles him and gives him a gun, but Dubotu refuses to use the gun. Moshak takes Mac captive in his office and over walkie-talkie taunts Rabb to come rescue her.
Rabb goes to Moshak's office, first stopping by the security camera control room, where he patches the camera in Moshak's office into the television feed, but just then the Washington police cut power to the Embassy.
Rabb goes into Moshak's office, where Moshak offers him something to drink. Rabb sees a cigar case, which gives him the idea of asking for a cigar instead. Cigar in hand, Rabb goes to the window and seems to struggle mightily to light it, but in reality he is signaling in Morse code the word "power."
Roberts sees this on TV and interprets this to mean that Rabb wants the power back on at the Embassy. Chegwidden urges Webb to tell the police to restore the power. With the power back on, the image of Moshak in his office holding Mac captive is broadcast to the world. Realizing that his charade has fallen apart, Moshak tries to escape by threatening to drop a vial with a deadly toxin.
Harriet's over-the-counter pregnancy test comes back positive. Harriet tries to tell Bud but he's too absorbed with what's going on at the Embassy, until almost the end of the episode, when he blurts out the result to Admiral Chegwidden, who congratulates the couple.
Tropes
- African Terrorists: Shohala and his men. At least they appear that way at first.
- Continuity Nod to the previous episode: Chegwidden is once again irritated by Agent Webb. "What are you going to do, break my nose again?" Webb asks, referring to the time Chegwidden punched Webb in the face in Russia.
- "Die Hard" on an X, where X is the Sudanese Embassy.
- Does Not Like Guns: Prof. Dubotu. Rabb gives Dubotu a gun to defend himself, but the professor refuses it on principle, as he's a pacifist.
- Everyone Knows Morse, or at least Rabb and Roberts do, but not Moshak.
- Tap on the Head: At the beginning of the episode, Shohala neatly disables Dubotu with a single karate chop, after which he stuffs the beloved professor into a car.
