S20.E04: Leave No Trace

[thewhiteowl]

Agent Knight's past resurfaces when her ex-boyfriend, a National Parks Service agent, teams up with NCIS to investigate a campsite murder.

[Poohpoohpooh]

I am glad this over JessJimmy episode is over and done with, at least for the first half of the season. I'm sure it's a popular pairing among fans as they are both likable characters, but it was so snoozey with so many relationships-chatter scenes. Storyline only got interesting when bad-guy-doctor showed up at the diner to surrender.

With this formulaic "character centric" rotation this season, I'm glad at least Parker (who has not had his -centric episode since the Raven premiere) is at least given substantial scenes each episode to show his charisma and eccentricity. And show how he's a good boss, even to ex-boyfriend Gage. I pity McGee fans, the show uses him as set decoration almost.

There IS a new episode next Monday, CBS just dropped the ball and neglected to show the new promo at the end of this episode.

[Linderhill]

I was annoyed about the missing preview for next week.  CW used to do that when they were pushing Riverdale when it was on after Supernatural.  They did it quite a few times and had the nerve to ask viewers what they thought on twitter.  Interesting to find out Parker is a birder, I never would have guessed.

[HurricaneVal]

But is Parker really a birder?  Didn't he say he picks up a new hobby every year in search of one he likes?  However, it seems he's been at this birder thing for longer than that if he has that history of getting a black mark for trespassing.  Maybe he kept with the birding because it fit his groove?  Gary Cole was so good in those initial scenes seamlessly weaving his goofy birder enthusiasm with his serious supervisory special agent persona.  And the pastries were back!

McGee might be sidelined a bit, but he's giving good background facial expressions.  Sean Murray looks like he's having the time of his life as the settled and extremely competent senior special agent.

I really like the Palmer/Knight relationship, but last night was a bit much.  I did like how grounded and settled Palmer was with regards to hunky ex-boyfriend.  He's mature enough and astute enough to know that he's an ex-boyfriend, and therefore not much of a threat.  I just wish they'd stop the awkward middle school shenanigans and be grown-ups about their relationship.  All this awkwardly coy dodging around the subject of if they're committed or not is stupid.  But I do like how Palmer is carefully giving skittish Knight the space to figure it out for herself.  He's a good guy.

And how weird was it that Torres was going on and on and on about Palmer's abs and got McGee doing it too after he pulled up Palmer's shirt to show off the 8-pack.  That was a little odd. 

[transitfan]

13 hours ago, Poohpoohpooh said:

There IS a new episode next Monday, CBS just dropped the ball and neglected to show the new promo at the end of this episode.

I wondered about that.  Instead they showed the closing credits, which you hardly ever see on any show (usually, they fly by in the background as they show a preview for a different show)

[buckboard]

1 hour ago, transitfan said:

I wondered about that.  Instead they showed the closing credits, which you hardly ever see on any show (usually, they fly by in the background as they show a preview for a different show)

There WERE coming attractions on the West coast.  Maybe someone goofed back East and they corrected it.

[stonehaven]

Loved last night's episode. I like the Knight/Palmer romance. I understand Palmer being a bit gunshy about things as he lost his wife last year and has a daughter to think about. Lots of emotional boxes to check before trusting a new relationship. Plus, it's someone he sees every day in a professional manner. Why rush to screw it up on so many levels? Let them dance a bit. It feels a bit more mature than Tony/Ziva as Tony just seemed like a horndog with her and displayed maturity once a season or so.

[Daff]

7 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

However, it seems he's been at this birder thing for longer than that if he has that history of getting a black mark for trespassing. 

Apparently, not much of one. The “rare” scarlet tanager is about as rare in the northeast as a Patriots fan! The writers’ ploy of trying to give him “history” with the hobby didn’t work. But it was a funny bit. Last spring, a Scarlet Tanager perched on the edge of a little bird bath, staring at my picture window for about 20 minutes. I swear it was trying to send a message: Bring More Seed!
I don’t really have a problem with them “soft balling” this last season, and lightening the plots. As I commented before, another production might have just stopped after last season. They’re giving us just a bit more Ducky, Vance, McGee, Palmer, and anyone else who’s a favorite. Between JAG and NCIS, they’ve been on my TV screen all of my adult life. Just to put a fine point on it, “U.N.C.L.E.” Ducky has been on my screen ALL of my life. I’ll miss it next year, so I won’t complain now. 

4 hours ago, buckboard said:

There WERE coming attractions on the West coast.  Maybe someone goofed back East and they corrected it.

Or, they’re anticipating being pre-empted, probably by SOMEthing we won’t really want to watch instead. 

[StarBrand]

I did like Jimmy continuing to not be threatened the least bit by Jess' ex boyfriend, despite how much everyone seemed to think he should have been, which I thought was odd.  The Jimmy of seasons past might have felt insecure, but nt now.

There was not a single thing about that dumbell that was remotely likeable,  from the "oh, look at my ripped naked body" antics, to his headstrong "I'll do whatever the hell I want" attitude with Cole and Vance, and his chest-thumping in front of Jimmy ("I came here to play...". Who the fuck says that and doesn't expect to get laughed at? It's possible you can make silly dialouge sound better than it should be, but NOT with that actor.)   I was so glad Jess told him off on how selfish he was. T

8 hours ago, buckboard said:

There WERE coming attractions on the West coast.  Maybe someone goofed back East and they corrected it.

I couldn't care less usually about previews and promos....I learned long ago they can be (and usually are) misleading...

Edited October 12, 2022 by StarBrand

[buckboard]

1 hour ago, StarBrand said:

I couldn't care less usually about previews and promos....I learned long ago they can be (and usually are) misleading...

I wasn't commenting on the content of the preview.  Just that there was one on the West coast, as opposed to the East coast.
  

[StarBrand]

6 minutes ago, buckboard said:

I wasn't commenting on the content of the preview.  Just that there was one on the West coast, as opposed to the East coast.
  

Ah.....my bad then....

[MissLucas]

And the USS J&J is launched! I really like that pairing and how it's written. The plot was enjoyable although I thought it a bit odd that the drug running Doc kept meeting hapless tourists in the middle of national parks and then had to take them out. I mean were they all witnessing him actually handling drugs? Seems like a statistical anomaly but let's handwave that away because the Escobear jokes were really worth it. I also loved the little character bits: Parker's bird nerding, the pastries, Jimmy shielding Ducky - all in all a very entertaining episode (even without the assortment of impressive abs but that was a nice touch *cough*).

[LuvMyShows]

On 10/11/2022 at 6:48 PM, Daff said:

I don’t really have a problem with them “soft balling” this last season........I’ll miss it next year, so I won’t complain now. 

I haven't seen anything saying that the show isn't coming back.  Have I missed something?

On 10/14/2022 at 4:57 PM, MissLucas said:

And the USS J&J is launched! I really like that pairing and how it's written. 

I do like how it's written, but am I the only one who sees no romantic chemistry at all between the two of them?

On 10/11/2022 at 11:07 AM, HurricaneVal said:

And how weird was it that Torres was going on and on and on about Palmer's abs and got McGee doing it too after he pulled up Palmer's shirt to show off the 8-pack.  That was a little odd. 

That whole thing seemed like the writers trying to show that it's not that odd for Jess to be with Jimmy, because, look, Jimmy's got a hunky bod!  It was also false when McGee or Torres said that Jess traded up abs-wise, because purely on a hot abs scale, the ex has JImmy beat by a mile, even though Jimmy has a solid 6-pack.

[Daff]

9 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

haven't seen anything saying that the show isn't coming back.  Have I missed something?

The producers have been claiming “one last season” for the last three years. So, I suppose, based on past reports, they could go on for the rest of David McC’s life saying just one more. 

[LuvMyShows]

Also, while the "TripZ" nickname was cute, the way they portrayed the ex, it did not seem at all realistic that they ever played Scrabble together, let alone frequently enough for her to get a nickname about it.

[Grizzly]

And I heard "Trixie" not "TripZ" so the nickname made no sense to me.

[nitrofishblue]

To be honest I have liked the new team. They have jelled and are coming across in a good way. I am happy that Tony is gone. he always got on my nerves by his juvenile behavior. I really like Jimmy .

[CheshireCat]

I think there was way too much focus on Knight and her ex, especially when they first found him in the pond. Yes, I think he was handsome but it did absolutely nothing to advance the plot and if they had found him fully clothed at a campfire, had established that it's her ex boyfriend and moved on, it would have been just as well. It felt like they were trying too hard and like someone on the writers or production team had watched too much Lucifer and was trying to insert it into NCIS.

And what was the purpose of the conversation with Jimmy and generally making him the character that they made him? I didn't think there was anything appealing about the way he behaved or that he was likeable.

I'm also never a fan when bad behavior gets rewarded which was the case here. The ex was emotionally involved and should not have been working the case in the first place. Then he disobeyed orders, got himself into danger so that NCIS needed to waste time and resources on helping him instead of working the case and then Parker puts in a good word for him?! I hated when they do that.

On 10/15/2022 at 9:36 PM, LuvMyShows said:

I do like how it's written, but am I the only one who sees no romantic chemistry at all between the two of them?

Nope. I feel the same way.

3 hours ago, nitrofishblue said:

To be honest I have liked the new team. They have jelled and are coming across in a good way.

Same. Except, I could do with a little less Torres but that's because I never liked him and would have preferred to keep Reeves.

I'm with you on Jimmy as well. And I don't know if they did it on purpose but I remember Tony's reaction when he realized Jimmy was dating someone as pretty as Breena and Jess is sort of the same kind of pretty. I think that's a cute touch and I like the message that it sends.