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Recap / JAGS 01 E 08 Brig Break

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Harm and Austin are on their way to the Sea-Tac Naval Base, and Austin notices that Harm must be excited to be there, because he's speeding. Harm states he didn't notice, but is definitely happy about something. They arrive on the base and are greeting by Lieutenant Kate Pike, much to Austin's surprise (but not Harm). While Harm and Pike catch up on old times, Austin goes to meet with Petty Officer Quinn, who has been implicated in the suspected theft of two Stinger missile launchers, only one of which has been recovered. And that's when she gets taken hostage when the prisoners break out with the help of the Gunnery Sergeant supervising the brig. Harm and Pike work to save Austin while Austin tries to figure out exactly what the prisoners' plan is...


"Brig Break" contains examples of the following tropes:

  • Arc Number: The number "7" keeps coming up in dialogue throughout the episode, and at the climax, the bomb is deactivated with the timer reading seven seconds left.
    • Lampshaded towards the end. Only Austin seems to find it amusing at all.
  • Anti-Air: The missing Stinger launcher is used on a Sea Stallion helicopter pursuing the villains. But it was sabotaged so the warhead didn't go off.
  • Bomb Disposal: Harm races in a car to get the nuclear bomb far enough from the base before it goes off, while Meg and Pike try to figure out the code to disable it.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The stolen Stinger launcher. Quinn sabotaged it so the warhead was disabled.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: In addition to the handful of bad guys who actually are Marines, several others use uniforms to infiltrate the base.
  • Genre Blind: Major Aspinal, primarily because all of the evidence available to him suggests this is just a poorly planned Brig Break. He becomes increasingly fed up with Harm and Pike refusing to let him handle it.
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  • Gonna Need A Bigger Warrant: A handful of prisoners busting out of the brig gradually escalates into a plot to destroy the base with a nuclear explosion and sell stolen nuclear weapons to Saddam Hussein.
  • The Mole: Gunnery Sergeant Gentry
  • No-Sell: The Stinger missile, having been sabotaged, bounces near-harmlessly off of the Sea Stallion.
  • Reality Ensues: A group of right-wing militiamen armed with automatic rifles encounters a Sea Stallion helicopter equipped with armor protection and machine guns. The fight lasts about two seconds before the militiamen are forced to retreat into the woods.
  • Red Herring: the Aryan Nation folks pretty much stop being relevant one scene after being introduced.
  • Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: A group of uniformed mooks from the Aryan Nation turn up to help the escapees in their as-yet unexplained plot.
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  • Skewed Priorities: The group of right-wing militiamen seeking to overthrow the government learn that one of their co-conspirators is a black man, and their leader proceed to demand that the tall blonde female US military officer (Meg) whose government they are fighting against is protected from him.
  • Title Drop: Harm looks out the window and sees the prisoners exiting the brig and herding Austin onto a bus. He immediately shouts "BRIG BREAK" before trying to stop them from escaping.
  • Undercover Cop Reveal: Petty Officer Quinn. He ends up dying a scene or two later.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once they have gotten the nukes, the villain kills his accomplices.

As you were...

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