S12.E15: Cabin Fever

[MyAimIsTrue]

The NCIS team suspects Gibbs' arch-nemesis is behind an explosion at a global terrorism summit. Gibbs elects to sit out the investigation in order to help a grief-stricken Fornell, whose life is on the verge of imploding following his wife’s murder.

 

[MDL]

Got the s.o.b..  good..

Fornell seems to have turned a corner in a good way....better.

[MyAimIsTrue]

That was my kind of episode.

Perhaps when NCIS ends there can be a buddy caper comedy starring Gibbs and Fornell. They may actually be my all time favorite couple on the show.

[AimingforYoko]

Damn, they're still going to the Twilight well. The man's been an agent for 20 some years, he can have other enemies than Ari Haswari (and his various relatives).

[Mama No Life]

I don't know how anyone can look at Bishop and take her seriously in an interrogation room.  She looks like she should be teaching one to fingerpaint.

 

So here's the question....did Gibbs take Fornell to the cabin to help Fornell or to lure Sergei? Or both?

[AimingforYoko]

So here's the question....did Gibbs take Fornell to the cabin to help Fornell or to lure Sergei? Or both?

Both. The end was to show that Pavlenko was in on the plot. He sent Sergei to his death.

[sinkwriter]

 

So here's the question....did Gibbs take Fornell to the cabin to help Fornell or to lure Sergei? Or both?

 

I'm thinking both.

 

I saw it coming (that Gibbs was luring Sergei), but honestly I thought I would find it more annoying. I hated the storyline where Vance sent Ziva after the guy they thought was responsible for the deaths of his wife and her father; that kind of blatant revenge pissed me off. I felt like the show was treating its lead characters as if they were above the law and that because they'd suffered so much they somehow should be allowed to kill the person responsible and anyone else in their way on the path to that goal, and I didn't like that message. I understood when it came to Gibbs avenging the deaths of his wife and daughter, but it did cross a line; he crossed a line doing so, which meant he no longer could be righteous about telling others whether or not they should seek revenge. So he couldn't really tell Leon not to do something, when Gibbs had already done the opposite. But I just felt the bloodbath was ugly and twisted. I also hated that when they all got called to the carpet for their behaviors by Parsons, the showrunners managed to turn the story into something bad about Parsons when the truth was almost the entire NCIS team was guilty (except Tony, who if memory serves tried to talk Ziva down from doing anything stupid). Gibbs was always presented as an honorable man, in so many ways, with his Marine code and powerful loyalty to friends and family; I felt his willingness to kill (other than in the heat of a moment in self defense or defense of others), or his willingness to let others kill, tarnished that. Killing someone should be a last resort, but it felt like the showrunners were treating it like some sort of honorable thing. I felt the showrunners were glorifying his behavior (and Ziva's) as something admirable, and I disagreed with that vehemently. Once, I could understand, in defense of his wife and daughter, but repeated behavior like that lowers my belief in his code about "justice" -- he started to seem like "do as I say and not as I do" and that ticked me off.

 

So I expected tonight's episode would be more of the same treatment, that the team would somehow be commended for being ruthless and plotting a murder. Thankfully, the showrunners eased up on their treatment and instead presented a smart plan in which Gibbs was ahead of Sergei the entire time, luring him away from DC where he might create much more damage and hurt everyone Gibbs cared about in the process. Instead, they gave him every option to stop, but Sergei was stubborn and stupid and completely responsible for his own death.

 

The only hint of potential "over-congratulations" for killing someone was when Vance stopped to commend Gibbs at the end, but thankfully I think the writers and actors played it gently enough that it didn't bother me as much as the Ziva vengeance plotline did. And I did like how Vance teased Gibbs that this time the guy was dead, maybe, or did you double check this time, Gibbs?  *smiles at that*

[sinkwriter]

I think the best stuff in this episode was between Gibbs and Fornell. Love their friendship, love Gibbs trying to help, and love that he was there for Emily as well.

 

I also loved how funny the team was. Them figuring Gibbs had a plan, and hearing Fornell throwing up but not knowing what was happening or who was making that noise, joking about how Bishop and Tony bonded on their last case (which was a terrific continuity piece carrying over from last week's Cadence episode), and the way the three of them (Tony, Tim and Bishop) have bonded so nicely in this episode and the others in this season, all of that I really love.

 

And I like that Tony has the guts to stand up to Gibbs when necessary. He's done it before, and he did it again in tonight's episode. I love that he does that. Gibbs may not like it, and he may not listen to Tony, but deep down he must know that Tony's got his back and will say things he needs to hear.

[slothgirl]

I loved the Gibbes / Fornell stuff, but OMG, was that the STUPIDEST master villian ever? He knows he's looking for Gibbes. He goes to Gibbes' cabin, after being told Gibbes would be there, and when he bursts through the door (already stupid, BTW) and doesn't see Gibbes, he .. ducks and covers?

 

NO! He stands in an open doorway, with his back to the door and chit chats with Fornell, all the while, not knowing WHERE GIBBES IS!

 

Then when he wakes from his stupor (from rightfully being clonked in the head) and sees they left him with a gun, he actually thinks they would have left bullets in it!

 

Geez.

 

How did it take so long to catch and kill this chucklehead?

[Starscream]

I was worried there for a second, after the abrupt end of the fishing, that Fornell was going to say he knew that Gibbs was the great love of Diane's life (as she put it, her "Shannon").  I was so glad that they didn't go there.

[sinkwriter]

I worried about that too, Starscream. When they were talking, I was afraid Fornell was going to say that amidst their big fight Diane yelled at him that she was still in love with Gibbs. I'm so glad that wasn't the case. Her final phone call to Fornell was especially sweet and mature (impressive, given Diane's usual fiery temper and harshness), and I feel very bad that he lost her. 

 

I do wish the show would stop with the familiar patterns, though. Almost everyone's got daddy issues (Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Ziva), and now at least four of them have lost wives or seen important significant others seriously injured (Gibbs, Vance, Fornell, and McGee; Ziva too, if you count Michael Rivkin, or Tony, if you count his close encounters in Paula Cassidy). Surely there are other ways to spice up the stories for these main characters!

[brgjoe]

I was all set to really dislike this episode.  From the previews, it seemed like it was going to be a case of Fornell going downhill into a drunken stupor, only to be rescued from hitting rock bottom by Gibbs.  Am glad it turned out a lot better than that -- I really did enjoy this episode.  If for nothing else, they finally ended this Supervillain Sergei storyline.

 

I also liked it when Tony stood up to GIbbs, as well as being backed up by Ducky on it.  I think it made Gibbs step back a bit and say, "Whoa...maybe I do need to back off a bit".  And I think it did give him that opportunity to believe he genuinely could help Fornell.  Really did like seeing Emily and Gibbs share a scene together again.  I know she said "Uncle" Gibbs, but it's like he's pretty much a second father to her.  Very nicely done scene.

 

I know it sounds a bit juvenile, but I did laugh mightily when poor Fornell was upchucking over and over and those sounds were coming through the phone when Gibbs was talking to the team.  And that they had no clue what the heck was going on.  Heh. 

 

Have to agree about Sergei not exactly being a master criminal there in the end.  Just only paying attention to Fornell in the cabin and not watching his back at all.  I mean, he basically had the same setup that Gibbs fell for when he got klunked on the back of his own head.  But no matter -- just glad to be done with that storyline.

 

Much better episode than I thought it would be. 

[jaytee1812]

I love that Emily calls him Uncle Gibbs, not Uncle Leroy or Uncle Jethro.

[catray]

I really liked the Gibbs/Fornell stuff, especially when we learned about just why Fornell is self-destructing in regards to the fight and voicemail he had with Diane. Add me to the list of people that was glad their fight wasn't about Gibbs, although I don't think that crossed my mind when watching this episode. That would be way too soap opera for my taste, but Fornell's grief over things said and left unsaid felt right, maybe because Diane theoretically wouldn't have been in a situation where she would have lost her life so suddenly (compared to say, Gibbs or Fornell's line of work).

 

Was anyone else hoping that Gibbs would say "PS-- I didn't shoot Ari, his (half)sister did" and then have Fornell shoot Sergei? Because I kind of wish that had happened. And with that, I really implore the writers to stop trying to bring up Ari/Ziva/Israel and move on to greener pastures. I was glad though, that there wasn't a lot of beating around the bush-- once Tony and Tim heard Russia/Palestine all the pieces clicked into place. I do like Anton though and his shades of grey (morally, not the book/movie) character, so I wonder if he will pop up again. I wouldn't be opposed.

 

In any case, I feel like killing Sergei was a little too easy after he had been giving them the run-around in previous episodes, but... I also don't really care because I'm super tired of the "I'm getting revenge on Gibbs by targeting his loved ones" trope that this show constantly plays to. Yawn, show me something else.

[itsmeyousee]

In a way i glad Sergei is gone, cause i'm not into "Lone wolf Gibbs" . At least this time it was the normal Gibbs leaving his Team out of it as opposed to Season 10 when they were all breaking the law, cause they wanted revenge. Hated that.

 

But why did Sergei wait so long for his revenge about Ari ? Why did they other Russian dude give Gibbs so much help ? Is all of this over ?

 

Loved Fornell and Emily in particular with her stance to Gibbs when Gibbs said he would talk to Fornell and she was all "no , help him"

 

I love that when Tony does talk to Gibbs he is always very quiet about it, cause yelling at Gibbs will get you nowhere, a lesson i think Vance needs to learn.

[JessDVD]

Mr. DVD and I took bets halfway through about whether Anton was good or bad. I won. I'll be here all night.

 

I would totally watch the Gibbs/Fornell show. CBS, are you listening?!

 

Didn't really catch or care about the supposed Ari link. I've already forgotten what's her name who sat at Bishop's desk before and don't care to hear about her ever again really. Sergei monologuing with Fornell was dumb but I can hand wave it in that he was so confident in his ability to outsmart Gibbs that he didn't think about it. Regardless, I am happy to never see him again.

 

Really loving Tony/Tim/Ellie's dynamic. Tony standing up to Gibbs! Tim competent! 

[Blade]

The Gibbs and Fornell dynamic made this episode one of my favorites for the season.  Good thing because the way things ended with Sergei left a lot to be desired.  Though I didn't know for sure that Pavlenko was in on the plot, I had my suspicions, which is a good thing.  I like suspecting, but feel let down when the outcome is so obvious I'm left wondering why the team didn't see it coming.  Sergei's demise/execution was a bit underwhelming.

 

I don't know how anyone can look at Bishop and take her seriously in an interrogation room.  She looks like she should be teaching one to fingerpaint.

 

Agreed.  I've given her 31 episodes to grow on me and it's yet to happen.  Thinking of her going home to give her husband a hard time for not clueing her in on his and Gibbs diner conversation rubs me the wrong way.  If Gibbs (or anyone) spoke with him in confidence, added to the fact that he's a NSA attorney and would (hopefully) hold privacy to a higher standard, I can't imagine why she'd think she'd be privy to their conversation.  Then again, this isn't the first time she's come off as the office busybody.

 

Love, love, love Ducky.  His and Gibbs relationship is like no other.

[sinkwriter]

 

Thinking of her going home to give her husband a hard time for not clueing her in on his and Gibbs diner conversation rubs me the wrong way.  If Gibbs (or anyone) spoke with him in confidence, added to the fact that he's a NSA attorney and would (hopefully) hold privacy to a higher standard, I can't imagine why she'd think she'd be privy to their conversation.

 

I'm giving Bishop a pass on that one. She has said previously that she and her husband both used to work for the same agency and therefore had clearance to be able to discuss their work together; now that she's NCIS and he's NSA, they can no longer talk. It's got to be difficult to go from talking about everything together to suddenly finding times when one or the other person simply cannot say anything. Plus, Gibbs used her husband for information and ultimately the team got pulled into that case, so I can see why she'd be upset that it seemed like her husband had withheld information that may have been very important to helping the team help Gibbs.

 

That said, I do agree with Gibbs that she should go easy on the guy. He was just trying to bond with Gibbs and help him.

[Blade]

I'm giving Bishop a pass on that one. She has said previously that she and her husband both used to work for the same agency and therefore had clearance to be able to discuss their work together; now that she's NCIS and he's NSA, they can no longer talk. It's got to be difficult to go from talking about everything together to suddenly finding times when one or the other person simply cannot say anything. Plus, Gibbs used her husband for information and ultimately the team got pulled into that case, so I can see why she'd be upset that it seemed like her husband had withheld information that may have been very important to helping the team help Gibbs.

 

That said, I do agree with Gibbs that she should go easy on the guy. He was just trying to bond with Gibbs and help him.

 

I can understand the frustration of going from sharing just about everything to not being able to discuss much of anything related to work, but if they aren't supposed to discuss anything, Jake wouldn't know he was withholding anything potentially helpful unless Bishop was giving him explicit details about the case.  Regardless, if Gibbs had asked that their conversation stay private, I admire Jake for waiting for Gibbs' go-ahead before saying anything at all. Not only has the team has been in on the case from the start of Sergei's vendetta, but with the recent bombing that took place at the beginning of the episode that was apparently meant for Pavlenko.  I tend to think it was Gibbs' place to bring Bishop in the loop, not Jake's.  Even when the team found out, it served no tactical purpose.  Gibbs and Pavleko had a plan which thankfully worked.  One thing that I took away from this particular episode was that Jake can be trusted personally and professionally. 

[St. Claire]

I would totally watch the Gibbs/Fornell show.

 

You and me both. Emily had better be a fairly regularly recurring guest star, though. And I also love that Emily calls Jethro "Uncle Gibbs." 

[Starscream]

Emily had better be a fairly regularly recurring guest star, though.

If only so that, when people refer to her, I'll eventually manage to stop thinking they mean Emily Wickersham/Bishop.

[Julia]

You and me both. Emily had better be a fairly regularly recurring guest star, though. And I also love that Emily calls Jethro "Uncle Gibbs." 

 

I dunno, are we ready for Gibbs to be in a quasi-paternal relationship with someone who isn't a thirtysomething professional law enforcement agent with daddy issues?

[JessDVD]

I dunno, are we ready for Gibbs to be in a quasi-paternal relationship with someone who isn't a thirtysomething professional law enforcement agent with daddy issues?

 

It'd be such a growing experience for everyone... I'm game!

[Packerbrewerbadger]

Every time they show the flashback of the first time Gibbs shot Sergi, I always yell ". You're a sniper, hit him in the head! ( he clearly looks like he has a vest on.)

[KayElektra]

This was probably one of my favorite episodes ever.  I could honestly watch hours of just the Gibbs and Fornell show.  Harmon and Spano kill it every time, but this was my absolute favorite.

 

Bye Sergey.  I still don't understand why they had to tie Ziva's bullshit to him.

 

I saw some comments about Jake and Ellie not being able to talk to each other now.  Um...how about Jake not being able to talk about "top secret clearance" things with Gibbs in a fucking random cafe?  It would have been cool if Gibbs had just said "Hey, what do you know about Russian/Palestinian relations" in a general "you might know these things" kind of way.  But no, Jake full out says "Top Secret Clearance"?  GAH.

Edited February 20, 2015 by KayElektra

[basiltherat]

I give Jake kudos for being the only one with enough balls to have dinner with Gibbs. 

 

Loved that Gibbs didn't quote platitudes, but made Fornell work it out physically, as Formell himself said, all Jeremiah Johnson. 

[immortalfrieza]

I saw it coming (that Gibbs was luring Sergei), but honestly I thought I would find it more annoying. I hated the storyline where Vance sent Ziva after the guy they thought was responsible for the deaths of his wife and her father; that kind of blatant revenge pissed me off. I felt like the show was treating its lead characters as if they were above the law and that because they'd suffered so much they somehow should be allowed to kill the person responsible and anyone else in their way on the path to that goal, and I didn't like that message. I understood when it came to Gibbs avenging the deaths of his wife and daughter, but it did cross a line; he crossed a line doing so, which meant he no longer could be righteous about telling others whether or not they should seek revenge. So he couldn't really tell Leon not to do something, when Gibbs had already done the opposite. But I just felt the bloodbath was ugly and twisted. I also hated that when they all got called to the carpet for their behaviors by Parsons, the showrunners managed to turn the story into something bad about Parsons when the truth was almost the entire NCIS team was guilty (except Tony, who if memory serves tried to talk Ziva down from doing anything stupid). Gibbs was always presented as an honorable man, in so many ways, with his Marine code and powerful loyalty to friends and family; I felt his willingness to kill (other than in the heat of a moment in self defense or defense of others), or his willingness to let others kill, tarnished that. Killing someone should be a last resort, but it felt like the showrunners were treating it like some sort of honorable thing. I felt the showrunners were glorifying his behavior (and Ziva's) as something admirable, and I disagreed with that vehemently. Once, I could understand, in defense of his wife and daughter, but repeated behavior like that lowers my belief in his code about "justice" -- he started to seem like "do as I say and not as I do" and that ticked me off.

Fiction in general does stuff like this a lot, it's so common I'd even say that the majority of plots in fiction thus far would've fallen apart without it. Just from what we've seen in this show on it's own not to mention the glimpses we see of his life before the show, Gibbs would have been fired or jailed at least a couple dozen times each by now, and the rest of the team aren't much better. The protagonists are able to do whatever they want regardless of the honor and morals they are supposed to have and/or claim they have, no matter how much against the law or standard procedure it is, while anybody hardly ever calls them on doing this and even more rarely ever punishes them for it. On the rare times that somebody actually does it's simply to spend that character's screen time to portray them as automatically wrong and mock and belittle those people for actually giving a damn about the fact that the protagonists routinely get away with doing things that are morally and legally wrong. However, if this was portrayed realistically and if these characters did practice what they preached instead it would kill most of the stories before they got started and villains like Sergi would get away even more frequently and for even stupider reasons then they already do.

 

In any case, I feel like killing Sergei was a little too easy after he had been giving them the run-around in previous episodes, but... I also don't really care because I'm super tired of the "I'm getting revenge on Gibbs by targeting his loved ones" trope that this show constantly plays to. Yawn, show me something else.

Sadly, this is another terrible but extremely common fiction trope. It was less Sergei giving everybody the runaround and more like everybody had to be colossal idiots just so Sergei wouldn't die until the writers wanted him to, like most every recurring villain that has been on this show. At least twice that I remember Gibbs could have put a bullet in Sergei's brain right then but instead did something stupid and he got away solely because it was the only way the writers could think of keep Sergei around.

 

I do wish the show would stop with the familiar patterns, though. Almost everyone's got daddy issues (Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Ziva), and now at least four of them have lost wives or seen important significant others seriously injured (Gibbs, Vance, Fornell, and McGee; Ziva too, if you count Michael Rivkin, or Tony, if you count his close encounters in Paula Cassidy). Surely there are other ways to spice up the stories for these main characters!

 

Yet another common one. So many writers apparently think that the only way anyone in fiction can be interesting is if they are royally screwed up in some way and NCIS is no exception. Daddy issues and having threatened or killed loved ones is just the easiest way of pull this because just about everybody can identify with both on some level. If any actually well adjusted people are there they either are not really well adjusted at all and are just hiding behind a facade of being so that the rest of the cast is supposed to get them to bring out or everybody else is nuts so these people are simply there to show the contrast and complain about how nuts everybody else is,

Edited February 21, 2015 by immortalfrieza

[Betweenthisandthat]

At least twice that I remember Gibbs could have put a bullet in Sergei's brain right then but instead did something stupid and he got away solely because it was the only way the writers could think of keep Sergei around.

 

I thought Sergei's death was too easy until I remembered that Gibbs could have killed this man since he, McGee and others were shot down in the first episode of the season.  He also had a clear chance to kill him when he found Sergei and his men together after Diane died.  It was never impossible for Gibbs to find him, but his inevitable death was prolonged.

 

I loved Fornell and Gibbs.  I always do, but they were at their best here.  

 

I loved 

[webruce]

It was nice that Emily Fornell came to Gibbs to help, help her father. You saw he had gotten drunk and was arrested. It was nice her and Uncle Gibbs had a nice moment.

You would think a summit on Global Terrorism could be guarded better? Even have it in a military base?
The one picture of Fornell sharpening his knife, if you look at the stump, it comes up through the floor. That is a nice location shoot.

I also liked the line,:"Him and Gibbs are practically Golf buddies!" (Can't remember who said it). But Gibbs replay,"I don't Golf!" It was classic. I knew it was coming.

Gibbs and Fornell make a good odd couple. I enjoyed the episode where Fornell stayed at Gibbs house. Gibbs fishing and Fornell not liking it was cute. You could see Fornell was cleaning up quickly. Nice fresh mountain air. I liked the Fornell turmoil over Diane and the argument. Also Gibbs working through his angst.

I worried when Russian Counselor Anton Povlenko told Sergei Mishnev where Gibbs was. But after finding out that Povlenko was in on Gibbs plans, I said he was lucky Mishnev didn't take him out to eliminate evidence,that he was going after Gibbs. But after letting Gibbs get away 2 times, he had his sniper sights on Gibbs when Diane was killed, and after Gibbs choked him in the apartment, I wondered if Sergei was here to kill Gibbs or maybe just takeout Fornell to further torment Gibbs? Right under Gibbs nose? BUt anyway it seemed he got overzealous. He rushed in and found Fornell, but didn't think to closely where Gibbs could be. Asking Fornell where Gibbs was should have lit a light bulb that he might be near and Sergei may now be in trouble.

I wondered when Gibbs took the load of wood to the cabin, why he put that bigger log against the doorway. Fornell started to split wood,he was in rough shape. It was nice that Fornell got to pull the trigger. Nice shot right between the eyes. I was surprised Sergei didn't take his chances and run. Even without bullets (he didn't know the gun wasn't loaded...yet)he could have possibly gotten away or gotten the upper hand. I was surprised that he went on this job alone. He should have hidden behind something before he tried his pistol.

We didn't find out who helped Sergei when Gibbs rushed his apartment room and shot all but Sergei and the guy that knocked Gibbs out. That was in "Check". So maybe he was just a hired goon. And that after that job Sergei let him go?

I also saw in the New York Post a cancer fight advertisement with Mark Harmon, and it said: "I am my own secret weapon" www.cbsnews.com/news/mark-harmon-stands-up-to-cancer-in-new-psa/

Edited March 7, 2015 by webruce