S20.E05: Guardian

[thewhiteowl]

Agent Parker steps up to protect Director Vance after a terrifying home invasion. Also, the team detects advancements in Jessica and Jimmy’s blossoming romance.

[Poohpoohpooh]

I was moved almost to tears by Parker and Vance open up about their profound loneliness (without using those words). Vance saying the interpol conference was the "best part of his year", coming from the high ranking Director. Parker admitting his hobbies as distractions, being the more stoic one.

The most dramatic and emotional episode for Parker yet. Almost felt like I was watching him on The Good Fight here seeing the complex man behind the gruff agent. And of course Gary Cole switches easily into sitcom-delivery mode in this too.

Cool case. I thought girlfriend would wind up innocent of stealing the diamond money, since the team were so insistent she was guilty. And fresh not to have a cheesy cold open of strangers discovering a dead body.

Since this season insists on character-centric eps, it's good they are using the ex-partner (who are one & done, as viewers don't care about) as secondary plot device, and focusing on deepening the intra-agency replationships, like Parker-Kasie, Parker-Fornell.

[mommalib]

This was one of the best NCIS episodes in a while. I like when Vance is front and center and it felt like we got to know Parker better. Seems like the beginning of a beautiful friendship to me. Vance relationship with Gibbs was more combative whereas this relationship seems smoother.  I liked watching Vance interact with the little girl as well, we don't normally see that kind of thing with him. As far as his "love interest" I always hoped Mary Stuart Masterson's character would come back but that hasn't happened.  

[buckboard]

I agree that this was an excellent episode, exploring Vance and Parker's inner turmoil and letting us in on some personal information about them that we were unaware.  I do wish, however, that they would have mentioned that Vance's wife was shot and killed in their home  -- and then another woman he loves is shot and nearly killed.  The murder of Gibbs' wife affected him for years, but Vance's loss hasn't been mentioned after a year or two, which made his liaison with the German woman all the more surprising. .

 

[mythoughtis]

I like McGee, really I do, but wouldn’t there be a deputy director that would assume Vance’s role for a few days?   They aren’t going to tap a field agent for it.  Parker’s team is not the only team of agents.  We’ve occasionally seen other teams.

[Grizzly]

7 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I like McGee, really I do, but wouldn’t there be a deputy director that would assume Vance’s role for a few days?   They aren’t going to tap a field agent for it.  Parker’s team is not the only team of agents.  We’ve occasionally seen other teams.

Agreed. They aren't sending a field agent to lunch with a Senator or deal with budgets. What authority does McGee have to make any deals?

Liked Vance and Parker bonding. Big plot hole of the guys coming to America after Vance when they knew from that double agent woman who had the child. Didn't think the sisters looked related.

[Driad]

What did Parker buy from the beauty supply store and what did he do with it?  I had to watch on the CBS site and the picture was very dark. He seemed to be opening a door, and he mentioned he had taken labels off beer bottles when he was a teen. Maybe it was nail polish remover, but wouldn't a regular drugstore have that?

[Poohpoohpooh]

1 hour ago, Driad said:

What did Parker buy from the beauty supply store and what did he do with it?  I had to watch on the CBS site and the picture was very dark. He seemed to be opening a door, and he mentioned he had taken labels off beer bottles when he was a teen. Maybe it was nail polish remover, but wouldn't a regular drugstore have that?

Yes, I rewatched and inspected. It's nail polish remover (I checked with google translate) he uses to remove the adhesive on the crime scene seal-off tape.

He could have just googled the closest German walgreens himself, but I'm all for any excuse to show Parker's quirky comic side to the viewers/team/VANCE (lol), and also any reminder of his juvie delinquent past!

[MissLucas]

The writing on this show - with one hand it giveth and makes McGee into a smooth-talking acting deputy director and with the other it hands him the idiot ball. Why on earth would McGee have to ask 'What's in Antwerp?' - especially right after stolen diamonds were mentioned. The exposition fairy was clearly having a bad day. And  did agent Paulsen write that bank account number in a Gideon Bible while slowly bleeding to death? Or was she carrying that Bible around wherever she went?

I think Leon and Palmer should look for a nice hobby. Being single isn't the suck-fest the episode makes it out to be. Especially not in this show's universe: Gibbs his wife and one ex-wife in shooting, one ex-girlfriend in a shoot-out, Jimmy lost his wife to Covid, McGee almost lost his girlfriend in a bombing that sent her into a wheelchair, Leon's wife got killed in a shooting, his girlfriend got almost killed in another shooting (and another girlfriend turned out spying on him), Ellie lost her fiancé in a terrorist attack - sure I forgot a couple of romantic tragedies. The USS J&J better watch out for icebergs!

Edited October 20, 2022 by MissLucas

[laredhead]

MissLucas, don't forget the woman (scientist?) that Ducky was interested in a few seasons back.  She turned out to be a bad person too. 

[LuvMyShows]

Liked the episode, but there were some things I had trouble with:

• The opening fight with the 3 men who had broken in to Vance's house was just ridiculous.  As often happens in such scenes, only one guy fought at a time, rather than actually be successful by ganging up on him.  Also, since the final guy ended up shooting at Vance, why did he wait until after he had fought him, and moreover why did he wait until anyone fought him?   Plus, they made a big deal of being mystified how the guys got past his security system...did they ever tell us how they did it?  And what were they actually looking for?  Paperwork about where the little girl was?  Oddly, the first fight looked so choreographed that I almost thought it was going to be revealed that it was some kind of a training exercise that Vance had agreed to host at his house.
• At the beginning, when the gang came over to Vance's house, they didn't know if he was the dead body or not, which is absolutely ridiculous because if Vance had been dead, they damn sure would have been notified ahead of time.
• Is agent Torres is so buddy-buddy with Vance he just waltzes in to his office and fist-bumps him?
• Vance is not that stupid to leave his hotel room basically immediately after Parker had left his room, and not know that Parker would be standing right outside his hotel door.

[CheshireCat]

Catching up on episodes... Overall, I thought it was a solid case but I do have some comments/questions.

First of all, for the gazillionth time, Bavaria is not Germany and Schnitzel is not a thing in Berlin. It's like when Ziva and Tony were in Berlin and they had Bavarian music play in the café they were in or something. Argh! Drives me nuts. It's as if every American would be depicted as a cowboy or something. Just because Germany's smaller than the US, doesn't mean that everything's the same everywhere. We do have variety as well.
Back to Parker, he would have gone to find a Currywurst in Berlin.

I always find it amusing when they use these traditional German names that have gone out of fashion because they sound very German. I'm not saying no young child is named Heidi anymore but there are other names that are far more popular.

How did the sister of the deputy director deduce that Heidi was scared because she refused to put on her jacket? (And why is Heidi supposed to put on a jacket but played in the yard without one? Either she needs it or she doesn't).

Uh, and sure, Germans start learning foreign language at an early age but not that early. And they wouldn't be fluent in it.

Why would the BND director stay in a hotel room when the BND is headquartered in Berlin? Sounds like a waste of money and an unnecessary security risk.
Her accent was also curious. Germans who learn English in school have a tendency to pronounce every A like Vance is pronounced in America rather than the British way unless they spend time in the UK.

Why did the BND agent who was investigating ask how Vance and the deputy director knew each other? If those conferences happen annually wouldn't the more logical question have been a simple confirmation that they met at the conference?
And why was everyone asking why Vance was visiting the deputy director's hotel room? How do they think backroom deals get made?

I'm pretty sure Vance and Parker would have been subject to quite a long investigation after that shootout. German law enforcement has to ask questions first and then ask again before they can shoot someone. (And yes, that includes if someone else has a weapon).

Can we assume that Rocky Carroll is thinking about leaving NCIS? Alternatively, Sean Murray could leave and become director of another agency but given that Vance was pondering the next step with the deputy director and that he wanted to have more than the job, it seems that Carroll's more likely to leave NCIS than Murray.

I thought it was interesting that Parker decided he was going to be Vance's security detail. I agree with Vance, that Parker was overkill, at the same time I like that they took a different approach to how Gibbs would have handled it.

On 10/18/2022 at 3:16 PM, mythoughtis said:

I like McGee, really I do, but wouldn’t there be a deputy director that would assume Vance’s role for a few days?   They aren’t going to tap a field agent for it.  Parker’s team is not the only team of agents.  We’ve occasionally seen other teams.

The NCIS universe does not seem to have any deputy directors since Gibbs has been Acting Director in someone's absence once or twice as well. (I remember one time with Jenny, I think there was another time after that).
I'm also not sure if Acting Director is the right term. An acting director usually has authority because the actual director is incapacitated. Hence, they're acting as director. If McGee really were Acting Director then there would have been a power conflict neither Vance nor Parker could have given McGee any orders. (I'm not even sure Vance could have given any orders since he would have lost his status as director and he doesn't have any other status). But as long as Vance is able, he's the decision maker and still the director. They're taking quite a lot of creative license there.

I also doubt that field agents would serve as security details (wouldn't the director have at least a two-person detail anyway?) but Gibbs' team has acted as security detail on a few occasions as well. I guess, at least the show's consistent. ;-)

On 10/19/2022 at 1:43 PM, Poohpoohpooh said:

He could have just googled the closest German walgreens himself,

Or he could have asked at the front desk.

@Driad Yes, he would have gotten nail polish remover in a drugstore. They don't have integrated pharmacies in Germany, they're separate, but when it comes to beauty and body care products, they're pretty much the same.

[MissLucas]

On 11/17/2022 at 7:36 AM, CheshireCat said:

Back to Parker, he would have gone to find a Currywurst in Berlin.

Good point, also: Parker - lover of pastries from all around the world - never went for a Berliner???

[CheshireCat]

4 hours ago, MissLucas said:

Good point, also: Parker - lover of pastries from all around the world - never went for a Berliner???

Well, "Pfannkuchen"  in Berlin 🙂 (Literally, translates to pancakes and I have no idea why. Pancakes are "Eierkuchen" which means egg cakes 😂) but that's a good point, too. There are also a lot of other pastries you get in Germany/Berlin, so it could have been fun if he'd gone out for a currywurst and come back with a bunch of pastries instead.

I think in times of the world just being one Google search away, it's just lazy if writers/showrunners fall back on the old stereotypes and/or clichés.