NCIS – Last Man Standing

by Isabelle Carreau

NBC

(Season 6, Episode 1 – Season Premiere)

A lot of NCIS fans were shocked and angry after watching last season’s finale in which the newly appointed Director Vance broke up the team. Personally, I don’t know why they felt so cheated because it was clear that Gibbs’ team would be reunited one way or another this fall. There was no news about a cast member wanting out or about a cast shakeup to revive the show (I don’t think the series needs reviving, thank you) and in none of the spoilers people heard about someone leaving the show (except for Lauren Holly). Therefore, it was clear everyone would be back.

Even if I was fine with the twist, I must admit that I was a bit sad to see the team broken up for a few episodes. NCIS ‘ strength is the team of characters working together. I was looking forward to seeing how Gibbs’ new team would do, what the old team was now up to and how they would be brought back together, and to learn why Vance broke them up.

Let me first admit that I never saw the “Vance orchestrated all of this” twist coming. I was certain that he broke the old team up because they were too strong and feared they would discover whatever was on the sheet of paper he destroyed last season. The guy is a great strategist. Vance thought of breaking the team up and sending McGee and Ziva to specific places that would help him find who the mole is as well as give Gibbs a new team composed of suspects.

I don’t get why Vance wasn’t upfront with Gibbs tough. Wouldn’t it have been faster to discover the mole if Gibbs knew what the mission really was from the start? Putting Gibbs in the loop could also have saved lives instead of dragging the investigation for months and months. Also, why did Vance send Tony to serve on a ship? I’m pretty sure Vance didn’t know McGee would need Tony’s help to illegally tap into the Pentagon’s files during the investigation. So why was Tony sent there? Is there another secret mission going on? Tony sure doesn’t act like there is one. Did Vance send Tony as far as he could in order to keep him away from NCIS even when it was time to bring the team back together?

When it was announced that there was a mole in the new team, I prayed that it was not Lee. I enjoyed the character thus far because of her naiveté and the fact that she doesn’t really fit with the others. When all signs pointed to her, I was relieved because I knew it was too obvious now and that it would be one of the guys. Kudos to the NCIS writers for having us think that she was not the mole when in fact, she was. Lee is definitely more intelligent and strong than I thought she was. Do Vance and Gibbs somehow know that Lee is hiding something? How long will it take for them to close in on her? Why is Lee helping out the bad guys?

All questions that are making me, a NCIS fan from the very first episodes that aired as JAG episodes, look forward to the upcoming episodes.