What I'm Watching: NCIS 6.16 "Bounce"
Feb. 18th, 2009 09:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joiedecombatOtherwise known as 'Tony, framed for murder again? Really?'
Fortunately the "suspected of murder" plot was limited to not much more than the pre-credits teaser, a wise decision on the parts of the writers given that Tony himself points out that he seems to get accused of it about once a season. Interesting to see what amounts to "so yeah, I pretty much fouled up a previous case, whoops." You don't see that very often in procedurals, that I can recall. I think maybe NCIS had a previous one back in season three, and that guy was kind of a jackass too.
Instead we move from that right into the "team leader for a day" plot. We've gotten to see Tony in charge before, and it's always nice to see him stop goofing off and demonstrates that he is actually not only a competent investigator but also, when he exerts himself, an effective leader; this episode gives the added bonus of having Gibbs not only still around but acting as a member of the team. Sort of. With the result that everyone else thinks they're in Bizarro World for a minute or two. It's kind of interesting to see how each of the other characters reacts to the temporary change: Ziva, after the initial bout of "are you going back to Mexico again?", takes it without a hitch. Abby is, well, frankly a bit annoying about it, and it's really too bad that Tony's still doing the I-am-not-Gibbs routine after proving himself as a leader between season three and season four, but what can you do? Even Ducky gets into the act a little bit. McGee, meanwhile, was a bit of a surprise, nearly refusing to acknowledge Tony's authority at all; I don't think he even called him "boss," which he did automatically in previous instances of Tony taking charge. Chalk it up to Gibbs still being present...
Ziva being on Facebook: random, and yet humorous, if only for Tony's reaction. Hee.
The scene with Tony asking Palmer for advice didn't really play... mostly because with a few exceptions, Palmer's been comic relief and Tony is actually good at his job. I see what they were going for - that during Gibbs's hiatus Tony took to using Palmer as a sounding board because as team leader he couldn't talk up-front to McGee or Ziva about being stuck this way - but it would have worked better if more of the resolution that came out of that conversation had come from Tony himself than from Palmer, of all people. As it is, it undermines Tony's competence as an agent and a leader when we already know that, when he mans up and stops goofing off, he's a lot smarter and cannier and just generally better at this than he usually lets on.
So, meh.
The pep-talk from Gibbs, however, was long overdue and very good to see. And kind of amusing in that Gibbs is clearly not very good at those and had to work a bit at getting it out. Cosmic Boy he ain't.
Also: we are seeing, in general, a kinder and gentler Ziva as compared to her earlier appearances. In season three, she would have been the one more interested in the duffel bag than the corpse that was stuffed into it, but in this episode she displays considerably more sensitivity. McGee, meanwhile, has gotten a thicker skin, which since this was a Tony episode mostly translated into McGee being a little bit of an ass; "Caged," earlier this season, is a better demonstration of how McGee has matured. Mmmm, character development!
Overall, a much better episode than last week. Thankfully.
"Let's just say I'm not going back to Arizona anytime soon." Next week's episode disagrees with you, Tony.
Fortunately the "suspected of murder" plot was limited to not much more than the pre-credits teaser, a wise decision on the parts of the writers given that Tony himself points out that he seems to get accused of it about once a season. Interesting to see what amounts to "so yeah, I pretty much fouled up a previous case, whoops." You don't see that very often in procedurals, that I can recall. I think maybe NCIS had a previous one back in season three, and that guy was kind of a jackass too.
Instead we move from that right into the "team leader for a day" plot. We've gotten to see Tony in charge before, and it's always nice to see him stop goofing off and demonstrates that he is actually not only a competent investigator but also, when he exerts himself, an effective leader; this episode gives the added bonus of having Gibbs not only still around but acting as a member of the team. Sort of. With the result that everyone else thinks they're in Bizarro World for a minute or two. It's kind of interesting to see how each of the other characters reacts to the temporary change: Ziva, after the initial bout of "are you going back to Mexico again?", takes it without a hitch. Abby is, well, frankly a bit annoying about it, and it's really too bad that Tony's still doing the I-am-not-Gibbs routine after proving himself as a leader between season three and season four, but what can you do? Even Ducky gets into the act a little bit. McGee, meanwhile, was a bit of a surprise, nearly refusing to acknowledge Tony's authority at all; I don't think he even called him "boss," which he did automatically in previous instances of Tony taking charge. Chalk it up to Gibbs still being present...
Ziva being on Facebook: random, and yet humorous, if only for Tony's reaction. Hee.
The scene with Tony asking Palmer for advice didn't really play... mostly because with a few exceptions, Palmer's been comic relief and Tony is actually good at his job. I see what they were going for - that during Gibbs's hiatus Tony took to using Palmer as a sounding board because as team leader he couldn't talk up-front to McGee or Ziva about being stuck this way - but it would have worked better if more of the resolution that came out of that conversation had come from Tony himself than from Palmer, of all people. As it is, it undermines Tony's competence as an agent and a leader when we already know that, when he mans up and stops goofing off, he's a lot smarter and cannier and just generally better at this than he usually lets on.
So, meh.
The pep-talk from Gibbs, however, was long overdue and very good to see. And kind of amusing in that Gibbs is clearly not very good at those and had to work a bit at getting it out. Cosmic Boy he ain't.
Also: we are seeing, in general, a kinder and gentler Ziva as compared to her earlier appearances. In season three, she would have been the one more interested in the duffel bag than the corpse that was stuffed into it, but in this episode she displays considerably more sensitivity. McGee, meanwhile, has gotten a thicker skin, which since this was a Tony episode mostly translated into McGee being a little bit of an ass; "Caged," earlier this season, is a better demonstration of how McGee has matured. Mmmm, character development!
Overall, a much better episode than last week. Thankfully.
"Let's just say I'm not going back to Arizona anytime soon." Next week's episode disagrees with you, Tony.
