S14.E13: A Farewell to Arms

[thewhiteowl]

When a mystery woman attacks the founder of an AI company, the NCIS team must identify the woman before the next major global conflict ensues. Also, Kilbride’s ex-wife, Elizabeth, comes to visit and asks him to think about reconnecting with their son.

[CheshireCat]

I'm catching up on the episodes...

I'm not sure what the curfew discussion was all about or rather, what the purpose was and/or why it had to happen throughout the episode when Rosa never actually broke curfew. Likewise the discussion about having to get your affairs in order. Usually, they link the discussions between the team but these seemed to be two rather random subjects.

The four regulars each had several days off but not only can Kilbride be more involved than any of the supervisors before him, they can also give him a wife? Maybe they should have used that money (and the money they use for Kilbride's assistant) to keep the regulars on screen more. It's not like they wouldn't be able to run the OSP without a(n onscreen or overly involved) supervisor.

I'm not sure what to make of the conversation about Kilbride's son. You don't coddle addicts. Addicts usually need to hit rock bottom before they get clean and they need to want to get clean themselves, so what is it exactly that Kilbride should have done? Likewise, even if Kilbride maybe wasn't there enough for his son, the son made the choice, not Kilbride. I don't like Kilbride's character but he's neither responsible for his son's addiction nor would he have been wrong in not communicating with him. I think it's the son who needs to reach out because the son is the addict.

With that said, did the writers write the episodes in blocks and they're mixing them up afterwards? We get episodes where Kilbride is actually becoming a bit more likeable and then we get episodes like this one where he's complaining about the same things he's been complaining. Maybe there are elderly people who complain about the same things over and over but on TV, it's annoying and irritating and boring.

As far as the rest of the episode was concerned, I thought it was a solid case. Nothing that stood out but they've certainly had worse. And when Sam and Callen work together, it's always a plus for me.