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)

What can you change?

I hadn’t really considered that aspect of things before. If you – fictionally – blow up something that exists in real life, what exactly can you can you permit yourself to do? Having been led to believe that the Navy Yard is the real deal, you surely can’t add the need to rebuild it or to move NCIS?

(Admittedly, I’ve been getting tired of the two men who repeatedly walk into the building at around seven o’clock for the past nine years. You’d think the two men must be getting tired, too.)

So, in order to speculate (something I never engage in…) about season ten of NCIS, the bomb didn’t do too much damage to the workplace of our team. Nothing a good clean-up won’t deal with. Maybe it was the fact that several of the actors needed their contracts renewing, which meant they were given the option of perishing in the explosion.

We now know they are all coming back, including Brian Dietzen who has been upgraded to regular. Perhaps he really will take over from Ducky? Seeing as David McCallum already had renewed his contract, it makes sense to believe he survived. We know he did, now. But it sounds as if his role will change, and he might go down a new path of sorts. Leaving Palmer to chat to the corpses?

I gather Abby will find her new brother again. Not before time, that. Creepy Dr Ryan is gone, although not necessarily forever. DiNozzo Sr is supposed to visit again.

That is, if Junior ever gets out of the elevator with Ziva. Eli David is rumoured to be back as well.

So, all in the family. Rather like season nine. Let’s hope the writing improves.

(Photos © CBS)

Ducky and David

This man isn’t 79. This is Donald Mallard, aka Ducky. It’s hard to determine his age, when you know how old David McCallum is. But I’d say close to 65. After all, Ducky has been ‘too old’ for almost ten years now.

The man who is 79 today is David, the actor. Hard to believe, isn’t it?

Just as well he’s getting a hug. I’d give him one too, if he was here. Or I there. Or even both of us somewhere else.

Happy 79th!

NCIS beginnings and ends – Aliyah and Truth or Consequences

Aliyah is strong in that it was a tough decision for Gibbs to leave Ziva behind in Israel, but there is something in the way she behaves that’s not quite Ziva. Too soft. Too furtive. She must have known she couldn’t do what she did and just remain as though nothing had happened.

The scene where DiNozzo is interviewed by Eli David is priceless. DiNozzo is often most annoying when in ‘DiNozzo mode’ but this is good. Clearly thought out, and with a purpose, and it works.

And then you counter the ‘old’ Ziva with the one in Truth or Consequences, and even more so, DiNozzo as the knight in shining white armour. Still fooling around, but again, with a purpose.

The rescue mission might not be terribly likely or realistic, but it’s very enjoyable. And in-between the heroics and the violence, there is the day-to-day humour, as told by DiNozzo. The hiring of a replacement for Ziva is so well done. We know they won’t really do it, but it half looks like they might.

The needle in the haystack, the anomaly, the Caf-Pow. It’s different. And the way Vance allows Gibbs and his team to do what they want to do, without using words.

‘How was your summer?’ must count as the understatement of what even DiNozzo would say at the end of a long separation. But the humour deals far better with the harsh reality of how Ziva’s summer was, than any amount of sympathy would have done.

Even though the ending to season six is weak-ish, you are still left wanting to know what happens next. As a beginning, season seven is one of the best. It was worth waiting for.

(Photos © CBS)

NCIS beginnings and ends – Judgment Day and Last Man Standing

One of the best pairs. The kind that really left us snapping for oxygen over the summer. More so because the strike during the winter of season five meant we went several episodes short.

They made up for quantity by writing some real quality episodes to round off season five. You can argue that they only ever kill off the women, but Director Shepard was ready to go. Lauren Holly might not have been, but we were done with her character, and she went out with all guns blazing, which is the best way.

Wasn’t just guns which blazed, come to think of it. That was some funeral pyre Gibbs and Franks came up with, as the solution to all their problems. They killed a lot of birds in the final double episode. We got a western, as well as a California beach dream, followed by a grieving team. But after Kate, we could cope with anything. And Vance had already been eased into the role of taking over.

We were used to him. Almost liked him, despite that awful toothpick. So they had to go and make him temporary bad guy over the summer. I don’t think I ever saw so much fan speculation as that year. People screen-capped the shredder, to try and see what Vance was shredding.

We hated him. Bad or good, no one comes and splits up our team.

And then we returned to a new but still totally old set-up. New agents. Old roles. The ‘real’ team had new jobs. Some where happy. Others not. But it was done so well!

Gibbs and Vance cornering Palmer is priceless. The way the scriptwriters mixed silly humour with the deep sadness of losing an agent and friend takes a lot of skill. You went from giggles to tears to fury and back.

Not everything got sorted, but we were on a journey once more.

(Photos © CBS)

NCIS beginnings and ends – Angel of Death, and Bury Your Dead

Hindsight makes me dislike more about season four than I noticed at the time. Probably because I didn’t actually like the Tony DiNardo disguise. I wasn’t dead keen on Jeanne, but hated the way she was being used, which once you know, is pretty upsetting if you watch again.

But, we are still talking good writing, and a strong end to one season and a very good start to the next one. Once you stop having qualms about Jeanne, that is.

We haven’t watched Angel of Death very often. I used to think it was a mixed up episode, and my co-watcher isn’t too keen on the druggie’s sister in the morgue. Well acted, but disgusting. Her boyfriend is deliciously clever and crooked and very Irish.

But the rest is pretty decent. The thread about the little girls on the loose in the hospital, who might be Shirley Temple, or not, is fun. Not so sure about leaving Gibbs in charge when the Director goes away. Why would he be? Nice cliff-hanger ending.

For a first episode, Bury Your Dead is one of the best. That car bomb is most effective. The way Abby and McGee have mirrored each other overnight, helping the Director and Gibbs respectively, works well.

I love McGee’s comment to Ziva about how his parents raised a gentleman while Ziva’s parents raised a killer. La Grenouille gets his come-uppance, but by now we almost like the man. Kort is as bad as we want him to be.

And overnight, Director Shepard’s hair grew a good few inches.

Funny that not one of them thought to comment on that.

(Photos © CBS)

NCIS beginnings and ends – Hiatus and Shalom

Close on the heels of the death of Kate comes Gibbs lying injured in a hospital bed. I mean, as episodes Daughter tries to avoid watching because they are just so sad… Both parts of Hiatus are sad, but they are also funny and enjoyable, while being dramatic and quite upsetting in many ways.

That’s what good writing is. I know I keep coming back to this, but it’s true. So once you overlook the sight of Gibbs biting back a sob when he realises (again) that Shannon and Kelly are dead, this is fun. The drama doesn’t feel synthetic.

As I’ve said before, Abby’s monologue in front of the ICU nurse is priceless. Director Shepard is good in the same spot, but Abby is wonderful. Ziva’s threatening the ship’s captain is just right, and our first look at Mike Franks wears well.

On to Shalom at the beginning of season four and we return to Franks and his Mexican paradise. Camila brings the phone a second time, mirroring the call in Hiatus. It’s the first time we have seen a relaxed and almost normal Gibbs, and he does another ‘Mark Harmon thing’ by being on the roof, mending it for Franks.

Seeing Ziva both vulnerable and strong works well, and I’m glad she called in Gibbs’ debt so soon. As for her girl-on-girl fight at the end, it was rated 18 on YouTube at the time, which is ridiculous, but shows how good it is. The mirroring of Kate and Ari when Ziva is lured to follow the motorbike is another excellent move.

Did I mention good writing?

And we like Gibbs with a beard. The shirt is borderline, but the beard is just right. Could we have the good old days back, please?

(Photo © CBS)

NCIS beginnings and ends – Bravo Yankee Echo to Kate

The end of NCIS season two and the beginning of season three are among the very best episodes, and among the hardest to watch. Even though we watched season two late, when we already knew how it would end, it still didn’t make it any easier, or even any more obvious what was going to happen.

So we knew Kate would die, but the way they set up smoke screens, pretending to kill DiNozzo with the plague, and then offering up snakes and bombs and the need to protect Gibbs, meant we were as confused as they wanted us to be. I saw an interview with Mark Harmon on the eve of the last episode, and he claimed not to know who was going to die. It could have been him. Or so he said.

Twilight is as strong an episode as any, and it stands the passage of time well. It’s still exciting to watch, despite us knowing how and who and why. That penultimate shot when we think Kate has died, quickly followed by the killshot is pretty good.

There is humour, despite the fear and the danger. That’s what makes NCIS; the plot as such might be mediocre, but the script and the dialogue is first class.

As for Kill Ari, I had to watch part one three times before I felt even vaguely normal. It’s the one that has affected me more than any other. Yet again it’s the strong writing which makes it what it is, more even than the acting, which is also fantastic.

The team are shattered in more ways than one, it is raining (it always rains when things are bad) and Gibbs is nice. DiNozzo is right, we don’t want a Gibbs who is too nice, but it was quite fun to see what a nice Gibbs might be like. He doubts his own abilities, while the rest of his team daydream about Kate, the way they each saw her.

They have Ari to chase, while fighting the FBI’s view of him as an ally, and Gibbs has his old partner return without warning as his new Director. Ziva turns up and confuses DiNozzo, and we have that priceless scene in Ducky’s Morgan, with the useless Gerald almost wrecking it.

You don’t often get a really bad bad guy who can also be as interesting and as charming and normal as Ari. We sense that he is ice cold and cruel, but there is still a sense of humour.

(Photo © CBS)

NCIS beginnings and ends – Reveille and See No Evil

Season one of NCIS ends fairly strongly, although you need hindsight to see where it might lead. There is the mirror effect at the end of season two, which you won’t know about if you watch in the right order.

Written by Donald Bellisario and featuring Ari for the second time, it’s strong and annoying at the same time. DiNozzo’s stupid fascination for the fake Swede is irritating, and I have never felt easy with Ducky’s description of the old case which upset Gibbs.

But Ari is good, and his relationship with Kate was always interesting. I keep wondering what would have happened if they’d lived.

Since this episode was shown not long before the start of season two, the cliffhanger wait was reduced. And there wasn’t even much of a cliffhanger, unless you’d got as worked up about Ari as Gibbs had.

Which is lucky, since See No Evil was pretty good, but had no real connection to Reveille.

My main problem with See No Evil, is that it can only be watched once, and work. When – or if – you watch it again and you know what happened, it loses all credibility, and the feelgood factor of how the team worked the rescue seems pointless.

It is also a little too sugary on ‘kid with disability.’ Fine, let her be both pretty and talented and courageous. But why be surprised?

This was the start of Kate and DiNozzo being mean to McGee, and I hated them through most of season two, because they went from almost normal (for television agents) to childish and petty.

But the heatwave and the air conditioning breaking down is used with great effect. Putting the computer in autopsy to keep it cool is a ‘cool’ move. Having two endings is also effective. First the obvious one, and then the real one. But as I said, you can only use that trick once.

(Photos © CBS)