S17.E20: The Arizona

[thewhiteowl]

The team tries to verify the identity of Joe Smith who claims to have served on the Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor and wants to be buried there upon his death.

[crazycatlady58]

Someone slipped into my kitchen and chopped a case of onions.

[theredhead77]

15 minutes ago, crazycatlady58 said:

Someone slipped into my kitchen and chopped a case of onions.

They took those onions and started cutting them up in my living room.

That was so well done and I'm so glad Gibbs is opening up to someone. Harmon is a treasure who needs to be protected (along with Tom Hanks). I actually had no idea that survivors could be interred on the Arizona and Google bought me to this NPR story from 2019 about the last survivor expected to be interred.

[Gramto6]

So many chopped onions here in MT too! What a heart rending episode, this is going to be one of my favorite ones. And yes glad that Gibbs is opening up to someone.

[laredhead]

What a powerful and moving episode!  This is the best one in a long time.  Christopher Lloyd should win an Emmy for his performance.  

This one was odd though in the timing of the airing of it, kind of like the St. Patrick's Day episode that seemed weird because of the same thing.  I wonder why CBS didn't show this one closer to December 7? 

[Gramto6]

44 minutes ago, laredhead said:

What a powerful and moving episode!  This is the best one in a long time.  Christopher Lloyd should win an Emmy for his performance.  

This one was odd though in the timing of the airing of it, kind of like the St. Patrick's Day episode that seemed weird because of the same thing.  I wonder why CBS didn't show this one closer to December 7? 

Good point, but on the other hand given today's situation, something this moving and uplifting is surely welcome.

[Linderhill]

I mostly liked the episode but Joe Smith was so very annoying it plucked on my nerves.  My dad was a WWII vet and he very rarely talked about his time in the war.  They somewhat redeemed Joe by the end but I can't really believe that he'd be able to get away with as much as he did in real life.  It is hard to believe that Bishop and Torres didn't even know when the Pearl Harbor attack was.  

It was moving but I much preferred the old episode "Call to Silence" with Charles Durning.  I also remember an episode of the original Magnum PI with a woman that was trying to have her dad's ashes interred at the Arizona memorial.  He'd been off ship when the attack happened because his girlfriend was ill but always wanted to be buried there.  Magnum, of course, was able to arrange the interment after some investigating.  

[DrScottie]

21 minutes ago, Linderhill said:

It was moving but I much preferred the old episode "Call to Silence" with Charles Durning. 

I remember that episode. The scene at the Japanese steakhouse at the end was amazing. He was nominated for an Emmy as a guest actor for that episode. 

 

[Magnumfangirl]

1 hour ago, Linderhill said:

It is hard to believe that Bishop and Torres didn't even know when the Pearl Harbor attack was.  

TV thinks thinks the viewers are so dumb they have to have the characters be dumb to explain it to the audience.  Seriously, what adult person who works around the NAVY wouldn't know when Pearl Harbor was attacked?

 

1 hour ago, Linderhill said:

I also remember an episode of the original Magnum PI with a woman that was trying to have her dad's ashes interred at the Arizona memorial. 

"Almost Home."  Excellent episode of the Best. Show. Ever.

[Bobbin]

2 hours ago, Linderhill said:

My dad was a WWII vet and he very rarely talked about his time in the war

Mine, too. He was stationed in Manila. It wasn't until a few weeks before he died at 94 that he revealed that the day before his unit was to invade Japan to set up an airfield for the main assault, the first atom bomb was dropped and the mission was put on hold.

[twoods]

I buy it. Both Torres and Bishop didn’t serve in the Marines or Navy so may not have remembered when the attack on Pearl Harbor was. My memory keeps getting worse so my US history is terrible now, and after watching all the Late Night shows show us how dumb Americans are with their basic knowledge I’m guessing most of the population doesn’t know the exact date too. At least Torres and Bishop acknowledged they should know more about US history (and Navy history) and looked things up.

I also got sad at the end and it was nice to see Gibbs open up, but it was annoying to see Joe Smith treat everyone like dirt to get what he wanted. I did get a kick out of how excited Vance was talking about how the shrapnel in his arm was a match to the Arizona. 

[MDL]

I agree with those that though Joe Smith was a jerk. That said, he was older, aware that he didn't have much time left, and desperate to "rejoin his family" on the Arizona. Also, didn't somebody say that someone from the facility where he lived said that Joe had some form of dementia? I mention that because the short tempered aspects can be a manifestation.

All that said, he deserved to be with his shipmates. Great episode.

[Katy M]

10 hours ago, Linderhill said:

It is hard to believe that Bishop and Torres didn't even know when the Pearl Harbor attack was. 

I'd like to think Bishop did, but he specifically asked Torres.  Who is kind of an idiot.

[basiltherat]

I was talking to a family friend not too long ago who said he was telling people AT A SENIOR EVENT that his birthday was exactly one year before Pearl Harbor Day and they didn't know the date!!  And they were all over 65, so they have less of an excuse than the "youngsters" !

It was nice that Gibbs onioned-up and listened to Joe and wanted to listen to McGee, but I also wanted to whisper, "You should have done that with your own father, Jethro-Boy."

 

[HurricaneVal]

Oh my.  Sometimes this show reminds me why I like it so much.  That was wonderful.  Especially the final scene.  Damn onions....

The comedy B-plot with McGee beleaguered by the family reunion RSVPs was nicely done, even though we've seen it before.  It is even something of an NCIS running gag, maybe even a badge of honor that each character has their phone number mistakenly put into some sort of ad or publicized somehow and they have to continually and humorously deal with the wrong number calls during the entire episode. 

[eel21788]

3 hours ago, Katy M said:

I'd like to think Bishop did, but he specifically asked Torres.  Who is kind of an idiot.

Bishop is supposed to have an ultra-superior photographic memory. I don't she how she could have made it this far in life without hearing someone mention Pearl Harbor Day at least once.

My mother lived in Honolulu at the time. My grandfather was director of a tuberculosis sanitarium (now Leahi Hospital), and they had a huge air raid shelter in their front yard where the patients were supposed to be evacuated to if there was another attack. On V-J day a drunken soldier and my mother (age 13  then) tried to burn it down, but it wouldn't catch fire. 

[eel21788]

15 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

. I actually had no idea that survivors could be interred on the Arizona 

They tell you about it when you take the Pearl Harbor tour. In my opinion it is worth a trip to Hawaii just to see Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri, especially if you are a history buff.

[theredhead77]

2 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

They tell you about it when you take the Pearl Harbor tour. In my opinion it is worth a trip to Hawaii just to see Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri, especially if you are a history buff.

Then I must have known and forgot. I visited the memorial over 20 years ago (holy shit, I'm only 43, how was 21 so long ago??). 

[AZChristian]

7 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

They tell you about it when you take the Pearl Harbor tour. In my opinion it is worth a trip to Hawaii just to see Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri, especially if you are a history buff.

Here's more information on it.  Every time we read of a survivor passing away, we wonder if it was one of the gentlemen we've met on our trips to Pearl Harbor.  You can't help but get goosebumps just listening to these gentlemen tell their stories.

[Packerbrewerbadger]

As always, the NCIS crew yells at a person of interest when they’re 50 yards away and said person takes off - when will they learn🙄
 

Agree with those who were reminded of Charles Durning episode. 
 

Christopher Lloyd is only 81 ( according to internet) so playing a 95 year old was a bit of a stretch for me, but otherwise one of the better episodes of the past few years  

 

 

[chitowngirl]

Was this the season finale?

[laredhead]

Chitowngirl, yes, this was an early season finale.  There's an article in TV Line about the episode, and the fact that there were 4 more episodes planned, but the Corona virus shut down production early.  The article also talks about Lloyd's and Harmon's performances.  https://tvline.com/2020/04/14/ncis-recap-season-17-finale-episode-20/

[VanillaBeanne]

I liked this episode but not as much as the last two or three this season.  But really like the idea of locked-jaw Gibbs finally opening up and, to Tim (although Vance or Ducky would have been fine too). 
My only complaint was I thought Christopher Lloyd was a little over the top at times (Even playing a desperate guy with dementia) and maybe should have taken it down a gigawatt or one.point.two.  

[Welcome5431]

IRL, would Joe have been tangled in  additional red tape in getting his burial rites just for serving under false pretense?  Joe did assume a false identity in order to penetrate a militant organization.

It's a sign that Kacie's character is underdeveloped, that they can't yet refer to her by last name and be confident that we in the home audience  will recognize it. Abbey used a first name too, maybe meaning that the scientists and Jimmy are actually civilians.

By now, seasoned Ncis agents should be able to empathize with these veterans, McGee's misunderstandings could be a spokesperson's role  for the audience at home. If so, the writers underestimate us at home.   

Edited April 17, 2020 by Welcome5431

[Katy M]

16 hours ago, Welcome5431 said:

t's a sign that Kacie's character is underdeveloped, that they can't yet refer to her by last name and be confident that we in the home audience  will recognize it. Abbey used a first name too, maybe meaning that the scientists and Jimmy are actually civilians.

I don't think I would.  I have no idea what Kacie's last name.  I do know Abby's last name, but I don't recall anyone ever referring to her just by last name.  Sometimes, though less often than not, they do just call Jimmy, Palmer.  

[enoughcats]

On 4/15/2020 at 12:32 PM, HurricaneVal said:

The comedy B-plot with McGee beleaguered by the family reunion RSVPs was nicely done, even though we've seen it before. 

I lived through something like that in New Orleans.

Guy moved back, got a phone number, and remembered ours. He hung out with his friends, offered them day jobs working with him. Some of them got really angry when I said I didn't know Clarence. 

After a while I knew which filling station he hung out at, his name and how long he'd been back home. 

Finally solved it when one of them asked my if my man drove a 1985? blue chevy malibu.  I responded that Clarence had to be the lonliest man in New Orleans cause nobody every called him back, and that  my man drove, when it ran, a 70something blue British Triump and my man was white.

 

A meek voice at the end of the line said "That's not Clarence."  

 

So I encouraged him to stop by that filling station and leave a message and to suggest that Clarence call the phone company to get his real phone number.

[transitfan]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

I don't think I would.  I have no idea what Kacie's last name.  I do know Abby's last name, but I don't recall anyone ever referring to her just by last name.  Sometimes, though less often than not, they do just call Jimmy, Palmer.  

I seem to remember an episode a few years back, when Vance addressed Abby as "Ms Scuito" (sp?). IIRC, she was under some sort of investigation (don't recall exactly the nature, but of course she was cleared in the end).  May have been at the beginning of Vance's tenure as Director, when he seemed to be more formal.

 

[eel21788]

1 hour ago, enoughcats said:

I lived through something like that in New Orleans.

Guy moved back, got a phone number, and remembered ours. He hung out with his friends, offered them day jobs working with him. Some of them got really angry when I said I didn't know Clarence. 

After a while I knew which filling station he hung out at, his name and how long he'd been back home. 

Finally solved it when one of them asked my if my man drove a 1985? blue chevy malibu.  I responded that Clarence had to be the lonliest man in New Orleans cause nobody every called him back, and that  my man drove, when it ran, a 70something blue British Triump and my man was white.

 

A meek voice at the end of the line said "That's not Clarence."  

 

So I encouraged him to stop by that filling station and leave a message and to suggest that Clarence call the phone company to get his real phone number.

I worked someplace where you had to find a substitute if you couldn't work your shift, so every time someone new was hired a new phone list came out. When Tom was first hired, his phone number got printed wrong on the list. Some guy at the other number was getting as many as 10 calls a day checking to see if Tom could work for them. By day three, people still calling that number said the guy at the wrong number was ready to blow a gasket. He was answering his phone by screaming, "Nobody named Tom lives here!!" then hanging up. The corrected phone list came out that day. We tried to get Tom to call the wrong number and say, "This is Tom. Do you have any messages for me?" but he flatly refused.

[ForReal]

I truly enjoyed this episode. I agree that Joe annoyed at times, but I was okay with it by the end. Best episode in a long time, for me.

[Sake614]

Well, a bunch of those onions made it to brookoyn too. 

My dad was a WWII vet. He wasn't at Pearl but he did serve in the Pacific. He was a marine and landed on Iwo Jima.   I never knew that part until after he died. The only time he mentioned the war was when there was a WWII movie on TV. And even then it was just to say 'that was my ship.'. I'm ashamed to say I wasn't the least bit interested as a kid. By the time I wanted to hear about it, he was gone. 😩

This was an amazing episode minus Torres and Bishop's utter stupidity. 

[Tony Dickson]

In 1991 I took the H&R Block tax course and there were two older gentlemen in my class.  December 7th rolled around, and it being the 50th anniversary they got to talking about Pearl.  Turns out they were both there during the attack, one aboard a ship and one stationed ashore. 

[DrScottie]

On 4/17/2020 at 12:57 PM, Katy M said:

I have no idea what Kacie's last name.

According to the NCIS Wiki, it's Hines. 

[Emma9]

Huh, I don't know why I was thinking that this was the final season. Guess because so many other CBS shows ended this year. Slightly less irked about the lack of Ducky, that not being the case, although it was still the kind of episode he should have been all over.

[CheshireCat]

On 4/17/2020 at 2:46 PM, transitfan said:

I seem to remember an episode a few years back, when Vance addressed Abby as "Ms Scuito" (sp?). IIRC, she was under some sort of investigation (don't recall exactly the nature, but of course she was cleared in the end).  May have been at the beginning of Vance's tenure as Director, when he seemed to be more formal.

 

Didn't Vance always call Abby "Ms Sciuto"?

After McGee handed the phone to Torres and Torres, of course, said something he wasn't supposed to, I thought it would come out that Torres was actually behind those calls.

I remember that we learned the date of the attack on Pearl Habor in US History during my time as an exchange student. I would lie if I said I remembered but I'm from Germany and I do know when WWII started. While I don't want to know how many Germans don't know that anymore either, I think that someone who works for a government agency should know something like the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor and even more so when it's an agency that is related to the military/part of DOD. Dates like that also get mentioned in the media all the time. X anniversary of event X.

On a shallow(er) note, Gibbs/Mark Harmon in a suit is always one handsome fellow!

[Calvada]

FDR thought December 7, 1941,  was "a date which will live in infamy."  So much for that notion!  As a history major in college, I certainly knew the date of the attack. I didn't know the exact number of those killed on the USS Arizona, but I knew it was more than 1,000.  This show caused me to do some research online, where I discovered that 1,177 men were killed and only 335 survived from the Arizona.  And as of February, there are only 2 survivors remaining, both nearing 100 years old.  

I cannot believe that the vent in the motel room would not have been searched.  It's a logical place to consider as a hiding place.  I thought from the beginning that the Purple Heart never left the house, that Joe hid it there  He said he tripped over the stool - no one considered that maybe he was standing on it?

Would a hospital really do emergency heart surgery on a 95 year old?  I thought that was sloppy writing.  They could have just said they were unable to save him and he never gained consciousness.