NCIS – It pains me to say it, but Gibbs disappoints

I don’t know how else to sum up the end of last night’s episode of NCIS but as disappointing. And it’s not merely due to the fact that before he may or may not have kissed her, Gibbs knew that Ms. Hart (Rena Sofer) was Colonel Bell’s attorney and wasn’t necessarily on the up-and-up. Or that he had already made it clear that he knew she was gunning for him on her pro bono cases.

No, my disappointment lies in what that almost-kiss makes Gibbs: ordinary. It’s an age-old plot device to create romance where there was no chemistry or sexual tension whatsoever. Just because Gibbs made a redhead joke in her first appearance — alluding to his preference in women as exhibited by his four ex-wives — doesn’t mean that we didn’t also need to actually see something between them onscreen. All I got from them was pure, authentic hatred.

Saving the situation by saying that Ms. Hart is really working “undercover” for Bell doesn’t help, because it means that someone pulled one over on Gibbs. Saying that he knows she’s working for Bell and he’s playing along to catch her and Bell in the act doesn’t negate the fact that he’d actually need to sleep with her to facilitate that (and my problem with that isn’t based on anything puritanical). And saying that he knows what’s up and is going along because there’s nothing wrong with sleeping with a younger woman every now and again … well okay, but that does make him a bit of a dirty old man.

Those of you who were hoping to get more on last week’s potential romance were either disappointed, or handed another clue in the puzzle. Did the fact that no mention was made of what may have happened in Paris mean that it didn’t happen, or is it further teasing, getting us to lower our guard before the awkwardness starts next week? I’m hoping for the former, because consummation of this thing after all these years would be as bad as what I hear happened on Bones (or was that a dream or something?) or CSI.

Some fun stuff, as always:

• Tony mentioning National Ballroom Dancing Day was humorous enough, but seeing Palmer getting down in Ducky’s lab was really funny. I wonder if he’s going with Tony to dance class.
• McGee attending an online wedding, and throwing rice up in the air … tell me, why did he have a headset on? What role was he playing in the wedding? And do you think they could see him too, which might explain the tuxedo and the rice?
• I hate to only mention this in passing, because of how awesome it was, but I guess it holds little significance in the grander scheme of things. But how great was Gibbs’ line, “On my blog?” when told that the defense contractor had been following him for years? Gibbs said the word “blog!” And in the right context! That made my night.

Although it wasn’t quite enough to settle my unease over that ending. There better be a good explanation in there somewhere, Gunny.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 03, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT