S17.E17: In a Nutshell

[thewhiteowl]

While investigating a murder the team stumbles across a storage container filled with dollhouses that recreate murder scenes.

[Katy M]

I was pleasantly surprised that the detective didn't turn out to be the murderer.  They've been doing that ever so much lately.  We solved the present-day murder, but we still don't really know what happened to the parents.  Why would some random homeless dude kill them execution-style?  What was his motive?  I feel oddly dissatisfied.

Do we know who Odette Malone is?  More importantly, do I care?

[chitowngirl]

What did Ducky do for the sister at the end? My husband and son decided to debate the color of the new siding on the neighbors’ house. 🙄

[laredhead]

Chitowngirl, Ducky pulled some strings and got the body of the homeless man exhumed so a DNA test could be run to see if he was the killer of the parents.  So, what color is the siding? LOL.

[scorpio1031]

Anyone else get dizzy watching Torres interview the friend of the victim?

[scorpio1031]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

Do we know who Odette Malone is? 

The lady who rented the guest house to Ziva.  She is now training Bishop.

[Xeliou66]

Pretty good episode - I liked the twist that the current murder had nothing to do with the parents murder and that it was about another case entirely. A good case. Nice to see Ducky back at a crime scene, Ducky’s always been my favorite and it was nice to see him help out.

[preeya]

5 hours ago, Katy M said:

I was pleasantly surprised that the detective didn't turn out to be the murderer.  They've been doing that ever so much lately.  We solved the present-day murder, but we still don't really know what happened to the parents.  Why would some random homeless dude kill them execution-style?  What was his motive?  I feel oddly dissatisfied.

Do we know who Odette Malone is?  More importantly, do I care?

Isn't Odette the woman that ZIVA DAHVEED rented her apartment from?  She had some interaction with Bishop when she (Bishop) was rummaging thru Ziva's stuff.

ETA, from Wiki:

"Odette Malone is a woman who functions as the caretaker for Ziva David's cabin. She also possesses a knowledge of armaments and armor, which, could indicate that she had a prior career in the intelligence community."

Edited March 11, 2020 by preeya

[MissLucas]

So are we to assume that Odette taught Bishop that sweet leg-swipe? 

Props to the props department (ahem...) for all those nutshells. Bit of a jerk move by Kasie to snatch that t-shirt. I hope she kept her hands off McGee's Atari - not cool to guilt-trip someone to give up something for charity and then keep it for yourself.

Interesting case but that dizzy camera move during the interrogation of the final perpetrator was an odd choice. It felt like screaming 'Pay attention - this is important'. Too bad because the detective was a nicely placed red herring.

Edited March 11, 2020 by MissLucas

[chitowngirl]

10 hours ago, laredhead said:

Chitowngirl, Ducky pulled some strings and got the body of the homeless man exhumed so a DNA test could be run to see if he was the killer of the parents.  So, what color is the siding? LOL.

LOL-it’s a very dark green. It was a different, obvious green. Husband thought it was black. So they went back and forth on this. The level of discussion in my house ladies and gentlemen! I had to turn on the CC when This is Us was on.

[basiltherat]

Didn't one of the CSIs do something with dollhouses depicting crime scenes back about 15-20 years ago?

[Trey]

Yes, CSI in Las Vegas. Some serial killer made the dollhouses.

[MissLucas]

Dollhouse builder might be the obvious career choice for Claire but don't forget about book nooks - I'm sure both Kasie and McGee would pay a small fortune for that Diagon Alley one LOL!

[meira.hand]

3 hours ago, MissLucas said:

So are we to assume that Odette taught Bishop that sweet leg-swipe? 

Nice catch :). This now makes sense.

[preeya]

2 hours ago, basiltherat said:

Didn't one of the CSIs do something with dollhouses depicting crime scenes back about 15-20 years ago?

Yes, CSI (Las Vegas edition, season 7) had multiple episodes dealing with "The Miniature Killer" who depicted murders by creating miniatures of the crime scenes.

Edited March 11, 2020 by preeya

[Slade347]

Yeah, this episode brought back memories of that CSI story line. 

I hate the way they're trying to make Bishop into Ziva 2.0.

[eel21788]

3 hours ago, preeya said:

Yes, CSI (Las Vegas edition, season 7) had multiple episodes dealing with "The Miniature Killer" who depicted murders by creating miniatures of the crime scenes.

It started in the spring of 2007, then concluded in the fall of 2007 after a summer cliff hanger. If I remember right, she made the crime scenes first then did the killings to match the master plans she had created.

[enoughcats]

10 hours ago, MissLucas said:

So are we to assume that Odette taught Bishop that sweet leg-swipe? 

I tend to attend the cat when Bishop comes on, but wasn't the guy teaching self defense classes as Gibbs and Bishop walked in....didn't the guy teach that very same move that Bishop used to down him five minutes later?

7 hours ago, basiltherat said:

Didn't one of the CSIs do something with dollhouses depicting crime scenes back about 15-20 years ago?

 

7 hours ago, Trey said:

Yes, CSI in Las Vegas. Some serial killer made the dollhouses.

Back before doing a marathon watch of CSI, the dollhouses were a recurring problem because the team weren't getting anywhere.  Then (IIRC) something changed in one of the houses after the team had it in their control, and they noticed that something important had changed....which lead to the solution of the cases.  

For me, it was a vivid flashback to CSI and I wondered if I had any comparable vivid NCIS memories from the more recent years.  Kate's death being my most dominant memory.

[MissLucas]

On 3/12/2020 at 12:17 AM, enoughcats said:

I tend to attend the cat when Bishop comes on, but wasn't the guy teaching self defense classes as Gibbs and Bishop walked in....didn't the guy teach that very same move that Bishop used to down him five minutes later?

IIRC the move he taught right before was when someone grabs you from behind around your neck. But as a self defense instructor for what looked mostly women he should probably have been aware that a female federal agent might know a trick or two to deal with someone who tries to run them over by sheer brunt force.

Since the direction and the writing made quite a big deal of the move I assumed that it must have some sort of additional significance. I barely remember Odette but from what @preeyaposted and all the ominous 'something is up with Bishop' lines I guess we have to assume that she's teaching Bishop some Ninja skills. 

Edited March 17, 2020 by MissLucas

[Aliconehead]

Just came on to say Dan Scott, Lucas and Nathan’s dad from One Tree Hill, was looking old.  It took my a while to place him as the self defense instructor. 

[jabRI]

For the 'miniatures' I remember the Wire's character (the wonderful Clarke Peters) making doll house furniture that was more lucrative than his detective salary.

[Pietr]

For those who forgot: Ziva's last words to Bishop  "Odette is waiting."

[Linderhill]

On 3/11/2020 at 8:51 AM, MissLucas said:

Props to the props department (ahem...) for all those nutshells. Bit of a jerk move by Kasie to snatch that t-shirt. I hope she kept her hands off McGee's Atari - not cool to guilt-trip someone to give up something for charity and then keep it for yourself.

yeah, that move by Jimmy to snake that box of stuff from McGee.  There are certain things that can be unforgivable and there's a good chance that McGee would have been able to donate his box after time.  Now he'll just stress about what there was in there that he could have kept.  yeah, that really pissed me off.

[scorpio1031]

20 hours ago, Linderhill said:

yeah, that move by Jimmy to snake that box of stuff from McGee.  There are certain things that can be unforgivable and there's a good chance that McGee would have been able to donate his box after time.  Now he'll just stress about what there was in there that he could have kept.  yeah, that really pissed me off.

I think your wife giving away "your" stuff is pretty unforgivable to start with. 

[ForReal]

I found the circling of Torres and the instructor distractingly dizzying as well. It hit me wrong that Palmer and Kasey were pushing McGee to give up his stuff, and I thought it was very weird that Kasey felt she could pick and choose what she wanted from stuff meant for charity.

I was impressed by Bishop's take-down as well, but when instead of jumping on him to cuff him (which might have been risky), she pulled her gun, I wondered why she hadn't just done that from the start. But then she couldn't have shown us viewers (and Gibbs) how cool she is now. And yes, I think that has some connection to Odette, not that I care.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, ForReal said:

I thought it was very weird that Kasey felt she could pick and choose what she wanted from stuff meant for charity.

I'm assuming that this stuff was going up for sale and I'm assuming that the people who took stuff paid for it.

[MissLucas]

9 hours ago, ForReal said:

 It hit me wrong that Palmer and Kasey were pushing McGee to give up his stuff, and I thought it was very weird that Kasey felt she could pick and choose what she wanted from stuff meant for charity.

It was a classic Abby move who liked to use emotional blackmail in order to force others to do 'good' (i.e. 'Dog Tags' where she pestered McGee into adopting a dog that had attacked him). Someone in the writers room seems to think it's cute.

[WendyM]

Yeah, and I also thought Bishop getting rid of her stuff had to do with new life as Ziva 2.0. Ziva wouldn't be attached to cute t-shirts, right? So Ellie won't either.

[Ebau]

On 3/14/2020 at 6:36 AM, ForReal said:

I was impressed by Bishop's take-down as well, but when instead of jumping on him to cuff him (which might have been risky), she pulled her gun, I wondered why she hadn't just done that from the start. But then she couldn't have shown us viewers (and Gibbs) how cool she is now. And yes, I think that has some connection to Odette, not that I care.

All I could think of during that scene is, "Geez, that had to hurt like hell!" Both she and the bad guy should've been limping after that move. 

 

On 3/13/2020 at 3:19 PM, scorpio1031 said:

I think your wife giving away "your" stuff is pretty unforgivable to start with. 

Well now that depends. I'm married to a bit of a pack rat; you know, one of those guys who save everything because they're going to "do something" with it later. Yeah, right. So, about five years ago, I cleaned out my crawl spaces and divested my home of a fuck-ton of his crap. Mind you, I also sorted through my stuff and got rid of things that I hadn't used or worn in several years, so I wasn't completely heartless about the process, but sometimes you just have a need to lighten up your life. So, it was either get rid of the husband or get rid of all of the junk he'd accumulated over the past half century. So I could definitely see McGee's wife doing what McGee clearly could not bring himself to do. 

Edited March 18, 2020 by Ebau

[lh25]

On 3/10/2020 at 8:18 PM, scorpio1031 said:

Anyone else get dizzy watching Torres interview the friend of the victim?

YES!  I don't like those spiny scenes usually, and when we watched that we may or may not have been drinking Margaritas to go with Mexican take-out...

[mythoughtis]

I tuned this out after the first half hour.