S20.E07: Love Lost

[Poohpoohpooh]

“Love Lost” – NCIS must investigate the Secretary of the Navy when her husband claims she tried to murder him, on the CBS Original series NCIS, Monday, Nov. 14 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+*.

[david gideon]

When I saw Patrick Labyorteaux's name in the opening, I expected another appearance by JAG officer Bud Roberts. But Bud never showed up. Apparently Patrick was playing a different role, Olev Kozlov, a Russian gangster type. I had no clue it was Patrick behind that beard.

[Xeliou66]

This was a good episode - I was unsure about it at the start, but I wound up liking it a lot. Interesting, unusual type of case, and while I did predict who the mastermind would be, I was unsure of why and it was a good investigation to figure it all out. Felix was an entertaining character, and they had just enough humor in the episode to add life to it but not go overboard. As I’ve said before, I really like the current team and their chemistry, it’s really given the show new life. Only thing the episode could’ve used was more Palmer, but with no dead body there wasn’t much for him to do. Overall a very enjoyable episode.

[HurricaneVal]

13 hours ago, david gideon said:

I had no clue it was Patrick behind that beard.

It was the eyes.  It took me more than a minute, but the piercing blue of the eyes and the teasing "🎵 I know something you don't know 🎵" twinkle in them clued me in.  He was clearly having a blast chewing the scenery and laying on the Russian accent.  Casting him in that part was just so meta and fabulous.

It was a fun episode, but I really did have to do a lot of suspension of disbelief.  Nobody gets to be the Secretary of the Navy with that kind of familial albatross around their necks.  I'm not talking about the husband being a crazy goofball.  I'm talking about the gambling problem.  That's a HUGE security risk, there's no way she would have gotten that appointment with his gambling issues.  They should have had a throwaway line like she got the position in spite of his issues because of her amazing record.  Except we saw nothing extraordinary about the woman that would imply she had the drive to rise to such a level.  That whole characterization was a total clunker.

[Poohpoohpooh]

45 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

I'm talking about the gambling problem.  That's a HUGE security risk, there's no way she would have gotten that appointment with his gambling issues. 

SecNav said during her interrogation that no one outside her family knew about his gambling. Until the interrogation when she told them.

It was cool how she explained their mismatched marriage (in the last 10 minutes). Him being a crazy genius at a LAC like Amherst but unsuited for the real world made sense. He was a bit of a caricature, but the last scene of the two of them came together with fun chemistry.

Refreshing to finally have an episode this season that isn't a soap opera for one of the main characters. The only thing we learnt is that Parker has a big toothy grin (who knew?) and is capable of a high-pitched giggle. Hope we get a big Parker episode again soon.

[HurricaneVal]

35 minutes ago, Poohpoohpooh said:

SecNav said during her interrogation that no one outside her family knew about his gambling. Until the interrogation when she told them.

Oh, I guarantee if this were the real world, his gambling would have shown up in a real security clearance background check conducted by NCIS or the FBI--depending on what her path to Secretary of the Navy took.  And they don't just do a "one and done."   Those clearances and backgrounds get reviewed and re-done every so often, and get more and more in depth the higher the position.

But?  This isn't the real world, so I had to suspend my disbelief.  I don't know why this is the issue that hooked in my head, there have been plenty of improbable circumstances and incidents that are even more preposterous, but this one got stuck there.  Living rent-free, apparently!  🤷‍♀️

[milkyaqua]

Yeah, government jobs especially with any security level at least require a multiple-page document detailing everything you've done, everyone you know and all of the in-between.  There is no ducking around those forms (I've known folks who had to do that stuff and they didn't have jobs anywhere near the level of SecNav) so TV/movies do expect people to suspend their disbelief.

I missed most of this because I was catching up on a PBS show but did catch the start and the final 10 minutes or so.  It seemed good enough but I never care for overly quirky characters so it's probably good I remember I wanted to see the concluding part of the other show.

[CheshireCat]

On 11/15/2022 at 2:03 PM, HurricaneVal said:

Oh, I guarantee if this were the real world, his gambling would have shown up in a real security clearance background check conducted by NCIS or the FBI--depending on what her path to Secretary of the Navy took.  And they don't just do a "one and done."   Those clearances and backgrounds get reviewed and re-done every so often, and get more and more in depth the higher the position.

Yeah, that was my first thought as well. She went through a vetting and confirmation process. Are we really supposed to believe that no one would have found out about the gambling?

I thought it was a good episode. I felt like they did a good job of keeping us guessing whether SecNav was involved. On the one hand, the nerve agent seemed too obvious and it looked like someone was trying to frame her but she, herself, acted sort of suspiciously.

Did I get that right, that they used the nerve agent that SecNav is one of a few who has access to, was a coincidence?

I enjoyed that the team had a few qualms about investigating her but that it wasn't that big of a deal. I also liked the scene between her and Vance and that it was a reasonable, grown-up conversation.

I did suspect the son-in-law at the beginning but I thought he was working for a foreign government or something. And I forgot about him as a suspect again.

[Daff]

On 11/15/2022 at 2:03 PM, HurricaneVal said:

But?  This isn't the real world, so I had to suspend my disbelief.  I don't know why this is the issue that hooked in my head, there have been plenty of improbable circumstances and incidents that are even more preposterous, but this one got stuck there.  Living rent-free, apparently!  🤷‍♀️

Um…maybe because the “improbable circumstances” which you describe keep happening in real life?

[catsitter]

I would have thought that McGee, at least, would be highly interested in building safety instead of avoiding the meeting about it, remembering the Navy Yard bombing, for instance. And especially since he apparently wants to be NCIS director some day. 

 

I guess Denise Crosby's character didn't last long as Sec Nav since there was a new one in this episode.