This episode of Jag is a bit of a head scratcher for fans of the show. Sometime in season seven the show introduced the character of Meredith Cavanaugh an attractive, smart looking and articulate college professor, who after an initial misunderstanding became the Admirals love interest is the series. Although never morphing into a major player on the show, Meredith appeared in a recurring role with a few stories centered on her in minor or secondary plot stories and in only a couple, where she had a prominent role ie "heart and soul" and of course this episode. This episode centered around AJ's suspicion that the diamond in Meredith's engagement ring might be stolen.
Admiral Chegwidden's luck with women in the series was a mixed bag and in a way it seemed only right that the hard working Chegwidden married to his career might walk off into the sunset with the love of his life. In a way Meredith was too good to be true and just as things seemed to be progressing to a wedding, everything blew up when AJ arrived at Meredith's apartment unannounced and having a key entered, only to find her and her Italian professor friend both in bath robes drinking wine. The stunned looking admiral looking sick to his stomach, turns and leaves. Meredith would only appear in two other episodes "What If" and "Hard Time" and in the latter would include a scene where Coat's allows her to burst into AJ's office to offer an explanation.
Although the wedding was planned the first sign of something odd was that she never appeared in the Christmas episode and after coming back from Italy invited the smooth looking (but fat) Italian professor to Washington. The story seemed contrived and rushed; it never really made sense and seemed that something was a foot.
Initially, I thought that John M. Jackson might have wanted out of the show at the end of season eight, but in the end appeared in season 9 although left at the end of it. Why the writers moved to a story line story line where Meredith bails on him right near the wedding seemed clumsy.
A more probable explanation is that the actress who played Meredith - Isobel Hofmann may have been contracted to play till the end of season 8 and had other filming commitments either lined up, or offered, or more likely committed to. Meredith never appeared in season 9 until
episode 10 and only had brief scenes in all. This would all explain how her exit was sudden, and their relationship was abruptly ended.
