It took me until last night’s season finale to put my finger on why I was so bored by the Port-to-Port Killer case that coursed its way through the final few episodes of the eighth season of NCIS.
On fellow CBS procedural Criminal Minds, the investigative team does a phenomenal job of making us feel as if they’re really connected to every new case that comes across their desks. It’s not just the multi-episode killers that they’re personally invested in … they can successfully stir up those emotions at the drop of a hat.
Not so on NCIS. Despite the fact that the case has literally touched team members’ lives, I haven’t been feeling as if they’re much connected to what’s going on. Maybe that’s because they’re investigators and not analyzers; I don’t know. But I do know that the team’s hunt for the Port-to-Port Killer has been kind of boring.
What could have saved things is if the plot hadn’t taken the ill-advised twist of turning Cobb (Kerr Smith) into a victim of military research gone wrong. That allowed for stupid lines like “Cobb’s doing this because he has to,” which totally changed the case from an exciting mystery to “where is he?” Definitely NCIS’ stronger suit, but after all that lead-up it was a great disappointment.
Secretary of the Navy Phillip Davenport (Jude Ciccolella) has always been a bad character, but I was hoping that in the face of all that had developed as a result of a botched Operation Frankenstein he would have at least not been quite so confrontational when faced with reality. It certainly didn’t help that Kort (David Dayan Fisher) was back and just as prickly as the Secretary (and as ever). The machinations of this mystery had to become so convoluted as a result of the fact that this disaster was created in-house … because Kort really could have gotten away with renting out top secret Navy/CIA super-killers even once to private corporations? But Cobb’s “reasoning” for his vendetta had to be substantiated.
I was excited by EJ’s seeming departure from the show — at least she went some way, right? — but her scene in the morgue coupled with Tony’s meeting in Vance’s office with the new SECNAV promises that she’ll at the very least be back as a red herring suspect as Tony hunts down whoever is selling top secret information. Talk about a lousy season-ending cliffhanger … the only interesting developments there were the possibility that Tony’s elevated status with the new SECNAV will challenge Gibbs (and Vance), and how the new SECNAV will be managing NCIS.
What got the biggest response from me this episode was Palmer ending up in the clutches of the killer. Could he have ended up being the second death that was being speculated about — because while I question Franks’ import I certainly don’t count Cobb or Gayne Levin in any category that matters to the show — as the season drew to a close? They did make a point of mentioning that he was engaged to be married, so that was a tense few minutes … but then Cobb did the dumbest thing imaginable by pushing his human shield out of the way and firing on two armed men, and that was it. Thank goodness Palmer’s okay!
In its eighth season I believe NCIS showed its age. At the same time, with this much talent and interesting areas to explore, who knows what we can expect next season. We’ll just have to tune back in to find out … I know I will.
![NCIS Bring it in [51YTJvzPHVL. SL160 ] (IMAGE)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YTJvzPHVL._SL160_.jpg "NCIS Bring it in [51YTJvzPHVL. SL160 ] (IMAGE)")
![NCIS Bring it in [51eRnHz2DHL. SL160 ] (IMAGE)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eRnHz2DHL._SL160_.jpg "NCIS Bring it in [51eRnHz2DHL. SL160 ] (IMAGE)")
![NCIS Bring it in [517viGC516L. SL160 ] (IMAGE)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517viGC516L._SL160_.jpg "NCIS Bring it in [517viGC516L. SL160 ] (IMAGE)")
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on May 18, 2011 @ 11:24 EST5EDT
At least we didnt get Tiva shoved down our throats. I will miss Franks though, I read somewhere that he (character) had a terminal illness? Did I miss this? I do not watch Tony centric episodes, such as the Baltimore one, as the character annoys the crap out of me. No development, no maturity and I still cannot figure out how he keeps his job for being that way – now he gets another promotion? (shades of the whole The Frog arc w/Jenny.)
Franks brought out the softer, human side of Gibbs and anchored Gibbs, Franks was the place Gibbs went when he left NCIS, he was the one who knew the family man Gibbs. Unless they plan on bringing Franks back as a Greek Chorus/Conscience? Or are they going to try and make us believe that SecNav is the bad guy and suddenly Vance and Gibbs will be yelling bros before hos and slamming back beers in the basement?
Yeah, I think it is time NCIS fades off, CBS has such a strong schedule and if NCIS cannot take CI-ray and shake up the team with something, ANYTHING exciting and/or inject professional jealousy with CJ then Bellasario stands a good chance of being the new Dick Wolf. Shows that go on because they make money rather than are good television.
Last night’s episode had Gibbs read a letter from Franks that had Franks talk about how he wasn’t going to beat the lung cancer he had from years of smoking, I believe.
@Bill, thanks I must have missed that part (never walking dogs again without checking the pause button). I have it on TiVo (watched it live) will go back and review, I thought they may have done it the way they did Jenny. Ducky making veiled reference at the autopsy of some unnamed disease.
So the letter was new? Gibbs made the coffin so he must have known back months ago?
(off to rewatch)
Methinks the Bourne Identity series is a better analogy :P
*POST AUTHOR*
Okay, so Cobb wasn’t a dead soldier recommissioned as a “GR” series fighting machine, but in the sense that he was an experiment in turning human soldiers into deadly weapons gone terribly wrong…. Wasn’t Jason Bourne just your “run-of-the-mill” super spy?
No… Jason Bourne was almost EXACTLY like this. Except he got amnesia and a conscious whereas our boy here just wanted daddy to notice him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Bourne#Background
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m not a Bourne expert, but while I’d agree that Medusa is like Frankenstein — save for the criminals recruited into the first — the impression I got about the soldiers recruited into Frankenstein included something beyond heavy training. I’ll admit that my take may be influenced by the term “Frankenstein,” which was a research experiment, but the way in which Cobb snapped implied more than indoctrination gone wrong.
My Bourne experience is all related to the movies. Treadstone was a off the books CIA operation where people were brainwashed into being assassins for hire … for the US Gov’t.
I watched it a second time and let it simmer a bit, but my conclusions remains the same.
– The finale was a weak end to a plot line that I couldn’t make myself care very much about.
– Killing Mike Franks was a mistake imho. Having said that, why did they try to soften his murder with the old “he was dying” dodge, copied from when Sheppard died? Anyway, why exactly did Gibbs call him and ask him to come to DC? What did he have to do with the case? Did Gibbs simply want to use his presence to irritate Vance and Kort?
– The group hug in the elevator was an eye-roller.
– They copied the Gibbs/Ziva whisper scene at the funeral. This time, I don’t particularly care what he said.
– Ziva was acting very un-Zivalike. I cannot see her with this CI-Ray guy.
– Omygod, another “leak” in the agency and Tony undercover… here we go again, Did the producers decide that the “Frog” and “Agent Lee” plotlines were long enough ago that they could repeat them again?
– I hope Gibbs goes back to building boats.
– Kort will look very dashing with his eye patch. He’ll look even MORE like a pirate. ARR!
I could go on but why bother. the whole back half of the season was just weak. Truthfully, I’ve been enjoying USA Network repeats more than the recent new episodes.
*POST AUTHOR*
I think it might be time to reshuffle — maybe Ziva and McGee under Tony (with a new third) and Gibbs breaking in all new people? The two teams could work either side of the same room like with EJ, but we’d see two cases going simultaneously, get new blood, yet keep the same relationships we all love.