A lot of fun stuff on tonight’s episode of NCIS. First of all, I thought using cat litter to contain the smell of the dead body was extremely creative. It’s one of those things that sounds so simple when you hear it, yet it wouldn’t have occurred to you when faced with the problem yourself. I guess that’s why they call them professionals.
And a big salute to Ducky for picking up Tony’s movie reference slack at the crime scene. His Psycho reference was a bit plodding, and not quite as creative as an original DiNozzo might have been, but it’s the effort that gets him the grade. Good for good doctor.
And not to be outdone, Tony pulled out a literary reference … yowza! Sure, I have no idea what exactly “Team Edward” means, but I’ve certainly heard it mentioned, and I know the basic idea behind it. Is that the Harry Potter guy, or the one who spells statutory rape for the ladies?
Taking technology to a new level, Ducky conducted what I imagine must have been his first web chat crime scene investigation. It’s incredible how everyone on TV never runs into a laptop battery problem, or a wireless Internet connection issue. They’re conducting crime scene investigations in a freaking airplane bathroom, for God’s sake! Meanwhile, I’m losing my connection in the middle of checking my e-mail, and finding my battery so rundown that I have to re-set my computer’s internal clock at startup. Okay, so not really, but it’s like how Jack Bauer never needs a bathroom — TV is not that true to life.
I also loved Tony’s “Sophie’s choice” moment with his Paris pictures. A lot of shows do the little things well, sprinkling little moments in to help fill the characters’ lives and make them more well-rounded. Tony’s tourist thing played a larger, albeit side, part tonight, and it was so in character, and added such a nice dimension to him … NCIS does that so well. I loved how he closed his eyes and deleted something at random in the end.
I also want to point out that I loved the creative juices behind making assassin a side profession. For the Marine, I could argue that he had an unfair advantage, taking his learned skills and applying them somewhere else. But the flight attendant? How awesome is that? She saves on costs, she can cherry-pick jobs based on where she’s flying into, flee the city immediately and conveniently, and international travel is the perfect way to enjoy the riches she earns killing people. Besides, while it made for a somewhat unusual — although arguably expected — choice for the bad guy, picking the flight attendant also fights the equal opportunity battle for all.
I also enjoyed Gibbs and McGee pairing up tonight. I love the relationship between Tony and Gibbs, and Tony and McGee, but interestingly I think it’s McGee who challenges Gibbs the most. Tony is a new generation version of the old guard, in classic Gibbs style. McGee, on the other hand, is the tech-savvy, new world type of investigator, who just might be in a position to teach as much as he learns. It’s fun to see all the pairings, but I always appreciate a good Leroy/Tim partnership.
Good job tonight, gang!
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 26, 2010 @ 21:57 EST5EDT
did you miss the part where both Ziva and Tony lied about sleeping on the couch? and the only good photo Tony took was of Ziva?
No mention of the implication at the end of the show (“Why did you lie to McGee?” “Why did you lie to Nora?”) that Tony and Ziva slept together?
*POST AUTHOR*
I knew I would hear about my decision to overlook that. :)
I apologize to you all, but I did so for two reasons:
1) I saw it as a poorly-veiled teaser for us, which they’ve done re Tony and Ziva many times before (remember when they posed as a couple in that hotel room and McGee couldn’t figure out if the noises he was hearing were real?). Everything, including their increased arguing, was supposed to make us wonder “what happened last night?” It just seemed too staged.
2) I despise Ziva’s character, and I don’t want her to bring down my enjoyment of Tony, the show, or last night’s episode specifically. I spent the beginning of this season loudly questioning her continued existence on the show, because of how impossible it would be. I said my piece, but for your sake and mine I also promised that I was done with it. However, there is no way in the world that she could possibly still be a) in America, and b) still working for NCIS, and to avoid going down that road again, I err on the side of ignoring her. I apologize for that, but she couldn’t possibly still have been there to have even gotten into the situation with Tony!
I am, however, happy to discuss the intimation here. Like I said above, I believe it was a tease, especially because, even if Tony could be overcome by his libido as professional as he is, Ziva never would be, Gibbs rule or no. She’s too well trained for that.
At least I hope so for all our sakes. :)
I agree that it was a throwaway tease, but I’m not sure about Ziva not being overcome by her emotions. I still have no clue what the deal was with her and Michael.
Victoria Pratt is an actress/bodybuilder that’s done a lot of science-fiction, fantasy, and other genre work. I was waiting the whole episode for her to get in a good fight scene, and was not disappointed. I’m pretty sure there was no stunt performer there.
I actually prefer Ziva to Tony. There have been too many times when he was so over the top obnoxious that I wanted someone, anyone, to knock him so hard that when he walked his feet rattled with the loose teeth lodged in his toes. And I am not a fan of violence.
Yes, he can be entertaining but like I said sometimes the writers take him to an ugly extreme.