Given that I'd thoroughly enjoyed last year's Christmas episode, I was really looking forward to this one - which I did feel was a tad dangerous, given my usual 'expect the worst, that way you can only be pleasantly surprised'. However, I'm pleased to say that for me, this was an excellent episode. Okay, so the case was, once again, secondary to the whole Gibbs and his father and the Christmas and team moments generally, but for once I can forgive that.

The case wasn't great but also it wasn't so peripheral to be totally ignored. Plus, it too followed the 'family' theme and was in the end very poignant as to why the killer had killed. It fitted with the episode and worked within the frame of it and was there without overshadowing the family theme, but also it wasn't completely overshadowed by the main theme and did play its part. All in all it fitted well.

On the non-case side everything worked so well. Yes, there were some very sentimental moments in it, especially in the last few scenes, but it is the Christmas season and I felt it wasn't overly saccharine and cloying; I felt the balance was good. There were some wonderful team moments and great banter and no one annoyed me or even made me want to shake them a little bit. I felt everyone was really in character and in character for the season and it worked so well. There were some lovely friendship moments and shippy moments too, but the former easily outweighed the latter, which was good - something for everyone.

So . . .

It's snowing and we begin with a pair of teenagers stealing a Christmas tree from the local park. The girl isn't terribly happy about the 'crime', but she's having fun, as is her boyfriend, who says it's what their grandparents used to do and he teases her about whether she'll be naughty of nice. They hug and . . . Cue: dead body. It's a man, dressed in very little, leaning against a tree and he is clearly (going by his haircut) a Marine.

And then in a change from the 'norm'. Rather than a squad room scene, we get a Gibbs at home scene. He's outside scrapping the snow off the windscreen of his truck (how many vehicles does he have?). A Metro DC bus pulls up and out gets his dad calling 'Merry Christmas' to everyone inside. Gibbs is surprised as Dad has arrived early; he says he caught an earlier flight. He says it's been too many years since they'd done this and Gibbs asks whose fault that was. Jackson asks if they are going to do it again; Gibbs looks at him and then they hug. Gibbs takes his dad inside and on the way Jackson comments the place looks good, Gibbs says it could do with a coat of paint; Jackson comments "Couldn't we all?"

Gibbs takes him into the house and into the sitting room, where there are blankets, pillows and sheets over the sofa. Jackson asks about the guest room, but Gibbs says there isn't one. I have to say, I find it very difficult to believe that Gibbs would make his father, not exactly a young man mid-late seventies at the least sleep on the couch!

Okay, so we assume the guest room was Kelly's room (like the bike in front of the TV) and Gibbs still keeps it as a shrine to her and won't use it for anyone. So what happened when he was married to his other three wives? Did the house stay like it is with Kelly's bike in the sitting room and her bedroom not being used? We know this is the house Gibbs lived in with Shannon and Kelly. So when he was married to the others did he keep this house and not live in it and live somewhere else? Or did they all have to live with his past? And if they did, that implies they all knew about Shannon and Kelly, but did they? We get the impression that Stephanie lived in the house as she knew about the basement, but maybe she just visited him there afterwards? Also, way back before we knew about Shannon and Kelly, we know that one of Gibbs's failed marriages cost him a house and another (or the same one) had him sleeping on the couch for several months. Now the latter would tie in with him bringing his new wives to this house (i.e. he slept there on the couch when they were breaking up as even he wouldn't use Kelly's room) and I guess in some ways the former would too as he had to buy her one. But it just, to me, doesn't really add up that these women would live in a house where they couldn't use a room and that was full of Kelly's stuff. It just doesn't quite add up to me, and if three ex-wives knew about Shannon and Kelly I find it harder to believe that some of the people with whom Gibbs worked, Ducky in particular as we know he knew all three and even introduced Gibbs to Shannon didn't know about Shannon and Kelly.

I digress, back to the episode. Jackson comments that he'll be fine as long as he has his clicker. Gibbs shows him the TV remote control and says he doesn't have cable. Jackson asks if the set is colour and Gibbs looks at him; Jackson says he'll cope. I'm guessing the look was a 'I'm not that untechy' kind of look, or can you still get TVs of that size that looked reasonably newish that are B&W in the States? Jackson says he's just pleased to be there and he says he'll manage whilst Gibbs is at work. Gibbs says the cupboards aren't completely empty and Jackson says he might cook something. Gibbs says as long as it's not his stroganoff, but won't tell his dad why. A good father and son scene.

At the crime scene, DiNozzo is complaining about being cold. McGee says he has hard warmers and DiNozzo asks for one, but McGee won't oblige. Ziva in turn says she has her thermal underwear on; DiNozzo asks to borrow it, she says it wouldn't fit, he's too large; he says it'll stretch. McGee hands him several pairs of latex gloves and says it's an improvised way of keeping warm. The first field team scene and a great one; it paved the way for all the others. Lovely sibling banter; no nastiness; just good, gentle teasing. Meanwhile, DiNozzo comments there must be a better way of keeping warm. Cue: Gibbs with his: "There is. Get to work." The outside scene was in effect the squad room scene that nearly always ends with DiNozzo making some kind of comment and Gibbs appearing. Very good.

We learn the dead man was First Lieutenant Thomas Ellis who came from a military family. Ducky and Jimmy are there and Ducky is looking at the body and he makes a Call Of The Wild comment. Ellis's feet are frozen, but Ducky also finds frozen soap residue, which ties in with a dispenser of soap DiNozzo finds in Ellis's bag. Ellis is kneeling; they lift him up and beneath him find an Islamic prayer rug; he was praying when he was killed.

In the squad room McGee and Ziva are looking at Ellis's details and we learn he converted from Christianity to Muslim some eight months ago. Meanwhile DiNozzo is sitting at his desk with his feet up reading a catalogue. McGee comments that he didn't think DiNozzo was a catalogue shopper and DiNozzo admits he's not, but it's desperate times. He took the catalogues from a neighbour's doorstep. Ziva 'accuses' him of stealing them, but he says doorsteps are fair game and that he'd never steal mail as it's a Federal offence. DiNozzo took them as he has got an HR person Dolores in the Secret Santa and doesn't know what to get her. McGee says that he wished her a Happy Valentine's Day one year and got accused of sexual harassment. Ziva tries to tell them that she is a nice lady and they should be kind about her. Suddenly DiNozzo's phone rings and he answers it in an almost off-hand way. Of course it's Gibbs. He wants DiNozzo to meet him at the Ellis house. DiNozzo hastens away.

Again there was some lovely banter in this scene; again a great three-hand exchange, nice to see DiNozzo and McGee on the same side when it came to Dolores. There was no bitching or nastiness or 'I'm better than you'; just clean, honest, fun and wonderful exchanges.

Are catalogues delivered differently in the US than in the UK? Because we get them all through the post, or at least through the letterbox, if they are the kind when someone is going to return to pick it up, like an Avon catalogue or a Betterware one. Thus, they are part of the postal system.

The Ellis house is a very nice house. Inside are Marine Colonel George Ellis and Ellis's wife Lara; she and Ellis had been married for two years, but he spent most of that on deployment. They met at college where amongst other things she played softball. She said Ellis had changed during their marriage and that he'd decided to learn about the Koran and Islam as it would make him a better Marine. We also learn that Ellis Snr. has become a Reverend and he wonders if he was to blame in some way for his son's death. He tells Gibbs about a Muslim religious friend of his whom he'd asked to try to reach out to Ellis and says he might be able to help. Gibbs and Col Ellis had met before (albeit not 'on screen' so to speak - well not according to IMDB). Patrick Ellis, the younger son, appears and wishes them a Merry Christmas and his dad tells him about his brother being killed. He was in some kind of uniform.

In Autopsy Ducky is, as usual, talking to the body and Jimmy is watching him. Ducky tells Jimmy that Muslims pray five time a day; Jimmy say he doesn't do anything five times a day. Ducky says that if society concentrated more on what it had in common rather than on killing one another, there would be far fewer killings. That is something for which he prays. At that moment Gibbs appears and tells Ducky he's not the only one. Ducky is waiting for Ellis's cleric to arrive before he can perform the full autopsy, but he can tell Gibbs Ellis died from blunt force trauma to the head and lacerations. Whatever was used was angled downwards in a rather odd angle. He also had paint and thread in his wounds and he had cleansed his feet before he'd been killed; thus he was about to pray again - implying he knew his killer. The scene had the usual Gibbs/Ducky closeness and looks and just . . . them.

Jackson is up in the squad room handing out chocolates to the team. Ziva asks Gibbs why he didn't let them know his dad was coming, Gibbs said it was because he didn't expect him. Jackson is encouraging them to have more chocolates saying it is the season, but Gibbs has a little dig about not wanting his team getting fat. Jackson says they are the best chocolates in Stillwater and Gibbs knows they were made by Ms. Hannigan who was after his dad ever since his mom died. Jackson tells Gibbs Ms. Hannigan has been cooking for him recently. Gibbs goes over to DiNozzo who tells Gibbs Lara was having a fling during her marriage, but it ended when Ellis found out.

At that moment Navy Lieutenant Commander Aaban El-Sayad arrives. Gibbs and Ziva take El-Sayad to the conference room and he talks about Ellis and Islam. He say that in many ways the Marine code and the code of Islam are the same: honour, courage and commitment. They are the three philosophies Islam teaches. Ziva says that ignorance and bigotry, however, remain in the military. El-Sayad says that Ellis tried to find acceptance amongst his fellow Marines, but it didn't go that well. He says Ellis became a Muslim to find something that was missing and he'd also changed his name. He tells them how some of Ellis's unit found the having to pray several times a day in any situation very hard and potentially dangerous (which I can understand). He tells Gibbs Ellis had asked him to speak to a Sergeant Louis Tibbens. But it wasn't a successful 'talk'.

In the squad room, DiNozzo, McGee and Ziva are looking at Tibbens's details n the screen and talking about him, they have confirmation that Ellis and Tibbens didn't not get on. Also they had confirmation that Ellis was on leave with his family and Tibbens was also on leave. Jackson who is sitting at Gibbs's desk, is watching them.. McGee comments on the size of the town Tibbens came from (population 900) and Jackson says it's larger than Stillwater, but did it have the charm. DiNozzo passes a comment about the perpetual smell of coal and on cue Gibbs appears and says he always liked it. He looks pointedly at his dad, who just looks back at him. Gibbs tells them to keep going. McGee tells him that Tibbens had two NGPs for disciplinary reasons.

Gibbs sends DiNozzo and Ziva to find Tibbens and tells McGee to dig more into Ellis. Did having two names mean he had two lives? Jackson passes comment on the open-plan nature of the area, saying he's surprised after all these years they couldn't have given Gibbs a couple of walls and some privacy. Gibbs says he has a surprise for him and he takes his dad away with him. And another fun scene with some good banter and exchanges and team and family moments.

They go to Gibbs's basement (so Gibbs must live fairly near to the Navy Yard) and we see he's been making wooden toys. Jackson comments on Gibbs building toys. Gibbs tells him "We're building toys." It seems then that Gibbs got his love of working with wood and making thing from his dad. Jackson asks then he got into the spirit; Gibbs says for him it's about the wood, but admits the 24th is also a good bit of pressure. He says it settles his mind and keeps his hands busy. Jackson asks if Gibbs wants him to finish putting the toys together and paint them. Gibbs comments about not letting the kids in the children's hospital down. Jackson says Gibbs is trying to Tom Sawyer him into white washing the fence for him. Gibbs again says: "Not for me. With me." But goes on to say only if his dad feels up to it. Jackson comments about 'settling his mind'. Gibbs says there's a steak in the fridge and they'll talk when he gets home and he says he means it. He goes. Another very touching scene.

Ziva and DiNozzo have tracked Tibbens down to a bar of 'red necks'; it's not a great place and a tad surprising that a Marine on leave would go there, Ziva thinks. They see Tibbens with two other men playing pool and go over. DiNozzo calls Ziva his probationary side kick Agent Ziva David and Tibbens asks what the problem is. They tell him about Ellis, but Tibbens says he has an alibi: he was hunting with the other two men and they have their kill to prove it (not that a kill alone would prove an alibi). He then starts to flirt and insult Ziva whilst DiNozzo keeps saying, "Oh, no." He knows how it will end. And it does; Tibbens goes too far and ends up being handcuffed by Ziva. Meanwhile DiNozzo is taking on several of the other men in the bar, but ends face down up on the pool table, where Ziva in effect saves him.

DiNozzo is interrogating Tibbens who admits to not liking having a Muslim when they are on patrol, because when a white man was seen praying it came across as an insult to the local Muslims. He says he didn't kill Ellis but admits to be paid, along with a couple of others, to try to make him quit the Corps. They didn't know the name of the person, the money came via a PO Box. My thought at this point was that it was Ellis's father who was paying them to harass his son. As a red herring, Tibbens was not a good one.

In Abby's lab we have Abby with a dressed up as Santa skeleton and also present is another woman. McGee arrives and Abby introduces him to Carol Wilson, her closest friend. McGee makes a few Santa comments and Carol just looks somewhat askance and Abby looks a little one edge. Then she shows McGee a photograph of a young boy; it's Carol's nephew Fisher. His mom is on a naval destroyer in the Indian Ocean and Fisher is with Carol until she comes home. Carol took Fisher to see Santa that day and whilst all the other kids asked for toys and video games, all Fisher wanted was to see his mom on Christmas Eve. McGee says that he'd love to help, but it's extremely difficult to get a satellite feed to the Indian Ocean and you need really high level clearance to get it. But Abby knows McGee can do it and tells Carol how wonderful he is, basically sealing McGee's fate. Another really great scene.

Gibbs gets out of the lift and is met by DiNozzo and Ziva who tell him three of Ellis's fellow Marines took money, but they still haven't traced from whence it came. Gibbs tells him to work faster. DiNozzo says. "You do it." Gibbs just looks askance at him and DiNozzo hastens to explain he meant Ziva, not Gibbs. He asks Ziva how many languages she speaks and she answer that along with the language of love, ten. A nice little DiNozzo/Ziva moment.

Then Gibbs phone rings and he races off. He gets to his house and finds firemen leaving. His dad is in a chair looking shaken. Gibbs checks his hand and asks what happened. Jackson had been trying to light a fire and asks Gibbs how long had it been since the flue had been cleaned. Then Gibbs sees boxes of decorations and looks at his dad. They were his mom's; Jackson had them shipped to Gibbs to go on the tree, which he shows Gibbs. Gibbs says they're fine and Jackson snaps at him telling him not to patronise him. Somewhat wide-eyed Gibbs takes off his gun and goes over to a lock-box, keys in a code and is about to put his gun away when Jackson tells him to take the box away. He doesn't want it in the same room as he is. Gibbs says it's secure, but Jackson gets very upset and keeps going on at Gibbs and asks why he will never do anything Jackson asks him to. Gibbs is clearly surprised, shocked even, but agrees to take the box and gun away. Jackson says he'll go for a walk; Gibbs asks if he wants company, but Jackson goes alone, leaving a rather worried Gibbs. Another excellent scene with some powerful moments in it.

DiNozzo calls to give Gibbs the unsurprising news that Interpol have informed them Ellis Snr. paid the Marines to harass his son. At the house Gibbs and DiNozzo come face to face with Lara and Patrick who deny Ellis Snr. would have done that. DiNozzo also challenges Lara about the affair she had. Ellis Snr appears and admits he did do it. He didn't want Ellis to leave the Corps, just to drop the Muslim thing and felt that if his son saw he was putting the rest of his unit in danger, he'd change his mind. He says if he had anything to do with Ellis's death then God forgive him and also Ellis's God. Gibbs says they are the same.

In the squad room Ziva asks McGee if he thinks Ellis Snr. is involved in his son's death (nope); McGee admits he could be. Then DiNozzo's phone rings; it's Dolores. She had found out (it appears McGee told her - nice one, McGee, that's just the thing DiNozzo would do) and she wants to see DiNozzo on Christmas Eve. Again Ziva says she's a nice lady who is lacking in social skills and she advises DiNozzo to get her a really nice present. Another lovely sibling exchange with great fun and no nastiness. Excellent.

Gibbs calls Ziva and tells her to meet him in Abby's lab. Abby has various possible weapons, but none of them were used to kill Ellis. But she does have something for them: she has baked gingerbread cookies of herself. Ziva refuses saying she couldn't eat Abby, but Gibbs takes one for Jackson and asks what else Abby has. She found particles in the wound of aluminium and titanium. Gibbs suggests they came from a baseball bat (and he has experience of being hit with one of those). Abby also shows them how the killing was done.

Ziva 'meets' Lara going to the crime scene and asks her about her softball playing days. Lara admits Ellis knew about her affair, but says she loved her husband deeply and now she has to organise a military funeral with full honours. She didn't kill him.

In Gibbs's basement Ducky and Jackson are talking and sharing past stories and drinking and maybe doing some work on the toys. Jackson is telling Ducky about a gate Gibbs left open when he was a kid, but can't remember how the story ends. Gibbs who is now on the stairs says he spent two hours rounding up sheep. Ducky appears to be more than a little tipsy and he comments on how much he and Jackson have in common and what they'd been talking about. He takes the bottle of whiskey for another drink, but Gibbs takes it from him, leans near to him and tells him quietly it's quite late. Ducky agrees and says he still has shopping to do and also he has a 'roose to be ghosted' and corrects himself as he shakes Jackson's hand.

He and Gibbs go upstairs. And suddenly Ducky is completely coherent and free from slurring his words. He tells Gibbs how he's so pleased he and Jackson had finally met and that he's a sweet and lovely man and warmer than Gibbs depicted him. We then learn that Gibbs had got Ducky to go and see his dad to assess him. Ducky says he isn't sure after such a short meeting, however, something is wrong. But it's not, as Gibbs had feared, any kind of dementia. Jackson's cognitive skills are fine and he's coherent. However, Ducky says he is under severe emotional distress; the kind that happens when you lose a loved one. He asks if Jackson has had an emotional upset, but Gibbs doesn't know. Ducky says that he'd sure Jackson is there because of the upset and not just to see Gibbs as Martha Stewart, Gibbs is not. Gibbs asks what the upset is, but Ducky says it isn't within his purview. He prescribes that Gibbs makes some calls to Stillwater about his father; they might prove to be enlightening and he goes.

Two really great scenes, both in the basement with Jackson and when Gibbs and Ducky are alone. Gibbs is clearly deeply worried about his dad and who else would he turn to but his closest friend who just happens to be a doctor skilled in far more than just cutting up bodies. Very believable, very much in character. A superb friendship scene (or for those who ship G/D a wonderful ship scene). Both were excellent; I loved pretend drunk Ducky who became sober in seconds.

In the squad room, McGee is on the phone trying to set up the satellite link and lying away about having the permission of a fake Admiral. Ziva and DiNozzo want to know for whom he is doing the favour. McGee tells them, Abby, her friend and the big man. They suggest the big man is Gibbs and then Vance, but McGee says he's bigger and rounder. DiNozzo's phone rings; it's Vance. Ellis Snr. has the ideal alibi; he was with the Sec Nav at the time his son war murdered and Lara had driven him. At that moment El-Sayad arrives with a note of cut out letters stuck onto a piece of paper, declaring that Ellis died because of him and threatening him.

Gibbs and Ziva again talk to El-Sayad and they say NCIS will give him protection for him, his wife and child. But he won't accept it; he feels that in his role he has to be accessible. He say that he had once spoken to Patrick's class about Islam and that two siblings couldn't be more different.

Down in Abby's lab, Abby is still really in the Christmas spirit and asks Gibbs, Ziva and DiNozzo how out of line it would be to have an impromptu Christmas party right there and then. They all say her name and she says she feels like Scrooge and his visits from the three grumpy ghosts (except of course at that point Scrooge was not into the Christmas spirit and lived up to his name, but it was a nice little line). Then want to see the attack again and she shows them. She says the killer had agility, speed and power. DiNozzo comments they are qualities he had; Ziva scorns him. Gibbs asks if Patrick played lacrosse and he lean he does. Abby then runs the simulation with a lacrosse stick. Patrick killed his own brother.

Gibbs and DiNozzo go to the Ellis house. Patrick has been for a run and DiNozzo asks where his stick is, because he knows lacrosse players like to run with their sticks. Patrick confesses he did kill his brother, but says to his father he did it for him. Ellis Snr. hits Patrick across the face. Patrick explains that he did it because Ellis has humiliated the family. Before he'd converted the family always had honour, but then it no longer did. His brother was a different person; he loved him dearly, but he killed him. He says to his dad that Ellis had turned his back on the family; his father says quietly that maybe it was them who turned their backs on Ellis. One of the more poignant and quite sad arrests and reasons for killing.

In Gibbs's house, Jackson is sitting by the decorated Christmas tree looking into the fire. Gibbs appears with two beers and gives one to his dad. Then he says: "Let's talk." He'd called Betty Hannigan who'd referred him to the Sheriff who sent him a report. Jackson then tells Gibbs what happened. He'd been in his store with the Dobson girl and a friend when a 'dirt kicker' had arrived looking for trouble; he said he'd come to rob Jackson. Jackson told him he could take what he wanted from the register, but the man turned to where the two girls were huddled together in the corner. Jackson got his gun down and shot the man. He tells Gibbs it's not the first person he killed, but it's the first whose face he'd seen. It was very different when you're a pilot just dropping bombs from the cock-pit. The man he killed had a kid of his own. Until that day he'd never thought much about those he'd killed, now he can't think about anything else. He asks Gibbs how he's managed all those years. Gibbs asks if that's why Jackson came to DC. Jackson says it was, but also because it was Christmas. Gibbs after a moment tells him quietly it isn't meant to be easy. His hand is on his dad's shoulder and he's giving the kind of comfort he can give and the kind he knows his dad will accept. A really, really poignant and moving scene. I had tears in my eyes.

In Autopsy Duck and Jimmy are formally zipping up Ellis's body bag. Ducky then stand up to attention while Jimmy pushes the body out past El-Sayad and Ellis Snr. who are also to attention; Ellis's dad salutes as his son's body goes by him. More tears.

DiNozzo with Ziva in the background is outside Dolores's office. But at the last moment he doesn't think he can go through with it. However, Dolores comes out and he starts to 'DiNozzo babble'. He says he'd found something in her personnel file.

He apparently has clearance, something I find impossible to believe for the kind of agency he's in. Non-HR people do not have access to HR files, not at DiNozzo's level. So it's more likely, I'd say, that he got McGee to do a bit of hacking for him, but realises he has to cover his backside and McGee's. Although what on earth the kind of thing DiNozzo claimed to find in her file was doing in her file is another impossible to believe thing.

Again, I digress. He says that when she was younger all the girls in her neighbourhood got a particular kind of doll one year, but she didn't. He hands her the parcel and she opens it and . . . lo and behold there is the doll. She is speechless, Ziva is smiling, DiNozzo is looking kind of embarrassed and like Dolores again I had tears in my eyes. So putting aside the farce about I mention above, it was a touching scene and a really lovely look at the non-cocky and caring side of DiNozzo.

Then we go to MTAC and McGee leads Fisher inside telling him it's a very special place to which very few people have access or know about and it's magic. Abby and Carol are also there. He gets Fisher to close his eyes and to wish for the thing he wants most. And when Fisher opens them, there is his mom on the screen - McGee did it! She tells Fisher how much she loves and misses him and how she has all his artwork and he promises to do her more. She says they have a big dinner that night, but she'd rather be with him. He wishes she was with him too. Abby then kisses McGee on the cheek and tells him he'd make a great Santa; McGee says you just have to believe. Abby says she does. In turn McGee puts his arm around Abby and kisses her cheek. A wonderful Abby/McGee moment. And a lovely scene overall. And yes, more tears.

The final scene is Gibbs and Jackson bringing up the toys from the basement. Gibbs has a huge sack, his dad a very small sleigh. Jackson says he'll go and warm up the sleigh and Gibbs puts the sack on his back. So lovely.

OVERALL

I was not disappointed with this episode, in fact in many ways it exceeded expectations. It was lovely from beginning to end. Nothing jarred at all; there was nothing I disliked or anyone I disliked. It was great.

So many wonderful moments and scene and superb interaction.

Minor irks.

- A wee bit more Jimmy would have been nice.
- The whole Gibbs and lack of spare room and the Kelly thing just seemed when pulled apart somewhat hard to believe and get my head around.
- DiNozzo apparently having access to personnel files. No way! Gibbs doesn't, as we know he got McGee to hack and get Ducky's, thus there's no way DiNozzo would have access and certainly not to a member of HR. And the doll being in the file even if he did get McGee to hack?!!?
- Gibbs apparently making his father sleep on the couch.

But really this is me trying to find something to fault *g*

Best scenes:

Virtually all of the episode? *g*

- All the Gibbs and his father scenes.
- The kids and Gibbs's arrival at the crime scene.
- In the squad room with Jackson at Gibbs's desk.
- Ducky and Jackson, then Ducky, Gibbs and Jackson in Gibbs's basement.
- Gibbs and Gibbs in Gibbs's sitting room.
- DiNozzo and Dolores.
- McGee et al in MTAC.

Pairing of the week:

I'm going for a gen as well as a romantic pairing for this episode as in truth it was all about the former.

Gen: Gibbs & his father

Slash: Gibbs/Ducky

Character of the week:

Jackson Gibbs

Actor/Actress of the week:

Ralph Waite

Storyline: 10:00

Enjoyment: 10:00