S13.E13: Déja Vu

[MyAimIsTrue]

While investigating the murder of a seaman who was set to testify before a grand jury, the NCIS team uncovers the resurgence of an international human-trafficking ring.  Also, McGee hopes to spend the night at a colleague’s home after a storm causes massive power outages in the city.

[betsyboo]

Ok I am only at 16 minute mark and am blatantly confused. Abby runs the DNA of the blonde hair. Comes back to Jane Murphy from Waverly U. Under Janes ID is a very clear, very red stamp that says MISSING. Yet McGee doesn't mention that to Gibbs and then they get to Jane's dorm and are surprised to find her father looking for her...? And the father says "should I file a missing persons report?" Hunh? Perhaps this will make more sense to me as I finish the ep. As of right now I consider that a huge f-up. (Please allow me the prerogative to edit this post if I am soundly corrected in the remaining 44 mins....)

[MyAimIsTrue]

Oh show, way too much unbelievable inconsistency with what was apparently supposed to be record setting cold temperatures.

[AshleyLyn]

I knew who the bag guy was the moment he was introduced. I just looked at my mom after the whole "ulcer" line and said "He did it." 

[MyAimIsTrue]

The bad guy seemed obvious to me as well. 

 

Although there were parts of the episode I truly enjoyed (scenes with Palmer, specifically) overall it seemed like a very sloppy show.

[david gideon]

Me too on spotting the bad guy. But the hokey letter to President Truman frame worked on me. So thumbs up.

[AshleyLyn]

See I didn't get the whole letter to President Truman. Normally I like Elli, but.. those bits annoyed me. And I liked the ending scene.

[Bobbin]

Another case of "I've solved the case, but I won't tell you who did it so the killer can take me out first." At least she didn't ask Bishop to meet her in the booth in the window in the diner

[GHScorpiosRule]

What a snoozefest.

 

And not to sound like a cold-hearted witch or anything, but female human trafficking is not a new or recent crime. To hear Jimmy speak, one would think there had never been human trafficking before.  And either I've got latent psychic abilities, but when he said, "Bishop?" and Ellie paused and turned to look back at him, I said, "Get the bastards."

 

And then Jimmy said...waaaaait for iiiiiit..."Get the bastards."

 

I think maybe the other explanation could be that this phrase has become a cliché.

 

And I didn't find anything odd with Jane's father asking if he should have filed a missing persons report, since she was away at college, and it could be possible she forgot to call or got caught up in something...he had no reason to think something had happened until he got there. 

 

And what was all that with Ellie writing a letter to a dead president?

 

Dammit!dammit! I am still bitter and pissed that it seems to be true that Jake did cheat, when what I saw onscreen did not look like a man having an affair! Show should have just gotten some unknown actor, not someone I others love and who knew Bamber and love him, if they where going to ruin him.

[betsyboo]

 

And I didn't find anything odd with Jane's father asking if he should have filed a missing persons report, since she was away at college, and it could be possible she forgot to call or got caught up in something...he had no reason to think something had happened until he got there. 

 

Sorry - that's what I get for posting from my phone! My point was the continuity error. Abby's computer screen clearly showed the word MISSING under Jane Murphy's ID badge. However, in the next scene, McGee doesn't mention it to Gibbs, and in the scene *after that they are both flummoxed to find the student they are seeking missing, with her father also looking for her. Someone in production used a pic of her ID badge from later in the ep while they are discussing it in the bullpen and used it for Abby's search. It completely confused me because I couldn't understand why Abby didn't point it out, why McGee didn't mention it, and why they were surprised at the dorm.

 

Count me as someone who was lost with the letter to Truman. At least Ellie figured it out and didn't have to be "rescued." I feel bad for her redshirt friend, tho, who was just trying to help.

 

I did enjoy the scene at the end  --- altho I really wish I could have seen them all show up at the door with the sleeping bags. :-))

 

Did Mark Harmon have any lines at all?? Maybe 10? I was hoping once the FBI girl showed up we'd get a little Fornell. Alas. I'd like to know how he and Emily managed their first Christmas. 

 

I am not gonna lie - the garbage guy makes me laugh!

 

All of a sudden Jake is officially the "ex-husband?" That was quick, even if she was just referring to him as such in a letter to a dead president.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Yes! I fully expected Gibbs or Tony to say something about calling Fornell, when Ellie mentioned how it was a task force that included the FBI!

 

And that shows how much I was paying attention! I didn't even see the MISSING under Jane's picture, heh.

 

And good lord, this makes what, the third time, Ellie decides to confront the villain without telling Gibbs or making sure she has back up?

 

Jeebus Cripes.

[betsyboo]

 

Jeebus Cripes.

SNORT. I use "Sweet Jeebus" and "Cripes all-Friday" (I have no idea - something my mother always said) all the time.  I enjoy your amalgam!

Edited January 20, 2016 by betsyboo

[minamurray78]

Abby's gonna be so pissed when she finds out they all had a sleepover at Gibbs' without her.

[betsyboo]

Abby's gonna be so pissed when she finds out they all had a sleepover at Gibbs' without her.

#NAILEDIT.

[Runningwild]

Not the best episode, but I did like the ending. But where was Abby?

[Julia]

I can't even. Every time they put Bishop front and center I dislike her more. Her imaginary friend is President Truman (who was legendary for being patient with whining, and who needs his role in the founding of the NSA explained to him)? Bureaucratic redundancy gets her ex so hot that he doesn't care about white slavery but she's too real for that? In fact, she's so real that her team has to stalk her, because if they don't, the bad guys she can't handle will get away when she takes them on without backup and they kill her?

 

They haven't even managed to convince me that Jake cheated, so the creator's pet thing is not going well for me. Can't they just show her being good at her job as part of a (more experienced, more competent) team?

 

I don't want to rewatch - how did the club owner know about McGee's dance act? And was he complicit in the trafficking, or was he just an asshole?

Edited January 20, 2016 by Julia

[Clanstarling]

I normally like Bishop, but the letter bit was annoying to me. I don't really like that kind of framing device. Too talky and intrusive for my tastes.

I didn't have any trouble with Jimmy's reaction to human trafficking. We all know it exists - but being confronted by and having to deal with its consequences directly is a different thing. That,combined with Jimmy being a new father who already has plenty of worries, made it an honest and moving reaction for me.

Where was Fornell?! I thought for sure he'd show up, even if his branch of the FBI wasn't involved in this particular case (what is his branch in the FBI anyway?)

[pally]

Its episodes like this that makes me worry about next year. The personalities between the Bishop and McGee are too similar to provide the dyamic necessary to make the show interesting.  Neither can really carry off the 2nd lead.

The whole letter thing was weird and they already used the letter thing in last year's House Rules episode.  You know they are running out of ideas when they copy an idea from a episode from last season.

[pcta]

I really hate Bishop. It is an uninteresting character played by a mediocre actress. Having her as the central character really weakens the show. The pace of this show was disjointed - largely because of Bishop and the letter. It would just get rolling in its normal rhythm and blam brakes and tedium. Not helped by the writing or, I am sorry to say, the directing. As someone said up thread, I am worried about next season.

[Mermaid Under]

Maybe "Déja Vu" just means we've seen this all before, which was how it felt to me. 

I did notice that both Ducky and Gibbs were very uncharacteristically appreciative to Jimmy.  I've never understood why they both were so dismissive of that character.  Having recently learned that Tony is shoving off next season, I wonder if the Jimmy character is going to take a bigger role - maybe he will become the next probie.

[MissLucas]

The episode lost me the moment Bishop started to dis paper-pushers because she's action-girl. I normally don't mind her character but that was just awful. Who's next on her sh** list because they're not out in the field wielding a gun and following up on results often produced (in real life at least) by paper pushers? Lab-rats? Autopsy-gremlins? All that bs coming from a former analyst - clearly she's got some major issues. That thinly veiled contempt might have been there for some time for Jake to register.

[jaytee1812]

All she said was it makes some people happy, but it's not for her.

[stuckin60s]

I too do not like the way this season is heading.  So sorry to see Tony go, but hopfully they will add one or two more with more characters.  I thought than the replacement for Ziva could have been anyone other than Ellie, I just don't see the fit .  She is not strong enough to carry this part.  I would love to see Ducky get more screen time ( he gets less and less each year). (would also love to see Robert Vaughn in a cameo).   I would also see Abby get to age like the rest of the cast has.  She is stuck in her character and it needs to advance

[UncleChuck]

 

And good lord, this makes what, the third time, Ellie decides to confront the villain without telling Gibbs or making sure she has back up?

Gibbs and the others popped up so conveniently and behind the killer makes me think that Ellie DID GO to Gibbs and the meeting was all planned as a trap that worked perfectly.  If Ellie had "gone rogue" again and nearly got herself killed, Gibbs would at the very least given her the ole stink-eye.  But he didn't--so I believe that everything went according to plan.

Just because TPTB do not show the viewers every single communication between the team, does not mean that we must believe that such communications did not happen.

 

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Gibbs and the others popped up so conveniently and behind the killer makes me think that Ellie DID GO to Gibbs and the meeting was all planned as a trap that worked perfectly.  If Ellie had "gone rogue" again and nearly got herself killed, Gibbs would at the very least given her the ole stink-eye.  But he didn't--so I believe that everything went according to plan.

Just because TPTB do not show the viewers every single communication between the team, does not mean that we must believe that such communications did not happen.

 

Except that the team didn't know where Ellie had disappeared to near the end. I think it was just good luck that they showed up in time. 

[Julia]

I think there is a whole world of non-canon possible scenarios for what happened. The entire frame for the episode they aired was Bishop, who has gone rogue repeatedly in the past, telling the dead founder of the NSA that she's just someone who cares too much not to take Action! I find it kind of difficult to believe she was part of an actual authorized plan to confront an armed, murderous human trafficker and the show forgot to mention it.

Which is probably why, at the crime scene, after the ballistic report came in and the team discovered what Bishop had apparently already figured out but chose not to share, that there was still a killer out there, Tony said "Where's Bishop?" and McGee replied "Went to see Connors."

Edited January 21, 2016 by Julia

[MrWhyt]

Ok I am only at 16 minute mark and am blatantly confused. Abby runs the DNA of the blonde hair. Comes back to Jane Murphy from Waverly U. Under Janes ID is a very clear, very red stamp that says MISSING. Yet McGee doesn't mention that to Gibbs and then they get to Jane's dorm and are surprised to find her father looking for her...? And the father says "should I file a missing persons report?" Hunh? Perhaps this will make more sense to me as I finish the ep. As of right now I consider that a huge f-up. (Please allow me the prerogative to edit this post if I am soundly corrected in the remaining 44 mins....)

Yeah While watching I was confused at how they matched Jane's DNA, why was Jane's DNA in the database? big continuity mess up.

 

And who didn't see them all ending up at Gibbs' in the end?

Edited January 21, 2016 by MrWhyt

[Betweenthisandthat]

And who didn't see them all ending up at Gibbs' in the end?

 

That was my favorite part of the episode.  I was hoping it would happen but didn't think it would, and then it did.  My other favorite parts were McGee and DiNozzo.  I'm sure TPTB know that they need to do some brilliant casting for these two new characters who may supposedly fill the DiNozzo-shaped whole that will exist next season.  My worry is that more often than not, McNozzo has been my favorite friendship on NCIS, the humor that comes from their good-natured teasing, the way it's developed over the last twelve and thirteen seasons, I'll miss that.  It's going to be hard to replace that history they have.  

Edited January 21, 2016 by Betweenthisandthat

[betsyboo]

That was my favorite part of the episode.  I was hoping it would happen but didn't think it would, and then it did.  My other favorite parts were McGee and DiNozzo.  I'm sure TPTB know that they need to do some brilliant casting for these two new characters who may supposedly fill the DiNozzo-shaped whole that will exist next season.  My worry is that more often than not, McNozzo has been my favorite friendship on NCIS, the humor that comes from their good-natured teasing, the way it's developed over the last twelve and thirteen seasons, I'll miss that.  It's going to be hard to replace that history they have.  

agreed and agreed. And I just realized that makes McGee "senior agent"!