Network: CBS
Time: Tuesdays, 8:00-9:00pm
Cast: Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Sean Murray, Cote de Pablo, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Rocky Carroll, Brian Dietzen
Summary: The team searches for a kidnapped girl, whose grandfather complicates the investigation.
Review: I continuously have the same problem with NCIS. I love the show--it's one of my most highly anticipated of the week--but the case-related plot lines have recently started to fall flat. I started noticing this with the introduction of the Michael Rivkin storyline in season 6, but then it started to pick up again in season 7... until the drug cartel. There was no need to delve further into what Gibbs did after Shannon and Kelly were killed, no reason to humanize the man he murdered. I don't know about the rest of you, but I was perfectly fine with him remaining anonymous, and the act simply being a part of Gibbs' past that no one really knows about.
I know that story was (mostly) resolved in the season 8 premiere, but this week's plot wasn't much stronger. This time, a kidnapped little girl's grandfather turns out to be not what the NCIS team expected, and he gets in the way of their investigation into her disappearance. It wasn't that it was overly complex or overly simple or anything like that. It just wasn't that interesting. Is it possible NCIS is running out of interesting cases, or was this one just a little weak?
But then the cases have never been why I tuned in to NCIS each week. I do that because I'm completely in love with the characters, and I love to watch them interact with each other. And, in that respect, this episode was certainly worth the time. It was intern week at NCIS, and each section of the team had a college student to teach. Most of the focus was on McGee and his intern Conrad (played by Greek's Zack Lively), who really didn't want to be there. It was wonderful to see McGee, who's done a considerable amount of growing up since he first appeared on the show, with a probie of his own... even if it was just for now. Not only did it emphasize the changes in McGee, but it was good to get some fresh blood into the bullpen. Whether Lively will start making regular appearances seems unlikely, but it might be good for them to introduce a new cast member to shake things up a little.
The intern in the morgue created an interesting kind of story for Palmer, who didn't appear until midway through the episode to find his place at Ducky's side may have been usurped. The new girl shared Ducky's love for long, rambling stories and Scottish music, and poor Palmer wasn't sure what to do with that. I was mildly amused by his quest to find a new place at NCIS, but I mostly just felt bad for him. For awhile I really thought they were grooming him to take Ducky's place, but now I'm not so sure. Hopefully this episode was an anomaly, and Palmer will go back to being the autospsy gremlin we all know and love next episode.
The final intern was in Abby's lab. Abby, it must be said, has had some bad experiences with people in her lab, and she was not happy about having an intern... especially one with a little crush on her. I do love seeing Abby flustered. She takes her normal level of over-caffeinated and doubles it, and it's always fun to watch the reactions of the people she's talking to, especially Gibbs, who just takes it all in stride and fixes it with a word or two.
The secret to NCIS's success is focusing on personality stories instead of case ones. When the plot is more centered on what the team is doing, they're engaging, humorous and sometimes dramatic. When it's more about solving a murder, they tend to come off as a little dry and sometimes trite. NCIS certainly hasn't lasted for eight seasons by exclusively sticking to one of those methods, but the episodes are definitely more enjoyable when they don't spend a lot of time worrying about creating and solving a complex crime.
For more crime TV news, follow NewarkCrimeTV on Twitter.
Email me at NewarkCrimeTV@gmail.com.
My Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
Time: Tuesdays, 8:00-9:00pm
Cast: Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Sean Murray, Cote de Pablo, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Rocky Carroll, Brian Dietzen
Summary: The team searches for a kidnapped girl, whose grandfather complicates the investigation.
Review: I continuously have the same problem with NCIS. I love the show--it's one of my most highly anticipated of the week--but the case-related plot lines have recently started to fall flat. I started noticing this with the introduction of the Michael Rivkin storyline in season 6, but then it started to pick up again in season 7... until the drug cartel. There was no need to delve further into what Gibbs did after Shannon and Kelly were killed, no reason to humanize the man he murdered. I don't know about the rest of you, but I was perfectly fine with him remaining anonymous, and the act simply being a part of Gibbs' past that no one really knows about.
I know that story was (mostly) resolved in the season 8 premiere, but this week's plot wasn't much stronger. This time, a kidnapped little girl's grandfather turns out to be not what the NCIS team expected, and he gets in the way of their investigation into her disappearance. It wasn't that it was overly complex or overly simple or anything like that. It just wasn't that interesting. Is it possible NCIS is running out of interesting cases, or was this one just a little weak?
But then the cases have never been why I tuned in to NCIS each week. I do that because I'm completely in love with the characters, and I love to watch them interact with each other. And, in that respect, this episode was certainly worth the time. It was intern week at NCIS, and each section of the team had a college student to teach. Most of the focus was on McGee and his intern Conrad (played by Greek's Zack Lively), who really didn't want to be there. It was wonderful to see McGee, who's done a considerable amount of growing up since he first appeared on the show, with a probie of his own... even if it was just for now. Not only did it emphasize the changes in McGee, but it was good to get some fresh blood into the bullpen. Whether Lively will start making regular appearances seems unlikely, but it might be good for them to introduce a new cast member to shake things up a little.
The intern in the morgue created an interesting kind of story for Palmer, who didn't appear until midway through the episode to find his place at Ducky's side may have been usurped. The new girl shared Ducky's love for long, rambling stories and Scottish music, and poor Palmer wasn't sure what to do with that. I was mildly amused by his quest to find a new place at NCIS, but I mostly just felt bad for him. For awhile I really thought they were grooming him to take Ducky's place, but now I'm not so sure. Hopefully this episode was an anomaly, and Palmer will go back to being the autospsy gremlin we all know and love next episode.
The final intern was in Abby's lab. Abby, it must be said, has had some bad experiences with people in her lab, and she was not happy about having an intern... especially one with a little crush on her. I do love seeing Abby flustered. She takes her normal level of over-caffeinated and doubles it, and it's always fun to watch the reactions of the people she's talking to, especially Gibbs, who just takes it all in stride and fixes it with a word or two.
The secret to NCIS's success is focusing on personality stories instead of case ones. When the plot is more centered on what the team is doing, they're engaging, humorous and sometimes dramatic. When it's more about solving a murder, they tend to come off as a little dry and sometimes trite. NCIS certainly hasn't lasted for eight seasons by exclusively sticking to one of those methods, but the episodes are definitely more enjoyable when they don't spend a lot of time worrying about creating and solving a complex crime.
For more crime TV news, follow NewarkCrimeTV on Twitter.
Email me at NewarkCrimeTV@gmail.com.
My Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
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