NCIS - Flesh and Bone

Network: CBS
Time: Tuesdays, 8:00-9:00pm
Cast: Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pablo, Sean Murray, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Rocky Carroll

Summary: After the assassination attempt of a foreign prince, Tony suspects his father, who unexpectedly showed up in DC, may be involved, and Gibbs questions his ability to remain objective.

Review: I feel like I only ever have glowing things to say about this season of NCIS, but I truly believe it's the best one yet, and this episode is kind of like the icing on the cake.

Let's start off by reminding everyone that this is the long-anticipated 150th episode of the series, which is a pretty remarkable milestone.  Also, it guest starred Robert Wagner, who is amazing and doesn't deserve Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me to be the film listed next to his name when you do an IMDb search for him.

This episode turned pretty much exactly how I hoped it would be, and I think loyal fans of the show got a lot of resolutions they'd been looking for.  As I've said several times before, NCIS isn't really about the cases; it's about the characters, and how they interact  with each other.  Solving the cases is usually just a bonus (except in certain episodes where they focus heavily on them).  This time, instead of seeing the latest banter between Tony, Ziva and McGee, the relationships in question were Tony and Gibbs, Tony and his father, and Gibbs and DiNozzo, Sr.

And they really hit the nail on the head as far as plausibility goes.  From the first awkward interaction between Junior and Senior (who, by the way, share many, many personality quirks and mannerisms) to the confrontation between Gibbs and Senior to the final, touching moment between Gibbs and Junior, the writers really went all out with this episode.  For men who are not so normally prone to share their feelings (especially about each other), they said a lot in just a few words.

The case had a nifty little twist, but, as I said last week about NCIS: Los Angeles, I wish they wouldn't give everybody names that sounded so similar.  Maybe it's my ignorant American ways, but I lost a bit of the story trying to figure out if the prince was dead or if it was his driver.  Once I figured it out, I did okay following the rest--and I do admit I was paying more attention to what DiNozzo, Sr. was doing than what was going on with the prince.

I can't think of any more ways to say how much I loved this episode, and how great a job they did casting Robert Wagner and DiNozzo, Sr., and how great a job he did of making Tony's dad exactly the kind of person you'd expect him to be.  They even had Tony dredge up some old memories he's mentioned on the show before (such as his father leaving him in a Maui hotel) and throw them back in his dad's face.  To see that kind of continuity in a show that's been on so long is a wonderful thing, and it makes me wonder how long the writers have been planning this episode.

I just have one plea for them in the future: I would really, really like to see Gibbs tell Tony he's proud of him.  Just once.  He certainly came close in this episode, but Tony so clearly craves Gibbs' respect that they could really make a nice scene out of a moment like that.  Maybe it's just the sap in me.

Favorite lines:
Abby: Maybe Tony didn't have a mother.  Maybe he was cloned!

Ziva: Okay, so how many amendments to the Constitution?
Gibbs: The Bill of Rights is the first ten, prohibition is eighteen.  I'm guessing twenty-three.
Ziva: Twenty-seven!
Gibbs: Nobody likes a smart-ass, David.
Ziva: Why do I have to study all this and you don't?
Gibbs: I was born here.

Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad

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