JAG (TV Series) Boot (1996) User Reviews

Meg makes a good Marine recruit

[hindsonevansmike · 7/10 · 5 July 2021]

A brief peek inside the training regime at the Parris Island "Boot Camp" training establishment for USMC new recruits.

Meg masquerades as a (younger) recruit to investigate a murder. The script-writers really do push several of the "Damsel-in-Distress" trope buttons on this one. The tension is racked up and the outcome - with a couple of "red herrings" is satisfyingly revealed.

I don't think that Meg will want to go the the beach for a while (although this was broadcast some 25 years before the date of this review)!

"Boot"

[allmoviesfan · 8/10 · 27 April 2023]

A more standard assignment for Harm and Meg in the tenth episode of JAG's first season.

After a female Marine Corps recruit appears to have committed suicide at the Parris Island Recruit Depot in South Carolina, Meg must go undercover as Private McIntyre to try and figure out whether it was suicide or perhaps murder. She deals with two hard-nosed and at-times-brutal drill instructors as well as a recruit who has taken a dislike to her. Tracy Needham absolutely nails her part.

Meanwhile, Harm is investigating in a more official sense and is being stonewalled along the way, lending more credence to the suggestion that the recruit was murdered.

A couple of good plot twists in the "who done it" mystery that Harm and Meg need to solve, a definite step backward from the high-octane missions of the previous nine episodes.

To Parris Island JAG Goes...

[shawndw1000 · 5/10 · 30 July 2021]

A decent episode. As someone who's gone through boot camp at Parris Island, there's some glary inaccuracies. First off, recruits are called recruits. NOT privates. That's an Army thing. Another Army thing they picked up on is the name badge on the USMC major. Army wears name badges like that, not Marines.

Another is the supposed time when they go to bed. They don't go to bed at 1800. It was always 2100 and woke up at 0400. And the fire watch would of NEVER gone out for a smoke! Also, I find it hilarious that somehow the Marine Corps lets in a killer into boot camp despite the amount of paper work and going through MEPS etc that goes on, when joining the military. NO WAY IN HELL would the military let a person who wasn't fully vetted on the island. So the premise of a killer just signing up to the military to escape the police is ridiculous on it's face. Also, the military police in the would be all over anyone trying to escape, "work out", whatever in the middle of the night on base.

As for the acting, it was all good. Meg was a convincing recruit and Harm did his lawyer thing. But the twist at the end was a bit of a surprise but as I said, not likely. But the ending with the platoon saluting Meg kinda got me. Not sure if I put spoilers in here or not.