S20.E17: Stranger in a Strange Land

[thewhiteowl]

NCIS works to solve the murder of a Marine private who appears to have been killed for helping an Afghan refugee. Also, Jimmy navigates the pressure of parenting his teenage daughter, who is eager to go out on an unchaperoned group date.

[Linderhill]

ahh, NCIS, it's always amusing to see California posing as the DC area.

[Driad]

The grocery store set had a sign "Eggs 99 cents."  Either the set has been like that for a long time, or the store is selling boxes of about three eggs.

[12catcrazy]

I'm getting so sick of the Daddy issues on this show.   So Jimmy is freaking out that his (what 11 or 12 year old?) daughter is going on a GROUP "date" with other kids.   Instead of maybe reaching out to some of the other parents, he acts like his kid is going to be shanghaied into white slavery or something.    Not quite as over the top as the idiotic way NCIS LA Kenzi/Deeks are portrayed with their 16 year old adopted daughter, but almost.  

The case of the week was okay but got to say that I called the villain from when we met her.   Also laughed at the 99 cent eggs.  

This episode did make me think of a story I heard years ago when dining in an Afghan restaurant with a friend of mine.   My friend was very good at getting people to tell their life stories and she engaged the female co-owner of the restaurant to talk to us about how she wound up on Long Island running the restaurant.  She told us a harrowing story of being a young wife/mother in Afghanistan when the Taliban were coming to power.  Her husband, who was I believe an Engineer, was out of town on business, and she and her young children were living with her in-laws who were wealthy, educated, cultured, and highly regarded in the town where they lived.   One night, the Taliban came to the door and hauled away her father-in-law, who was never seen again.   Her husband came back to the town to get her and the kids (and the Taliban was looking for him) and they came to the US.  They went from being well-to-do people to living in a one bedroom apartment in Queens and her husband drove a cab.  They wound up opening the restaurant that did okay for at least 15 years; it eventually closed after the husband died (he was the main chef).    It was a harrowing story and unfortunately, it sounds as if it's still happening 40 years later.  

[Pallida]

2 hours ago, 12catcrazy said:

I'm getting so sick of the Daddy issues on this show.   So Jimmy is freaking out that his (what 11 or 12 year old?) daughter is going on a GROUP "date" with other kids.   Instead of maybe reaching out to some of the other parents, he acts like his kid is going to be shanghaied into white slavery or something.    Not quite as over the top as the idiotic way NCIS LA Kenzi/Deeks are portrayed with their 16 year old adopted daughter, but almost.  

When Jimmy made his snippy comment to Jess and Kasie that they're not fathers to daughters, I wanted them to snipe back that they've been daughters.

[stonehaven]

I do think the talk between Jimmy and Vance was good. Vance would know better than anyone about being a widowed father and the challenges therein.

The rest of the episode was okay....

[MissLucas]

Knight's first crush was called Eliot Spencer LOL!!! How apt - no wonder I love her so much.

Decent episode, a bit heavy-handed but okay. It was nice to see Nick drop the macho act for once.

[transitfan]

On 3/20/2023 at 9:57 PM, Linderhill said:

ahh, NCIS, it's always amusing to see California posing as the DC area.

The best example of that was a few years ago (Ziva and Tony were still around) when a case took them to what was supposed to be  a barrio area (probably filmed in East Los Angeles or nearby), and at one point, a Metrolink train passed by in the background on an overpass (Metrolink is the commuter railroad in the L. A. area).  I was like, too bad they couldn't CGI Virginia Railway Express titles on the Metrolink cars 😂 (VRE is the commuter system coming from suburban Virginia to Washington Union Station), although VRE doesn't use the same type of cars as Metrolink, so...

[Poohpoohpooh]

"Fun fact, as a Parker, I always find good parking."

Where do they come up with these eccentric lines for Gary Cole?

Knight should have said "oh? Are you a nosy Parker too?"

I give them props for not pushing Parker-Knight into a stereotypical dad-daughter simile; that's for Parker-Kasie. Ish.

[Linderhill]

On 3/22/2023 at 9:46 AM, transitfan said:

The best example of that was a few years ago (Ziva and Tony were still around) when a case took them to what was supposed to be  a barrio area (probably filmed in East Los Angeles or nearby), and at one point, a Metrolink train passed by in the background on an overpass (Metrolink is the commuter railroad in the L. A. area).  I was like, too bad they couldn't CGI Virginia Railway Express titles on the Metrolink cars 😂 (VRE is the commuter system coming from suburban Virginia to Washington Union Station), although VRE doesn't use the same type of cars as Metrolink, so...

my favorite eye rolling episode was when they went to "Virginia Beach" to investigate a murder in a public restroom.  (It was one of the earliest seasons) I laughed out loud to see there was a cliff on the beach 😝🙄 ... and palm trees.  They didn't even try to make it look like an east coast beach.  

[CheshireCat]

6 hours ago, Linderhill said:

my favorite eye rolling episode was when they went to "Virginia Beach" to investigate a murder in a public restroom.  (It was one of the earliest seasons) I laughed out loud to see there was a cliff on the beach 😝🙄 ... and palm trees.  They didn't even try to make it look like an east coast beach.  

Speaking of Virginia Beach, I always find it interesting that they just zip back and forth between Norfolk/VA Beach and DC in a day and still get a ton of investigating done. I'd like to know which roads they use 'cause next time I go south, I want to use them, too. 😉

On 3/21/2023 at 7:47 PM, Pallida said:

When Jimmy made his snippy comment to Jess and Kasie that they're not fathers to daughters, I wanted them to snipe back that they've been daughters.

To be fair, being a daughter is an entirely different perspective.

That said, why does every single show have to use the cliché of the overprotecting father? There are other fathers out there, too. My father wasn't like this and the fathers of friends weren't like this either. I think Jimmy played it well and I liked the talk between him and Vance at the end (I also liked that Knight was the one who set it up), still, it's so overused and tiresome.

[Linderhill]

16 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

Speaking of Virginia Beach, I always find it interesting that they just zip back and forth between Norfolk/VA Beach and DC in a day and still get a ton of investigating done. I'd like to know which roads they use 'cause next time I go south, I want to use them, too. 😉

To be fair, being a daughter is an entirely different perspective.

That said, why does every single show have to use the cliché of the overprotecting father? There are other fathers out there, too. My father wasn't like this and the fathers of friends weren't like this either. I think Jimmy played it well and I liked the talk between him and Vance at the end (I also liked that Knight was the one who set it up), still, it's so overused and tiresome.

I would like to find those roads too!  when I was dating my ex he lived in Williamsburg so I got very familiar with the routes between northern VA and tidewater.  

My father wasn't overly protective either. He was definitely the strong silent type and watched from afar.  I loved that scene at the end when Vance talked some sense into Jimmy.