NCIS – Damned if you do

That was a little better, although the ending of NCIS season ten will not have me sleepless over the summer. My companion shook his head and said he didn’t quite get it. He also wondered if we’d strayed into Due South. I think being in a boat with someone dead makes it look as if we had. Someone you talk to and who talks back, I mean.

But it was good to have Mike Franks back, even as a dead guy in a boat.

What really doesn’t make sense is how the Directors of two agencies can take personal interest in one agency team, when they must have so much else to do.

Good to see them digging up someone from JAG. I liked him, despite not being a JAG viewer. He drinks tea, if nothing else.

Usually it’s September when we see what happened in the intervening four months. This time we made the jump to September, while it is still technically only May. Time travel?

And that thing we saw, or thought we saw, at the end? That’s bound not to happen. But they want us to worry all summer.

Quite liked the cabin in the woods.

NCIS – Double Blind

Could Gibbs really not think of anything punchier to say than ‘what do you think?’ He really isn’t the same man he was. I know, it’s not realistic to expect people to stay the same, but this was the retort of the child who can come up with nothing better under pressure. (And I know; it’s the scriptwriters who couldn’t. Not Gibbs.)

Although, until then it was going quite well, with plenty to think about for the season finale next week. Bluffs and double bluffs are effective, and can have you change your predictions every five minutes.

Colin Hanks was excellent as the annoying outsider, probing away and irritating the whole team. And was there a suggestion he’s smarter than McGee? We can’t allow that.

After the earlier fears that Ziva is on the way out, I feel the limelight has switched to Gibbs, which is unlikely. Which brings thoughts back to Ziva again.

Or there is more than one double bluff.

(Photos © CBS)

NCIS – Revenge

It wasn’t bad. Nor were Tony and Ziva dead. But it wasn’t marvellous, either. Let’s say it was an adequate ending to an exciting start.

This revenge thing is almost getting too big. It’s the ‘he killed my wife so I have the right to kill him’ syndrome. It was for the best that Director Vance didn’t shoot anyone. As I said last week, lovely to see ex-Director Morrow, but why did he have to act so impatient?

The fact that Ziva is not yet dead, doesn’t guarantee her presence next season, unless Cote de Pablo has signed in the interim. It could be a Kate Todd all over again. Someone has to go, so let’s tease them with who it might be, kind of thing.

I for one would welcome some ordinary decent Marine/Navy killings/mysteries. Maybe a week or two without personal connections to the cases? Let DiNozzo fondle some more implants and be rude about McGee’s driving, by all means. But let’s go for plain NCIS crime.

And remember the humour. More of it. (I suppose the plunger was OK.)

Please.

NCIS – Detour

While you know they are not going to kill two of the regular team just like that – probably –  Detour was still exciting. It’s one of the few really enjoyable episodes this season, and all the better for letting Ducky and Palmer take the lead.

(I was fascinated to see quite how many tweets Brian Dietzen produced soon after the episode aired. He was right to be proud.)

Even if you hadn’t read about it in advance, the signs that something would happen to the two good doctors were there from the start. Using the clichéd phrases we’ve heard for years took on a new meaning when you knew it wouldn’t be quite the same as it usually is.

‘A most interesting autopsy’ is one way of putting it. Not the only one Ducky has done in the rough, but more spectacular. Going on about how good a brain Ducky has, suggested that he’d need to use it.

And then you have the ‘unfeeling’ way of talking about dead bodies to the baddies; ‘I can peel back the skin if you like.’ It’s good to see how much can be achieved by using brains rather than brawn, or conventional weapons. This was not an episode about those who are less able. They are just different.

Always so formal with each other, it was telling when that Ducky started calling Palmer Mr and changed it to Jimmy.

I have no idea what Prestige 6, or even 7, might be. Something for the young. They bickered like father and son. Wonderful!

(Photos © CBS)

The Christmas episodes

Not surprisingly, some were better than others. Although we found ourselves making comparisons between fresh new writing as was the case for older new Doctor Who seasons, as well as for the earlier season of NCIS. Downton Abbey was OK-ish. Apart – obviously – for you-know-what. NCIS: Los Angeles felt more Christmassy than its big brother did.

Although, it was very noticeable that they had decided to throw in a little from many early NCIS seasons and stir well. Except maybe the stirring wasn’t done terribly thoroughly, after all.

I don’t care for the Doctor’s new assistant. She’s spunky, but the chemistry between us is all wrong. And I trust there is now a country full of children who will scream at the mere idea of a snowman.

How could they end Downton Abbey like that? They did, though, didn’t they? Someone here was disappointed it wasn’t a wintry episode, but when you’ve seen one snow scene, you’ve seen them all. And all that Scottish deer-stalking will suit the Americans just fine. Long live Mrs Patmore and her patés!

So, L A was an early NCIS medley with a Christmas twist. But at least once they’d sorted out the drugs on the ship (I just couldn’t get over the L A gang being on a boat in the first place) they went a little Christmassy. To my mind Nell didn’t need fake elf ears. Besides, didn’t she go from very sad to surprisingly chirpy very quickly?

But NCIS, oh, NCIS… What shall we do about you? This was an over sugary episode with too many cute scenes. I almost didn’t mind DiNozzo Sr being back. Again. He was almost more rational than Jr. And the sight of Junior’s bed is now forever etched on my mind. His flat was gorgeous, but was it him?

As for the goldfish… Or the snickerdoodles. Well.

Perhaps get Steven Moffat to write the next episode?

Happy Birthdays!

Agents David and McGee and (I suppose he must be a) Dr Palmer have another set of birthdays. Even fictional people celebrate birthdays. Except not necessarily at the same time as their actors.

So a shared Happy Birthday to Cote de Pablo (today) and Brian Dietzen (Wednesday) and Sean Murray (Thursday), 33 and 35 and 35 years old! I suppose for them it might be like twins (triplets, even), that because they have their birthdays around the same time, they each get less attention. On the other hand, they are almost old enough to be glad of that.

Yeah, they look happy enough. Save some cake for me.

(Photos © CBS)

NCIS – Recovery

It wasn’t really, was it? At least not for Ducky, who had to storm off in a most un-Ducky-like manner. And are the team mentally recovered from the explosion, or not? Dr Wolf was so like Dr Cranston as it’s possible to be, without being her. Maybe a little milder, unless he’s just biding his time.

I was going to say all this mandatory psycho-evaluation stuff is so unlikely, except I suppose a US federal employer needs to offer, or insist on, the soft touch for their employees. It’s mandatory. Even for directors on guilt trips.

Had it not been referring back to the bomb, this could have been any old NCIS case; let’s find the killer, but let’s find them even more because the victim was one of our own. There were plenty of new temporary characters who might have done it, but I did want it to be the ‘interior decorator’ except it was hard to come up with a good reason for her to be the murderer. Felt that the armoury chap’s stitches looked too fresh, to be four months old.

But I mustn’t complain, because we finally – yes, finally – got to investigate Abby’s long lost brother Kyle. And now that he has proven himself beyond doubt to share the Abby-genes (what a scene that was, in Gibbs’s house!) the question is whether he will become almost regular, or never be seen again.

Because we don’t want him to pop up as either a victim or a suspect in some future episode! Have you got that?

Perhaps Abby can return to autopsy now. If not to sleep, at least to do her job.

(Photos © CBS)

NCIS – Extreme Prejudice

It was very sweet to have Gibbs looking around for Abby, sighing with relief when she appeared to be unhurt. But it was hardly necessary, or even realistic, seeing as he jumped on top of her to protect her in the explosion, ‘mere hours’ before. He’d know she was safe, unless he had squashed her in his role as shining white Special Agent.

Continuity, writers! If you knew how you wanted the season to start, why have Gibbs jump, back in May? If you didn’t, why not have a peep to see what did happen in the last episode? Or ask a fan?*

It was nice to be back, despite this and the dust and destruction. Gibbs had a most fetching injury to his forehead, whereas McGee was woozy and weird, and with much more reason. Ziva and DiNozzo were locked into yet another box. It’s getting a bit repetitive. Surely we can have them close by other means, if that’s what we want?

And if the President tells SecNav to get those who did this, they will. I suspect they would have, anyway. The end was strange. Could they really not come up with something a bit more convincing?

Ducky was all right, as far as all rightness was possible. Not sure what the new Mrs Palmer thought about Palmer spending all that time holding Ducky’s hand. Having Palmer do Ducky’s job, with not even an assistant at his side, feels very Hollywood. Since Brian Dietzen is a regular now, I’m guessing he’s taking over. He has had eight and a half years at Ducky’s side, so why not? But why not before?

I like the new intro. They look so very determined, and Ducky is there. Here’s looking forward to the rest of what will be a great season ten.

*Me, me!

(Photos © CBS)

NCIS beginnings and ends – Pyramid and Nature of the Beast

There is no question but I found this pair the weak link of all the NCIS season starters and endings. Doesn’t mean they are no good, and several viewings later, Pyramid is growing on me, if not literally.

Watching Nature of the Beast recently was a better experience, too. I suspect because we had seen Stratton die (or had we?) and we had belatedly grown fonder of him than we ought to have. And seeing Kate’s sister yet again had ceased to be news, so was more OK.

But I never took to EJ’s team. She felt fake, and any problems they had were none of my business. There might have been no nepotism, but I don’t believe the satnav connection was pure chance.

Abby was too fond of Cade. It felt like too much telling and less showing. New satnav (yes, I do know that’s not his job description, exactly) is not marvellous. I like the actor but not the boss of the navy.

The star of Pyramid is Palmer. Out of character, but wonderful nevertheless.

And the question I am left with is if they really have that many double-crossing people in all those American alphabet agencies in real life? I know we don’t trust them, but it’s still got the feel of fictional tool.

I didn’t spend last summer waiting with bated breath to see what would happen. As always with friends, I wanted to see the team again. But the action was of little importance.

This summer I’ve been too busy to think much about what will happen. But Till Death Do Us Part at least ended with a bang…

(Photos © CBS)

NCIS beginnings and ends – Rule Fifty-One and Spider and the Fly

We’re getting closer to a ‘real’ beginning, so time to crack on. I loved season seven. Looking back, I’m slightly less keen on the last episodes. There is something not quite right about the Mexican set-up. A little on the far-fetched side.

But as cliffhangers go, seeing Jackson Gibbs in his shop with Paloma, it’s a good one. The continuation in season eight is less satisfying, especially the way the Mexican siblings problem is resolved. And Gibbs is a bit too remote and unfeeling, seeing as he doesn’t exactly have a clean conscience himself.

Rule 51, sometimes you’re wrong.

We don’t want Gibbs Sr to die. But it’s worth keeping in mind that although the Reynosa family are crooks, they had a right to love their father, too.

But there is humour even in these two episodes. Like when DiNozzo and Ziva are wondering how they will find Gibbs, and he is just standing there, waiting for them. Ducky going on about golf, as you do, while dissecting the dead.

Loved Abby’s outfit. Possibly not your typical afternoon tea style, but still…

(Photos © CBS)