S18.E02: Everything Starts Somewhere

[thewhiteowl]

Flashbacks reveal the murder case that first introduced young Gibbs to NCIS and his introduction to young, new-to-America Ducky.

[secnarf]

I am quite looking forward to this - this is their 400th episode, and I love young Ducky.

[enoughcats]

Flashbacks can be brilliant (Tribles on Star Trek) or redundant (5% new stuff).  I'll wait and see on this one because the early brains of the NCIS family are not there anymore and we may remember the early history more vividly than the current PTB.

[crazycatlady58]

Young Gibbs is cute but young Duckey is major hot.

[Grizzly]

Young Gibbs and Ducky, be still my heart! You are so right crazycatlady58, young Ducky is extremely hot, maybe it's the accent. The episode was just about perfect.

[basiltherat]

Young Ducky is quite dishy!  As was David McCallum back in his Ilya days, when his picture was all over the movie mags (yes, I am old, but Ilya in a black turtleneck was a serious hottie)!

[NYGirl]

  On 11/25/2020 at 2:17 AM, basiltherat said:

Young Ducky is quite dishy!  As was David McCallum back in his Ilya days, when his picture was all over the movie mags (yes, I am old, but Ilya in a black turtleneck was a serious hottie)!

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OMG YES!!  I had such a crush on him when he was in the Man from U.N.C.L.E and I was 16 years old!  Hell..he still looks good.

But I do like the actor that plays him as a young guy in NCIS.

[scorpio1031]

  On 11/25/2020 at 1:57 AM, crazycatlady58 said:

Young Gibbs is cute but young Duckey is major hot.

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Yep - love watching the episodes he is in:)  Didn't realize it had been a while.

[Runningwild]

Young Jethro is played by Mark Harmon’s son. I enjoyed him and young Ducky. 

[Magnumfangirl]

Who's up for a prequel?  Young Ducky could be an awesome show.

[stonehaven]

Loved this on so many levels...and even the current scene of Gibbs and Ducky together where Ducky talks of the past Gibbs had with Shannon and Gibbs said, "You gave me time with them and time is all we have"....Perfectly said....and as anyone who has suffered loss knows, the further you are from it, the more you feel grateful just for the time you did get.....

..and yes, I want a prequel with Young Ducky and Young Gibbs!

[enoughcats]

How about Young Ducky reads the yellow pages want ads from the 1960's?

[thewhiteowl]

I really like the Young Ducky episodes, bonus with Young Gibbs. Now neither look much like their current counterparts but they do act like them especially Young Gibbs. I also would watch a spin-off but don't think it's very likely.

[HurricaneVal]

I was going to post early in the episode last night about how awful the extras were in the background of the 1980s bullpen when "painting" the walls.  They could not have been faker about painting if they tried, and were blatantly paying more attention to the conversation in the bullpen than their work.  I was going to post here and ask if there had been some sort of NCIS fan contest where the prize was to be an extra in the 400th episode, and those horrible extras were just superfans.

But I decided not to, just in case that was part of the plot.  And then I was rewarded!  Good job, show...

Young Ducky is really fantastic.  Young Gibbs is also, and it must be an absolute blast for Sean Harmon who grew up watching his dad play Gibbs, play his dad playing Gibbs.  While I think a spinoff might not be in the works, I think there was some ground laid in this episode for more future flashback episodes.  And it might be a way to make it easier to film in these COVID-19 days, most of the Young Ducky and Young Gibbs scenes are just the two of them hanging out.  Young Ducky also mentioned his lost love as a story to be told later, and Young Ducky referred to the furnished rental he secured for him and "Mother" as a "beastly little Victorian with a basement that she'll hate but you'll probably love."  Then later in the episode, I noted that the archway in the current day Gibbs house was the same exact archway as the 1980 Young Ducky rental house, and there was a quick flash of the stained glass in the current day Gibbs front door.  Ducky's latter day Victorian was not at all beastly, and was quite an estate to behold.  I think we'll get an upcoming flashback episode where Young Ducky and "Mother" find their permanent home, and Gibbs and Shannon buy the "beastly" house because Shannon fell in love with it.

Either that, or they're just recycling sets in a fit of economy.  I"m going to pin my hopes on more flashback episodes.

[UncleChuck]

Might have been funny if those painters had been painting over the original neutral gray/green with orange, and someone at NIS would have commented "Is that wall really going to be ORANGE???"

[Trey]

I would definitely watch a Young Ducky spinoff, with or without Young Gibbs.

Very enjoyable episode.

Loved the last scene with Gibbs and McGee on the phone, the happy responses from the gang in the background and Gibbs laughing.

[laredhead]

Love that the origin of Gibbs using his fireplace to cook was shown in this episode.  Also love that the house was originally lived in by Ducky.

[eel21788]

  On 11/25/2020 at 5:50 PM, HurricaneVal said:

Young Ducky also mentioned his lost love as a story to be told later, and Young Ducky referred to the furnished rental he secured for him and "Mother" as a "beastly little Victorian with a basement that she'll hate but you'll probably love."  Then later in the episode, I noted that the archway in the current day Gibbs house was the same exact archway as the 1980 Young Ducky rental house, and there was a quick flash of the stained glass in the current day Gibbs front door.  Ducky's latter day Victorian was not at all beastly, and was quite an estate to behold.  I think we'll get an upcoming flashback episode where Young Ducky and "Mother" find their permanent home, and Gibbs and Shannon buy the "beastly" house because Shannon fell in love with it.

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However, they have already made a major breach in continuity. In season 3, Ducky said he had previously met all three of Gibbs' wives. He knew absolutely nothing about Shannon and Kelly until Jenny unearthed the information.

[Grizzly]

My one problem with the ep was if Freckles hid the key card behind a wall in the bullpen, why was Maurice in the basement? Worst map drawing/reading in history?

[HurricaneVal]

  On 11/25/2020 at 8:03 PM, eel21788 said:

He knew absolutely nothing about Shannon and Kelly until Jenny unearthed the information.

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Whoa.  I never thought of that.  Hmm...  You're right, that's a huge breach of canon. 

But that's clearly the current Gibbs house that Ducky was renting.  Unless it truly was an economy for the show to re-purpose the set.  I did note that they were using different camera angles for Ducky's rental than they usually show us of Gibbs's house.  So maybe that is all it is.  I hope not!  I hope we get some really great convoluted back story.

Hopefully we'll get more flashback episodes that include that bit, so we can see if Ducky (and/or production) can walk that back.  Perhaps it will turn out that Ducky was splitting hairs.  Or perhaps it will turn out that he was shining Jenny on.  OR....it will get ignored.

[Rambler]

From NIS to NCIS: A tradition of 40 years of crappy building security.

[Chaos Theory]

  On 11/25/2020 at 8:03 PM, eel21788 said:

However, they have already made a major breach in continuity. In season 3, Ducky said he had previously met all three of Gibbs' wives. He knew absolutely nothing about Shannon and Kelly until Jenny unearthed the information.

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I don’t think Gibbs ever mentioned the name just that he had a GF and technically he had broken up with her at the time over the phone half way through the episode.  Ducky’s advice to GIbbs was that the girl deserved to at least be told why.  So for all Ducky knew GIbbs had broken up with her so no real continuity error.  Ducky’s advice hit home with GIbbs and instead of breaking up with Shannon for good he asked for a second chance which Ducky never knew about,

Edited November 26, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[eel21788]

  On 11/26/2020 at 3:15 PM, Chaos Theory said:

I don’t think Gibbs ever mentioned the name just that he had a GF and technically he had broken up with her at the time over the phone half way through the episode.  

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I'm pretty sure I heard him refer to her as Shannon. I also think Ducky said, "Shannon in Stillwater," too.

[ForReal]

  On 11/25/2020 at 7:27 PM, laredhead said:

Love that the origin of Gibbs using his fireplace to cook was shown in this episode.  Also love that the house was originally lived in by Ducky.

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My husband was having a conniption fit that the steaks were burning in the fire, lol. I figured it had to be the same house when Ducky mentioned a basement that Gibbs would like.

[Ebau]

  On 11/25/2020 at 7:27 PM, laredhead said:

Love that the origin of Gibbs using his fireplace to cook was shown in this episode.  Also love that the house was originally lived in by Ducky.

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So that WAS the same house! I just watched this episode last night and I kept rewinding that scene, because it looked just like Gibbs' house. I wasn't sure if that was, indeed, the case or if CBS was just too tight-fisted to pony up the bucks for building a whole new set to represent Ducky's home. 

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by Ebau

[CheshireCat]

  On 11/26/2020 at 10:37 PM, eel21788 said:

I'm pretty sure I heard him refer to her as Shannon. I also think Ducky said, "Shannon in Stillwater," too.

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He referred to her as Shannon in front of the NIS agent. I didn't catch him referring to her as Shannon in front of Ducky.

Wasn't it Ducky who told the others that Gibbs had been divored three times but married four times? Or was that much later. I know that Ziva had known about Shannon and Kelly when she first came to NCIS but I never paid close attention to when Ducky first mentions them.

[eel21788]

  On 12/9/2020 at 6:21 AM, CheshireCat said:

He referred to her as Shannon in front of the NIS agent. I didn't catch him referring to her as Shannon in front of Ducky.

Wasn't it Ducky who told the others that Gibbs had been divored three times but married four times? Or was that much later. I know that Ziva had known about Shannon and Kelly when she first came to NCIS but I never paid close attention to when Ducky first mentions them.

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Ducky said that to Jackie Sloane when she first arrived in season 15. It was Jenny who told Ducky about Shannon and Kelly in Hiatus at the end of season 3. Ducky was shocked because he thought he had met all of Gibbs' wives.

Edited December 9, 2020 by eel21788

[GHScorpiosRule]

  On 12/9/2020 at 4:12 PM, eel21788 said:

It was Jenny who told Ducky about Shannon and Kelly in Hiatus at the end of season 3. Ducky was shocked because he thought he had met all of Gibbs' wives.

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And Ducky was pissed at Gibbs for never telling him. They were at odds in Season 4 until Gibbs, in his fashion, apologized. So no, Ducky never knew about Shannon or her name until "Hiatus".

[LuvMyShows]

  On 11/25/2020 at 8:07 PM, Grizzly said:

My one problem with the ep was if Freckles hid the key card behind a wall in the bullpen, why was Maurice in the basement? Worst map drawing/reading in history?

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My one problem was the whole issue of the "keycard".  When the people in the flashback found out about it, IIRC they speculated that maybe it was for a hotel room.  But back when this episode supposedly took place, hotel keycards were not common enough that people would have made that guess.  Also, at no time were they that big, so that seemed like a weird guess on many fronts. 

[LuvMyShows]

I was not able to follow the plot.  Hoping someone can fill in what I don't know!

- Young Gibbs was kidnapped - why?

- Then Young Ducky's car accidentally ran into the kidnapper's car. 

- Did the kidnapper/driver die and his body was taken to NIS?  Why?

- Young Gibbs and Young Ducky got suspicious about something...what was it?  Did they then tell NIS?

- Then was that Jonny guy found to be guilty but there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute?

- Then in modern-day NCIS, that body was found in the basement, and turned out to be a cousin of Jonny.  Sleuthing somehow led them to that other cousin who spilled the beans on Jonny? 

[Ceindreadh]

  On 12/13/2020 at 3:26 AM, LuvMyShows said:

I was not able to follow the plot.  Hoping someone can fill in what I don't know!

- Young Gibbs was kidnapped - why?

- Then Young Ducky's car accidentally ran into the kidnapper's car. 

- Did the kidnapper/driver die and his body was taken to NIS?  Why?

- Young Gibbs and Young Ducky got suspicious about something...what was it?  Did they then tell NIS?

- Then was that Jonny guy found to be guilty but there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute?

- Then in modern-day NCIS, that body was found in the basement, and turned out to be a cousin of Jonny.  Sleuthing somehow led them to that other cousin who spilled the beans on Jonny? 

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Late to the party I know, but here goes.

Young Gibbs was carjacked by 'Ringo', who had been stabbed by his cousin Johnny. 

Ducky crashed into the car and tried to save the driver, but couldn't.  The body was taken to NIS because the dead guy was a government employee with responsibility for Navy payroll.

Gibbs guessed that there was a mole in NIS because when Johnny kidnapped him and Ducky, he quoted from Gibbs's statement to the NIS investigator.  Ducky guessed that the mole was one of the painters in the bullpen because he had the same pattern of freckles on his face as the dead guy had - from a genetic condition that ran in the Zucano family.  The painter guy saw that Ducky was pointing him out to an NIS agent and did a runner.  40 years later, Johnny caught up with him and made him tell him where he'd hidden the keycard, and when NCIS caught up with him, he spilled the beans immediately.