S17.E04: Someone Else's Shoes

[thewhiteowl]

The team links a bizarre crime scene to attacks on homeless veterans.

[Katy M]

This is the first time I've been fully engaged in an NCIS episode for a long time.  

But, I have a major complaint regarding everything to do with the punishment.

1. Vance was talking about "not a good look."  Well, it's not going to be a good look if the press finds out that you're splitting the team's time between solving a homeless vet's murder and busywork punishment.

2. Which brings me to the fact that they should have either been removed from case rotation for the duration of their punishment (they aren't actually the only team are they), or McGee does his punishment, when he's finished Bishop does hers and then Torres does his.

3. From what I understood they were sorting evidence into keep and destroy.  The creepy doll was to be kept. Torres opened it up and played with it.  Wouldn't that be contaminating evidence?  Shouldn't have all the evidence been sealed?  

The truth bomber, or whatever she called herself, bugged me.  Other peoples' stories aren't yours to truth tell.  They are their stories.  Allow people their privacy and dignity.

And, yeah, right.  There's no way Congress would pass extra funding for veterans.  Not when they could better give themselves raises and waste money on pet projects for their own states that nobody really needs but makes money for their contributors.  

[mommalib]

I'm glad that Vance punished them for lying and I don't care how he did it, as long as he didn't let them get away with it like I thought he was.

I loved the ending when the marine knocked that guy into next week.

[Katy M]

8 minutes ago, mommalib said:

I'm glad that Vance punished them for lying and I don't care how he did it, as long as he didn't let them get away with it like I thought he was.

I loved the ending when the marine knocked that guy into next week.

But, the punishment wasn't very effective if they could get out of it any time they said they had to follow up on something. And their punishment shouldn't have potentially jeopardized an investigation of a murdered homeless vet.  

[mommalib]

20 minutes ago, Katy M said:

But, the punishment wasn't very effective if they could get out of it any time they said they had to follow up on something. And their punishment shouldn't have potentially jeopardized an investigation of a murdered homeless vet.  

I'm saying it was more than what I expected because I expected no punishment at all. I'm glad Vance exercised some kind of authority.

[threebluestars]

This felt a lot closer to the old episodes of NCIS which I appreciated. The stupid punishment was the only thing that bugged me.

[Sake614]

For the first time in forever, I really liked this episode. Of course I called the 'volunteer' as the killer the minute we saw him, but otherwise, nicely done. 

[basiltherat]

There was a story about homeless vets a few years ago featuring Abby.  I wonder if the setting then was supposed to be the same as this episode, 'cuz the problem shouldn't be unfamiliar to NCIS.

[enoughcats]

Someone Else's Shoes

seemed like a good title for the show.  Until this (Wednesday) morning, when every ad on Primetimer here is an ad for shoes.

Sometimes the internet outwits itself.

[eel21788]

13 hours ago, threebluestars said:

This felt a lot closer to the old episodes of NCIS which I appreciated. The stupid punishment was the only thing that bugged me.

The punishment was a necessity for the story line: If they hadn't found the huge storage of pre-paid cell phones, they wouldn't have been able to hand them out to the homeless people. They had to contribute something to the betterment of their lives in order to make NCIS look good in addition to solving the case.

[FormerMod-a1]

Overall, I liked this episode.  Just putting that up front because of the following nitpick.  The one thing I didn't like about the punishment was that all 3 were acting so whiny about it.  I could Torres being that whine and bratty, but not McGee or Ellie.  I can see them not liking it, and even expressing that, but still accepting it better - more begrudgingly than whiny.  

[eel21788]

14 hours ago, threebluestars said:

This felt a lot closer to the old episodes of NCIS which I appreciated. The stupid punishment was the only thing that bugged me.

I wanted an explanation for how the murderer got into the morgue to leave the hand there. 

[HurricaneVal]

I have to say....I kind of liked Vance in this episode.  He's never been my favorite character, but he has steadily grown on me over the years.  I didn't like how they ret-conned him into being some sort of undercover superspy savant, since his origin story clearly showed that he was selected for that mission specifically because he was a fumbling incompetent n00b.  The only reason he survived that goat-fuck mission is because Eli took a liking and pity on him and worked to keep him alive.  Vance was supposed to die on that mission. 

I like Vance when they show him to be a very savvy judge of character and personal dynamics, and he uses that knowledge to manipulate situations and people around.  That's some interesting qualities in a leader.  We were supposed to hate him when he came in and split up the team, but it turned out that was only to position them to where they could help catch the mole.  Then I started liking him.  He lost a lot of my support during the Port-to-Port killer, but I think that entire story took the whole team off the rails, so I figure the writers room had been temporarily located over a chemical dump and they were breathing fumes. 

[Katy M]

3 hours ago, eel21788 said:

I wanted an explanation for how the murderer got into the morgue to leave the hand there. 

He was a volunteer of some sort for that medical van, or whatever it was. So, I'm sure there were times when he was at the hospital.  From there he just slipped down to the morgue and nailed up the hand.  The real question is where was he carrying that hand that nobody noticed it.  I mean, that is pretty seriously disgusting.

[basiltherat]

He could have carried it in on of those organ-donation coolers.

[eel21788]

43 minutes ago, Katy M said:

He was a volunteer of some sort for that medical van, or whatever it was. So, I'm sure there were times when he was at the hospital.  From there he just slipped down to the morgue and nailed up the hand.  The real question is where was he carrying that hand that nobody noticed it.  I mean, that is pretty seriously disgusting.

Most hospitals have better security than that. How would you even know where to find the morgue? It usually isn't on hospital directories.

[Katy M]

21 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

Most hospitals have better security than that. How would you even know where to find the morgue? It usually isn't on hospital directories.

It's always in the basement.  And it was a VA with budget problems. I doubt their security is very good at all.

[eel21788]

10 minutes ago, Katy M said:

It's always in the basement.  And it was a VA with budget problems. I doubt their security is very good at all.

I worked at one hospital that had the morgue on the 5th floor and another that had it on the first floor. Also, the basement is generally off limits to visitors.

Edited October 17, 2019 by eel21788

[ymeagain]

On 10/15/2019 at 6:58 PM, Katy M said:

But, the punishment wasn't very effective if they could get out of it any time they said they had to follow up on something. And their punishment shouldn't have potentially jeopardized an investigation of a murdered homeless vet.  

I don't think "effective" was the point of the punishment; it was just letting the agents know there are consequences when they aren't honest with Vance. After all, their reason for lying was in line with their "agent code" - it was being loyal to a one of their own. And maybe I missed it, but I didn't think the punishment interfered with their investigation. As soon as they got a lead, they followed it.

I've been watching all three NCIS franchises this season for the first time in a LONG time, and the original has been way better than NCISLA this season. 

[ymeagain]

5 hours ago, Katy M said:

The real question is where was he carrying that hand that nobody noticed it.  I mean, that is pretty seriously disgusting.

Maybe one of those coolers they use to transport organs or a case used for transporting drugs? Hands aren't very big, so it could have been a lot of different places.

[Katy M]

7 hours ago, ymeagain said:

Maybe one of those coolers they use to transport organs or a case used for transporting drugs? Hands aren't very big, so it could have been a lot of different places.

That's better.  I was assuming he stuffed it in his pocket.

[Callietwo]

I loathed this episode.

Yes..  Vets get treated terribly but this felt like a PSA of some sort disguised as a TV show and the foolishness in the basement belied the seriousness of the main story.  

Also, the people that watch  NCIS aren’t the ones that typically need the message that we don’t take care of our VETs and need to do better (which is *shameful*).   Our “leaders” haven’t found a way to  make $$ off of taking care of them so it hasn’t happened.  

Edited October 17, 2019 by Callietwo

[ymeagain]

26 minutes ago, Callietwo said:

Also, the people that watch  NCIS aren’t the ones that typically need the message that we don’t take care of our VETs and need to do better (which is *shameful*).

True, but NCIS needs to deal with Navy & Marine issues/crimes, so I don't mind episodes that aren't always about some espionage or criminal action on a base. I like the focus on different sorts of crimes. And having worked with vets, this issue--as well as issues dealing with health, both physical and mental--can always use some airtime.

8 hours ago, Katy M said:

I was assuming he stuffed it in his pocket.

😝

[Linderhill]

I finally was able to watch this episode.  I finally feel like its safe to watch the show again and avoid the Ziva contamination.  (last week was too soon, too much Ziva crap leaking over) I enjoyed this one.  I especially appreciate that Jack videotaped that confession holding her phone HORIZONTALLY and not vertically like everyone seems to do on social media.  And it was a nice message.  Too bad McGee, Bishop and Torres can't get stuck in the basement even longer.