S12.E11: Check

[brgjoe]

Count me amongst those who didn't particularly care for the episode either.  And this is coming from someone who has thought they have had a great run of good episodes pretty much up until now.

 

I just thought the humor was too forced.  I can't imagine they would openly make fun of Gibbs in his presence like that -- especially at crime scenes.  And speaking of crime scenes, the ex's showing up like that at a horrific crime scene such as that was too much for my suspension of disbelief to handle. 

 

And putting up the ex-wives on their little powerpoint-type screen at the office and of course "accidentally" flipping to it while Gibbs was there was a bit much too.  That little "oopsie" sort of thing has been done far too many times now and is overplayed at this point.   And I'd wish they'd dump this Supervillain Sergi storyline already.

 

Things I did like -- Jeri Ryan playing the ex #2.  I thought she did a good job with that role.  I just hope it's not just a one-off sort of a thing and her character is forgotten about afterwards.  Hope she comes back.  I thought Jimmy's scene in autopsy was very moving.  Whoever wrote that did a fantastic job.

 

There was just not enough good points in this episode for me to really enjoy it.  Also reliving all those previous deaths from the past didn't help either.

[Mars477]

When Diane threatened to audit NCIS if she didn't get her way with Gibbs I wanted him to throw back at her the words "Conflict of interest".  I mean, it's a simple concept!

 

Episodes like these remind me that, well, Gibbs is boring.  I don't really like Gibbs, while I like the interaction between DiNozzo, Bishop, and McGee a lot.  Plus I'm tired of women being fridged to make Gibbs feel sad*, and I'm very tired of having Patriarchal McBroody Gibbs' personal drama tying into the terrorist mastermind du jour who goes out of his way to worm into Gibbs' head.

 

* Well, Kate, and Diane whose death emulated Kate.  Being reminded of how Kate died just reminded me of how fucked up it was (not "this is a heinous act" fucked up but rather "what the fuck, writers?" fucked up).  And there's Shannon two.  That's still a lot of dead women on the altar of Gibbs' pain.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Mars477

[MyAimIsTrue]

and I'm very tired of having Patriarchal McBroody Gibbs' personal drama tying into the terrorist mastermind du jour who goes out of his way to worm into Gibbs' head.

 

Yeah, I am too.  I personally don't know any federal agents so is it common to have so many vendettas against them or is this recurring issue just a dramatic plot point for the show?

[Julia]

Well, it seems to be an open secret that he murdered the head of a mexican drug cartel, and that was probably not going to end well, but wasn't the point of the whole Ari arc that Ari just randomly started killing people to piss Gibbs off because Gibbs reminded him of his dad? I seem to remember Ari monologuing about it in the basement. And then drugdealer's kid started working with the Ari randos from prison because of reasons. No idea where the current guy comes in, though (and it blew some of the tension for me when he started talking about Ari in that unfortunate russian accent, and I flashed on Frau von Blücher in Young Frankenstein saying "He vus... my boyfriend...")

 

(eta: yikes. Ari. This is why Johnny should  not post before coffee. Sorry about that. tx, GHScorpiosRule)

Edited January 9, 2015 by Julia

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well, it seems to be an open secret that he murdered the head of a mexican drug cartel, and that was probably not going to end well, but wasn't the point of the whole Eli arc that Eli just randomly started killing people to piss Gibbs off because Gibbs reminded him of his dad? I seem to remember Eli monologuing about it in the basement. And then drugdealer's kid started working with the Eli randos from prison because of reasons. No idea where the current guy comes in, though (and it blew some of the tension for me when he started talking about Eli in that unfortunate russian accent, and I flashed on Frau von Blücher in Young Frankenstein saying "He vus... my boyfriend...")

 

Julia I think you mean Ari. Eli was Ari and Ziva's father.

[Ohmo]

but wasn't the point of the whole Ari arc that Ari just randomly started killing people to piss Gibbs off because Gibbs reminded him of his dad?

 

I'm remembering it slightly differently (although admittedly it's been a long time since I watched those episodes.)  My recollection is that Ari became a terrorist against Israel because Eli ordered an airstrike that took out a camp where Ari's Palestinean mother was working as a doctor.  She was killed, so Ari turned against his father, but he made Eli believe he was still working for Israel.  So, Ari was a double agent for awhile.  I think Ari initially started killing people in Gibbs' orbit because Gibbs stood up to Ari during his initial siege of NCIS, and Gibbs shot Ari in the shoulder.  Ari didn't get away cleanly.  Then it became some sort of twisted game for Ari, but I don't recall Ari hating Gibbs because Gibbs was like Eli.  I just recall Ari hating Eli.  With so many showrunners, that's not to say that stuff hasn't been retconned, but I don't believe the arc started that way

Edited January 9, 2015 by Ohmo

[GHScorpiosRule]

I'm remembering it slightly differently (although admittedly it's been a long time since I watched those episodes.)  My recollection is that Ari became a terrorist against Israel because Eli ordered an airstrike that took out a camp where Ari's Palestinean mother was working as a doctor.  She was killed, so Ari turned against his father, but he made Eli believe he was still working for Israel.  So, Ari was a double agent for awhile.  I think Ari initially started killing people in Gibbs' orbit because Gibbs stood up to Ari during his initial siege of NCIS, and Gibbs shot Ari in the shoulder.  Ari didn't get away cleanly.  Then it became some sort of twisted game for Ari, but I don't recall Ari hating Gibbs because Gibbs was like Eli.  I just recall Ari hating Eli.  With so many showrunners, that's not to say that stuff hasn't been retconned, but I don't believe the arc started that way

 

Yes, this is how I remember it as well, and originally, Eli wasn't even Ari's father's name. It was something else. And yes, even though Gibbs got Ari back, by shooting him in the shoulder, Ari thought it was funny. I mean, the episode ended with Ari laughing in amusement, and then switched to Gibbs walking away with a smirk. It was the season finale, I believe.

[Clanstarling]

 

That's still a lot of dead women on the altar of Gibbs' pain

 

Great description, Mars477

[Aeryn13]

Wow, I will say I found this episode more interesting than I did any one in a long time. Though I don`t necessarily think that translates into liking it.

 

When Abby described how the shoot-out had happened, my mind immediately went to Jenny. I mean, that must have been word for word from Jenny`s last stand. So I did find it unbelievable noone made the connection. On the other hand, I didn`t get Mike Francks right away because for some weird reason I wrongly remembered him being shot instead of stabbed. But once they cleared it up, the lightbulb came on. 

 

And made me groan. Because it meant "personal vendetta against Gibbs". And unlike Ari where I found this concept novel and interesting and the character charismatic in his own way, I also knew that the only guy around to be "Ari" right now was Mishnev. Who is just boring, nonsensical and doesn`t work as a villain for me.

 

Killing off Diane surprised me because once they made the recreating-previous-deaths-thing clear and Gibbs arrived on that roof/parking deck to see Diane, I knew immediately what was going on. It was so painfully obvious. Which wasn`t the problem because clearly Gibbs could also see the big neon flashing sign. So, I was sure that in no way, shape or form could Kate`s death be replicated. After all, Ari used the element of surprise. Here, Gibbs knew, he grabbed onto Diane and buzzuh? He is a sniper, why in all the heavens did he keep them upright and in the line of fire like this? He knew what was going to happen, therefore it shouldn`t have happened and yet...it did? They lost me there.

 

Jery Ryan as ex-wife number 2 was amusing enough. It seems like all his wifes truly loved or still love Gibbs deep down but he couldn`t love them and that led to them all acting out in their own way. I would probably feel more sympathy for that if I thought he was just using them but I think he honestly tried each and every time. If not, why always jump to marriage? Maybe if he`d had another child with one of them, things would have been different. He might not have been able to help it comparing new wifes to holy grail Shannon but I don`t think he would have equally measured another child to Kelly.

 

The promo for the new ep looked weird. A mixture between "and now for some goofy comedy" and "OMG, there is Fornell, that is gonna rip my heart out".    

[slothgirl]

WI'm tired of women being fridged to make Gibbs feel sad*

 

* Well, Kate, and Diane whose death emulated Kate.And there's Shannon two.  That's still a lot of dead women on the altar of Gibbs' pain.

Don't forget Laura Macy. (and of course, Jennie, whose death was being copycatted)

 

But thank you for this post. I too was annoyed that yet another female character became "kill of the day to satisfy a male character plotline". Add to it Mrs Vance, and the show has quite a history of using women's deaths to explore male character's emotions. Sometimes it seems they have no other purpose in the long run other than their relationship to the male characters. I'm actually beginning to like Bishop because her role is that of a co-worker and not that of an emotional foil.

 

Come'on writers, men DO occasionally have and show their emotions without it being caused by the murder of their one true love! Even men like Gibbes. Sometimes I'm surprised that they've ever even had a female agent, much less ALWAYS had one.

 

I think the only reason that Delilah didn't get killed was because she and Tim weren't married. The men aren't allowed to have wives on this show.

Edited January 10, 2015 by slothgirl

[Julia]

I think the only reason that Delilah didn't get killed was because she and Tim weren't married. The men aren't allowed to have wives on this show.

 

I'm not in general a fan of the way women are written on this show, but I actually think they handled Delilah pretty well. They actually showed McGee realizing that he was objectifying her disability and cutting the shit while she sat back with her arms folded and waited for him to figure it out. It was kind of a stellar display of agency for a woman in this franchise.

[roseha]

I'm very unhappy about all this killing off too.  And I've only been watching this show a year or two, though also a lot of reruns. It makes it hard to look forward to the show now.  So much killing off, you have to wonder what the showrunners are thinking, has it ever occurred to them they might want these characters back?  I know Dick Wolf was quoted as regretting killing off at least one character in Law and Order for that reason.

Edited January 11, 2015 by roseha

[Julia]

 So much killing off, you have to wonder what the showrunners are thinking, has it ever occurred to them they might want these characters back? 

 

Being dead doesn't seem to keep people off this show. I think we've seen as much of dead Mike Franks and dead Shannon as we've seen of Diane over the years.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well, I'm not too bothered with killing off Diane.

 

I've stated above why; and really, it's not as if she was a regular cast member. I'm not losing any sleep or getting outraged because a recurring character, who, for me, should have stayed a once and done, got killed off. Good riddance, I say.

 

Sure, the ratio is more women being killed off then men, but other than Kate and Paula, who I liked, especially the latter, I don't really get upset. Maybe that means my feminism card should be taken away, I don't know. But Jenny was also a useless character who did NOTHING for me.  I'd say that I was most upset over Paula and Pacci being killed off.

 

And Shannon was already dead before the show started, and so I don't count her in the number of characters that were killed off.

 

But that's just me.

[Mars477]

I'm still pissed that they killed Macy offscreen. I liked Macy: she was competent, acted (and dressed) professionally, and had a great command presence that would make her a good team leader. Naturally, that means viewers hated her. I don't get it.

I don't give a shit about Diane in particular. She was the psycho ex wife and little more. My problem is that its a tired trope, and lazy writing. While I don't exactly expect prestige cable drama writing from the NCIS stable, it's still a bit jarring. Plus my tolerance for Gibbs' moping is already stretched thin, so this development doesn't help.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Mars477

[sinkwriter]

 

I'm still pissed that they killed Macy offscreen. I liked Macy: she was competent, acted (and dressed) professionally, and had a great command presence that would make her a good team leader. Naturally, that means viewers hated her. I don't get it.

 

Which one was Macy? Was she the one who started on the episode that was a mix of NCIS and NCIS: LA? I never hated that woman; I just felt it was a little bit of a Jenny 2.0 (not in character personality but in that Gibbs had a 'history' of some sort with her, which I was really weary of after Jenny was finally gone).

 

It felt like they were trying to create something, even though I knew not to get invested because the two shows were going to split so that NCIS: LA could establish itself as a new show of its own. I knew nothing would come of it because they couldn't really have a relationship between Gibbs and her, or they'd have to make sure that both shows were in sync (can't have something big happen to her on NCIS: LA, and Gibbs doesn't show up in some capacity as her boyfriend, or vice versa). Plus at that point NCIS: LA was so new, there was no counting on whether or not it would survive past one season. So I just never really cared or paid much attention to her as a character, and when she was killed off, I felt they hadn't shown enough of her for me to care. I didn't really know her, not like I feel about the established NCIS team of characters.

I did like to see a woman in charge, though. NCIS is often such a male-focused testosterone-fest that it's cool to see a woman get a lead position (and not be insanely obnoxious and unprofessional like Jenny). I was really glad when NCIS: LA brought in Linda Hunt as Hetty. I love her, and it doesn't matter what size she is - she's a powerhouse and clearly in charge. Awesome.

[Ohmo]

I'm still pissed that they killed Macy offscreen. I liked Macy: she was competent, acted (and dressed) professionally, and had a great command presence that would make her a good team leader. Naturally, that means viewers hated her. I don't get it.

 

 

I'm OK with Macy dying simply because that was Shane's screw-up.  Not the character necessarily.  I was fine with her.  However, the moment that she said she knew about Gibbs shooting Pedro and kept it quiet for decades, she was toast.  That was a moronic thing to write about your main lead character, and there's only so much that Gary could do to minimize the damage.  The series wasn't going anywhere, and neither was Mark Harmon.  Gary couldn't unwrite what Shane wrote, so he neutralized it as much as possible.  Macy was just unfortunate collateral damage.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Ohmo

[webruce]

It seemed strange for Diane Sterling to tell Gibbs at the first cafe crime scene that she would audit him and then find out that all the military victims had financial problems. That is why Gibbs talked to her and her bf Lawyer Gene came in. To me Gene, looks wise, is quite a step down from Gibbs. I was surprised that the team talked so much about Gibbs and Rebecca(Body Of Proof, Leverage,Shark, Star Trek:Voyager, Boston Public)(Wife number 2)falling asleep on the sofa. Especially infront of Gibbs? I do like the Tony, Tim, Bishop dynamic. I wasn't to fond of the beginning with Tony and Bishop giggling over Tim's resolution list. But Jimmy saying, "I'm not going to turn around!" and Gibbs reply, "Good Idea," I thought was funny. I'm not sure what is up with his coffee avoidance for his Dr. appointment. Abby told him he needed a good cleanse.

At the camper I figured it would explode with the team near it. Or we would have sniper fire. It kind of stuck out by itself in that camp. But we have to figure out where Russian Mercenary Ghenna Ulanov(sp ?) is now. Maybe he can lead them to Sergei.

At the parking garage when Diane was shot it did remind me of Kate. But I thought maybe Gibbs would wound him. He fired enough slugs into the Cady. But with the basketball players and all the others he was lucky he didn't hit a pedestrian. Jimmy Palmer had had enough of having to cut up his friends.

I'm not sure if Sergei was ready for Abby to figure out that IT Kevin's virus would lead to finding his location. Tim was worried about the virus. But it seems(for now) that Abby kept it contained.

When Gibbs broke into the apartment and shot the 3 guys, I worried about others. Then he had Sergei Michnev in the corner and he told Gibb he had won this round, Gibbs before he beat his face in should have capped a knee. Then over confident/rage filled Gibbs tells him "Check Mate" and is hit over the head. And ofcourse Michnev is gone. So 2 times he could have killed Gibbs. But he didn't know if PD was outside or not either. Wondering about all the ex GI's that were killed, and the list of prints if that will lead to more. To me the Cafe scene was strange. They named the ex Servicemen, (Captain Sheron Hanover, Staff Sergent Sampson De Grade, Chief Petty Officer Bo Lordon) and 2 other guys and a lady. My spelling might be off, I took notes on the names. It was different not to have names for all,even if up on the screen and not telling us their names. I know they were not the focus, but sometimes the victims are important.

Edited January 28, 2015 by webruce

[webruce]

Maybe with Sergei escaping, they had to show us that Gibbs isn't all knowing and all powerful. He to still has faults. He let his emoitons cloud his judgement and he became over confident and rushed Sergei and not waited for backup or to make sure he knew how many were in the appt. Suit guy that knocked Gibbs out could have been the mercenary that was supposed to be in the camper. But Gibbs easily could have been killed or kidnapped.

Another thought. Could man in suit be Lawyer Gene??? Rebeccas's BF? I didn't recognise him in the knockout shot, but he and Gibbs didn't seem to be friends when we saw him in interrogation. And maybe Rebecca can't stop talking about Gibbs? But the $300,000 maybe used for that? Just a thought.

Edited January 28, 2015 by webruce

[BluBarbi98]

I didn't dislike this episode but I was surprised they didn't get the Jenny connection sooner, I got it as soon as they did the animation. And Abby's description was almost word for word the same as Vance's. I even expected Gibbs to reply, "Not good enough" when Abby said she put up a good fight.

I didn't recognize Mike Franks death either. Somehow I mis-remembered him being shot.

I was afraid they were going to recreate Shannon & Kelly's death so while I was shocked that it was Kate's I am relived too.

Edited February 15, 2015 by BluBarbi98

[slothgirl]

Damn.. I didn't realize they were rerunning this episode tonight instead of giving us a new one!

[mtmjr]

I was disappointed at the rerun, but I ended up watching it and being reminded what a powerful episode it is.  The scene in the morgue with Jimmy "reaching his limit" made me get teary all over again.  And I had forgotten that Gibbs' irrational and stupid decision to attack Mishnev's apartment with no back-up actually led to him getting away.  Just another rock to add to Gibbs' backpack o' guilt ;)

[betsyboo]

I just re-watched this last night. I had the same thought again that I had the first time - Gibbs is en route to Fornell to tell him when he gets the call as to baddie's whereabouts. He pulls a 180 and zooms off. SO WHO TELLS FORNELL????????

My big issue with this episode was that neither Tony, Gibbs, nor Ducky recognized right away that diner scene was a replica of the Jenny shoot-out. I recognized it immediately and I think all three of them would have as well. It just didn't ring true to me that none of them did. 

Agreed!

I liked Diane (as a character, not as a person) and loved the dynamic of Diane, Fornell and Gibbes when they had scenes together. Wish they hadn't killed her off. Wish we had a scene of Gibbes telling Fornell, but maybe no one knew how to write it. (get the person who wrote Palmer's scene, people!) 

 

 

Yes Yes Yes!

I did love how the team was so obsessed with Gibbs and his ex-wives, though. The way they all viewed his interrogation of Wife #2, like they were at the movie theatre, with snacks and everything, laughing over who had the best comebacks... that was pretty funny. I do think they should give Gibbs the benefit of the doubt though. They all treated him like he helped his ex-wife cheat on her fiancé and that is not something Gibbs would ever do.

 

"Well that was the most awkward car ride of my life. I need a Milk Dud." HEE!

[betsyboo]

While there were moments that I loved in this episode, such as Jimmy's emotional speech, I really didn't like the way the ex-wives showed up unexpectedly, or the way the team took such joy in Gibbs' discomfort.  It's possible that I've missed signs throughout the series that pointed to Gibbs as being a terrible husband, (and not just an inattentive one), but I don't feel as if he deserved two exes showing up out-of-the-blue, relishing in trying to humiliate him.  

At a crime scene no less! Not at his house - but in public where he is doing a pretty important job! (That said, I absolutely snickered at BabyFace Cop's expression throughout that scene.)

I thought the two women were complete jerks for disrupting his crime scene, and hello - it's a CRIME SCENE, ladies! You don't get to barge in on something like that, and potentially compromise evidence on the scene. Also, I refuse to believe that those two women are so hard-core made of iron that a vicious crime scene like that wouldn't bother either of them because they're sooo intent on yelling at their ex-husband. I mean, there were five dead bodies, and it was bloody. That's not something either of them see every day. I think it was bad direction and bad acting choices and bad writing to not have that be a factor in the slightest for either character. (I would find it pretty believable that Gibbs got several calls from those two women and he ignored them and didn't call back. We've seen him do this. So they probably felt they had no choice but to bombard him where they knew he would be. But I do think they shouldn't have been so rude to the police officer who was trying to protect a crime scene, and they shouldn't have demanded to talk to Gibbs while standing in the middle of his crime scene. That was ridiculous behavior.)

ANNND I hadn't read far enough to see this!

[Julia]

Not to mention that it was far from the first time I thought that Diane should have lost her job for threatening people (in public, in front of witnesses) with abusing her position with the IRS to punish them for not giving in to her whims.

Why 3 of 4 thought it was appropriate to pile on when she was the one who ended the marriage by being regularly unfaithful instead of just leaving eludes me completely.

Edited January 22, 2016 by Julia

[Stephle25]

I am hoping someone could help me. I am looking for an episode and I cant remember anything but this one sence that palmer tries to get into mtech and tony goes out and then goes back in to tell gibbs and he has ducky and bishop put up on the screen so he could talk to them, palmer walks in unknowing that gibbs can hear him . Can anyone please help me find this episode