S14.E06: Shell Game

[MyAimIsTrue]

After a kidnapped petty officer escapes her captor, NCIS uncovers a connection to her missing husband. Also, Abby knits the NCIS newbies personalized gifts.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Damn, no comments about this episode?  I admit to being distracted as I flipped between NCIS and the World Series.

[JackONeill]

I watched it, but when I came to the Forums page this morning, I had to struggle to remember what happened. I'm still not remembering.

[Skycatcher]

Oh-oh.  Not a good sign for the continued longevity of the show when the day-after forum is empty.  I watched about half of it, but the COW just wasn't compelling enough to hold my interest.

[pally]

that one was certainly a dud episode.  The whole knitting thing was stupid.  Even for Abby that was out of character...after 12 years of McGee we just now hear about these socks..  Wasn't it around the Jimmy-Breena adopted baby drama that she was shown learning how to knit.

And Gibbs...I know they want to recapture some magic but its way too early to proclaim a new family.  Show is not balanced among the characters and right now no one is showing any chemistry with any of the others.

[HansMoleman742]

It seems in the rush to amp up the on-screen presence of Quinn, TPTB have completely forgotten there are characters on this show that made this show the "highest-rated drama on television" before she arrived and will be there long after she dies on her way back to her home planet.  And just get rid of Fez already, the writers have no clue what to do with him.  (And it's only thanks to closed captioning I can understand what he's saying.)  And the best new character wasn't even on this episode - more Duane Henry please!

Edited October 26, 2016 by HansMoleman742

[MyAimIsTrue]

2 hours ago, HansMoleman742 said:

And the best new character wasn't even on this episode - more Duane Henry please!

I was thrilled to see his name in the opening credits but then... nothing.

[MissLucas]

I enjoyed Quinn and Bishop working together  when there's no additional drama to be dealt with they make a good team but the rest was indeed forgettable. McGee would never run around in socks he hasn't washed in 15 years. And considering the amount of time it takes to knit a whole sweater (when exactly did she manage that plus a vest for Torres when she spends more than the average 8 hours in the lab, volunteers for various projects and goes bowling with nuns) both McGee and Bishop should feel miffed about getting just measly socks and a friendship bracelet. Also: where is Palmer???

[AstaCharles]

This exchange from last night:

McGee:"How do you sleep at night?"

Torres: "Naked..(etc,etc)"

Torres reminds me of Mac from Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  Honestly,  I kind of wish this was true. It just makes me laugh. 

Edited October 27, 2016 by AstaCharles

[Rambler]

So... a guy returning to his car after opening a safety deposit box is assaulted, tortured for information, shot multiple times and then his body is tossed into the trunk of his car in a bank parking lot in the middle of the day and nobody notices anything? Oh and all the bank cameras are conveniently being blocked by an armored truck whose guards are apparently oblivious to a guy being killed within eyesight of their truck. Yes, this all sounds perfectly plausible.

[stonehaven]

I think what annoyed me was Mcgee got a new printer...or got the old one back...and no one said a thing....

[GHScorpiosRule]

I seriously need to rewatch this. I totally wasn't paying attention. Which is not good.

I will say that the doggie looked just like the one that shooter/druggie dude from season one who loved Gibbs and hated Tony. And they put water in Tony's NCIS cap with water for her to drink from.

[pally]

14 hours ago, MissLucas said:

I enjoyed Quinn and Bishop working together  when there's no additional drama to be dealt with they make a good team but the rest was indeed forgettable. McGee would never run around in socks he hasn't washed in 15 years. And considering the amount of time it takes to knit a whole sweater (when exactly did she manage that plus a vest for Torres when she spends more than the average 8 hours in the lab, volunteers for various projects and goes bowling with nuns) both McGee and Bishop should feel miffed about getting just measly socks and a friendship bracelet. Also: where is Palmer???

Brian Dietzen had knee surgery around the time these episodes were filming

[MissLucas]

4 hours ago, pally said:

Brian Dietzen had knee surgery around the time these episodes were filming

Thanks for the heads-up! So it's not a conspiracy *phew*

[Skycatcher]

I am somewhat puzzled.  What is it about the NCIS franchises that has made them auto-destruct with these new characters?  I was happy to hear there was new blood coming in.  But the actresses/actors TPTB have chosen, or the way the new folks have been introduced has been a major fail, both on NCIS-Quinn and NCIS-NOLA.

I know "they" figured that given enough time we'd get used to Ziva.  Then, given enough time we'd get used to Bishop.  Yeah, we sorta did - I'm still a little put off by Bishop. But enough, already!  How many characters are we supposed to put up with in order to watch what was once our favorite show?  I'm tired of "getting used to" unpleasant characters.  Why can't the casting team vet the actors before the audience is expected to "get used to" them??????  Why must TPTB select actors that mess with the established team in such an unpleasant way?  Oh, yeah.  Bring the new and different, but why to they have to be so disruptive, so....... un-meshed?  BTW - I was one who was happy to see the end of the Tony-fratboy years, kinda excited to see what the new team would look like.  But to what end?  Yeah, new team members do shake things up a bit, that's expected. But do they have to be so........unpalatable?

Edited October 27, 2016 by Skycatcher

[JessDVD]

I don't have a particular feeling about Quinn or Torres, would approve of more MI-6 guy. But I definitely feel like any irritation that either brings, would be diminished if only *one* of them were on the show right now. I'm really not getting why they felt the need to replace Tony with 2-3ish characters, when this show is already bursting at the seams with regulars. As it was, I don't get enough Ducky or Jimmy, and Vance is supposed to be a regular too and he barely graces the screen (I'm OK with that because I'm not super fond of him). And yet we need to have all these scene chewers added on. I hope they drop one or the other (or both, and keep MI-6 guy) very soon.

I'm already aware that this show operates on the tell, don't show method of storytelling (You're supposed to think that Tony and Ziva are a thing, despite that they routinely show them ... well... not being a thing) so I shouldn't even (but am going to anyway) complain about how it's incredibly clunky storytelling for Gibbs to be telling Torres that we're all a family even though there has been literally nothing showing that this is so.

COTW was reasonably engaging disregarding the plotholes big enough to lose an SUV in. I miss when this show was, put away everything and pay attention, but I still find Gibbs, McGee, Bishop, Ducky, and Jimmy interesting enough to continue watching while I surf Facebook on my laptop.

[Ohmo]

1 hour ago, JessDVD said:

complain about how it's incredibly clunky storytelling for Gibbs to be telling Torres that we're all a family even though there has been literally nothing showing that this is so.

I don't think it's clunky as much as it was that the writers didn't add a line or two for Gibbs,  It would have made more sense for Gibbs to say that Torres has joined a family because that's how Abby (and I think Gibbs at this point) views the team: Ducky, Abby, and Tim have been family for the longest.  Tony's still family even though he's gone.  Bishop, Jimmy, and Fornell have become family.   Brenna and Victoria are family to Ducky/Grandducky, (Grandducky will never not be one of the most awesome names ever), Delilah will undoubtedly become family to Gibbs when she marries Tim.  Emily calls Jethro Uncle Gibbs.  The sweaters were Abby's way of bringing Quinn and Torres into the family, and I'm sure, in time, we will see examples of family-type behavior with Quinn and Torres included.  Just like we've seen for the entire run of the series.  You're right, we haven't seen the family dynamic with Torres and Quinn yet, but I think we will.

[Packerbrewerbadger]

NCIS used to be must see TV for me ( now it's Major Crimes, good to see Dr. Morales tonight) but now I just sit there and roll my eyes, the writing is so bad and stale ( did no one not see the dog collar coming!)   And next week Senior is back- Ugh!!!

[Skycatcher]

15 hours ago, Ohmo said:

  You're right, we haven't seen the family dynamic with Torres and Quinn yet, but I think we will.

I'm supposing we're stuck with these three people, so I'm hoping TPTB can get all the newbie kinks worked out (quickly, please) and we finally get to the family dynamics.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm not complaining about there being new characters.  I think it's a good way to shake things up.  I AM complaining about the ham-handed way they've been introduced, and the fact that I don't particularly like the actors selected to join the team.

[ForReal]

I guess the way Gibbs pushed Quinn to face her past was sort of fatherly. She crossed paths again this episode with the guy she keeps brushing off because she can't get close to anyone, so I presume there will be more story for them down the road.

I am still hopeful for the show and the newbies, but for me, it hasn't gelled yet.

[immortalfrieza]

On 10/27/2016 at 7:43 PM, JessDVD said:

I don't have a particular feeling about Quinn or Torres, would approve of more MI-6 guy. But I definitely feel like any irritation that either brings, would be diminished if only *one* of them were on the show right now. I'm really not getting why they felt the need to replace Tony with 2-3ish characters, when this show is already bursting at the seams with regulars. As it was, I don't get enough Ducky or Jimmy, and Vance is supposed to be a regular too and he barely graces the screen (I'm OK with that because I'm not super fond of him). And yet we need to have all these scene chewers added on. I hope they drop one or the other (or both, and keep MI-6 guy) very soon.

Too many is definitely a big problem, but I think the real issue is they just slotted Quinn and Torres in right off the bat and blindsided everybody. If like they did when Ziva left they had taken a few episodes with just Gibbs, Mcgee, and Bishop as the agents to give us all a chance to get used to Tony being gone and give the writers a chance to throw in a character here and there as potential replacements to gauge audience reaction and give some development to them whoever they ended up with would've probably gone over a lot better. They made the same mistake with FBI chick on NCIS:NO too, but at least there they had the excuse that the previous actress leaving blindsided THEM.

[catray]

I watched this last night because I was out of town last week and wow, I thought maybe I just wasn't in the mood but apparently this episode didn't really work for anyone! I was just bored. The beginning was promising enough with the petty officer killing her captor and escaping but man... it really fell apart for me in the long run and my attention wandered-- I don't even remember who the bad guy is and I watched last night. Meh. I have no real desire to rewatch it either.

I don't mind either Quinn or Torres but there weren't really any stand out character moments. I've also noticed in the last two episodes it seems to be girls vs boys for some of the stuff, so I hope we shake up it again in the next few episodes.

[stuckin60s]

Love Ducky, Tim, Gibbs

really like Abby, but with everyone growing up and older, she just has to.  I am sure PP wants to change it up.  The Goth has to go and let her grow up

Like Palmer and Fornell

Still cant stand Bishop

Torres and Quinn will take time, glad they added more than one replacement.  It would have been hard to have just one - replacing Tony that would be " this person is not as good as Tony"  said over and over