"The One That Got Away" is an episode of JAG that first aired on October 17, 2003. Directed by Kenneth Johnson. Written by Thomas L Moran.
A Marine Force Recon unit are caught in a sandstorm while on mission in Iraq. They're pinned down by Iraqi forces and their communications officer, Sgt. Ambrose (Andrew Caple Shaw), gets lost in the storm, abandoning his radio gear. He manages to hike 200 miles to the Syrian border and returns home, but two of the squad are killed and others are captured. He's brought up on a charge of dereliction of duty and an Article 32 hearing is convened; Lt. Colonel Mackenzie defends, while Commander Sturgis Turner (Scott Lawrence) prosecutes.
Mac and Turner take statements at Camp Lejeune, including from the convening authority, General Kubin (Lyman Ward) and the unit's leader Major Spain (Lamont Thompson). Mac feels that Sgt. Ambrose simply made a mistake in the fog of war, which shouldn't constitute dereliction of duty, but after interviewing Major Spain, Turner thinks there's more to the story and makes him his leading witness for the prosecution.
At the hearing, Mackenzie's questioning leads Spain to disclose another incident in the sandstorm: the unit was spotted by a ten-year-old goatherd. Ambrose was ordered to kill anyone who could pose a threat to the unit - even civilian children - but couldn't go through with it. The boy alerted the Iraqi forces to the Marines' position, leading to the firefight where two Marines were killed and Ambrose went missing. The hearing pivots to a debate over this inciting incident: should Ambrose have complied with Spain's order, and was it legal for him to have ordered the killing of civilians? Ambrose takes the stand and Turner savagely questions his competence as a Marine and his ability to follow orders, branding him a coward.
Making her judgement at the hearing's end, Commander Amy Helfman (Jennifer Savidge) finds that Major Spain's orders were lawful: killing civilians to protect the unit and their mission is justifiable in a time of war. She therefore finds no grounds for a dereliction of duty charge, but orders a court martial for the second charge of disobeying a direct order.
Meanwhile, Harm's next CIA assignment from Agent Blaisdell (Dan Lauria) is to take a prototype stealth plane, the Aurora, out for a test flight with co-pilot Andy Watson (Sean O'Bryan). All goes well until Blaisdell suddenly changes their orders mid-flight, sending them to North Korean airspace to spy on underground tunnels supposedly being used to transport troops south of the border. They have a narrow escape when the plane's engines fail over enemy territory, but Harm is able to get the engines running again in time to escape a SAM and Watson gets photos showing that the tunnels are only full of water.
Back at JAG, Mac is angry with Turner, believing that he went too hard on Ambrose for the sake of winning the case, instead of seeking the right level of justice, and had unnecessarily refused a plea bargain; she suspects he's trying to rebuild his reputation as a prosecutor at all costs, after Bud's defense of him in his negligence hearing last season caused him to lose face professionally.
Tropes
- Continuity Nod:
- To 'Lawyers, Guns and Money'; Sturgis still bears a grudge against Bud for damaging his reputation.
- To "Complications"; the convening authority is General Kubin, whom Mac had dealt with in that episode when prosecuting a surgeon for causing his daughter's death.
- Cool Plane: The Aurora, a top-secret stealth spy plane capable of speeds of Mach 6. Rabb and Watson are suitably impressed; less so when they realise the extent of the onboard safety features means there's a good chance of something going horribly wrong!
