I’ve often said that the cases featured on most episodes of NCIS do little to grab my attention. But when they succeed to, they do so in a big way. Talk about interesting!
Last night involved a crazy throwback to the Cold War, and I thought it was fantastic. Of course there was what to frustrate me, but that’s life … we never agree with everything all the time. So let’s start with the good.
Tony and the tale of the one-nighter was funny, and well placed throughout the length of the entire hour. Brenda Bittner’s name was dropped just the right amount of times, and I thought the combination of a delusional date and 21st Century technology meshed perfectly. I would, however, like to point out that it hasn’t been that long since Tony was in a serious relationship, and after the way things ended with Jeanne (Scottie Thompson), I can understand his unspoken resistance toward giving someone else his heart.
Palmer was awesome, as usual. I loved how he scored the big discovery, how he was so nervous in front of Ducky, and how Ducky gave him the opportunity to cut into the body. Jimmy’s not new, but the recent expansion of his character on a weekly basis is something I find myself eagerly looking forward to.
I enjoy many Cold War-era novels, movies, and shows, so I was glad to see that terrorism had been given a break, at least for a night. And I can always count on NCIS to do things well — the use of ricin pellets as a murder weapon, hidden microfiche, and a mole planted in Washington to facilitate KGB operations. Just great stuff. Yet another great episode by a consistently strong show.
But even on a good episode there can be things that stick out, or worse, irritate. That’s just life. I never noticed before that ZNN stands for Satellite Network News. So why the “Z?” Do we know? Also, Abby in a pleasant mood is bad enough, so seeing her in a particularly foul mood was particularly irritating. The fact that the episode came around to her over and over again just rubbed salt in that wound.
Who else was disturbed by Tony’s obsession with Dana Hutton (Ashley Scott)? At times I tried to understand what he was attempting to do (when he sat in her armchair, visited her house, or watched those videos of her), but it was hard not to keep seeing it as gross.
We’ve all been burned before by someone leaving a voice mail on our cell phones telling us to call them back at the number that registered when they called, only to see that when our phones are turned off Caller ID doesn’t work. So what did Tony expect Dana to do when he left her a message, and how’d she call him back? That one was too easy to have been missed.
It made sense for “Yuri” to have put the leftover money into collectible books, but a First Edition, leather-bound copy of the complete works of William Shakespeare? What a waste.
And of course, the most egregious part of last night’s episode was the reappearance of Mr. Hart (Rena Sofer), in connection with this completely random Mexican task force. And no, the “Mr.” is not a typo — it’s less offensive a way to refer to her than her “Mr.” is in reference to Gibbs. Anyway, I do think that Hart, the task force, and Colonel Bell will all roll up into a season finale ball, but did we really need to see her again in order to set that up?
At the same time, Gibbs and Tony at the end of the episode almost made up for it. Almost.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on May 05, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
I have to admit, I hate Rena Sofer with an undying passion. Yet, I can understand why her undeniable good looks will continue to get her roles, even if her acting (which, shockingly, has improved over the years) isn’t on par with the main cast. I disliked that her character, who isn’t fully affiliated with NCIS, tried to force Abby to give the visitor a lab tour while knowing full well of Abby’s over-worked scheduled. Maybe I’m speaking from personal experience, but Abby’d clearly have to work half-an-hour extra to make up for that ‘minor break.’
I didn’t buy the Dana Hutton character when she appeared, but maybe Ashley Scott never did it for me as an actress. I would’ve bought Tony’s obsession earlier in the series before his relationship with Jeanne or he became closer to Ziva, but, now, it doesn’t make sense.
However, calling buying an original copy of Shakespeare a waste!? What?! That was gorgeous. But, I’m surprised he wasn’t afraid of break-ins.
Side note: Considering the Mexican task force appeared and last week the polygraph operator asked Gibbs if he had committed a crime (and don’t think I didn’t see your comments on IPS :), would his past come back to haunt him?
*POST AUTHOR*
I knew tossing in the Shakespeare thing was playing with fire, but I had to. We spent a lot of time on his plays in high school and college, and I always found them to be just horrible. Forget about the difficulty with Middle-English … I just don’t enjoy the stories. On the other hand, my wife has a massive edition of his complete works on our bookshelves, in addition to many copies of most of his plays. So there you go…. :)
Interesting … I didn’t connect the Mexican task force to the polygraph problem Gibbs had. That could fit with what I’ve read about the season finale though. Good call! And yes, the In Plain Sight comments are for readers like you! ;) Good work on the reviews — I’m enjoying them!