S17.E12: Flight Plan

[thewhiteowl]

The team investigates an F-18 crash and disappearance of the pilot. McGee reluctantly discusses a very personal decision.

[threebluestars]

Aside from the McGee stuff, I really liked this episode. A lot more like a traditional NCIS ep since we actually got to see some Navy people for a change lol. I always preferred when the cases took them onto ships or put them in the Navy setting more.

[scorpio1031]

Patrick Duffy and Mark Harmon on the same show!!!  Probably haven’t seen them together since Battle of the Network Stars😂.

[BookWitch]

Didn't really need to know about McGees  junk. No one else did either. *eyeroll*

I suppose it was good that the woman figured out that her boss' wife was murdered even if she did pick the wrong suspect. Ruined her career to do it tho. 

[stuckin60s]

i really enjoyed this episode.  as mentioned above gave the feeling of the first decades shows.  Still cant get over Bishop.  If they let her get back to being the "computer brains" i think it would help alot.  She was established to be the next girl, and then became some macho gun toting bruit.  

she is not and can not carry it.

Anyway nice to see a regular episode 

[enoughcats]

12 hours ago, threebluestars said:

Aside from the McGee stuff

Stuff and nonsense.  The real world human resources types would have a freakin' fit at these discussions during working hours.

37 minutes ago, stuckin60s said:

then became some macho gun toting bruit

Make that brutess, and it still doesn't fit.

My husband nearly went nuclear that lady pilot destroyed a multimillion dollar plane.  And lots of collusion and pre-planing. 

Sort of wish Patrick Duffy had a bigger part and had become part of a multi-episode  story arc.  

[SamBeckett]

It's already sort of been mentioned, but why did the pilot have to crash the plan? Couldn't she just take leave, or make a phone call?

[Trey]

She was afraid she would be arrested for the murder of her boyfriend before she could find proof that her friend had been murdered. Because she was sure no one would believe her accusation against her boss.

 

[Magnumfangirl]

3 hours ago, enoughcats said:

My husband nearly went nuclear that lady pilot destroyed a multimillion dollar plane.

I thought the same, so I googled how much F18s cost and it's like $85 million!  

Edited January 15, 2020 by Magnumfangirl

[preeya]

57 minutes ago, Magnumfangirl said:

I thought the same, so I googled how much F18s cost and it's like $85 million!  

 

57 minutes ago, Magnumfangirl said:

My husband nearly went nuclear that lady pilot destroyed a multimillion dollar plane.

And they made light of that fact, which made me go nuclear. Come on guys, instead of some lighthearted banter with JG, we should have seen her being court-marshaled and DD'd.

[Ebau]

18 hours ago, scorpio1031 said:

Patrick Duffy and Mark Harmon on the same show!!!  Probably haven’t seen them together since Battle of the Network Stars😂.

So true. Throw Richard Dean Anderson into the works and you're right back in the 1970s. 

 

7 hours ago, enoughcats said:

7 hours ago, stuckin60s said:

then became some macho gun toting bruit

Make that brutess, and it still doesn't fit.

It fits. A bruit is a suspicious noise that isn't supposed to be there. You had it right the first time.

[twoods]

I liked the case but was so annoyed by the woman crashing a 70 million dollar plane just to prove her innocence and find her friend’s killer that I couldn’t enjoy it fully. Blah. At least they mentioned that she’s going to court because of it but she will probably get off scott free.

Edited January 16, 2020 by twoods

[ForReal]

I wondered who had complained to Vance about McGee's "discussions." He was only talking to other men who seemed willing to talk, except for Bishop who pried the information out of him. Made it seem like elementary school, Vance calling him out on it. Coworkers talk about all kinds of personal stuff without being called on the carpet for it.

I often have a hard time hearing what Gibbs says, especially in quiet moments. I couldn't quite get what he said to McGee at the end, other than he hadn't had the job done.

[HurricaneVal]

Other than crashing that $85M asset with seemingly little or no repercussion, I liked that episode.  Well, McGee's manhood issues aside, that is...

It is almost like they don't know what to do with McGee now that Tony is gone.  Perhaps the writers got so used to him being  a second banana to Tony and Ziva, and a third banana to Gibbs, they don't know what to do with him now that he's the senior field agent.  In post-Tony seasons past, they've written McGee to be a fully competent agent growing into the SFA position.  But it seems this season they've elevated Bishop's competency profile and demoted McGee back to being comic relief. 

The McGee of the past would not have been nervous about this procedure at all.  Past-McGee would have done all his research, learned everything he had to learn, pulled in case studies, and would have gone in fully informed with all confidence.  Past-McGee would never have originally suggested that Delilah endure major surgery in order that his delicate male ego and manhood could stay intact. 

That said, if Tony were still around, this situation would have been mined thoroughly for laughs, but the butt of the joke would be Tony having issues with the thought of the procedure and McGee being all mature about it.  But that would have been completely in character for both characters, and a whole lot more palatable than what was presented in this episode. 

At least the twins were mentioned.  (I could also have gone the rest of my life without knowing that Vance is super potent.  Blech....)

Back to the A-plot.  I think that pilot will get drummed out of the Navy, for destroying that F-18.  But then, because of her dedication to getting justice done and doggedly prodding along the NCIS investigation, Gibbs is going to invoke "Rule 5" and hire her to join his team.

 

[eel21788]

On 1/15/2020 at 9:47 AM, BookWitch said:

Didn't really need to know about McGees  junk. No one else did either. *eyeroll*

I've been watching reruns of a 1970s police show. The entire 50 minutes of the run time is devoted to the plot line. We get so much more detail about the crime at hand, yet we still know enough about the main characters without having to delve into stuff like this. We also see all the crime-solving happen without a google search of everything. Why can't they write shows like this anymore? Everything has to have a subplot that is never as interesting as the writers seem to think.

[enoughcats]

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

But it seems this season they've elevated Bishop's competency profile and demoted McGee back to being comic relief. 

Could it possibly not have something to do with the character McGee, but the actor?  Not that Tim isn't a good character, the character used to be great.  Not that Sean isn't enjoyable, he is.

Could the powers that aren't Bellisario (this does include Gibbs!) want to get rid of Bellisario, and do that by weakening his step son's role until his step son leaves in disgust?

Quote

Son of Vivienne Bellisario; stepson of Donald P. Bellisario.

 

[HurricaneVal]

 

53 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

Could the powers that aren't Bellisario (this does include Gibbs!) want to get rid of Bellisario, and do that by weakening his step son's role until his step son leaves in disgust?

 

Hmmmmm.....  I hadn't thought of that nuance.  I forget that the actor is related to the producers.  I think he's done a perfectly fine job creating and inhabiting Timothy McGee, but would he have gotten the job without that relation?  Hard to say.

I like the character, I'd hate to see him go.  But I also hate how he's being written, sooo...

 

[Callietwo]

7 hours ago, ForReal said:

I wondered who had complained to Vance about McGee's "discussions." He was only talking to other men who seemed willing to talk, except for Bishop who pried the information out of him. Made it seem like elementary school, Vance calling him out on it. Coworkers talk about all kinds of personal stuff without being called on the carpet for it.

I was just called on the carpet at work recently for something somewhat similar, even though as you say, coworkers talk about stuff all the time.  Especially when you've worked with people for a decade or more!  All it takes is one complainer to stir the pot

2 hours ago, enoughcats said:

Could the powers that aren't Bellisario (this does include Gibbs!) want to get rid of Bellisario, and do that by weakening his step son's role until his step son leaves in disgust?

This feels about as good an explanation as any.  McGee has seemed a *lot* more anxious this year without any discernible reason as written.

[ForReal]

7 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

It is almost like they don't know what to do with McGee now that Tony is gone.  Perhaps the writers got so used to him being  a second banana to Tony and Ziva, and a third banana to Gibbs, they don't know what to do with him now that he's the senior field agent.  In post-Tony seasons past, they've written McGee to be a fully competent agent growing into the SFA position.  But it seems this season they've elevated Bishop's competency profile and demoted McGee back to being comic relief.

When I watch the older episodes, I enjoy how McGee used to be. He could hold his own with everyone, was confident of his skill set, and had grown somewhat comfortable with Gibbs. He was so much better then, compared to now.

I, too, hot the impression Gibbs might invite the pilot to join his team some day, since she seemed to have good investigative instincts and wasn't afraid to do what she felt she had to do.

Edited January 17, 2020 by ForReal

[UncleChuck]

2 hours ago, ForReal said:

I, too, hot the impression Gibbs might invite the pilot to join his team some day,

Never gonna happen.  Gibbs may seem to be all-powerful to the members of his team, but NO ONE will become a new member of that team until they are hired and vetted by NCIS and undergo training at FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center) and are certified by the US Govt. as a Federal Agent. 

[M.CoatesworthHay]

Was anyone else yelling at Gibbs to pay attention to the damn road in the scene where Weeks calls him while he's driving? 

[Tony Dickson]

Never mind the fact that the ECU on that old car doesn't control the steering or the brakes, just the engine.  The writers could have asked somebody.

[LuvMyShows]

On 1/15/2020 at 2:25 AM, scorpio1031 said:

Patrick Duffy and Mark Harmon on the same show!!!  

At first I didn't recognize Patrick Duffy, but then his voice sounded familiar.  And while Harmon looks great with the gray hair, the long/greasy/gray look aged Duffy terribly...but I bet if they cleaned him up he'd still look fiiiiine!