I have to say, I was kind of disappointed in the premiere of NCIS. Particularly considering how excited I was for it to air. I just felt like everything happened way too fast, and the arc ended (for now) leaving me feeling somewhat dissatisfied.
We left off last season with Ziva being tortured, after having left her NCIS team behind to return to the Mossad. Up until the end of season 6, I had never really thought about what role Ziva still played as a “liaison” to the team, but the story line heading to the finale ripped open a ton of as-of-then un-pondered questions for me. Clearly she was still working for her national organization, so where was the work? How could she have become so enmeshed in another country’s intelligence networks? I know that I was not in the majority on that, but ignoring the fact that the writers’ have leeway to do as they please, this was actually a pretty major issue that NCIS had uncharacteristically gotten dead wrong.
Season 7 opened on Tony, now in Ziva’s seat in an “interrogation” room somewhere half-way around the world. I had actually seen the picture while searching for something for my preview post, so it didn’t take me by surprise at all. Without having been spoiled like me, did any of you see it coming?
The story unfolded kind of in reverse, working toward where Tony sat at the present. I found it pretty weak. Yes, I enjoyed some of the job interviewees, and their mini roles, as the team looked to fill more accurately Kate’s (Sasha Alexander) slot, as Ziva was only a liaison and should never have been considered to have assumed that role (sorry, but now that the show has led me to think about it, there’s no way it makes sense). Tony’s “cliff note” descriptions of his team members to Saleem (Omid Abtahi) were kind of funny, especially his referring to Gibbs as a “functional mute.” What I didn’t understand was what that entire thing was meant to do for the audience, as those details are typically for our sake.
Actually, I didn’t fully understand the entire premise of Tony and McGee going in there in the first place. The possibility that Ziva was in the wind because she was on a Mossad mission was never even considered, something that I would have assumed first and foremost when pondering what she was up to. Yes, in the end they were right to suspect something amiss, but it was a glaring weakness in the basic plot of the episode.
Also missing was some team dynamics, reasonable considering the story, but still noticeably absent. We got a spark when Tony first saw Ziva — “Well, how was your summer?” — but that was basically the long and short of it. It was cool to see Gibbs as a sniper, though.
My confusion regarding Ziva carried through right until the end of the episode. She didn’t go back to Israel first? What? Again, it was right for the show and the story, but is there any advisement behind the scenes on how to write for her character? It’s just really weird.
Also, I’ve watched every episode of this show, and I must say that, while it is classic NCIS and everything, the freeze-frame at the beginning of each segment is actually a really huge spoiler. Sometimes it’s definitely innocuous, but at one point last night we knew the hostage situation was about to be resolved before the plan even went into action.
This is the show’s fault; I think I’ll never be able to see Ziva right again, unless they address her situation properly. Although, that didn’t have much to do with my feelings about last night’s premiere — it wasn’t bad, just a letdown. Either way, now that they’ve opened the can of worms, they need to figure out how to contain them.
And for those in the know, the “Chad Gadya” bit was hilarious. Right?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Sep 23, 2009 @ 11:39 EST5EDT
“She didn’t go back to Israel first?”
I don’t remember, but wasn’t the whole second half of the finale episode set in Israel?
I absolutely LOVED the line from Tony, “Remember when I said my boss was a sniper?”
*POST AUTHOR*
Yes, she did. I was talking about the end of the premiere, so I meant wouldn’t she have returned to Israel first after being rescued from a Mossad mission gone awry, as she is a Mossad agent.
I thought they all worried about Ziva since no one had heard from her not even Abby who she had been in regular contact with the last time she was sent home and back working for Mossad.
I liked the bit with Tony and the one interviewee about the difference between an interview room and an interrogation room.
I do agree that it was strange that they all went back to Washington but no more strange than the whole premise of Ziva working for NCIS in the first place.
*POST AUTHOR*
Right. But if she were undercover on a Mossad mission, how could anyone expect to hear from her? Would she surface in the middle of a hostile Arab nation to check her messages at home, and then return the missed calls?
She was presumed dead-remember the shock on Tonys face when he saw Ziva? His whole reasoning for being there was to avenge her death.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m glad you bring that up. The news of her death was exactly when I said to myself, “well, clearly she’s been captured, and they will see right through that façade” … My point in asking what they were doing there wasn’t so much literal as, everything that led them to be there, for the reasons they were, seemed like smart investigators being really stupid. Now, had they been there on a rescue mission, it would have made a lot more sense, although it raises other questions like, how did the Mossad miss that one?
the ship she was on sank in a storm … so she was considered dead (if that wasn’t her father’s plan anyway)
As for why Tony and McGee were there … they made it pretty clear. The US wouldn’t take action without hard intel and Tony volunteered himself and McGee to go get that hard intel.
We don’t invade other countries without intel (right or wrong)
*POST AUTHOR*
Again, see above. I was talking in a more theoretical sense, questioning the path that led them there, not the reasons we were to believe that they had for being there. My fault for not being clear enough.
You bring up a whole host of good points. The plot holes in this episode pretty much destroy even the basic suspension of disbelief. I thought MW’s acting in this episode was stellar which was one of the few good points. And you’re right, the interviews felt more like they were trying to fill Kate’s position which makes more sense and is what we should have seen in season 3.
And since the beginning I have not understood why or how Ziva, an Israeli intelligence officer, could end up as a long-term liaison with NCIS. It makes no sense, at best it would be a very short term gig learning how NCIS investigates within it’s own military. But we have to remember she was forced onto the team by Director Shepard who apparently took the position to provide more power to her private vendetta against ‘The Frog.’
Ziva is an inconsistently written character that shows no respect for Tony (the senior agent and her superior) & shoved a loaded gun to his chest last season. She hid a foreign national accused of killing an NCIS agent at her apartment, lied to the superior officers at NCIS and resigned the liaison position to stay in Israel. There is no reason for her to back at NCIS at the end of the episode (in the same clothes!) as she was on a Mossad mission, no longer works at NCIS, is not a US citizen, and is not a member of the team.
Good review.
*POST AUTHOR*
“The plot holes in this episode pretty much destroy even the basic suspension of disbelief”
Right? And I think a lot of that has to do with how they shook us from our slumber last season by reminding us that Ziva is actually only a liaison. I suppose you’re lucky (or not, in other ways) to have kept in mind that Ziva didn’t make sense, but I think most of us – certainly I – had sort of put it out of our minds, which got us into our current predicament. They will certainly have to deal with the situation, and clarifying it, very soon.
Weatherly’s performance *was* stellar and that, along with his view of Gibbs and McGee (told through his drug addled brain, of course) was lovely, but the rest? You could sail several carriers through the plot holes in the story. It was more loose crochet than tightly knit. They should have just killed her off and been done with her.
*POST AUTHOR*
That I don’t know; I really like Ziva, they just now have to figure out how to work her back onto the show without glossing over all of the, as you say, carrier-sized plot holes.
It was pretty obvious that Tony’s capsule descriptions of the team were for the benefit of new viewers to kick off the season (and from the ratings, there seem to have been a lot of them). It was a little annoying for someone who’s been watching since day one, even though I knew Tony could let his mouth run unfettered since he wasn’t going to let Saleem leave the room alive.
The freeze frame is rather cool. It does remove the shock that a series regular doesn’t die during a random episode, but I think I can handle that. And once in a while, I fall for a fake-out, which is even better.
*POST AUTHOR*
I suppose it was just atypical to do that kind of intro at the beginning of season SEVEN. I just felt like the writers were simply trying to save themselves 10 minutes of creative writing. ;)
I agree that the freeze frame is cool … just some idle a-wonderings.
My guess is that the producers were thinking that some new people tuning in for O’Donnell/LL Cool J might check out the parent show first, so it would be good to have a character rundown. Also, some USA viewers over the summer would have seen episodes all out of order and from different seasons, so it would help them as well. Doesn’t make it any less awkward and intrusive for us, though.
I didn’t mind the story itself, though the whole premise of such a long-term liaison is a little shaky. Two things bothered me:
The room where Tony was being held had the same half-round windows as Abby’s lab.
And how did Gibbs make a sniper shot from a couple of hilltops away, then show up in the hallway to kill one of the bad guys?
*POST AUTHOR*
You’re not going to appreciate the answer, but, because he’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs? :) Sorry – had to!
Talk to former snipers that operated during Viet Nam and they will explain how it is done. :o)
Does anyone know what Gibbs whispered to Ziva that caused her to cry after he kissed her?
*POST AUTHOR*
Sorry…. Any lip readers slow-mo it?