NCIS - Semper Fidelis

[webbgirl]

I know I said I was going to wait until I watched the episode again to share my thoughts



There were parts of last night's episode that I LOVED.
-Tony being all confident and investigator like.

-Gibbs having a normal conversation with him that didn't sound like he was talking to an 8 year old.

-Ducky letting his obvious jealousy of Gibbs and Fornell's relationship out to play. *g*

-Gibbs being amused by Ducky trying to strangle Fornell.

-Fornell being around in general.

Then there was the stuff that was meh or just downright WTF. I should preface this by stating that I think there's a possibility many of my 'issues' will be cleared up in the second part next week. If they aren't? They definitely go in the WTF pile.

- The ICE agent. She still feels way hinky to me. If it doesn't turn out that she was in on the whole thing? I'm calling bullshit writing and acting. There are red herrings and then there are freakin' neon signs. Gibbs and Fornell apologizing? That falls under the neon sign category. Also? How does any decent agent of *any* agency just casually destroy evidence?

- The thing with Vance. I think the whole thing in Gibbs' basement is supposed to lead us (and Gibbs) to believe that we can trust Vance. That the Sec Nav has been in on whatever is 'shady' about him from the beginning. I'm wondering if this is a backout move on the writers parts. They wanted to make Vance this mysterious guy with a hinky past and went "CRAP! The audience didn't bite." and this is their way out. I could be wrong and it could still be part of a master plan, but given their lack of continuity skills I wouldn't be surprised if it floats away either.

I do have an alternate theory with this...Vance is being used (probably with his knowledge) to get specifically to Eli. The SecNav mentioned potential issues with Ziva. I'm wondering if the whole incident at the SecNav's house was a staged incident to get to Michael and Eli. The agent was never supposed to die. Ducky even said so. Possibly the ICE chick is in on it as well. It's possible that even Ziva was in on this. I don't think that her involvement with Michael was purely her being in love (but I'll get to her in a moment).

Have I mentioned that an overload of espionage crap makes my head hurt?

I think there are more secrets going on here than what we saw in the "Season of Secrets". There are agendas up the wazzoo and Gibbs and his team are being played.

Now to Ziva. The whole Ziva thing (whether it involves TIVA crap or not) is just horrible.

Let's look at the options:

1) She was truly in love with Michael and believed that he was really there just to see her. Umm...this leads me to believe that she is THE WORST MOSSAD AGENT EVER! She knew what happened in L.A. There's no way she could just fall for the idea that he stuck around in the country after that mess just to spend time with her. Unless she has some brain damage working from making moon-eyes at Tony. *cough* sorry

2) She's working for the Mossad to try and catch Michael without the knowledge of Vance or anyone else in the U.S. Or possibly to get info on NCIS. This one's a bit fuzzy. If that's the case, how does she ever get re-integrated into the team. SB has stated over and over again that nobody is leaving the show. I don't see how Gibbs or any of the others could possibly trust her after something like that. She put all of their lives in danger.

3) She's working *with* Vance's knowledge (or the SecNav...again with the espionage crap). I have issues with this as well. It more closely parallels Tony's time with Jeanne, but it still lead to a situation that put the team in danger. Her reactions to Tony (and a particular scene in the previews for next week) make me doubt this one though.

I'm just not seeing how with any of these scenarios the team goes back to functioning well again. How does she get over her anger with Tony for killing Michael? How does Gibbs get over her lying to him and the team for the Mossad?

Another part that I have a potential issue with (depending on how it plays out next week) is Tony being made to look like a jealous guy who shot Ziva's boyfriend. I know that we can see the truth, but the bits and pieces set up through the show could point an investigation in that direction. Thank god for Abby being the one to find the connection of the internet at Ziva's place.

My potentially HUGE issue with this is if Gibbs buys into Tony killing Rivkin for anything but self-defence. That happens, even for a second? I'm setting my DVDs on repeat and remembering the good old days. I just feel like Tony has gotten the brunt of crap on everything, especially this season. I want to see *someone* (okay, specifically Gibbs) have his back all the way for once.

Feel free to comment, disect, quibble...

Unrelated, but can someone please talk me out of going to see a certain movie *again*? This is the problem with falling in love with movie shiny as opposed to TV shiny. I have to wait for the DVDs or find 'alternate' means of getting my fix. Hmph.

Comments

[sffan.livejournal.com]

You have a broken tag there that might be a cut tag? Not sure.

As for the ICE agent, assuming that she used her real voice in Dexter, she's British and has a pretty strong accent. I think a lot of her delivery of lines is hobbled by the fact that she has to speak like an American...sort of.

It's really strange. I didn't watch NCIS when it first came out, but skrippy and becc convinced me I should try it, so I watched S1 & 2 (I think...) and started watching live after that. I really enjoyed it for a while, but now, it's almost background noise. The last few eps have been so convoluted and out of character for so many, that I tend to zone out while watching.

[webbgirl.livejournal.com]

I caught the broken cut but not fast enough. *g*

I could tell that she actually has a Brit accent, and I think that it did probably play into some of the delivery. I still think things are hinky based on other people's reactions to her and the whole Gibbs/Fornell thing. It's waaaay out of character for them.

I keep hoping that the show will get back on track and give me the characters/team that I love again. Sadly, I think I am destined to be disappointed.

[tartary-lamb.livejournal.com]

Unrelated, but can someone please talk me out of going to see a certain movie *again*?

Waaaait! I don't want you to get burned out on it before I have a chance to drag you to see it (again). >_>;

[webbgirl.livejournal.com]

Okay. EEP! Just over a week to go! I just realized how close it is. YAY!

[tartary-lamb.livejournal.com]

See? It's the perfect plan!

But then, I'm both thrilled and terrified. You = yay! Moving the weekend after = o____o;;;

Maybe we can watch Star Trek and have a drink. Er.

[webbgirl.livejournal.com]

I can use my random Canadian change towards the "Let's get tartary_lamb relaxed" fund. :)

[tartary-lamb.livejournal.com]

There has been no greater cause. ;D Also, icon! Bahahahaha. <33

[webbgirl.livejournal.com]

You've also reminded me that if I'm going to spend any time in a movie theater this weekend, I should really go see Wolverine since I haven't actually seen it yet.

[tartary-lamb.livejournal.com]

This. But ya know, if you wanted to make it a double-header and see it with me too, I'm totally game. >_>

If my laptop wasn't dead, I'd totally have icons. So have a Nick Fury instead.

[brilliantomega.livejournal.com]

My potentially HUGE issue with this is if Gibbs buys into Tony killing Rivkin for anything but self-defence. That happens, even for a second? I'm setting my DVDs on repeat and remembering the good old days. I just feel like Tony has gotten the brunt of crap on everything, especially this season. I want to see *someone* (okay, specifically Gibbs) have his back all the way for once.


I'll bring the popcorn.

[kelly-girl.livejournal.com]

Your icon is distracting me and preventing me from doing things like thinking coherently or you know, breathing.

The ICE agent bothered me big time and when she said Fornell and Gibbs apologized to her, that really set off my alarms. Fornell, scary Fornell and even scarier Gibbs who get off and terrorizing suspects, employees and anyone around them?

Whatever. If I didn't see it and Fornell or Gibbs didn't later state that they apologized then it didn't happen.

I have to watch again because I missed Ducky strangling Fornell.

They have so much undercover intrigue happening but if Ziva turns out to be dirty or that Michael fooled her then this, along with the Agent Lee stuff, says that NCIS may need some better people in the mix.

[captain-tiv.livejournal.com]

1. The ICE agent is either a plant to investigate whatever it is that needs investigating OR she's the one being investigated and the whole security detail was a setup.

2. No one's leaving the show, but that doesn't mean some won't leave the team. If Ziva's messed up big time, we could be looking at her sitting on the sidelines for a while and not going out with the team.

3. Gibbs does NOT apologize (except to Ducky, but he's a friend). Even McGee didn't believe it when the ICE agent said so.

4. McGee is flirting with the ICE agent, Tony-DiNozzo style. Maybe McGee is in on the investigation and is investigating the ICE agent?

5. If Gibbs doesn't believe Tony, I want Tony to really call him on it. I want to see Gibbs actually apologize (sincerely) and really want to earn Tony's forgiveness for (a) not believing him and (b) not covering his six. That could be HUGLY dramatic and angsty.

6. What if we have every single agency in the alphabet soup spying on all the others and this is just the tip of the iceberg?

7. There's nothing really mysterious about Vance, and the mystery page that keeps turning up annoys me. It doesn't make me want to trust him.

8. All of this is a way for the writers to get rid of any hints of Tiva that might be cluttering up the writer's room...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_tweeter_/]

One thing I suspect is, the guy that Ziva called, Hadar?, is a sort of internal affairs type guy for Mossad and Director David and his pet assassin - not his daughter - are under investigation and Ziva is helping.

And I'm choosing to believe that the promo monkeys are messing with the editing and Gibbs never doubts that Tony killed Michael in self defense. If he does, it's a ruse to trick... someone, don't know who.

[nialla]

I think I've figured out what's been bugging me with this episode. It's like a backwards day. Everyone's acting wrong.

McGee's flirting like Tony, while Tony is acting like Gibbs on a mission. Ziva is sort of reminding me of Jenny at her worst, with stuff from the past coming back to haunt the viewers. Stuff that we really don't give a damn about, we're just haunted because they won't stop going on about it.

Then we have Gibbs and Fornell apologizing, which is a bigger sign of the end of the world than anything Supernatural can dream up in their season finale.

Then there are many WTF moments.

I can understand Tony being suspicious and snooping (it's what he does), but to find out what he has (with Abby's help), he's still working by himself in the field, even with Gibbs knowing there's something up?

Michael's been repeatedly told to get out of Dodge, plus he should have been kicked out of the country for operating on American soil anyway. He's still here why? I don't think visiting a girlfriend would trump national security.

[xanthelj.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna do a review myself at some point but I agree with your comments. I didn't hate the ep - didn't understand it but that's par for the course these days. One of the things I used to LOVE about NCIS was that I DID understand the plots because they weren't too complicated for my small brain like a lot of cop TV shows are. Which is why I rarely watch cop dramas. NCIS is every worse because of the recurring international terrorism plotlines which are just a NIGHTMARE for small brained folk like myself. I just mainly let them wash over me and watch for the character stuff but when NCIS's character stuff is so lame these days that becomes a thankless task.

Moving on...

What they've done to Ziva is unforgiveable. I don't know why Cote would be happy about it and giving chirpy interviews about "Tiva". There has been NO Tiva in these eps! There has been Miva - lots of it! But Tiva? NONE! Zilch! Nada! I now hate Ziva and even if they come up with some complicated "she was undercover on a sekrit mission" type explanation for it, it WON'T work because Tony has been exposed to such monumental danger as a result of it. If it IS as it seems, and she was in love with Michael then that's even worse frankly. And if she was on a sekrit mission to expose Michael then where's her loyalty to NCIS? And if it was sanctioned by NCIS then poor Tony has been thrown to the wolves YET again.

I really worry for Tony in all this. He’s played this absolutely by the book. He has evidence to suggest Michael has killed an ICE agent as well as the other guy, Gibbs has told Michael to leave already, Tony has told him to leave, Gibbs has told Tony to keep an eye on Michael – so that’s a direct order from his boss that he's following. Tony didn't KNOW Michael would be at Ziva's apartment so no need to take backup - he went there to talk to Ziva about the weird evidence trail leading to her which seems normal enough - and actually nice of him to do it in a discreet way. Then Tony tried to arrest Michael, and he *resisted* arrest and attacked a federal agent. Tony fought him off defensively until Michael came at him with the shard of glass. He gave him fair warning. He did everything he could to avoid what happened. If they hang him out to dry I’ll be furious. If *Gibbs* doesn’t have his back I’ll be even more furious and I’ll wonder why the hell Tony stays at NCIS. And yeah, like you, I think that'll be my tipping point and I'll have to stop watching. If Gibbs stops believing in Tony, or Tony feels Gibbs has abandoned him - that will break my heart.

The worst thing is going to be that I KNOW Ziva will try and make out Tony killed Michael because he was jealous of her relationship with him when Tony has been totally professional throughout this – far more professional than just about anyone else with all their secret files on each other, and basement visits, and “let’s pretend this guy committed suicide” talk, and covering up having a relationship with a foreign spy who has been asked to leave the country. I will go bonkers if somehow TONY is held to blame for any of this, and if he's going to be accused of jealousy in shooting Michael, when he’s the least to blame in the whole thing and the only one who has been upfront about doing his damn job.

As for the ICE agent - I gather she's a recurring role next year so I don't see she can be hinky. Maybe she lied to Tim about the "sorry" to make herself feel better. I HATED her with a vengeance but mainly because of the casting. I've never liked Jaime Murray in anything I've seen her in. Her features look like they're moulded out of plastic, she's painfully thin, and her accent in this! OMG! She's English and despite having lived in the US for awhile now, she seems totally unable to do a convincing US accent! Unlike Louise Lombard whose accent was great. I winced every time she opened her mouth. I HATE it when TV shows cast female characters like this. She was just awful - when I think what Jessica Steen could have done with the role...sigh. If they're going to give us new female characters, at least try and make them halfway realistic. It makes me want to hit my head against the wall.

I've rambled on for long enough *g*. Sorry!

[webbgirl.livejournal.com]

didn't understand it but that's par for the course these days.

I actually had a thought last night while I was watching something else.

When I was watching the commentary for "Bury Your Dead" with MW and his mother he made a throw away comment about how the Jeanne storyline may not have been the clearest bit of writing. I get the feeling that's part of what's happening throughout this whole season. The writers are trying to be way too clever with some things.

It's like they're trying to turn it from an episodic show into something more serialized like LOST where you have to follow all the way through to finally get things. Don't get me wrong, I love LOST. However, these writers are no where near smart enough to pull that off. Even the LOST writers aren't smart enough on some days.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_tweeter_/]

OMG, you said everything I just said in my journal, only you were more coherent.

I claim foggy headedness.

::nodding solemnly::

Going to read your journal now BECAUSE I'M SO UPSET FOR TONY that I'm pretty much incoherent.

[xanthelj.livejournal.com]

LOL! I agree - I'm upset for Tony too! I haven't done my review on my LJ yet - probably have to wait until the weekend :-)