S12.E10: House Rules

[FormerMod-a1]

The NCIS team consults with three cyber-terrorists they imprisoned after a citywide Internet shutdown the week before Christmas. Also, McGee reflects on the case and Gibbs' infamous rules as he pens a heartfelt letter to his father.

 

 

[MyAimIsTrue]

Even though I saw the ending coming from a mile away I still bawled like a baby.  Damn you, NCIS, for making me cry at least twice this season.

[NYGirl]

I didn't see the end coming!!  I'm losing my touch.  Good Christmas episode.  But damn I was getting confused with all Gibbs' rules.  I did enjoy seeing Ziva though.

[Julia]

Aw, McGee.

[Sharpie66]

I was going to keep that on my dvr to rewatch it a few times for all of the rules stuff, but then the ending came, and I might keep that on the dvr forever. Sean Murray had me crying at the end!

I was enjoying the ep for all of the rule mentions. As soon as Tony asked Tim, "Which one?" re: Rule #1, I nearly cheered. There is a fun fanvid on Youtube that lists all of the mentioned rules with the appropriate clip, and it points out the two rules for #1 and #3 each.

I also loved the return of both Kevin and Khan. Have we seen the teacher before?

[Autumn]

That caught me by surprise even thought it shouldn't have.  I really didn't think they would kill someone in a Christmas episode.

 

I enjoyed seeing the three hackers even though the underlying story was kind of stupid. 

[jennifer6973]

I was going to keep that on my dvr to rewatch it a few times for all of the rules stuff, but then the ending came, and I might keep that on the dvr forever. Sean Murray had me crying at the end!

I was enjoying the ep for all of the rule mentions. As soon as Tony asked Tim, "Which one?" re: Rule #1, I nearly cheered. There is a fun fanvid on Youtube that lists all of the mentioned rules with the appropriate clip, and it points out the two rules for #1 and #3 each.

I also loved the return of both Kevin and Khan. Have we seen the teacher before?()

 

 

 

Yes, she was the teacher who handed out smiley or sad face cards when the guys were asking her questions.

[secnarf]

The three hackers annoyed me to death. I didn't see the ending coming - I only realized when they showed McGee buttoning the cuffs of his dress shirt.
I couldn't believe they made a Christmas episode so sad. Probably because they had NCIS: NO afterwards and could give us a happy ending there :P

[camussie]

Once again I adored the Tony/Bishop relationship.  He really is her mentor which is a terrific dynamic for them and a great look on him.  I also love how Bishop looks to him for guidance like she did at the beginning of the episode when Gibbs zoned out on her tech speak.  

[theredhead77]

The three hackers annoyed me to death. I didn't see the ending coming - I only realized when they showed McGee buttoning the cuffs of his dress shirt.

You are not alone. 

[catray]

Damn, I thought this was going to be a happy trip down memory lane with Gibbs' rules and now I am lying on the couch crying. The end with Tim kissing his dad and saying he loved him (and Merry Christmas) had tears streaming down my face. Poor Tim!

While I did enjoy having the hackers back because I like callbacks to other cases, I agree that hackers were annoying. Especially Khan, who I want to punch in the face. Even though what they did to him skirted the law, but he totally deserved it-- what a smug, unrepentant bastard. The case was a little silly (what, a problem McGee and Abby CAN'T solve?!) but it was nice to get some flashbacks and rules.

On a shallow note, Abby's hair was looking really good this episode.

[Turtle]

I liked this episode, and really enjoyed the Gibbs Rules recap.  Early on, I thought Tim's dad was dead, but then him talking about the surgery and Gibbs saying "Make time for him" made me think I was just being cynical.  So I was really taken aback by the end, but in a good way, in that it really packed an emotional punch.  But I am confused about one thing - the timing.  Tim's dad postponed the surgery, but it seemed like he died before Tim got to him?  Was the surgery more important than I realized, or than the show told us?  I would just think that if he was that close to dying, he probably wouldn't even be eligible for surgery, or at least that the doctors would have told him "If you don't have it today, you won't live to see your kids."  

[twoods]

Loved seeing Kevin again- I wished they decreased his sentence for helping because I liked seeing him as an agent.

Blah show for making me cry again. Poor McGee! The flashbacks were so nostalgic- I really miss Ziva (before they massacred her character, and towards the end).

[slothgirl]

I am confused about one thing - the timing.  Tim's dad postponed the surgery, but it seemed like he died before Tim got to him? 

I think Tim said something like "These past few days with you" (or something to that effect) near the end of his "letter". That led me to believe that he did get to see his father and was there when he died as there were at least a few days between Tim's arrival and his father's death.

 

I was more confused by the locations. Didn't his Dad live in DC? Since Tim was writing on his home typewriter, it seems reasonable to assume he never left DC. But if so, was it THAT hard to squeeze in a visit to his Dad? The way they had the phone conversations going, you would have thought he needed to take a week off to fly across the country. What was NCIS doing investingating a possible hack of the civilian internet anyway?

[Sharpie66]

I thought maybe Tim's dad died during the surgery, since the timing was so close.

[Julia]

What was NCIS doing investingating a possible hack of the civilian internet anyway?

 

I thought the DDOS attack hit their servers and when they investigated they discovered that local public nodes were involved too?

Edited December 17, 2014 by Julia

[jennifer6973]

They were asked to help, as was explained in the beginning of the episode.

[MDL]

the case: OK;  ...the hackers: annoying;    .... recapping "the rules" : nicely done ; ....... the ending: gut punch.;

   Bravo Sean. So sad for McGee.

[pcta]

Been looking forward to a McGee centric show. Wish it hadn't been this one. Having recently lost a family member, this epi was too sad. Usually, really look forward to NCIS Christmas episodes.

[kassygreene]

Considering that it was NCIS that loosed a massive virus in "Twenty Klicks" when Abby booted up an infected laptop with plastic shielding (I can't go check, that whole plot line was a rage spiral for me), why oh why oh why would NCIS be invited to play with the other agencies to fix this problem?

[Sharpie66]

USA had a marathon of NCIS holiday eps over the weekend. Contrasting the Abby from the Season 10 ep where she did the Turkey Trot in an exceedingly short miniskirt (which, hey, if I had Pauley's gams at her age, I might show them off too, but for the character, it was waaaayyyy unprofessional to wear something that revealing at work!) to the one from House Rules, I have been very delighted to see a return of the much more mature Abby this season.  She is even, dare I say it, almost Season 1 Abby in her level of maturity and professionalism.

[Calamity Jane]

Oh my heavens, they got me right in the feels.  For some reason, I did not think they would have such a sad ending for a holiday show.   And they reminded me how much I miss Ziva and even Kate.  But mostly they just got me HERE.  

[itsmeyousee]

It was a confusing ep mainly cause it felt like two eps in one. I don't think Tim writing his letter and the reasons behind it needed a case, just him talking to his Dad would have worked better for me.

 

I liked some of the flashbacks and others like the romance one just didn't fit with Tim and what he was talking about. I would have liked to have seen more about the team being there for each other not just that little one we got.

[MortysCleaningLady]

Even though I saw the ending coming from a mile away I still bawled like a baby.  Damn you, NCIS, for making me cry at least twice this season.

 

I felt exactly the same way.  Plus, I loved the flashbacks.

[buckboard]

One thing that has bugged me for some time came up again tonight.  You'd think Gibbs' team members are the only NCIS agents in Washington.  For that matter, why do they rarely interact with any other agents in the D.C. office?

Obviously, their station will be covered when they all go on vacation Christmas week, but Tim seems to be the only agent with tech skills in D.C. (or NCIS, for that matter).  Gibbs knows that Tim's dad is very ill, why not have another agent with tech skills fill in for him and let him spend time with his dying father.

 

[Mars477]

There's also the entirety of the cybercrimes unit that is actually mentioned.  None of them could have helped fill the techie skillset for Gibbs?

[roseha]

I wasn't expecting  the ending either, though maybe I should have been.  I was probably distracted not so much by the hackers plot (though I did like seeing Ducky deliberately trying to get them ill looking at the corpse) but by following all the rules and flashbacks.  It was really sad, losing a family member is hard enough without it being over Christmas, so I really felt for Tim.

 

Also I'm sorry not to see Jamey Sheridan again, first he gets written out of Law and Order CI and now here.  I wish they hadn't taken away his character so soon after Ralph Waite died.

[camussie]

wrong forum

Edited December 19, 2014 by camussie

[webruce]

Tim McGee had a great episode. Yes his father Navy Admiral John McGee's passing made me cry. The actor(Rick Deats) played a Admiral on JAG. They also list Jamey Sheridan playing him. He skipped his operation to be with his family one last Christmas. Then he must have passed at that time. My father passed on Christmas last year so that really hit me. Tim's letter to dad was great! He compared Gibbs rules to his fathers. Tim's letter finished with, "It takes a man to make a man. Thank you for everything, Merry Christmas Dad, I love you!" Then he put the letter in with him and kisses his forehead, very moving. I liked Tim typing on the old typewriter and playing albums on a turntable. So he likes a lot of the stuff Gibbs does. But has thought it strange before that Gibbs didn't know how to use a cell phone well? Maybe Tim has a dial-up phone,lol Or Gibbs does.

I liked when Ducky had the 3 down in the Morgue to see him autopsie the body of Lyle. Surprised none got sick. Must be Jimmy and Vance were already on Christmas vacation. What team fills in when they are away?

It was funny that the Cyber Task Force send Tim back to the bullpen. They kicked him out. I also liked Tim's work as the Geek leader to interrogate the 3 inmates that had worked with Krampus. He didn't want to work with them. It was Tony's idea to bring them to the bullpen.Tim asked who was going to work with them and Gibb's replied, "You are, you speak Geek!" "Merry Krampus!", stated Tony. But they helped the team get the new flat screen monitors that had been in storage for like 5 years? The team never looked in that room before? Heidi was funny when she thought the old monitors were bought by the Continental Congress, lol

We find that the great Krampus is a 30-40 year old bum named Douglas Von Dorothy who is sponging off his elderly parents in a old folks home and used teen and older porn to control people. He looked so surprised in the FBI Agent Patricia Filsk(The actress played Michelle Hanna(Sam's wife) in the first season of NCIS:LA)News Report on ZNN. Kevin Hussein reading that report about Krampus to Heidi Partridge, really deflated her thinking of him. The 3 really were kinda useless for most of the night. Henry(Ajay) Khan, I would have been surprised that them giving him Bishop's phone to give to Heidi to call Krampus would have worked. I was surprised they were going to do a make out video, but Gibbs rushing in and smashing the phone really was cool. Lyle Trigget the frozen "Snowman" hacker that had a heart attack was strange. Ducky tried to explain that one. Wondered if Krampus was going to use the Virus to take down the or threaten to take down the power grid in the future so make some money on blackmail? Or was he going to sell it on the black market?

I really like the Gibbs Rule list. I tried to write them all down. Also really liked the flashbacks. Lots of great scenes and former members of Gibbs team there

[GHScorpiosRule]

Dammit, they couldn't have gotten Jamey Sheridan to do the last scene with McGee? Because it was obvious to me that body wasn't Jamey.

Or have Sarah reprise her role?

And I don't know about anyone else, but I really, really could have done without those horrid Paris flashbacks depicting Gibbs and Jenny. UGH.

I started bawling at the end too, when Tim said he loved his Dad. *sniff*

Other than Paris, I enjoyed all the flashbacks as well.

[jennifer6973]

I believe Troian is in the middle of filming Pretty Little Liars. 

[Ohmo]

I dunno.  I think my reaction to this episode was not what Gary intended.  I loved hearing about the Rules, and I know that McGee was trying to be the bigger person.  I also know that Tim does love his father, but this came across to me as "Now you're dead and I've written this letter.  Dad, now all of your rules somehow magically make sense because you're dead and we can handwave that I didn't have the greatest relationship with you because you were a giant Pain in the Ass and always had something negative to say afout my life choices... because hey you're dead!"

 

I understand that Tim does love his father, and it's in his nature for him to want to honor him, but I have a real issue when people (or characters) suddenly morph into sainthood the moment they're laid out in a casket.  Admiral McGee didn't beat Tim, but he also didn't have the greatest relationship with him either.  So, as great a job as Sean did (and I do think he was fantastic), I think the writers robbed Tim of the right to say, "Yes, my father is dead.  I do love him and will miss him, but we also weren't very close in life, and there were real reasons for that."  I think it is entirely possible to love someone, admit that you had issues with them, and still feel that way after they're dead.  I think the writers used McGee's nature and gave the old Admiral more of a pass than he deserved.  I also think that in so doing, it came across as McGee was not entitled to his feelings about his dad, and they absolutely HAD to change because the old Admiral was now dead.

 

ETA: The above comments also apply to Tony and Senior.  I don't think Senior deserves that nice of a letter when he dies either.

 

This "Bah Humburg" moment has been brought to you by Ohmo.  She now returns you to your regularly scheduled holiday season...after again saying that she enjoyed the flashbacks and kudos to Sean.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Ohmo

[Julia]

I wonder if this episode might have been a little bit of an olive branch from the show to Don Bellisario, Sean's RL stepfather, who was notoriously deposed as showrunner for heavy handed and abusive behavior. His health has been kind of sketchy for years now. The whole you meant well, and I wouldn't be who I am today without the groundwork you gave me to build on would kind of work for that too.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I wonder if this episode might have been a little bit of an olive branch from the show to Don Bellisario, Sean's RL stepfather, who was notoriously deposed as showrunner for heavy handed and abusive behavior. His health has been kind of sketchy for years now. The whole you meant well, and I wouldn't be who I am today without the groundwork you gave me to build on would kind of work for that too.

 

 

Maybe, but then again, Sean also appeared as two different characters on JAG, so I would think, that's where DPB gave him his "start" so to speak.

 

I still miss DBP, though, and yes, I know I'm in the minority when it comes to him.

[betsyboo]

Just rewatched this ep tonight and was reminded how annoyed I was that they couldn't get Jamey Sheridan to lie in a coffin. And because they couldn't, they shouldn't have shown the body. #annoyed (IT Kevin still makes me laugh)