S13.E05: Lockdown

[MyAimIsTrue]

While visiting a pharmaceutical lab on a murder case, Abby is trapped with no communication to the outside world after armed men take over the building and hold everyone hostage.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Toward the end of the episode when Abby is asking Gibbs what will become of Janice there was a slow instrumental guitar piece playing as background music and if anyone can identify it for me you'll solve a nearly 50 year mystery as that piece of music has haunted me since I was very young.  Thanks in advance.

[secnarf]

Abby figured it out because they pronounced Sciuto properly? Really? How did she know the guy isn't Italian or doesn't speak Italian? Because that's exactly how Sciuto is pronounced in Italian. It can't be the first time in her life that someone has said her name correctly, though admittedly it is probably pronounced incorrectly more often than not.

 

Also, the whole issue with the basement was pointless. There's no way they'd move Abby's lab, it's too much work and all set up for the lab equipment and would cost a great deal to re-fit the accounting offices to accommodate the equipment, gas lines, HEPA filters, ventilation, etc. And of course it would cost them way too much to build a whole new set for no reason.

[Chaos Theory]

I figured out about half way through that Abby's lab friend was in on it. She was acting hella shady but also friendly to Abby so I am glad she wasn't mustache twirly evil.

Gibbs can take on a team of armed assassins but put him in a room with a group of Botox deprived women and he panics.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[Ohmo]

Abby figured it out because they pronounced Sciuto properly? Really? How did she know the guy isn't Italian or doesn't speak Italian? Because that's exactly how Sciuto is pronounced in Italian. It can't be the first time in her life that someone has said her name correctly, though admittedly it is probably pronounced incorrectly more often than not.

 

As someone who has a last name that is often spelled and said incorrectly (to the point where I've been seriously asked if I'm sure that's how my last name is spelled), I appreciated the humor of the pronunciation issue working in Abby's favor instead of being something that she constantly has to correct.  I also liked the other lab scientist, and I was sorry that she ended up being a bad guy.

[MortysCleaningLady]

I almost married someone with a challenging last name, so I agree with Ohmo -- definitely a correct name pronunciation raised a red flag.  I caught that, but missed the other doctor being in on it. 

 

And don't anyone dare touch McGee's chin; he's perfect just the way he is! 

[rainsmom]

I don't love Abby -- I'm one of those who wishes she would have grown and changed the way the other characters have -- BUT I enjoyed this episode. She didn't turn in to super agent. She was firmly in her bailiwick. She stayed calm and used skills we've seen her use for years. No tears, no "Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs," no panic. (And I loved the magnesium fire starter in her heel. I really want one of those!)

 

I figured out the blonde girl was in on it too, and I'm also glad she wasn't REALLY bad.

 

All in all, I liked this episode. Even though it was "Abby in peril," it was fairly light. And unlike past "Abby in peril" episodes, this time she did a pretty good job of handling her end.

[UncleChuck]

She didn't mention it, but even if the guy guessed correctly about her name, there was NO WAY he could have known she was from NCIS, because she did not write "NCIS" on the sign-in sheet, just her name, time of day and the name of the person she was visiting.  Her friend was the ONLY person in the building who knew she was from NCIS.

[david gideon]

the guitar piece is by Vivaldi, the guitar (or lute) concerto in D major. The part heard on Ncis is the most famous part, the second of three movements. It often shows up on classical music for relaxation collections and the like. I remember it from a campfire scene in a classic John Wayne flick, The Cowboys.

[sinkwriter]

 

And unlike past "Abby in peril" episodes, this time she did a pretty good job of handling her end.

 

I may not be remembering them all, but from what I recall, she's usually pretty good in a crisis. I'm picturing the time Chip went after her - the whole team came running only to find she'd already taken him down and tied him up with duct tape. I'm also remembering the time she was supposed to be killed by a hit man who pretended to be a Marshall taking her in to be a witness on a trial; he ended up screaming for mercy while she tazed him (or something like that) and yelled at him not to look up her skirt. Even when she was freaking out about her stalker boyfriend, she almost beaned McGee with the top of a toilet tank, planning fully to defend herself if it had been her ex busting into her apartment. I've always liked that about Abby, that she can usually take care of herself, and the other times she leans against the people she cares about (Gibbs, Tony, McGee).

[betsyboo]

Gibbs can take on a team of armed assassins but put him in a room with a group of Botox deprived women and he panics.

 

I BUSTED out laughing as he took one look at the lot of them and instantly pressed the key fob. Multiple times. HEEE! (Did everyone notice that was Priscilla Barnes of Three's Company hosting the party? Girl was *perfect* for the part, yes?????)   

I don't love Abby -- I'm one of those who wishes she would have grown and changed the way the other characters have -- BUT I enjoyed this episode. She didn't turn in to super agent. She was firmly in her bailiwick. She stayed calm and used skills we've seen her use for years. No tears, no "Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs," no panic. (And I loved the magnesium fire starter in her heel. I really want one of those!)

 

All of this!!! I came here to say just this - I am no Abby fan and was somewhat dreading this ep. But the shreiky voice wasn't in play - none of the ridic antics (other than the Gibbs permission slip). I enjoyed it. Count me as the only person in existence who did NOT see the lab girl being in on it - I had to wait for the shrew PR lady to ask how she knew. <#shame>

 

"MARTY FELDMAN?!?!?!?!"

[MyAimIsTrue]

Does this help?

http://www.tunefind.com/show/ncis/season-13/25417

 

Thank you!!!!  It's Vivaldi's Guitar Concerto in D.

[twoods]

Priscilla Barnes? How did I not recognize her? She's also great on Jane the Virgin.

This episode was very entertaining. I'm getting tired of Bishop being a bitch to McGee the past few episodes when he is showing concern over her and Jake. I hope next week isn't what it seems.

I liked her lab friend and was sad she was in on it. She was doing it for the right reasons, but she trusted a dangerous guy.

[Betweenthisandthat]

Count me as the only person in existence who did NOT see the lab girl being in on it - I had to wait for the shrew PR lady to ask how she knew. <#shame>

 

I thought she looked shady at first when they were talking about the drug, but then she fooled me for the rest of the episode.  I liked that she wasn't this big bad guy but she wasn't as innocent as I allowed myself to believe.

 

Abby isn't my favorite.  I don't necessarily love her but I don't hate her either.  I did enjoy this episode much to my surprise.  Having that lighter in her heel was cool, and it's been a long time since I thought Abby was cool.  She handled herself with conviction and composure without being annoying.  

[St. Claire]

I'm getting tired of Bishop being a bitch to McGee the past few episodes when he is showing concern over her and Jake.

 

Agreed! She was all "That was a private conversation!" and I was thinking "No conversation is private when you are sitting three feet away from someone." It would be different if the gang didn't talk about their private lives at work (I know, crazy concept!), but Tim knows Jake,, he knows a lot about Bish's personal life because they are work friends who share things.

[sinkwriter]

What drives me nuts is how often Bishop has been bitching about Jake's stuff being "classified." After all her years working with the government and tons of classified data, she knows that that's the rule. She made the choice to work with a different agency, which means she no longer has the right to know Jake's stuff because they're not on the same "team" anymore. Just as Jake doesn't get to know her stuff that she does with NCIS. It's driving me nuts that she keeps making a huge deal out of that.

 

Regardless, I don't want them to break up because they were the one stable romantic relationship on the show. It was nice to see that a person could have a career and a life and spouse outside that career, without it all falling apart. Why do they have to mess with that? Why can't they give Bishop a different kind of crisis, like her fears involving going undercover and losing who she is or being unable to pretend, and how her inability to do that well could get her partner(s) killed?

[JessDVD]

I'd really like to know who their focus group is that keeps saying that romantic strife in EVERY SINGLE character's life makes for engaging TV because it is not working for me. I am similarly over this Bishop snapping at McGee for overhearing a conversation that she was having in public.

 

At the beginning when Mr. DVD said that this is an Abby-heavy episode, I mentioned that I wouldn't so much mind if Pauley Perrette happened to not renew her contract at the end of this season, but thankfully this was pretty good. I prefer competent, street smart Abby to little girl GIBBS GIBBS GIBBS Abby any day.

[Chaos Theory]

It always interests me which characters other people like and don't. I actually love Abby. It is Tony who I don't particularly care for. I don't think the show has done anything for him since Shepard was Director. I know this is a tv show but in real life a guy like Tony would have most definitely been promoted by now. I also kinda like Bishop a lot more then I ever liked Ziva.

But when it comes to who you like or don't like. I am fine with being in the minority as long as things stay civil and petty names stay out of it like on other boards which I won't name because well...petty.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[sinkwriter]

I have liked Bishop since she started on the show - I'm just not enjoying what they're doing with her this season so far. 

[Julia]

I wasn't a fan of super wonder Bishop Sue, so I've liked her better this season, but all the woobifying is kind of overboard. I don't need her to be downtrodden, I just don't want to be on tenterhooks waiting for her to join Wesley Crusher among the gods in a flash of light.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Julia

[Chaos Theory]

I wasn't a fan of super wonder Bishop Sue, so I've liked her better this season, but all the woobifying is kind of overboard. I don't need her to be downtrodden, I just don't want to be on tenterhooks waiting for her to join Wesley Crusher among the gods in a flash of light.

I think you might have used every one of my trigger words. I liked the first season of Bishop. I found her fun. I missed a few episodes. Post gunshot Gibbs depresses me so I am not entirely up on what is up with this season Bishop but it looks like her husband is keeping CIA secrets.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[HawaiiTVGuy]

Bishop and her constant complaining about Jake not being able to tell her stuff is getting OLD!  Makes me wonder if she had "loose lips" when she was with the NSA because she doesn't seem to really understand the concept of "classified".  I can understand that she is bummed he has to travel and is not around, but she definitely seems more bummed that he can't tell her where he is going, not the fact he will be gone.

 

I am definitely not one to hate on characters or anything but she doesn't seem to add much to the team.  At least with Kate, she could easily hold her own being originally with the Secret Service, and of course Ziva was trained by Mossad.  Pretty much Bishop has some supposed great analytical skills in looking at intelligence and providing an assessment, but she seems way out of her depth in just being a day-to-day agent.

Edited October 21, 2015 by HawaiiTVGuy

[catray]

While I sometimes get tired of the current Abby iteration (as opposed to the early seasons) I did like seeing Abby taking the situation into her own hands and saving the day using her own set of skills, not becoming so crazy super ninja. I kind of wanted to smack her when she was muttering to herself in the closet with the bad guys in the next room (!!) but at least she acknowledged that telepathically contacting Gibbs wasn't going to work and she needed to do something-- and then did so. I guessed from the start (or fairly early after meeting her) that the other scientist was somehow connected to the robbery. Something just seemed hinky about her. I did like that she was actually trying to get information to expose the company and the rest got out of hand, not because she wanted to hurt people.

 

I too enjoyed Gibbs frantically clicking the panic button when he was accosted by all the ladies wanting their Botox.

 

Agreed! She was all "That was a private conversation!" and I was thinking "No conversation is private when you are sitting three feet away from someone."

 

Not to mention that she took a private phone call at work-- at a crime scene! It was urgent because Jake was being sent out somewhere, but seriously, unless you have an personal office with a door, walk a little bit farther away if you don't want your coworkers to overhear your conversation. Don't have it in the van where people might need to go for supplies!! McGee shouldn't have said anything but Bishop shouldn't have been having that conversation in the rig.

 

Not looking forward to Bishop drama next week-- and I'll be pissed if something happens to Jake. Not only because I love Jamie Bamber, but I seriously don't need weepy angsty Bishop.

[slothgirl]

 I guessed from the start (or fairly early after meeting her) that the other scientist was somehow connected to the robbery. Something just seemed hinky about her.

I couldn't put my finger on what the problem with her was at first. It says something about how the show as a whole has deteriorated in the area of character development that I assumed it was bad writing/directing/acting. It seemed so forced.

 

That was also my immediate reaction to the bad guys being so focused on Abby. I thought.. why would they even know she's there, and why would they go all "she must die" right off the bat? It made no sense, and because of how badly certain elements and episodes of this show have been handled, I assumed it was lazy writing to set up an Abby centric episode. Kudos to them that it was thought out, but really, I shouldn't have been pushed to assume that in the first place.

 

Still, it made no sense that these bad guys would be willing to kill anyone. Get in, get out... minimal muss, fuss and damage. That would be the way someone would try to do this in real life. It's the wrong crime for "kill everyone" to be modus operandi.

 

I'm with everyone who is tired of Bishop snapping at McGee for showing concern. Especially this time since he would have had to walk away from the van to AVOID overhearing, which is what SHE should have done.. not expected a coworker to leave the work area for her to speak privately! My bf once got irritated because I wouldn't turn down the tv show I was watching while he took a phone call... ON A CORDLESS PHONE! I was like Dude.. you can go anywhere in the house with that phone.. leave the room!

 

Also, Mcgee was actually responding to what she said after she hung up the phone! If he HAD been trying to give her space, and heard her end the call, he could reasonably assume that it was "safe to come out" and that perhaps her next words were meant for him to hear!

 

I'm ok with her having trouble transitioning to a relationship where Jake can't talk freely to her anymore. I imagine that's a significant change in their daily dynamic and suddenly not even knowing where he is going would be hard for anyone to adjust to. But it's silly for her to give JAKE a hard time for it. It's not like he can do anything about it.. they need to work together on maintaining closeness and intimacy in the face of this new "distance" by finding other ways to connect besides talking about work secrets. I imagine they're having trouble with that, but bitching to him about the change isn't going to solve anything.

 

So yeah... tired of relationship angst. I just wish Tony's relationship with whassername was with someone that I felt he had more chemistry with on screen. It's unfortunate that the actress with whom he had the most chemistry was Cote'. I didn't like the idea of them together, but everyone else they pair him with is a pale comparison of the sparks between Tony and Ziva.

 

Speaking of relationships, can we have more Delilah please?

[Julia]

I can see a real person asking for privacy, or at least expecting that their coworker would have the courtesy not to comment on the conversation he wasn't meant to overhear. I don't see how the woman who went through Tony's lad mag to list which sex acts she and her husband perform for her coworkers to punish them for not talking about sex in front of her thought one of them was going to respect her boundaries.

[sinkwriter]

 

I'm with everyone who is tired of Bishop snapping at McGee for showing concern. Especially this time since he would have had to walk away from the van to AVOID overhearing, which is what SHE should have done.. not expected a coworker to leave the work area for her to speak privately!

 

What cracked me up (and annoyed me) about her giving McGee a hard time was that he was already INSIDE the van! He must have been there the whole time she came over, sat down and had the conversation with Jake. It's not like he would have climbed over her to get inside the van during the conversation - she certainly wouldn't be able to ignore that or think, "Oh, I'm sure he won't hear me talking when he's only 10 feet away from me." And if he was already in the van when she strolled over on her phone, why wouldn't she peek inside, see him and go elsewhere? 

 

If she didn't want him to overhear, she should have gone somewhere else instead of, you know, sitting at the very edge of an open van in which your coworker is clearly already right there and thus able to hear anything you say. Seriously, her behavior baffled me. The writers (or the director) didn't think that one out.

[Clanstarling]

I don't love Abby -- I'm one of those who wishes she would have grown and changed the way the other characters have -- BUT I enjoyed this episode. She didn't turn in to super agent. She was firmly in her bailiwick. She stayed calm and used skills we've seen her use for years. No tears, no "Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs," no panic. (And I loved the magnesium fire starter in her heel. I really want one of those!)

 

I figured out the blonde girl was in on it too, and I'm also glad she wasn't REALLY bad.

 

All in all, I liked this episode. Even though it was "Abby in peril," it was fairly light. And unlike past "Abby in peril" episodes, this time she did a pretty good job of handling her end.

I have been one of the ones complaining about Abby lately. I had liked her early on when she was quirky, but also pretty awesome (see sinkwriter's list). But I think that they've toned her down a bit in the last few episodes, and she was pretty much Awesome Abby this episode, which makes me happy.

 

Gibbs and the Botox Buddies was hilarious.  

[sinkwriter]

"Gibbs and the Botox Buddies"... heeeeee.

[torqy]

I BUSTED out laughing as he took one look at the lot of them and instantly pressed the key fob. Multiple times. HEEE! (Did everyone notice that was Priscilla Barnes of Three's Company hosting the party? Girl was *perfect* for the part, yes?????)   

All of this!!! I came here to say just this - I am no Abby fan and was somewhat dreading this ep. But the shreiky voice wasn't in play - none of the ridic antics (other than the Gibbs permission slip). I enjoyed it. Count me as the only person in existence who did NOT see the lab girl being in on it - I had to wait for the shrew PR lady to ask how she knew. <#shame>

 

"MARTY FELDMAN?!?!?!?!"

I thought the blond woman seemed familiar, but didn't get that it was Priscilla Barnes. Hoky smoke!! (I would have run screaming out of that room instantly.)

 

You, I and Mrs. Torqy did not see the lab woman as being in on the caper.

 

Not sure where the Marty Feldman comparison came from! While we're talking DiNozzo, does anyone else think he and Reed Timmer the tornado chaser could be brothers?

Edited October 23, 2015 by torqy

[Julia]

My guess is that the Marty Feldman thing was a reference to the bulgy-eyed look some women who have excessive facial surgery get when their skin is pulled too tight, but I'm probably wrong.

[immortalfrieza]

I like Abby for everything she is, "Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!" and all, I wouldn't want her to change and I don't think she needs to anyway, but I love episodes like this that show that she can be badass when she needs to too. The only way that lab girl could have had "I'm in on it" be more obvious if it was stamped on her forehead. The fact that the bad guys somehow missed her lab the whole time was an big red flag for one thing, it was like they were deliberately avoiding it.

 

I normally like Bishop well enough, but so far she doesn't seem to have much of a purpose that the other characters couldn't have fulfilled and this silly hang up over the fact that her husband can't talk to her about work that she reams out the rest of the characters for trying to talk to her about doesn't help give her one. At least Ziva and Kate actually DID something regularly and had episodes to themselves on occasion, but Bishop doesn't.