NCIS – Tony without movie references makes for a dull boy

The opening scene of last night’s episode of NCIS accidentally wandered into Criminal Minds territory. Watching the video from the beginning, two possible endings occurred to me. At first I thought that the man behind the camera was going to walk through the front door as Petty Officer Jerry Neisler (Ben Tolpin) watched him meander around his house on screen. Then I wondered if the cameraman would head into the closet, leading Jerry to investigate, and then … boom!

You might think the latter would have been scarier than what happened, but the fact that the video was simply a scare tactic, showing Jerry how easily his neck could have been sliced open the night before, was worse than if someone had been hiding in his closet. Imagine trying to sleep the night after you discovered how close you had come to death, and how close you could once again be to death after closing your eyes. That’s what I thought.

Even after he explained it I still didn’t get why Tony was acting so strangely. In principle I understand that he felt responsible for a woman checking herself into a mental hospital, but how would that translate into his acting more serious at work? And how random was it for a barely-a-blip-on-the-radar plot from last season to pop back up now and affect Tony’s life?

I wonder if the writers didn’t force their own hands on that one. Maybe they came up with the celebratory ending first, and then thought, “How do we get this to make sense? How can we lead Tony to go overboard like that, causing agents around the office to draw their weapons?” And working backwards they came to the depression thing. But even with that explanation I’m left scratching my head. Had they built up to it? Okay. Stupid, but okay. But this way made no sense.

The twists and turns of the case, at times pointing a finger at Deputy DA Gail Walsh (Annie Wersching), at others who knows where else, lost me somewhere in the middle. But that it was actually Matthew Gray (Joe Adler), brother of the victim, who was behind trying to get Samuel Hayes (Jamie McShane) out of prison … I understand his frustration with the justice system, and his desire to see that justice be served immediately. But what I don’t get is how he was talked down off a metaphorical ledge so easily. He’d built an elaborate scheme which included witness intimidation of a Naval officer, and Gibbs and crew got him to drop his gun so easily? I assumed he’d get a shot off before giving up.

There were some fun moments, as always, down in morgue. Palmer gobbling like a turkey in front of Gibbs was awesome. And Ducky building an online profile, and then getting distracted by the number of lady friends who were trying to connect with him, was great too. Who knew Ducky was such a ladies man? And who knew so many people might share the crazy things he included as his interests?

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Dec 15, 2010 @ 13:00 EST5EDT