S02.E09: Desperate Measures

[thewhiteowl]

When Commander Chase is abducted from her home by an Army Ranger accused of murder, the NCIS team must act quickly to find her and the suspect.

[Raja]

This episode is going to take a second watching from me. So was this entire DEA unit off of the reservation? I could have swore the FBI takes over the the murder of a federal agent. I did like the end that NCIS worked to get the wounded Ranger into rehab and to perhaps save his career at least get an honorable discharge while the DEA was just going with reduced sentence as they ran across him first.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Raja

[dwmarch]

Jurisdiction-wise, I think this one was a little more solid than the usual "the victim's dog peed on the bushes outside the gate at Pearl and that makes us the lead investigators on this!" that they usually use. As for the FBI's role in it, Whistler was there so perhaps she was the lead on the case but just let Tennant do all the work?

Decent episode, although it's yet another Hawaii 5-0 greatest hits episode. Noelani was abducted once as well for a similar reason. I'm sure the other coroner (Max?) was probably kidnapped once or twice too and they had a bunch of plots where an innocent person takes someone hostage to clear their name.

And would you look at that? The helpful person from the other agency turns out to be the bad guy! I hope at some point the team realizes that this happens way too often. 

Having said that, I appreciate that this team is good at quickly figuring out when someone has gone missing. Ernie started investigating immediately and when he went to Tennant she didn't waste a lot of time either.

I liked the friendship between Ernie and Chase, that was nice to see. I don't think we need a romance angle to this, it's rare to see normal friendships so it would be nice if they just kept it that way.

Kai's family drama isn't doing much for me and I think it's silly that he's giving his dad advice on how to avoid having the law come down on him like a ton of bricks. Of course it's going to be Kai's dad who gets caught up in it and of course Kai is probably going to have to go rogue to get him out of trouble.

[Daff]

4 hours ago, Raja said:

This episode is going to take a second watching from me. So was this entire DEA unit off of the reservation? I could have swore the FBI takes over the the murder of a federal agent. I did like the ed that NCIS worked to get the wounded Ranger into rehab and to perhaps save his career at least get an honorable discharge while the DEA was just going with reduced sentence as they ran across him first.

Not the entire unit, but close. Hard to watch so many “professionals” bumbling around together. As soon as the belligerent one shot the drug dealer they were chasing, we were supposed to think he was in on it-the “inside man.”  Then we get the info there IS an inside “man” so naturally it has to be him, right? Surprise, wrong. The whole team was dysfunctional, mad as hell, throwing their weight around. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

A beautiful friendship between Ernie and Commander Chase, just keep it that way!

Whistler is more tolerable without Lucy around.

From the beginning, we have been shown that Agent Ross could be the inside man based on his behavior. We all know this is definitely a red herring. So it’s either Covington or Vreeland.

That Santino guy is so restless and because he has distinctive looking eyes, I keep waiting for him to turn into werewolf etc at some point. I know, I know, it isn’t that kind of show. 😆

[Raja]

7 hours ago, Daff said:

Not the entire unit, but close. Hard to watch so many “professionals” bumbling around together. As soon as the belligerent one shot the drug dealer they were chasing, we were supposed to think he was in on it-the “inside man.”  Then we get the info there IS an inside “man” so naturally it has to be him, right? Surprise, wrong. The whole team was dysfunctional, mad as hell, throwing their weight around. 

I was thinking about there being a missing agent and her blood stained home without all the island's feds, especially Whistler's boss being the local FBI's call out and 5-0 on a red alert search for her. So I guess the DEA supervisor just didn't report he lost an agent. until the local NCIS SAC showed up at his site.

[Snazzy Daisy]

3 hours ago, Raja said:

I was thinking about there being a missing agent and her blood stained home without all the island's feds, especially Whistler's boss being the local FBI's call out and 5-0 on a red alert search for her. So I guess the DEA supervisor just didn't report he lost an agent. until the local NCIS SAC showed up at his site.

Is Whistler the official FBI/NCIS liaison on the island? We saw her boss once (I guess) but we never see her co-workers.

Jane never get in touch with Whistler's boss every time she needs her assistance. Inter-agencies' bureaucracy be damned.

Edited December 7, 2022 by SnazzyDaisy

[Raja]

3 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Is Whistler the official FBI/NCIS liaison on the island? We saw her boss once (I guess) but we never see her co-workers.

Jane never get in touch with Whistler's boss every time she needs her assistance. Inter-agencies' bureaucracy be damned.

The franchise is famous for their liaison agents who move into the office full time before leaving their minor agency to join the major league NCIS. It probably is because of Lucy and avoiding an intraoffice romance, right now, that hasn't seen a Whistler desk next to Boone's 

[theredhead77]

10 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

A beautiful friendship between Ernie and Commander Chase, just keep it that way!

Love it! I'm fine with the trope that everyone at work is friends with everyone else. It's a TV show and the cast can only be so big. But I love that the writers expanded on this workplace friendship to talk about the things Ernie and CC do together. I am completely sold that those two would enjoy going to bug conventions.

[blackwing]

I liked this episode, particularly because we got to see more of Commander Chase.  Usually she is just the weird medical examiner who says her one or two kooky lines and that's it.  Here she was a central focus of the episode.  

I thought it was hilarious how excited Ernie was about the caterpillar exhibit at the Insect Museum, and then Jesse asking him about it.  Ernie starts talking and Jesse says "kidding!"  Too funny.

I guess this show really goes for the slow advancement of overall season-long plot.  How come there was no mention of the agent that is temporarily replacing Lucy?  Alan?  Seemed like he would be with them until she returns from the Agent at Sea assignment.  But nobody talked about him at all, and the field team is reduced to just Kai and Jesse, with Jane stepping in as well.

Also, the last episode ended with Jane about to give her son an ultimatum with respect to Cassandra.  The way she had shouted "ALLLLEEEXXXX" right before the show ended was very much like the way Dave shouts "ALLLLLLVVVVVIIIINNN" in his "I've had it" manner.  I was waiting for a mention that Cassandra and she spoke and reached a resolution.

On 12/6/2022 at 1:25 PM, dwmarch said:

I liked the friendship between Ernie and Chase, that was nice to see. I don't think we need a romance angle to this, it's rare to see normal friendships so it would be nice if they just kept it that way.

Kai's family drama isn't doing much for me and I think it's silly that he's giving his dad advice on how to avoid having the law come down on him like a ton of bricks. Of course it's going to be Kai's dad who gets caught up in it and of course Kai is probably going to have to go rogue to get him out of trouble.

I liked seeing the friendship between Ernie and Chase.  Tennant said she and Chase are friends too.  I would love seeing more of their friendship.  Jane is a single woman of a certain age, Carla is a single woman of a certain age, it'd be nice to see them hanging out together at the bar or at each other's houses.

I'm not really caring much about Kai's dad taking money from the new drug lord, but there has to be a way to keep him on the show, and I'd rather this be a storyline rather than Kai and dad fighting.  

[sskrill]

I actually wouldn't mind seeing Carla and Ernie together.  I feel like Ernie has had a few shitty/challenging people in his life and I'd like to see him have a simple, safe relationship with someone who understands him.  I think they're a good match.  He's a really open hearted person and it would be nice to see him have somewhere to direct that affection.

Did they ever say why Yas was disappearing for "4 months"?  Is she pregnant or something?  Seems like this would be a big show for a lesser known actress, so its odd she is going to miss half of the second season.

Agree that it would be nice to see Jane and Carla as friends talking about work and life at a Saturday lunch.

Jesse is still not a win for me.  He's clearly the eye candy hire and his acting is .... lesser than.  And I don't care if his daughter snuck in 20 mins after curfew.