S22.E04: Sticks & Stones

[chitowngirl]

After receiving intelligence on deadly threats to multiple locations that could lead to a catastrophic war, NCIS is called in to try to neutralize the danger.

[jennifer6973]

I thoroughly giggled through that entire segment 

[Skooma]

So we are "on the eve of destruction" for all mankind and Jimmy and whoever that woman agent is just sat around CONSTANTLY discussing the "future" of their relationship even after they knew they were maybe seconds away from a nuclear holocaust?  LOL!!!

I haven't watched NCIS since Gibbs left.  What the hell has happened to this show the last couple of years?

Edited November 5, 2024 by Skooma

[MissLucas]

Eh, it was thoroughly over the top and I enjoyed every minute. Including Knight and Jimmy being idiots. My man Curtis came through! But I'm worried about him, those secondary lovable characters have a terrible lifespan on this show!

Best moment was when the elevator gave up its ghost. Must have been from all that abuse it received during the Gibbs' decades!

Given all the banter and over the top shenanigans (Quiet Riot LOL!) I think someone in the writers room spent a tad too much time watching 1980s action flicks. And I'm not mad about it - not all.

Edited November 6, 2024 by MissLucas

[MrWhyt]

I'd have preferred it if it was a simulation/war game type of thing not an actual factual world crisis.

[Sake614]

16 hours ago, Skooma said:

haven't watched NCIS since Gibbs left.  What the hell has happened to this show the last couple of years?

It’s become fun again! Gary Cole has infused this show with life it hasn’t had since the early seasons. I will forever love Mark Harmon but Gibbs was much too dull and stodgy in the last several years of his tenure.

[threebluestars]

"What is that!?"

"Quiet Riot, sir!"

LOL. I really enjoyed this too. It was a ridiculous episode, but it worked and it was fun.

[Daff]

8 hours ago, MrWhyt said:

I'd have preferred it if it was a simulation/war game type of thing not an actual factual world crisis.

I did have suspicions through the first half that it was some sort of a “test”, mostly of the various factions to play nicely in a crisis.

[Raja]

On 11/5/2024 at 1:27 AM, Skooma said:

So we are "on the eve of destruction" for all mankind and Jimmy and whoever that woman agent is just sat around CONSTANTLY discussing the "future" of their relationship even after they knew they were maybe seconds away from a nuclear holocaust?  LOL!!!

I haven't watched NCIS since Gibbs left.  What the hell has happened to this show the last couple of years?

I dropped most of the series after the first few years because of the agency bloat. Only Los Angeles seeming to play well with the world where there are spies and cops other than NCIS out there on my occasional drop ins.

I was perplexed with how does a homicide squad get top billing in this scenario then the mini non lethal Die Hard scenarios started breaking out. The Great Escape inspired using music to cover the noise the sappers made to break the walls down was cute

A seconds from doomsday episode right before the Presidential election day? I guess the entertainment division is really independent from the rest of CBS.

[proserpina65]

I don't think the symptoms of food poisoning from bad chicken generally call for emergency colonoscopies.  That was pretty ridiculous.

Otherwise I liked a lot of this episode.  I loved that someone finally brought up that members of the military and the government are permitted to refuse to obey illegal orders, even if it took too long for it to be mentioned and I'm not sure the order would've been considered illegal.

The less said about the Jimmy/Knight scenes, the better.

18 hours ago, MrWhyt said:

I'd have preferred it if it was a simulation/war game type of thing not an actual factual world crisis.

I was hoping it was some kind of test or something, but for what it was, the episode was entertaining.

[MissLucas]

Forgot to mention another thing I liked. Coincidences exist no matter what Gibbs and plenty of writing manuals say.

[Sake614]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

I don't think the symptoms of food poisoning from bad chicken generally call for emergency colonoscopies.  That was pretty ridiculous.

I thought that was just a cover story? Although food poisoning, while awful, wouldn’t have caused the VP to be completely incapacitated. No reason he couldn’t give orders between barf sessions 🤣

 

 

 

 

 

[proserpina65]

1 minute ago, Sake614 said:

I thought that was just a cover story? Although food poisoning, while awful, wouldn’t have caused the VP to be completely incapacitated. No reason he couldn’t give orders between barf sessions 🤣

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, it was a little nonsensical but not enough to ruin the episode for me.

[Skooma]

19 hours ago, Sake614 said:

It’s become fun again! Gary Cole has infused this show with life it hasn’t had since the early seasons. I will forever love Mark Harmon but Gibbs was much too dull and stodgy in the last several years of his tenure.

Eh, to each their own.  I find some boss bringing donuts in every day entirely stupid.  There is no such Mary Poppins boss in any kind of reality let alone in a government agency so I can't get into that character at all. 

That and sappy "luuuuv" stuff which has made Jimmy unwatchable.  Tim is now entirely useless as is his ugly goatee.  There isn't anyone in the cast I want to watch anymore.

[Poohpoohpooh]

2 hours ago, Skooma said:

Eh, to each their own.  I find some boss bringing donuts in every day entirely stupid.  There is no such Mary Poppins boss in any kind of reality let alone in a government agency so I can't get into that character at all. 

That and sappy "luuuuv" stuff which has made Jimmy unwatchable.  Tim is now entirely useless as is his ugly goatee.  There isn't anyone in the cast I want to watch anymore.

Jimmy's only fit is being in 5-8 minutes per episode doing his "chipper (but wise!)" schtick from 2000's era network tv. They brought Curtis now to do the same schtick.

He is lapping up playing the leading rom-com man/ "The Bold and the Beautiful" meaty drama.

CBS explicitly told NCIS that McGee, Torres and Jimmy (combined) can't anchor the show when Harmon left. But they are hellbent for CBS to start discussions on "when to cancel NCIS"/ planning a reduced episode count if there's a next season.

Millions of viewers have quietly slipped away this season.

Gary Cole gets a recycled pink pastry box to work with. Other show leads have thought-provoking monologs or at least powerful scenes (think Gibbs or Grissom of CSI).

[TeapotDiva]

On 11/5/2024 at 5:58 PM, Sake614 said:

It’s become fun again! Gary Cole has infused this show with life it hasn’t had since the early seasons. I will forever love Mark Harmon but Gibbs was much too dull and stodgy in the last several years of his tenure.

We discovered the show in reruns on USA Network (remember that?!) a few seasons after it started, and soon became fans.  I remember thinking that it was one of the funniest shows I'd ever seen!  The pilot, "Yankee White" ~ when Kate asked Gibbs how she could meet a guy if not at work, and Gibbs said, *totally* deadpan:  "Church."  There used to be a lot of that before Gibbs became the Voice of Doom.

[rr2911]

I'm glad Jimmy and Jess have called it quits.  They weren't never a good match!

Gary Cole is a great replacement, however, the episodes have become silly at times.  I miss the seriousness of Gibbs era with a touch of lightness.

Well damn!  Kasie is still on the show!  Why?  If the writers can not come up with a plot to get rid of Kasie, I have one!  😈

[12catcrazy]

Frankly, I thought that this episode was a clusterf*ck.  The entire premise was beyond stupid and then to insert the Jimmy/Jess hashing out their relationship in an RV no less, while on the brink of WW III made me wish that whoever wrote this crap stayed on strike.  

[Ceindreadh]

On 11/5/2024 at 9:27 AM, Skooma said:

So we are "on the eve of destruction" for all mankind and Jimmy and whoever that woman agent is just sat around CONSTANTLY discussing the "future" of their relationship even after they knew they were maybe seconds away from a nuclear holocaust?  LOL!!!

I haven't watched NCIS since Gibbs left.  What the hell has happened to this show the last couple of years?

What were Jimmy and Jessica supposed to do?  They were told to park up and not go near the NCIS building.  They were helping the rest of the crew when they could until they lost contact after the power outage.  What should they have done?

I started watching the show again when I knew Gibbs was leaving - I'd stopped watching because he'd become so unlikeable. 

Parker is one of the best things to happen to the show in a long time.  It's nice to have the team run by somebody who isn't a bully.

[Skooma]

1 hour ago, Ceindreadh said:

What were Jimmy and Jessica supposed to do?  They were told to park up and not go near the NCIS building.  They were helping the rest of the crew when they could until they lost contact after the power outage.  What should they have done?

Faced with the possibility of fairly immediately death I would hope anyone would at the very least be concerned with the cosmic questions of life and death instead of talking about stupid future "relationships" in a world that could turn to ashes at any second.

[Ceindreadh]

7 minutes ago, Skooma said:

Faced with the possibility of fairly immediately death I would hope anyone would at the very least be concerned with the cosmic questions of life and death instead of talking about stupid future "relationships" in a world that could turn to ashes at any second.

Except it wasn't going to be immediate. 

The targets were all projected to be European targets.  If there had been a realistic prospect of a bomb dropping on the mainland United States, Jimmy would have been breaking speed limits in his efforts to get back to Victoria. 

[Skooma]

10 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

Except it wasn't going to be immediate. 

The targets were all projected to be European targets.  If there had been a realistic prospect of a bomb dropping on the mainland United States, Jimmy would have been breaking speed limits in his efforts to get back to Victoria. 

Once Europe was nuked NATO clause (Article 5) would active and the US would be at war and WWIII would be on.  All within hours.

[rr2911]

I couldn't help thinking of the movie Crimson Tide while watching this episode.  Similar premise.  Waiting for a message.  On the brink of WW3.

[proserpina65]

On 11/6/2024 at 4:33 PM, Skooma said:

Eh, to each their own.  I find some boss bringing donuts in every day entirely stupid.  There is no such Mary Poppins boss in any kind of reality let alone in a government agency so I can't get into that character at all. 

Maybe you've never had such a boss but other people have.  It's not actually unrealistic in that sense.

On 11/9/2024 at 5:08 PM, Skooma said:

Faced with the possibility of fairly immediately death I would hope anyone would at the very least be concerned with the cosmic questions of life and death instead of talking about stupid future "relationships" in a world that could turn to ashes at any second.

Idk, I'd find conversations about the cosmic questions of life and death to be boring cliches.

 

[Skooma]

7 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Maybe you've never had such a boss but other people have.  It's not actually unrealistic in that sense.

Idk, I'd find conversations about the cosmic questions of life and death to be boring cliches.

They aren't boring when facing your own death.  And they aren't boring every day of your life either.  It is about why we even exist which makes any other conversations pale and boring in comparison.

And you must have had the one Mary Poppins boss of all times so I am happy for you.  But no government agency would ever have a boss like that nor would any former FBI agent act like that.