SEASON SEVEN EPISODE TWO
REUNION
Again, I can't say I was really looking forward to this
episode, although I knew Jimmy was going to be in it, which is always a good
thing. I feared that it would either revolve entirely around Ziva and what
happened during her months in captivity or totally ignore the subject - neither
was a good option. However, again I'm pleased to say it was a much better
episode than expected; we had a real naval case (yay!), not just one they
stumble over, and the whole Ziva thing was, I think, very well balanced. Plus, a
small scene I'd seen in the promo turned out far better than expected.
There was some really good character interaction and banter, once again I didn't
really want to slap anyone (although I was irked by Abby at one point, but also
found myself smiling to an extent too), we had Jimmy, we had a little more Ducky
this week, and all in all I felt it worked well. I enjoyed it. It wasn't at the
same emotional level as last week, but I thought it was a good, solid episode.
So we begin with a woman in a short skirt going into a hotel room saying the men
in there are under arrest. However, she finds three dead bodies: one is lying
next to some vomit, another is on the bed with some kind of bag over his head,
the third has his head in the loo. The man on the floor is bald. Cue her scream
and the credits.
We then, naturally, go to a new day at NCIS. DiNozzo arrives and addresses the
new Ziva-replacement Agent Fillmore, who totally ignores him. He passes a
comment that it's a good job his ego is so big otherwise he would have thought
she didn't like him (which clearly she didn't), which was a really good DiNozzo
comment; nice to see how he sees himself. He then goes to talk to McGee about
Ziva and we learn neither man has heard from her. But McGee is sure she's coming
back, what he isn't sure about is where she'll sit. Also during this exchange we
learn that DiNozzo had to sign his autograph before he could get into the
building and a woman has asked McGee out for a drink.
At that point Agent Fillmore comes over to them and hands DiNozzo a wad of
papers, telling him it's her resignation letter. When McGee points out it's
rather long, she says she didn't know what terms to use: juvenile, childish or
just plain annoying. McGee looks at DiNozzo and says Fillmore is right, but
there was no malice in it, just the old-style bantering they had, and in fact
DiNozzo isn't objecting. But then Fillmore turns to McGee and says he's as bad
because he knows better, but he plays the part of the faithful sidekick and just
goes along with DiNozzo. She then tells them to make sure Gibbs gets the letter
and she goes. A really nice scene with some good lines and exchanges.
Down in Gibbs's basement, he's measuring up (one assumes and hopes for another
boat) and Ziva appears. She apologises for being late and starts to explain, but
cuts herself off. He asks how she is and she assures him she is fine. She then
gives him a gift, a rather splendid chisel, and starts to talk about how she
felt betrayed when he left her in Israel, but how after she had time to think
about it, she knows he was right to leave her behind and she wants to come back
to the team. He tells her it is Vance's decision and that she should go and talk
to him. The phone rings, it's DiNozzo re: a case and he turns to go and he
repeats she needs to talk to Vance and also someone else. I thought it was a
well played scene; Gibbs is clearly not welcoming her back with open arms and
he's still not sure about her. Not just because of what she has gone through,
and the whole 'choose' thing in Israel, but also because of the whole Ari thing
about which Vance told him at the end of Aliyah.
At the crime scene McGee is shooting pictures and DiNozzo is dusting for
fingerprints. DiNozzo calls McGee his sidekick and McGee says he's not, because
DiNozzo isn't the boss; DiNozzo (as he always does) points out he's the boss
when Gibbs isn't there. But the beauty of the exchange was that although they
were saying words they'd said before, their tones were completely different.
There was not malice or bitchiness, DiNozzo wasn't rubbing the whole 'boss when
Gibbs isn't there' thing down McGee's throat, it was just very well done. I
really do hope that this is how they continue for the rest of the season. And of
course on cue, Gibbs appears telling DiNozzo that he is there - nicely done,
even if Gibbs's appearance was bound to happen at that point.
It was the Marine Jeff Ross who had booked the room for a bachelor party. Gibbs
asks about Fillmore and DiNozzo just looks at him. Gibbs then takes McGee with
him and they go and talk to the girl and her manager (Hector Stuckey). She says
Ross was a first timer and she met him that afternoon and he gave her a key to
the room and she was meant to surprise him and his buddies. And she adds that
she was sure when she met him, he had hair. The bag is pulled off the head of
the man who is on the bed and he's bald. During this scene, Stuckey, who is a
really nasty piece of work but a good red-herring, sprays some cologne at McGee
and tells him it's his own brand. McGee declines the 'kind' offer to keep it.
Meanwhile Ducky and Jimmy are extracting the man's head from the loo - and like
the others he is bald. Gibbs appears and Ducky points out that no one can shave
a head that closely without leaving some kind of razor burn and explains the
shaving happened after death. We have a small, quick look between Gibbs and
Ducky.
Back at NCIS, we learn who the dead men are: Staff Sergeant Jeff Ross who was
currently on leave from where he is stationed in Korea (he's a mechanic). Eric
Jurel who was a civilian auctioneer. And the bachelor himself: Alan Sandrich,
who worked as a low level clerk in the Pentagon. They have no criminal records,
unless you count egging a church. McGee asks why someone would egg a church (I'd
like to know that too, also what it is - is it as is sounds, throwing eggs at a
church?) and Gibbs sends them to find out.
We then have a really lovely scene with great banter between McGee and DiNozzo
(it was another very heavy with fodder for DiNozzo/McGee fen episode). McGee
goes off first telling DiNozzo to follow him and then they have a really fun
exchange about sidekicks. DiNozzo says that he can't be the sidekick because
everyone knows the sidekick is shorter and McGee is . . . And as McGee points
out he's exactly the same height as DiNozzo, they stand toe to toe looking at
one another. McGee says that DiNozzo thinks he can't be a sidekick because he
thinks he'd too handsome. DiNozzo contradicts that saying it's not him, but
people, people of the female variety who think it. The lift doors open during
this and Ziva appears and she says that she thinks McGee is the more good
looking (I agree fully with this) and adds 'nothing personal' to DiNozzo. They
just stare at her and then Vance appears and takes her away. Such a good scene,
this is the humour that makes NCIS so good and that has been lacking for quite
some time, the interpersonal play and exchanges and little jibes at one another,
but in a relaxed, friendly, fun way. PTB if you're listening please, please,
please keep this up.
Up in Vance's office he says he knows she's there to discuss coming back and he
asks what her father's opinion is. She says she doesn't see how that matters, he
reminds her that she was not an agent, but a Mossad Liaison Officer and as such
she needs to be in touch with Mossad to liaise. He also says she is damaged
goods. She also admits she hasn't spoken to her father - I don't blame her; it
doesn't seem to me as if Mossad tried very hard (if at all) to rescue her, not
to mention her own father sent her to Africa in the first place. Vance says
she'll have to undergo a psych evaluation, but he won't make any promises.
Meanwhile McGee and DiNozzo are at the auction house and we see a man (Jay
Danorth) lecturing people on how to conduct an auction. When he asks if anyone
has any questions, McGee hold up his badge and says he does; DiNozzo then
follows suit saying he has one too. Danorth breaks the group up and goes to talk
to the boys. He tells them that he's not sorry Jurel is dead and that no one
liked him; he wasn't a nice character and no one will miss him. They spot a
woman on the phone who is crying. Danorth says she is Elaina Marcus and it
appears she might miss Danorth. They go to talk to her and she says she liked
Jurel, others didn't really understand him and deep down he was a good man. She
says there was a spark between them, and she liked him but nothing happened. She
also tells them she overhead Jurel saying he was being followed.
In Autopsy Jimmy is saying that he'd never been to a bachelor party and Ducky
says that's sad. Jimmy hastens to explain that he'd been invited, but the first
time he was sick and the next he'd broken his leg and he then trails off. Ducky
says he could tell Jimmy stories about bachelor parties he'd attended that would
make his hair curl; Jimmy asks him to tell. But at that moment Gibbs sweeps in
and stops Ducky. Ducky appeals to Gibbs saying: "Ah, Jethro, can't I tell him
about the time . . ." And he trails off under a Gibbs look and says, "Better
not." Spoilsport, Gibbs. I'm assuming here that it was one of Gibbs's own
parties or at least one which Gibbs and Ducky both attended to which Ducky was
alluding. And we do get a nice look between them and closeness.
Ducky then tells Gibbs why he called him down. The results of the liver test
showed that the men were drugged before they were killed, it was in the
champagne and that they were semi-conscious when they died. One was drowned, one
was suffocated and Ross was force fed enough alcohol to poison him. Gibbs and
Ducky agree that the semi-conscious nature puts a somewhat different look on the
murders, they had a deeper meaning, they weren't just a ritualistic killing,
they were personal. Ducky then says that Jimmy has found something and Jimmy
explains. He'd found an inconsistency in Ross's file; there was a report that
he'd suffered a work related accident, but Ducky found a gunshot wound on his
arm. The report had been falsified. Gibbs then goes. For Gibbs/Ducky fen, we did
get a nice little scene this week with fond looks and closeness, very nice
indeed. And I loved that Jimmy reported his findings to Gibbs himself, I like
how his character has developed over the seasons, how much he's grown - I just
wish we got to see more of him.
Up in the squad room McGee is 'playing' and pretending he has a 'new toy' the
finger moving pictures thing from NCIS: LA. A nice little touch. He's having a
great time And then suddenly he is aware that Gibbs is behind him. He tells
Gibbs about Jurel possibly being followed and how he had footage from CCTV
cameras from the route Jurel took to go to work. Gibbs says he needs to talk to
Ross's CO in Korea and McGee says he's sort it. Gibbs asks where DiNozzo is and
McGee says he off interviewing Sandrich's fiancée.
At that moment DiNozzo reappears saying that fiancée is already re-engaged,
adding 'remind you of anyone'? Gibbs glares and asks DiNozzo how long he's going
to go on making that joke. DiNozzo says that it will be the last time it's
mentioned and apologises. He then shows Gibbs and McGee a DVD that shows us a
woman removing her top, she's only wearing panties, and then we just see the men
as they look at it. DiNozzo points out that what's happening is illegal in some
states and mentions Europe when Gibbs orders him to turn it off. It turns out
that it was footage from the real bachelor party, some six months ago and when
fiancée found it, she broke the engagement off and hasn't seen Sandrich since.
The plot thickens.
So the second bachelor party was merely a cover, but for what? McGee and DiNozzo
are talking about the case and about the person following Jurel and Ziva appears
and suggest they try tracing his route via his cell phone calls. McGee thanks
Ziva and says he'll get onto it, but DiNozzo and Ziva are just staring at one
another and don't even hear him. Okay, bad point for the writers, McGee would
have known that and thought of it, he's done it enough times. I know it was done
so that Ziva could be in on the case very slightly and also for later, but as
happens so many times TPTB foul something like this up by using something so
ridiculous. So points deducted, I'm sure they could have thought of some other
reason for Ziva to have some input.
Ziva then tells DiNozzo she is there for her psych evaluation. DiNozzo says he
likes them, which Ziva counters with he would because he gets a change to talk
about himself; she then apologies. He in turn comments that she was never known
for her tact. Although the words were said, there was no heat in them, no
bitchiness, both were speaking the truth and whilst it wasn't the same kind of
banter we'd seen DiNozzo and McGee share, there was no real depth to the things
they said. And then Abby calls and demands Ziva's presence.
Down in Abby's lab Abby begins by really laying into Ziva about her treatment of
DiNozzo and saying how dare she question his loyalty and not trust him that he'd
always been there for her. But interspersed with the anger Abby was showing were
quieter moments when Abby was talking to herself about how now she thought about
it she could understand Ziva's anger after all, DiNozzo had just killed Ziva's
boyfriend. This went on for a short while before Abby says that it's DiNozzo 1
and Ziva zilch and that's it up to Ziva to make the next move and it better be a
good one. And again she adds more quietly even if now she really thinks about
it, Ziva's reaction does make so much sense. And then in a lovely little moment
for Abby/Ziva fen she hurries over to Ziva and again hugs her and says how
worried she's been about her. Ziva hugs her back and says he knows and then Abby
reaches for something and flips some kind of switch and a banner saying 'Welcome
Home, Ziva' drops from the ceiling.
I enjoyed this scene; at one point I was really angry at Abby for her total
defence of DiNozzo and her what was a very cruel attack on Ziva and then I found
it amusing as Abby kept switching into her 'it all makes sense now' quieter
speech and you realise the reason she is yelling at Ziva has nothing to do with
DiNozzo and everything to do with just how worried Abby had been about Ziva.
We've seen a similar, albeit shorter, reaction from Gibbs in Kill Ari when he
yells at Ducky, because he's so worried about him. And he's done it more than
once. So a really good and moving scene, I felt.
Meanwhile, Gibbs is in MTAC talking to Ross's CO - Colonel Dick Jestern. Jestern
comments on the Africa mission saying how they'd done a great job and how he'd
love the details as they don't see much action in Korea. Gibbs then asks about
the falsified report, telling Jestern that 'my ME' (I love the possessiveness,
not NCIS's ME, by 'my' ME lovely) who's pretty smart says the so-called machine
injury was a bullet wound and he asks if Jestern wants to change his report.
Jestern agrees he has to and explains he falsified it to avoid an international
incident. Ross had returned from leave where he said he was meeting his girl,
with the bullet wound, it appears he was playing around with another man's wife
and Jestern read him the riot act, but kept quiet as it was better for
diplomatic relations. Gibbs closes the contact.
Vance appears with Ziva's reinstatement papers and says that Ziva didn't fail
the psych test. Okay, after one psych test? Also, how exactly is she going to be
reinstated? After all, Vance himself pointed out that she was Mossad Liaison
Officer and if she is no longer in contact with Mossad, how can she liaise? That
was rather a weak point and glossed over. Anyway, he does say he still has
something to iron out, but he isn't going to bother until Gibbs signs the
papers. He asks if Gibbs has changed his mind about wanting Ziva back and Gibbs
says he hasn't, adding they need Ziva. But he doesn't sign the papers.
He goes to the squad room and tells DiNozzo to find out where Ross went on his
two day leave. DiNozzo exclaims about it being in Korea, but Gibbs just looks at
him and DiNozzo gets onto it. Meanwhile McGee tells Gibbs about the cell phone
trail and how it had been Ziva's idea, hastening to add they hadn't discussed
the case with her, she was just passing by. Gibbs then goes and leans over McGee
to look at the screen (a nice moment, one of several, for Gibbs/McGee fen) and
McGee is explaining that the phone is unregistered and waffles on a bit, until
DiNozzo interrupts him and says: "It's a burn phone, Tim. A burn phone. Just say
it." Again really so well done, a lovely little moment. Gibbs asks if McGee can
trace where the phone is; but McGee can do better than that - he can take them
to it.
And they do go, Gibbs is driving, McGee in the passenger seat and DiNozzo in the
back (I still get slightly thrown when people get out of cars in US shows as I
the driver is on the wrong side *g*). They arrive at house where a red SUV (I
think, something biggish anyway) is outside. Gibbs takes McGee with him around
the back, leaving DiNozzo to go in the front. They go in and come face to face
with a cop, Howard Shelly, also holding a gun. The cop says his partner is
outside and they are tracking a bad guy. McGee goes to look, Gibbs continues to
search the place and Shelly and DiNozzo are together; Shelly appears to have
heard of DiNozzo as he comments that he's glad he has DiNozzo watching his back.
And then Shelly goes into a room alone and . . . McGee returns, no sign of
partner, the door is locked, DiNozzo busts if open and lo and behold Shelly has
gone out of the window. And it turns out that they are actually in Shelly's
house.
McGee is sitting down working on a computer and DiNozzo is 'relating' the case
and going on about the fake bachelor party and no one knows why. Gibbs appears
saying that the PD don't know about Shelly working a case and DiNozzo repeats
'no one knows', which earns him a head slap from Gibbs. This is the 'annoying'
DiNozzo I like. Not too much, but just enough to earn his a glare or a head slap
and not really making a fool of himself or being childish, but just 'idiotic'
enough to be DiNozzo. Nicely done. It looks as though Shelly was targeting the
victims. We also learn that the mobile phone he'd used cost over $1,000 a lot of
money for a cop. Please, tell me this is a joke, no one would pay over a grand
for a phone, would they? Do people pay over $100 even? I really find that so
hard to believe. That a mobile phone could cost over $1,000 is just beyond
belief - you can buy a computer for less than that. *Stunned* And it also
appears Shelly has left a rambling, unfinished suicide note. Gibbs tells DiNozzo
to contact his Baltimore PD chums about Shelly whilst McGee sees if Shelly and
the victims are linked.
McGee is getting himself a coffee from an outdoor coffee vendor when he sees
Ziva sitting there. He goes to her and she says she was going to look for him;
she wanted to thank him. And she has now finished her psych evaluations and it
turns out they have been with the woman (Janice) who asked McGee out. McGee asks
how she is and she says whilst she won't deny the past three months have been a
challenge, they are in the past and the past is the past. McGee asks if that is
the case and Ziva says it is. McGee asks in that case why is she avoiding
DiNozzo.
McGee arrives back in the squad room to find Gibbs. He tells Gibbs that he has
found a link between Shelly and the three dead man, they knew one another in
High School, Gibbs says he knows and shows McGee a photo album. (One thing that
always bemuses me is that they go to a crime scene in one car and then get sent
off to do different jobs - so how did McGee do his bit and DiNozzo his? Did they
walk and walk back to HQ? Or do they take taxies or go back to NCIS to pick up
more cars? I doubt that as it wouldn't tie in with McGee asking Gibbs when he
got back in this scene, ah, well, taxies, it is, I guess). McGee also tells
Gibbs that the three dead men used to bully Shelly. He wonders if Shelly could
have kept his anger alive all this time.
DiNozzo arrives saying it doesn't have to go back just to High School; he has
something to tell them and he'll do so once he goes to the loo. But Gibbs stops
him (poor DiNozzo) and makes him tell all. It turns out that Shelly pulled Ross
over and gave him a ticket and when he saw who it was, gave him three. And then
we learn that Ross sent a video of himself, Jurel and Sandrich bullying Shelly,
including cutting of his hair and sent it to Shelly's colleagues. Shelly had his
head stuck down the loo on a weekly basis, he was made to drink so much alcohol
he was sick and their favourite bullying was to put his backpack over his head -
the exact same way the murders had happened. During this scene DiNozzo is
clearly extremely uncomfortable and in dire need of the loo, but Gibbs makes him
stay. I really, really felt for DiNozzo during this. Finally Gibbs tells McGee
to trace the men's credit cards and allows DiNozzo to go to the loo.
DiNozzo is relieving himself and singing the song from last week's episode when
suddenly Ziva is there in the background. Ah, they are going to have another
men's room conversation. Ziva confesses that she nearly killed DiNozzo when she
found he'd shot Rivkin, but then says it doesn't matter now how it worked out
for Rivkin. DiNozzo asks her what does matter and she tells him that it was that
he had her back and that he always has had. She says she was wrong to question
his motives for killing Rivkin. She says she trusted Ari and Rivkin and thus
couldn't afford to trust DiNozzo. DiNozzo apologies, but Ziva says it is she who
should apologise and she does so and then she leans up and kisses for a long
moment his cheek. She adds that he was a cop and she shouldn't have doubted him.
He suddenly gets a brain-wave and grabs her upper arms, repeats 'a cop' then
cups her face for a moment and hurries away.
I thought it was a really good scene, very well done indeed. It wasn't drawn
out, there were no excuses, no recriminations, no impassioned speeches, just
more than one step towards them getting back their full trust of one another and
being able to work together again. For me they did both have to apologise, no
matter that DiNozzo killed Rivkin to save his own life, he did take the life of
the man Ziva cared about. I thought his apology was very well done and a true
sign of the mature DiNozzo I like so much. Ditto Ziva saying he didn't have to
apologise, but she did, was well done and also right. A very moving and tender
scene. Yes, lots of fodder for DiNozzo/Ziva fans, but again I hope this is all
we get, this kind of contact, this kind of signs, because that keeps everyone
happy, those who want DiNozzo/Ziva to be canon can take it as being thus and
those who don't can just take it as friendship. So far, PTB, you're doing a fine
job. Can it last?
DiNozzo hurries out into the squad room where Gibbs is once again leaning over
McGee and says that McGee should trace Shelly via his mobile phone. McGee points
out that's in NCIS's lock-up, but DiNozzo says he's bound to have another one,
McGee concurs, but points out he needs the number to trace it. DiNozzo calls him
McSidekick and explains about how some cops - never him, he hastens to add -
'help' themselves to some things found on cases. McGee finds that Shelly worked
on a case of stolen mobile phones, and finds the numbers and begins to trace
them. He finds one and that is in use and . . . Gibbs's phone rings. McGee
suggests Gibbs should answer it; Gibbs does and it's Shelly for DiNozzo. He says
he's innocent and he was set up and he'd been working on a case. He says he's
sure they must have the location by now, McGee concurs he has, and he asks
DiNozzo to meet him by a payphone and to come alone - like he'll do that!
At the meet we have all three in sight and they have their ear-wigs. DiNozzo
goes to the payphone and finds a filthy looking vagrant sleeping in it. He tries
to get him out, saying he has to use the phone, but the phone is broken. The
next second Shelly's red car is seen careening all over the road and it's
heading for the payphone. DiNozzo drags the vagrant out just in time. The three
NCIS men run to the car and there is Shelly, dead. But not from the crash, Gibbs
finds blood from a bullet wound in his side.
In Autopsy, Jimmy is studying a file whilst Gibbs and Ducky talk. Ducky says
Shelly was shot at point blank range, implying he knew his killer. They agree
that Shelly was set up by someone who knew about the history he had with the
other three dead men. DiNozzo and McGee then appear and they say they have a
lead on the the deal Shelly was tracking. They have a report from Ross's CO
about a shooting on the DMZ airstrip that is used by smugglers. The CO is sure
that's where Ross went for his two days leave. It appears Ross had a package on
the plane. McGee sneezes and comments that there's cologne, Ducky concurs adding
that Shelly is over-cologned. Gibbs, McGee and DiNozzo look at one another and
as one run out of Autopsy, leaving Ducky and Jimmy staring at one another.
Gibbs has Hector Stuckey in interrogation and we learn that the strippers are
just a cover, his real 'job' is as a fence and he can fence anything from mobile
phones to guns. He Stuckey has a black eye and tells Gibbs he cut himself
shaving. Gibbs goes straight into angry mode and accuses Stuckey of killing
Ross, Jurel, Sandrich and Shelly, saying his DNA was under Shelly's fingernails.
Stuckey denies it but once Gibbs starts to quote him his rights, he begins to
talk. He said that Jurel came to him with a plan, he and his buddies had found a
way to get their hands on a decommissioned military cargo plane, they'd forge
the paperwork and he could fence it. It would bring about $2 million (not really
that much in the grand scheme of things one feels, and not much for a plane).
Ross, Jurel and Sandrich were meeting in the hotel to celebrate, Stuckey sent
his girl along as a 'good will' gesture to strip and also bring back a package,
but she found them dead. He said that Shelly went to his house to accuse him of
the same thing and they fought. And then he adds that he has an alibi for the
killing of the three men: he was at Club Pubis.
When Gibbs rejoins McGee and DiNozzo, McGee confirms this is the case. Abby then
appears and we learn that Shelly was shot with a new bullet but from an old gun
- a nineteenth century gun.
Gibbs, McGee and DiNozzo go off to the auction house and find Danorth with an
old gun. He says it had been 'misplaced' and now it has turned up again. But it
isn't his car, it is Elaina Marcus's. She didn't have time to dump it. They go
to her and basically she was in it with Shelly, then she turned on Shelly and
killed him, thus aiming to get all the money for herself. But she says they
don't have proof, DiNozzo, however, turns to McProof and McGee tells her how he
has traced the suicide note as being sent from her laptop. She is arrested.
DiNozzo calls her a bad little puddy-cat. McGee asks where Gibbs is, but DiNozzo
does not know.
Gibbs is in his basement again with Ziva. She says they need to talk and he
pulls out a chair for her and he sits on a saw horse. She says even though Gibbs
said it was up to Vance to reinstate her, she saw hesitation in Gibbs and she
sees it now and wants to know why. He mentions Ari and it comes out that he
knows she was sent to kill Ari to gain his trust. She admits that is the case,
but that she volunteered for the mission as she still believe Ari to be innocent
and as such didn't want anyone to just kill him blindly following orders. She
said she didn't lie when she said she thought he was innocent, but she would
have done; he was her brother; Gibbs was nothing. And then she said she'd been
wrong about both Ari and Gibbs. When she killed Ari, she wasn't following
orders. She says that Ari is dead and her father is as good as dead to her and
now the closest thing she has to a father is accusing her. Gibbs simply says
'all right'.
The final scene is back in the office. Vance is talking to his wife on his
mobile phone to tell her he has to go out of town and he comes face to face with
DiNozzo and McGee who are again coming out of the lift together. In front of
them we hear Vance telling his wife that he loves her too. DiNozzo is asking
about McGee's date and McGee won't tell him. He does say that she's Ziva's . . .
And trails off. DiNozzo asks "Ziva's what?"
McGee: "Ziva's back."
And there she is, putting a plant on her desk. Nothing is said with words,
DiNozzo and McGee simply look at her and her at them.
So Ziva is back.
OVERALL
I enjoyed it more than last week's episode as it was more team-centric than
DiNozzo-centric. It was great that the whole feel and team interaction was the
same as last week, fun banter, very in character, no bitchiness or nastiness or
sneering, just a lot of good exchanges and even when there were digs, they were
free from heat. Great humour too and a nice mix of involvement.
A real case that was worked on and didn't just play second fiddle to the whole
Ziva thing. Not the greatest case in the world, I didn't really get tied up in
it or heavily involved, but it was okay. The red-herring was good as was the
twist at the end. I actually felt very sorry for Shelly, to have to go through
what he went through at High School - the poor boy. I'm not condoning his
murders, not at all. But I did feel for him.
The episode included a good mix of emotions from amusement to sorrow to being
moved.
It was lovely to see Jimmy, I really wish we saw him every week.
It was good to see more of Ducky this week and also lovely that we G/D fen had
some looks and closeness.
Yes, there were some plot holes and niggles, the most glaring one for me was the
whole idea that McGee wouldn't have thought to trace Jurel via his cell phone.
Also quite how Vance went from the whole 'to be here you have to be in touch
with Mossad' to reinstating Ziva. Okay, so yes, he did say he has things to iron
out. I hope we find out just what these were.
Best scenes:
- The Ducky wanting to tell about the bachelor party he and Gibbs had in common.
- DiNozzo and Ziva in the men's room.
- Gibbs and Ziva in the basement.
- The sidekicks discussion out side the lift.
- Abby and Ziva in Abby's lab.
Ship of the week:
-Gibbs/McGee
Character of the week:
McGee.
Actor/Actress of the week:
Again, Cote de Pablo
Storyline: 7.50
Enjoyment: 8.50
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