S13.E04: Double Trouble

[MyAimIsTrue]

Vance partners with Gibbs and returns to field duty when a murder case is connected to a former NCIS agent he locked up for stealing evidence.

[immortalfrieza]

Any remotely competent lawyer would have been able to get Vance off easily. The fact that there wasn't a shred of Klugman's DNA on Vance's knuckles would have been enough to do that, as Vance even points out. Deciding to follow him around was really really stupid on Vance and Gibbs' part, there wasn't anybody not affiliated with NCIS they couldn't have called in to follow him around at least? The two are normally smarter than this, the only way following Klugman could have looked like more obvious of a setup is if the guy had the word SETUP plastered on the side of his van.

 

At least ol Lumpy wasn't stupid enough to allow the tracker to remain in the box with everything else, but the 3 would have gotten away scot free if he was smart enough to take thirty seconds to actually CHECK the freaking box at any point before he went to meet up with the other 2. Really, really, stupid.

[NYGirl]

Stay in your office Vance.

 

Why is SecNav always a dick?  Are they always against Gibbs?  I mean the guy and his team always solve their cases.  They don't go rogue like NCIS LA.  What do you want?

[mommalib]

Any remotely competent lawyer would have been able to get Vance off easily. The fact that there wasn't a shred of Klugman's DNA on Vance's knuckles would have been enough to do that, as Vance even points out. Deciding to follow him around was really really stupid on Vance and Gibbs' part, there wasn't anybody not affiliated with NCIS they couldn't have called in to follow him around at least? The two are normally smarter than this, the only way following Klugman could have looked like more obvious of a setup is if the guy had the word SETUP plastered on the side of his van.

 

At least ol Lumpy wasn't stupid enough to allow the tracker to remain in the box with everything else, but the 3 would have gotten away scot free if he was smart enough to take thirty seconds to actually CHECK the freaking box at any point before he went to meet up with the other 2. Really, really, stupid.

It wasn't so much about evidence and clearing Vance, it was more of an image thing. It just looked bad.

[immortalfrieza]

It wasn't so much about evidence and clearing Vance, it was more of an image thing. It just looked bad.

Well yeah, but isn't there supposed to be ways to prevent important people from having their careers destroyed by any random yahoo that tries to accuse them of something? Why is the very first thing anybody thinks is "GUILTY!!!!" right off the bat?

Edited October 14, 2015 by immortalfrieza

[slothgirl]

They would have had a hard time even proving the harassment charge since the lawyer said flat out that Klugman didn't know they were tailing him while he was being tailed. Can be be harassed if you are oblivious to the fact that you are being harassed?

 

That said, I kinda liked Butch and Sundance. ;)

[Zahdii]

I was amazed that they let the guy into the building without frisking him.  No one should ever be able to get in the building with a grenade in his pocket, even if it's a training grenade.

[catray]

I enjoyed Gibbs and Vance teaming up (still hate that tooth pick, though) but there were a lot of holes in this episode. The biggest of which being-- Vance is being accused by an dirty, ex-NCIS agent with an obvious motive to frame Vance; any good PR person (not to mention lawyer) could spin that to make Vance look fine, not to mention lack of actual lack of evidence against him. Whatever.

I knew there would be a second tracker on the money-- just didn't realize it would be Gibbs' phone.

Other than that, I like how Tony was the one getting the team to buckle down and work while Gibbs and Vance were on the prowl; continuing to quietly lead there. Everyone else was pretty quiet this week.

[MortysCleaningLady]

Loved the Gibbs Vance dynamic in this episode.  I also thought the opposing council was well played. 

[UncleChuck]

 

~Why is SecNav always a dick?  Are they always against Gibbs?

 

I don't think this current SecNav is against Gibbs.  She seems to give him a lot of slack.  What is evident, however, is that Secretary of the Navy is very much  a political job.  She has a lot of power, but still has to answer to the Secretary of Defense and the President.  And the lawyers surrounding the SecDef and POTUS are hounding her for some quick resolution that will be OVER and off the news as quickly as possible.  I think she shows pretty clearly that she wants to do the right thing, but in the end will do what she must do to protect her own job.

​

[kazza]

Loved the Gibbs Vance dynamic in this episode.  I also thought the opposing council was well played. 

 

I did too. It was nice to see the role reversal to comic effect:

 

Vance: "Who's going in first?"

Gibbs: (stare)

Vance: "YOU, of course...I meant, how do you want to do this?"

 

Like others have mentioned, the plot wasn't exactly tight, but enjoyable enough. Loved the end when the team explained to SecNav what "happened".

 

Also not sure why SecNav is a jerk all the time. These are the good guys.

 

DiNozzo crossover on NCIS:LA - squee! I thought LA wasn't really part of the family anymore, though.

 

What happened to Jimmy Palmer? Have we seen him at all this season?

[itsmeyousee]

Not a bad ep. But the whole "Vance should be gone before the press conference" made no sense at all. Still would have been a press conference, still would have looked bad .

[sinkwriter]

 

DiNozzo crossover on NCIS:LA - squee! I thought LA wasn't really part of the family anymore, though.

 

Did the crossover already happen, kazza? If so, I missed it! Let me know and I'll try to find it on CBS's site.

Edited October 15, 2015 by sinkwriter

[NYGirl]

It's coming up this Monday, October 19th sinkwriter

[CoyoteBlue]

I knew there would be a second tracker on the money-- just didn't realize it would be Gibbs' phone.

 

Did flip phones even have GPS enabled on them?

[brgjoe]

My old flip phone did have GPS.  It was a Samsung (I think).  Have no idea about GIbbs' phone tho. :)

 

I thought it was an OK episode.  Pretty much a paint-by-numbers sort of one.  A lot of the going's on would of course not happen in real life.  That armored truck scene couldn't have screamed, "SET UP!  IT'S A TRAP!  DANGER, WILL ROBINSON..DANGER!".  But I still was entertained anyway. 

 

I guess the twist to me in it, is that I really thought the disgraced agent was still going to try and redeem himself -- pretty much to the very end.  I thought the scene with Vance was just done so he could show he really was a bad guy and get infiltrate that operation.  Guess he was just a bad dude after all.  :)

 

And yes, I am also looking forward to the DiNozzo/NCIS-LA crossover.  Haven't seen the LA version in quite awhile.  Will try to tune into this one though.

[MDL]

I  like the Gibbs-Vance interaction. I'd say what they have is a "grudging respect" for each other's abilities,tempered with a bit less than 100% trust. IMO, in Gibbs' mind, Vance is too political, and to Vance, Gibbs is too much of a loose  cannon-until Vance needs him to be one.

Question: When the team searched the car after the accident, it looked like the money bag was slit up the middle. Was it? And, if so, was the reason for the slit ever explained?