Firstly, where the hell is Gibbs?

Secondly, where the hell is Gibbs?

Thirdly, where the hell is Gibbs?

Okay, I've got that out of my system, but really, where is he? What is going on? This makes four episodes in a row (plus some towards the end of last season) where we have an utterly Gibbs-light episode. Vance had a bigger role than Gibbs! And when the lead actor, the pivotal person of the show, the one around whom all the others circle is MIA and has such a small part, there is something wrong. I just hope this is the end of a lack of Gibbs now that we've probably wrapped up the real depth of Ziva's story-line. I don't think it's over-over as clearly there are things than went on during her capture, but I think the main part might well be over. I hope so, because maybe, just maybe we can actually get back to a real Naval/Marine case. Hey, remember the N stands for NAVAL. And it's not just that Gibbs is physically lacking in screen time, it's that even when he's there, he's not 'there'.

That gripe aside, plus the fact that it was Vance-heavy and he isn't my favourite character (actually he's currently my least favourite character) the episode was not without its merits; in fact it got better as it went on. At times it seemed fairly slow moving, but it did pick up and overall I'd rate it as another solid episode. We had some good banter and touches of humour. DiNozzo definitely isn't the DiNozzo of the first two episodes, it's almost as if he has built or re-built a small defence since Ziva has returned, so he's gone back to having a wee edge to him when talking to McGee, but it wasn't as much as last week. It was almost back to episodes one and two, but not quite. Not that there was any nastiness or any 'I'm in charge' type of thing, but there was something that wasn't there in the first two episodes. However, overall he and McGee interacted really well and did the brothers rivalry really well. We had various shipping moments for a mixture of ships and also some good team work. But it's not the team of old, because they aren't together. Fingers crossed next week we are back to Team Gibbs and NCIS.

The episode made me smile, sniffle at times towards the end, squee (okay silently, it was at that point after all extremely early) at one point and sit and nod as I enjoyed quite a few moments. It also made me sigh in parts as there were some things I found hard to believe, but yes, overall it's been consistent with how this series has started.

We begin with a 'previously on NCIS' (hey, MH's voice *g*) and then go to a fishing boat where there are two men. They are shrimp fishing in the Indian ocean and one is moaning about the whole thing. And then they find that something is caught in their net and lo and behold, it's a body - well, it's a plastic sheet full of bones, a skull and goo, but it's essentially a body - with dog tags. Talk about telegraphing that one!

At NCIS DiNozzo is looking at his watch and making a tick, tock, tick, tock sound. McGee is writing by hand and tells DiNozzo to stop as he knows he's behind with his report, but as he's never in his life handed in a report late, he won't do it this time. We learn there has been/is a virus on McGee's computer and apparently DiNozzo said he could get it off - oh, really, PTB, no way! DiNozzo then tick, tocks again, McGee again tells him to shut up (I'm glad the tick, tocking stopped at that point as it was annoying me after the first one) and DiNozzo goes on about the crocodile (from Peter Pan) and also wonders if McGee has a body to bury.

At that point Ziva appears, making DiNozzo jump and says to McGee that as he is having problems with the report as far as timing goes and she is waiting to hear if she's been approved as an NCIS agent (so clearly Gibbs did sign the paper) they could help one another out. McGee comments that it takes forever to get that kind of approval, and then it would be dependant upon her becoming a US citizen. I thought she had to be one before she could even apply, but clearly TPTB are having to fudge that a bit, but at least the whole citizenship got mentioned. Plus I'm sure Vance can pull strings, should he wish to do so, or the SecNav can to get around the whole thing. She offers to do McGee's report, if he fast tracks her application. He says she'll also have to do DiNozzo's work for a week as he said he could get rid of the virus more quickly than McGee could.

Meanwhile, in the background DiNozzo is breathing heavily and saying he's having heart palpitations as Ziva really made him jump. He tells them to dial nine one and to wait before dialling the final one. They ignore him. He then remembers they have to dial nine to get out of the building so to dial nine, nine, one and wait - they still ignore him. Ziva can't believe that DiNozzo could have removed a virus (neither can McGee and neither can I) as he can't even operate his email properly; he always does 'reply to all', which annoys her. She starts to comment that he's almost as bad as Gibbs, but stops to look around her expecting Gibbs to appear - very cleverly, he doesn't. McGee tells them Gibbs is in MTAC with Vance as a Marine has been found wrapped in plastic in the Indian ocean. There is a look on Ziva's face that says she knows something.

So the scene was kind of fun with some nice banter between McGee and DiNozzo and McGee and Ziva and it was very amusing how they totally ignored DiNozzo, as clearly there was nothing wrong with him, as McGee could see. But if we break it down, it's one of those irksome scenes, because DiNozzo (we know, from his own omission as well as others) doesn't have that kind of technical ability. Plus, if (as he did) put a virus on McGee's machine, unless somehow it was limited to one machine, he was risking infecting the entire NCIS office. So yes, fun in one way, re: the bet and getting McGee to do the work, but one of 'those' forced things when if TPTB had thought a little more, they could have come up with something else to allow the bet and humour and yet not be ludicrous.

Up in MTAC we have Gibbs and Vance; Vance is having a bad day, he broke a tooth-pick in his mouth and cut himself shaving - he's waiting for the third thing and thus is not happy that they are having to wait for Special Agent Chad Dunham to give his report on the body. Then Dunham appears (his beard has grown since episode one) and we learn the dead 'body' was Marine Staff Sergeant Daniel Cryer. He was experienced in infiltrating terrorists cells, but six months ago he deserted and was never caught - well he knew how to stay one step ahead of everyone, he was trained to do that thing. He was last known to be on a small freighter heading for East Africa, the name of which was . . . The Damocles. And there were no survivors

Vance and Gibbs then talk. Gibbs says they know someone who lived through the shipwreck and comments that Vance saw it coming. Vance says he's surprised that Gibbs hadn't given how he is closer to Ziva than anyone (a nice Gibbs/Ziva fen comment, I personally go with the Gibbs & Ziva father & daughter as I do with Gibbs & Abby, but for G/Z fen, nice). Gibbs comments if they are going to break Ziva and Vance says she's been broken enough; instead they'll play good cop, bad cop. Gibbs concurs and as they are leaving he asks Vance which one he is going to be.

Down in the squad room McGee is working his magic and brings up Ziva's application form only to find that it has been rejected. There is a nice moment of humour when he and DiNozzo start talking about colours, as the form has a code blue, DiNozzo comments about Ziva being black balled and McGee adds that they gave her the red flag and the banter goes on for a few seconds. She cries 'why' and Vance appears and says "Seems we have a problem."

Gibbs who is in Vance's office, calls McGee and tells him he wants everything McGee has on Cryer. He then settles down to watch Vance and Ziva in the conference room.

Vance admits that it was he who blacklisted Ziva's application as there were inconsistencies in her psych exam. Also that she has been serving two masters for far too long. She didn't talk about Africa in her psych evaluation, and he tells her the price of admission into NCIS is to talk to him about it.

Meanwhile in the squad room McGee is commenting that he doesn't even know how it got onto his computer, as it wasn't a Trojan or an attachment. Well DiNozzo put it on there, Tim; somehow, I don't know how, but he did it in order to bet you he could get it off (although how is the question) so he could get you to do all his work for a week. DiNozzo doesn't want McGee to work on that (hah, of course he doesn't, because it was he who somehow put it on the machine) but instead they should be working the case. McGee goes over to him and starts to tell him about Cryer and DiNozzo tells him to speed up as he can take it in quickly and McGee does.

It appears the Damocles was off her chartered course, DiNozzo comments she was lost at sea before she was lost at sea - a nice bit of humour. And then he says that nothing is what it's meant to be; Gibbs has left them to work the case and has disappeared. He then makes several film references, including to Alien. McGee says that Ziva hasn't been Ziva since they brought her home and then hurries off; DiNozzo asks where he's going and McGee tells him he's going to see Abby. DiNozzo, when McGee has vanished, comments that they should stay in pairs. A really fun little scene; there was some excellent banter here.

Down in Abby's lab, McGee finds her watching something swirly and comments that it's nice; she says it's not and McGee then agrees that it isn't. Aww, a lovely little moment, very nice that McGee wants to like and dislike what Abby does (nice Abby/McGee snippet). Abby then explains it's a tropical storm and it was the one that was meant to have sunk the Damocles. However, the Cryer's body was found far too far away from the storm and where it was found, the storm never reached. McGee suggests she contacts the coast guards and tells them, based on what she's discovered, where to look for the wreck of the Damocles - she's already done that. Another really nice scene.

DiNozzo is with Ducky and Ducky is cleaning and looking at Cryer's bones and explaining to DiNozzo about the feeding patterns of the fish, etc. that would have eaten Cryer (gee, thanks, Ducky *g*). And he knows from it that Cryer has been dead for about sixteen weeks. However, he didn't drown, he died off a gun shot above the left ear. DiNozzo has Cryer's skull in his hand and at that moment his phone rings; it's McGee. DiNozzo gets to the doors, but is stopped by Ducky as he is about to walk off with the skull - again fun. As I'm writing this up, I realise there was more moments of humour (certainly at the beginning) than I realised when actually watching.

Vance and Ziva are talking about the mission Eli David sent her on, the one Rivkin started. She tells him she cannot comment on Mossad missions, even though she is no longer in Mossad. He says that is what concerns him. Then he leaves that and says they'll concentrate on Geography instead. He talks her through how the Damocles never made port and how Cryer's body was found wrapped in plastic. She says there are sometimes deaths on board a ship and the bodies tend to get wrapped in plastic and then stored. Vance asks how Cryer died.

Meanwhile McGee goes into Vance's office to speak to Gibbs (who freezes the screen he's watching) to tell him that the salvage ship has found the Damocles and have found eighteen bodies in storage - so only one 'got away' so to speak; that was nice and convenient! Or was Cryer 'let go' deliberately? If so why was he still wrapped in plastic? I can't believe he was released, as if he was found questions would be asked. So yes, really convenient that only one body, the body of a Marine, 'escaped' the confines of storage. It looks as though the entire crew of the Damocles had been executed.

We then go to the interrogation room and Ziva is inside with Gibbs watching her from the viewing room. Ducky appears and comments on how awful Ziva looks and says he's surprised that Gibbs isn't in there talking to her, rather than letting Vance do it. Gibbs comments about Ducky having bodies to deal with and Ducky says they are being unloaded as they speak (they share a nice little look). He then asks if Gibbs is punishing Ziva.

Gibbs: "Ah, maybe it's tough love."

Ducky: "You do know there are other kinds?" And they exchanged a lovely, telling look and smile before Ducky goes.

That was my squee moment (well my silent one, but I did write SQUEE in capitals in my notes *g*). Such a great moment for Gibbs/Ducky fans. Although, she says, trying to be fair it could also the 'tough love' bit be seen as another Gibbs/Ziva moment. However, I'm a G/D shipper - so for me (and I'm sure my fellow G/D shippers) it was 'our' moment *g*

Vance then joins Ziva and Ziva asked if she's being accused, he says she isn't, she asks why she's in interrogation and he says it's all just for the record and he also gives Gibbs a signal to start recording it and he says there is also the crime of omission. And then we begin the first of several flashbacks to the ship and we learn what happened.

We see the crew playing cards and a man (who turns out to be Daniel Cryer) appears and talks to the Captain (Kassib Yosef) mentioning maybe it could be their last trip - talk about foreshadowing. Yosef tells him to tell the people who are with him to come out of the shadows. Out comes Ziva, Ben-Gidon Malachi (whom apparently we saw in Aliyah - no I didn't recognise him, I went purely by what was said later and EpGuides.com *g*). Yosef offers Ziva a cup of tea, which she accepts and tells her he has nothing against women. We learn they want him to ferry them somewhere and are prepared to pay a lot of money for the trip and his discretion. He wants to know where they are going and they tell him: Somalia.

We then see Ziva unpacking and the other Mossad agent tells her the crew are eating. She says she's not hungry. Malachi arrives and sends the other man off and then he and Ziva have a conversation about fitting in. She asks if he's ever seen a snake shed it's skin and then try to get back into it.

Malachi: "The Americans left you behind, Ziva. The family never has."

He leaves her. She looks at the photo of three children on the wall and the next moment we see her with the others.

Then we see Cryer and he is looking around the ship and comes across a lot of explosives, etc. The first mate (Bahir Numas) comes up on him with a gun and demands to know what he was doing. He claims he was looking for the head and at that moment Ziva appears. She tells Numas that Cryer is working for her; she sent him to find somewhere private. Humas believes her and begins to walk off as Ziva goes over to Cryer and they kiss. Once Numas has gone Ziva tells Cryer he shouldn't be snooping around.

We then return to the here and now and she tells Vance that Cryer was a private contractor hired to get them on the ship. She knew him as Daniel Shalev, but also knew he didn't fit in with the crew. Vance comments that she trusted Cryer, but Ziva says you can't trust a man for whom loyalty has a price.

And then we return to the ship (it's two weeks later) Cryer wakes Ziva up and nearly gets a bullet in him for doing so. She asks who he really is and he dodges the question, saying it's not one people like to answer. In turn he asks who she is and then adds that people are what they eat, say and do. They are very close during this scene and I thought they were going to start kissing (for real this time) again. He then tells her if she doesn't want to give herself away she should lose her Star of David necklace, which is hanging outside her tee-shirt. She comments she would rather die than remove it.

A very telling moment, actually, as in many ways it ties in with not a physical death, but the death of everything Ziva knew, her relationship with her father and Mossad - as she does indeed have the necklace torn from her. And as they are looking at one another, she sees his dog tags. It's interesting he was still wearing them, given he was a deserter, but I guess part of him always was a Marine (as indeed comes out later) and so he was so used to wearing them, he just didn't take them off. Of course, also she had to see them for the plot *g* But actually, I can buy he'd keep them on.

Back in NCIS McGee and DiNozzo are again looking at the plasm screen and the phone on Gibbs's desk rings. DiNozzo tells McGee to answer it; McGee says no because with Gibbs not there DiNozzo is the senior field agent, thus it's his job to answer Gibbs's phone. DiNozzo tells him in that case as he's doing DiNozzo's work for him then he should answer the phone. Hmmm, I've just thought if McGee is doing DiNozzo's work, then hey, that actually makes him temporary senior field agent *g*. McGee does answer it and says he'll escort the person up and tells DiNozzo it's Ben-Gidon Malachi. DiNozzo pulls a face, tells McGee to go and get him and he'll go and get Gibbs.

Gibbs is still watching Ziva and Vance and they are talking about Cryer. She tells Vance that one of the many things she's learnt from Gibbs, is that there is no such thing as an ex-Marine; whatever Cryer did/had done since leaving the Marines, deep down he was still a Marine - which would indeed tie in with him still wearing his dog tags.

We then see Gibbs, DiNozzo and McGee with Malachi. He says he's come to 'rescue' Ziva from them.

Then we see Vance and Gibbs, Vance is not that happy as Gibbs has told him that Malachi and Mossad think they are holding Ziva hostage and if they force Ziva to talk about a Mossad operation, it violates Israeli law. Vance is about to go to talk to Malachi and he sees a moisture mark on the table and Gibbs has a heavy tumbler (like a whisky glass) in his hand. Vance comments that there are coasters in the cupboard of his 'bar'. Gibbs says he's only drinking ice water and pours himself some more. Vance comments that he keeps the top stuff on the bottom and leaves. In turn Gibbs (paraphrasing DiNozzo's 'nothing is what it's meant to be' comment from earlier) that everything is upside down.

Meanwhile DiNozzo goes to see Malachi (for what reason I have no idea, other than for him to have a gentle bitch at him, an irrelevant scene really, just one that was thrown in to add a moment or two and added nothing to the plot of episode). He talks about his time in Israel and makes a very anti-Semitic comment. He's 'DiNozzo'. Gibbs calls him and he is ordered to take Malachi to Ziva.

However, it is Vance to whom Malachi is taken. Vance says how Mossad left Ziva to rot. Malachi says he's there on orders from Director David to bring Ziva back to Israel. Vance says he can't release her until he knows what happened on the ship. Malachi says he'll tell him and Ziva can go free.

And we go back to the ship. Ziva and Malachi are watching the crew and talking about there not being any changes to their plan. However, Malachi has been monitoring calls from the ship and is concerned; thus he might change the plan. Director David ordered them to use whatever means necessary. Ziva then sees Cryer and follows him; he has a mobile phone.

Back at NCIS McGee is again in Abby's lab and she is saying she hasn't seen as many soggy pieces of electrical equipment since wet Monday at camp and she tells him the various things they used to make. He say they need a forensic triage; a plan of attack. Abby says that violates one of her philosophies and that she doesn't have a plan; because if you have a plan then you only have one expected end result. They high five and Abby says it's for positive energy for Team Ziva. She also then comments, in a very un-Abby tone when she's talking about Gibbs, that Gibbs is in hiding and it doesn't look as if he is on Team Ziva. McGee suggests they high five again - they do.

DiNozzo and Ziva are in the lift; it looks for a moment as if one or both of them wants to say something, but they don't. The doors open and Ducky is there. He says that Ziva might be able to provide him with information that no one else can and he asks DiNozzo to excuse them. Ziva says that Vance wouldn't want her to permit her to be without an escort and DiNozzo is that escort. Ducky then waves Ziva into Autopsy, follows her in and then as DiNozzo is about to join them, holds up his hand to stop him and presses the doors, closing them and then locking them and shutting DiNozzo out - go Ducky!

Ducky tells Ziva that "complex situations often call for creative solutions." He puts the lights on, waves her to a seat and starts to talk about the crew of the Damocles, the bodies/bones of whom are all around her. He says he doesn't know what games they are playing upstairs, but he has had enough, adding that first and foremost she is their friend and he wants to be a friend. He then starts to read out the names of the dead man. She cuts him off telling him she doesn't need to hear the names. He says she has carried the weight of their deaths around with her and she doesn't have to. She needs to trust NCIS as they trust her. I'm not totally sure they all do, Ducky, but a very Ducky thing to say. And he tells her to let it go. In turn she says there is only one death. Ducky says: "Staff Sergeant Daniel Cryer." And he points to the body lying next to where Ziva is sitting. Ziva says she knew him by another name.

Ducky: "The truth, Ziva, may set you free."

Ziva: "And it may not."

Ducky then tells her that some bodies are not meant to remain buried and asks what happened.

We then flip to Malachi talking to Vance about cabin fever, paranoia and that they weren't the only ones monitoring calls.

Back in time to Malachi and Ziva on the ship, they are trying to work out if they have been compromised and then shooting starts. The other Mossad agent is killed, as are some of the crew and Ziva and Malachi retreat to the cabin to get machine guns.

Malachi to Vance: "Our contingency plan."

Ziva to Ducky: "Was to take everyone."

Back to the ship we see Ziva and Malachi shoot several members of the crew, then put the machine guns down and pull out handguns. We then see Yosef and Numas. Ziva kills Numas and she and Yosef come face to face, each holding a gun on the other - it seems that neither can pull the trigger. Then Yosef is shot from behind by Cryer.

Back to NCIS. Ziva tells Ducky he should keep his distance. "The ones that stay too close always end up dead."

Gibbs and Vance are then talking. Malachi has told Vance that Ziva killed Malachi, but Gibbs wants to give her a chance. Vance asks Gibbs is he's ready to play bad cop and Gibbs asks if Vance has been playing good cop all this time. A nice bit of humour there too.

Malachi and Ziva are now together; he tells her to say nothing. She says she has nothing to say to him.

Up on the floor above the squad room, DiNozzo asks McGee what he's got; McGee says he and Abby are drowning in ballistics and there is no time to process everything, but they were able to confirm Cryer's final 'battle'. DiNozzo says that isn't enough because Malachi says Ziva killed Cryer and they need something. The lift doors open and Ducky is seen.

DiNozzo: "Ducky has something. Ducky as a folder." Hee, nice again.

Ducky talks about how he is having problems with the area just above his left knee, which is why he took the lift; he comes out leaving the doors open, which seemed strange to me, I thought they'd close automatically after a moment or two. (Edit: on second watch I caught that Ducky actually pushed the button inside to hold the lift). DiNozzo, however, snaps at him: "Ducky. Folder." And Ducky tells him he has lots of forms about the dead and can report that Cryer died from a single shot from a 45, but the gun was lost at sea.

At that moment Abby, panting a little and glaring at the open lift doors, appears and DiNozzo asks how many 45 slugs she has. She has three, but they are all smushed up. Ducky asked if there is any organic residue, tissue, blood, bone fragments on them and Abby says there aren't: thus none of them were the bullet that killed Cryer - they are all misses. They agree that is not the Ziva they know; DiNozzo adds nor is it the Malachi he knows unless something upset his aim. DiNozzo then asks Abby how quickly she can give him an unsmushed slug.

We then see Abby firing. And the next scene is DiNozzo outside the interrogation rooms; Gibbs appears and DiNozzo tosses him a small jar - which we assume holds the slug Abby has provided.

Gibbs goes into the interrogation room and Malachi says they'll leave now. Gibbs pushes him back into his chair; Malachi winces and explains he has a broken clavicle that's slow to heal, so Gibbs pushes him down again, orders Ziva to also sit down and leans between them telling them he has something to tell them.

We go back to the ship where Ziva and Cryer are holding guns on one another. She asks if he'd betrayed them; he says if he had she'd be dead. He and Ziva order one another to put down their guns and the next minute Cryer is on the floor dead - killed by Malachi who is above them. He's shooting with his left hand rather than his right, and his right arm is hanging by his side, it explain why his aim was off.

Back at NCIS Malachi asks if that is Gibbs's story; Gibbs says it's the truth and says he has the bullet and shows it to Malachi. I have to say the whole thing with the bullet seemed more than a tad 'wrong'. Just having the bullet doesn't prove anything and Malachi would have known that. It doesn't prove who fired the gun. So it was rather an easy out and somewhat rushed.

Ziva asks if Malachi was following orders when he shot Cryer. Gibbs tells her that her father is not a good guy, he's dirty. Malachi isn't saying anything and Gibbs tells him to go and that Ziva is off limits. As Malachi is going he tells Ziva he is sorry for failing her. For the second time in the episode she quotes something Gibbs has told her and uses his 'never apologise, it's a sign of weakness' rule. Gibbs then looks at the camera and Vance does so - and he has another darn toothpick.

Alone now Gibbs tells Ziva to finish the story. She says he knows, he wants to know that happened after they'd scuttled the ship and landed. She tells him she had a mission that her father wanted done at all costs. He touches her hand and tells her not to bury it.

We go back to Somalia and see Ziva and Malachi. He has his arm in a sling and has been talking to Director David. Apparently he has told them to go ahead with the mission. She asks if Malachi told him that he was injured and the other agent dead, he doesn't indicate one way or another if he did; just that the mission must go ahead. She says she'll go alone and walks off.

Back at NCIS she is talking to Gibbs about how it had been her choice. How she killed a courier and the man who went with him one she had forced them to take her to Saleem Ulman. She tells Gibbs how she fought her way through and got within a fingernail of Ulman before she was overpowered. She says she has nothing but death in her heart. Gibbs tells her she never had a choice; her father raised her to be a ruthless, soulless killer.

Ziva: "I did not mean to live through it."

Gibbs: "You didn't. That part of you died out there." Symbolic with her saying she'd rather die than lose her Star of David - that part of her did indeed die.

Ziva: "I am sorry, Gibbs."

He then moves very close to her, whispers something to her, kisses her gently on the side of her forehead and goes. She cries.

I thought that was an incredibly moving and poignant scene when Gibbs finally breaks Ziva. Finally gets her to see that she isn't the person her father raised; that yes, she killed, she killed a hell of a lot of people - and I'm sure not all of them were bad people - but in turn what she was, who she was, died too. Very moving.

Then we see Vance on the phone to Director David; he is trying to calm him but he's also agreeing that Gibbs is a pain (and more) and that he is on David's side. He says he'll deal with Gibbs, but she's also chosen to deal with Gibbs. We heard David saying it won't be the last conversation they have and Vance hangs up. We pan to Gibbs who is sitting listening - something I fully expected to see. Vance then hands Gibbs a letter - Ziva's approval to become an NCIS agent.

Down in the squad room McGee and DiNozzo are still talking about the virus and finally McGee is accusing DiNozzo of putting the virus on the machine (something that was totally clear very early on once DiNozzo tried to stop McGee from really thinking about from where it had come). DiNozzo tries to bluff his way out saying how can McGee accuse him of being able to put a virus on, but not remove it. McGee then says he'd brought a ringer in; thus negating the whole bet. The bet was which one of them could remove it the faster - not a third party. Thus, DiNozzo should be doing all the work as he violated the terms of the wager. DiNozzo says he won't. And after a swift look at one another, McGee dumps the files on Ziva's desk. Ziva opens her mouth just as Gibbs hands her the piece of paper and tells her to get to work - 'Probie'. Yes, she is now 'Probie'. It'll be interesting to see if DiNozzo calls her Probie and stops calling McGee it.

Another really good scene between McGee and DiNozzo, nice banter and teasing - I'm trying to ignore the whole virus thing and how daft DiNozzo would have been to try to infect a machine. However, maybe he also brought the ringer in to put the virus onto the machine, thus the ringer being a geek could somehow have ensured the virus only affected McGee's machine and couldn't get into the entire network. Or said ringer gave the virus on a CD or floppy disk for DiNozzo to put onto McGee's machine. I really liked the idea of the bet and who was going to do the work, etc. I just didn't really care for the method TPTB used to give us it.

OVERALL

I am sure there will be lengthy discussions about the whole 'how can Ziva become an NCIS agent when she isn't yet a citizen, and about training and how she shouldn't be on Gibbs's team as she should be off training. And yes, I agree they are all valid points; however, I think that I'm going to accept that Vance and the SecNav can pull strings that non-Director of NCIS and the Secretary of the Navy can't pull and thus she can become an agent and because of her experience doesn't have to go through the training school, etc. and can stay on Gibbs's team. I don't really like it, but it's what we've got.

So some minor-ish niggles aside, I thought it was a good episode, another solid one. There were some really lovely team moments, some excellent banter, especially between DiNozzo and McGee.

I liked the subtle humour that ran throughout the episode. It wasn't laugh out loud as in some weeks, but it was there in many places, even places you wouldn't expect it to be.

I do hope, as I said above, this is the end of the non-NCIS case focus and we get back to some real investigation next week and thereafter and I hope we get more Gibbs.

It was lovely to have more Ducky than we often have.

And various ship moments: Gibbs/Ducky, Abby/McGee, Gibbs/Ziva, DiNozzo/McGee

Niggles:

The computer virus thing.

The thing with the bullet.

Far too little Gibbs.

Too much Vance.

No Jimmy - and Ducky had a heck of a lot of bodies.

The constant back and forth to the ship.

Best scenes:

- The first squad room scene.

- Gibbs and Ducky 'tough love'.

- DiNozzo and McGee answering Gibbs's phone.

- Ducky and Ziva in Autopsy.

- Gibbs and Ziva in the interrogation room.

- The final squad room scene.

Ship of the week:

Gibbs/Ziva (although personally to me it's a platonic ship of Gibbs & Ziva)

Character of the week:

Ziva

Actor/Actress of the week:

Cote de Pablo

Storyline: 7.75

Enjoyment: 8.75