slothgirl

I'd much prefer that Goran walk out of the shower. It would be the highlight of the series at this point.

I had much of the same reactions as others here have already posted about this episode and some of the details/ plot points, but the one thing I couldn't get out of my mind every time Mollie was on screen: CUT YOUR DAMN FORELOCK! You're not a pony. Geez. Who in their right mind would be trying to save all mankind in 90 minutes with their hair completely blocking one eye? I'd be getting it out of my face any way I could at that point, even if it meant slicking it back with crazy glue! I was really expecting (read: hoping) that Mollie WOULD blow up so that the series had a shot at continuing without the expensive movie star lead, who could then return to making movies with her "stylish-even-in-the-face-of-Armageddon" haircut, having "launched" the series (along with the Seraphim!).

I don't think she took it apart in the lab. I think she did it in that rather large evidence/analysis room that they use for vehicles. I'm pretty sure it has good sized loading doors since that's what it's for.

The things is, I don't think people ever saw Abby as acting half her age in the beginning. It wasn't "something fans loved" about her. It was a characteristic they introduced later and then shoved in our faces. She was upbeat and optimistic. If that's "acting half her age" then the show seriously misunderstood what really made that fun. She was Goth, but she was positive and optimistic. THAT was the fun paradox. Being "childlike" had nothing to do with it (from my perspective) Of course, I do wonder if the lower register voice was not natural for the actress, and she reverted to her own way of speaking because talking that low in her throat jsut wasn't comfortable. Bishop: From what I can tell there really isn't ANYTHING that fans like about her and she's already a caricature or cartoon. They don't have far to go before she starts to make every other character look more nuanced than Willy Loman by comparison.

USA was showing season 1 episodes tonight. Regardless of your feelings about Kate vs Ziva or whatever, there was a lightheartedness in the early episodes that I realize I miss. The later seasons got so angsty and Gibbes never seems to have any humor at all in him. It's not like he had never faced tragedy until some point later in the series... arguably he had already faced the worst tragedy of his life before the series even starts.. so what's the rationale behind the character becoming so hard and bitter over the years shown of his NCIS career? Abby was more kick-ass and less pathetically "little-girl". Her voice is even a lower register, and she's in pants rather than those silly dresses that make NO sense for a woman her age. She walks like a normal person instead of like a geisha in a tight kimono on platform geta (little mincing hopping steps). She has an exchange with Gibbes in one of the episodes where she's not oblivious to his desire for her to get to the point while she presents as a quirky nerd and possibly child savant.. she's teasingly goading him with the delay deliberately, and he is bantering right back at her like a collegue, as they try to trick each other into 'fessing up 1st with information. What happened to THESE characters? Did they get abducted by aliens and replaced by bots programmed with simple 2 dimensional stereotypes the aliens pulled out of a cartooon? The only main character that seemd to grow more layers over time was Ziva. She started as a cartoon and became more human. (IMO). Tony has sparks of it sometimes, and I guess it's all the more powerful by not being the norm. But Gibbes and Abby really went in the wrong direction over the years IMHO. Ducky is the only one who started out as a reasonably well dimensioned character and has stayed that way consistently. Maybe the fact that we get so little of him protected him from being ruined by the "creative team". I want Season 1 Abby back! And more early-seasons Gibbes too!

This. If the thread question was a little more broad (pun, not originally intended, but once there....) and not limited to the female lead members of the team, I would nominate Delilah and CGIS' Abby as my fave investigators. And Delilah was rockin' it from a wheelchair!

I think it's what "High & Tight" looks like when it grows out a little. I always assumed the character was given that cut because he was used to a Marine's cut and, being Gibbes, he'd have no reason to change (just like he has no reason to get a color tv) And with the idea that there are no "ex-marines", he would always be most comfortable with something approaching the "look" of a Marine. Maybe at some point a woman in Gibbes' past convinced him to go a smidge longer, or maybe Harmon just doesn't want to live his off-screen life with a cut as extreme as a genuine H&T shave. I'd like to think the actor isn't so vain that he wouldn't just incorporate baldness into the character if his own hair was gone. (I guess he might feel too locked in to that whole "Silver Fox" identity at this point though) I always got a kick out of active duty people giving Gibbes a hard time about his "unruly mop". I can't remember which characters did so, but I recall it happening more than once. (Mike Franks for sure) By any OTHER standards, his hair is quite short.

Totally agree. They got rid of the peripheral players who could have kept things interesting, and tipped their hand that that his "real idendity" may not be, both WAY too soon for my taste.

Best line of the entire thread!

I've always been slightly put off by Amamda, and I could never figure out why. This discussion and the episode really cleared it up for me though. I agree that Amanda is wearing a mask. She seems to me to be totally self-concious ALL the time. I think her mind has a constant internal running stream of thought about how she is presenting herself and how she is perceived. She probably can't escape it even if she wants to. Being so conscious of yourself all the time means you are pretty unaware of what's going on for others and what they think, even while their reaction to you is the most important thing to you. It's a tragic paradox for someone to be caught in. What we DON"T know is what the conversation was BEFORE Korina said her piece. Was it REALLY out of the blue, or was it only that way to Amanda because she's oblivious? It strikes me that Amanda has no sense of humor. It's hard to relax and have a good laugh when you are always analyzing how you are coming across and worrying about it. You can't get your brain to shut the F up long enough to be spontaneous. Humor requires spontenaity and that's the LAST word I would ever use for Amanda. I'm totally convinced that Fade was pulling her leg when he was "comforting" her (saying he'd send out a model naked to make time for her). I don't know whether he realized she didn't get it and got a kick out her taking it seriously, whether he assumed she got it and was sharing the joke, or whether he was merely confused by her reaction because she didn't get what he was doing. But it felt to me that he was teasing her in a good natured way and she Just. Didn't. Get it. I think this is why people are put off by her or call her phony. I dont think it's a choice she makes. I think she has no choice at all because of whatever is going on for her emotionally/psychologically. But it could come across as "phony" or "fake" even though it may the only way she knows how to be, and may be (deep down) very unhappy about it. It would be awful not to be able to ever relax, get out of your own head, have your self-awareness take a break now and then, and be spontaneous or enjoy a good laugh. I feel rather sorry for her.

Both of these ideas would make far better shows that what this one is deteriorating into!

I don't think having him shoot the bot would necessarily be all that alarming, especially if he had a history of getting annoyed by electronics or technology. She had more of a "damn, now I have to fix this things again.. I wish he'd stop doing that" vibe. Like someone who tosses a CRT out a window because they can't work the computer properly. How many times have we seen that moment in a show? Ethan is great. The very first episode before we knew he wasn't human, I thought "Damn, there's something creepy about that kid!". I like the way he's actually getting less overtly creepy as time goes on.

Well they definitely anvilled that into the potential framework with that "comforting" embrace. When the kids came in the room, the look Tucker gave them was almost... what? Proprietary? "Who's yur daddy NOW, kids?" ... "And look who's comforting Mom.. THIS GUY!" I couldn't tell if he was annoyed they came in, triumphant, challenging them to say something, or what. The fact that neither Molly nor Tucker made any move to break the embrace or acknowledge the kids was all kinds of weird and disturbing.

(Delurking after slowly grieving the demise of TWoP) The guy pleasding for his life was Nusrat's father. He said that Jamal promised to spare him because he revealed the coup. That makes him about as stupid as "Barry". I can almost accept Barry being naive about this stuff, but that guy really should have known better! But who was the 3rd guy - the one furthest to the left in the lineup? The military guy was in the middle. (Sorry to see him go) I would have thought if it had been Yussef, they would have made more of a point to show him before his execution. He has been a rather important player in the political story. I have to say, I'm disappointed the show took this turn. Now it's a "cliffhanger" where we are supposed to worry about what happens to Bassan and his family until next season. The problem is, I just don't care about them enough to bother. They can kill them all and give us a show about Jamal being psychotic and that would be interesting because he's acting circles around everyone else. He can make this as much about psychology as action-suspense, but now they seem to be going down the rather predictable and boring plot-driven angle. It's a shame because the 2 most intersting characters ARE the interesting characters because of the layers of what might be going on in their minds (Jamal and Laila) The only thing that made Bassam intersting was the potential for watching him slowly become the Tyrant in the title... like so many "well-meaning" revolutionaries throughout history who become as horrific, if not more, than the regime they overthrow. Now THAT would have been a show worth looking forward to!