S20.E03: Unearth

[thewhiteowl]

When a dead body is found at an ancient burial site that is thought to be cursed, the team tries to determine the motive and the symbolism behind the crime. Also, as Torres continues therapy with Dr. Grace, he discovers that their lives are in danger.

[Xeliou66]

Pretty good episode - while I get a bit tired of the “characters in danger” trope, I liked the case and Torres didn’t get on my nerves even though he got the most screen time. The current team just has excellent chemistry together. The case was pretty good even if the team figured things out very quickly, and I like Dr Grace pretty good.

I loved seeing Ducky in this one and everyone gathering to celebrate his birthday at the end was great! Always a treat when Ducky appears.

[stonehaven]

I like this episode. I really like Gary Cole in his role. I literally yelled out "Ducky!!!!". I also caught a quick glance between Jimmy and Knight too.....

[Trey]

Why didn't Dr. Grace jab the syringe into the bad guy instead of the already out-of-it guy?

Otherwise, it was a good episode.

[ColJackOneill]

One thing that bugs me, and I really noticed it last night, is that this team hasn’t been together all that long, yet they seem to be best buddies and know everyone’s secrets. Parker’s only been there a couple of days (it seems) and Knight hasn’t been there much longer. And who were all those people standing around at Parker’s place? The show didn’t even bother to pretend to know who they were. Yes, I can use my imagination, but it only goes to underscore this show does a bad job with secondary characters. For instance, Vance should have (and has had) a ball-buster assisting sitting in front of his office. Casey and Abbie should have an assistant, and Jimmy too. I realize there wouldn’t be that much for a person like this to do all season long, but I guess that’s the risk you run with a long-running show.

[HurricaneVal]

The old show (Gibbs years, but before he became so dour) used to make an occasional meta throwaway tongue-in-cheek jokey nod to how the background people were just background.  I think Gibbs has thrown a "Who are you?" when a background person handed him something.  Or Tony with a "All you people over the wall" announcement.  Blink and you missed it.  Abbie had the famous "I must work alone" reputation, but Kasie is not Abbie.  I noticed in the last two episodes Jimmy is not just doing his autopsies, but he's also doing follow-up investigative work as well.  The thing is, I don't really want to have any more characters on my screen.  This is a fairly large ensemble cast as it is!

Prior to this episode......did we know Torres was an alcoholic?  Also, did we know Dr. Grace had been in the military as an embedded psychologist?

I did like the A-plot, but I sort of feel like we've seen it before.  At least it was buffed up with new details and plot twists so it wasn't recycled straight from the prior episodes.

[Poohpoohpooh]

Torres = dead acting unironically.

Parker = deadpan. Parker = also dead acting, when he was interviewed by the media (reminded me of his rigid Veep character Kent Davison).

[twoods]

Bad guy looked like an actor on General Hospital so it kept throwing me off. It was nice seeing Dr. Grace again, and I always love seeing Ducky. 

[chitowngirl]

Did we ever see Ducky with anyone else at the party? We saw him standing in the doorway, but I don’t recall him interacting with anyone there. Maybe DM wasn’t there and they edited him in??

[Daff]

8 hours ago, Trey said:

Why didn't Dr. Grace jab the syringe into the bad guy instead of the already out-of-it guy?

Otherwise, it was a good episode.

Too risky, besides her first priority was to her actual patient. I expected the outcome you said, but then on consideration, her actions were completely consistent with her character. Kudos to Dr. Grace, but really glad, when push came to shove, she decided to dig in her elbow and duck!

[Daff]

8 hours ago, ColJackOneill said:

One thing that bugs me, and I really noticed it last night, is that this team hasn’t been together all that long, yet they seem to be best buddies and know everyone’s secrets. Parker’s only been there a couple of days (it seems) and Knight hasn’t been there much longer. And who were all those people standing around at Parker’s place? The show didn’t even bother to pretend to know who they were. Yes, I can use my imagination, but it only goes to underscore this show does a bad job with secondary characters. For instance, Vance should have (and has had) a ball-buster assisting sitting in front of his office. Casey and Abbie should have an assistant, and Jimmy too. I realize there wouldn’t be that much for a person like this to do all season long, but I guess that’s the risk you run with a long-running show.

I can see why you might have that impression, but, COVID! I appreciate the fact that during the restrictions,  this is one of the shows that persevered-with major cast changes, as well. I think a lesser production group would have concluded that they’d had a phenomenal run and packed it in. I don’t particularly remember a big crowd of extras cluttering up Parker’s greenhouse. Fewer people milling around, less chance of being shut down. 

6 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

The old show (Gibbs years, but before he became so dour) used to make an occasional meta throwaway tongue-in-cheek jokey nod to how the background people were just background.  I think Gibbs has thrown a "Who are you?" when a background person handed him something.  Or Tony with a "All you people over the wall" announcement.  Blink and you missed it.  Abbie had the famous "I must work alone" reputation, but Kasie is not Abbie.  I noticed in the last two episodes Jimmy is not just doing his autopsies, but he's also doing follow-up investigative work as well.  The thing is, I don't really want to have any more characters on my screen.  This is a fairly large ensemble cast as it is!

Prior to this episode......did we know Torres was an alcoholic?  Also, did we know Dr. Grace had been in the military as an embedded psychologist?

I did like the A-plot, but I sort of feel like we've seen it before.  At least it was buffed up with new details and plot twists so it wasn't recycled straight from the prior episodes.

Yes, and yes. 

[Daff]

The only thing that is bothering me about this show is that CBS feels it has to air major portions of the NEXT show during commercial breaks. They apparently think the audience for “Hawaii” could be better? They do it with the FBI franchise as well. Just play the product ads and get on with it! Very annoying! Thank goodness for FF!

[HurricaneVal]

I think they do that to catch the DVR fast forwarders who see "oooh, show, not ad, stop here..." so they get the promo for the following show and are maybe intrigued enough to keep watching and also may fail to hit FF again after the promo so there are more eyes on those ads.  I'll bet there's a premium price to ads following the promo for just that reason.

[milkyaqua]

I get  folks are annoyed at CBS for those extended peaks of the upcoming show but they've been doing it since last season so I'll guess it's here to stay for the time being.

I did like seeing Dr. Grace and it was nice to not have Nick being his usual mopey self.

Always good to see Ducky.  I liked how Parker was cool with Casey having the party at his place.  He didn't even freak out too much when McGee and Knight were telling him about her past parties.

[Runningwild]

On 10/4/2022 at 4:32 PM, twoods said:

Bad guy looked like an actor on General Hospital so it kept throwing me off. It was nice seeing Dr. Grace again, and I always love seeing Ducky. 

He was. Billy Miller played Jason/Drew on GH. Prior to that he was my favorite Billy Abbott on Y&R. 

[eel21788]

On 10/3/2022 at 10:36 PM, Xeliou66 said:

I loved seeing Ducky in this one and everyone gathering to celebrate his birthday at the end was great! Always a treat when Ducky appears.

Wouldn't Gibbs and Abby have put some effort into being at Ducky's birthday party? Even if they couldn't make the party, I would at least expect a mention of Ducky having received a card or a phone call.