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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

S03.E13: Find This Thing We Need To

Galileo908

By Galileo908
in The Last Man On Earth [V]

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GRChereck

GRChereck

(edited)

The Todd/Gail plot was rather sweet (especially given their past relationship) -- I was not expecting that. :) Glad they figured out what Melissa was taking, too, so they finally might be able to help her...

The Tandy/Carol/Erica plot had its moments* -- Tandy being reminded of his old life (and how much he has grown to love and appreciate Carol) was another sweet thing I hadn't really expected -- but I was pretty disappointed that their story was left open, so we won't find out who's in the Yoda mask until next week. The big thing about serialized storytelling is that each episode must not only move the overall narrative arc forward in some way, but also have a proper beginning, middle, and end of its own; here, I felt like one plot took a small but promising step forward, while the other (though amusing and somewhat touching) ultimately didn't seem to have much of a point (unless it was to get Yoda Kid back to the office building somehow so the whole gang could discover his/her identity at once). :\

 

* - I think the biggest laugh I had was Tandy's use of "fart-knocker" -- I don't remember him using it on the show before, but it was one the epithets my older sister liked to use when we were kids. :D

Edited by GRChereck
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GRChereck

GRChereck

34 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

And our Yoda is definitely Kristen Wiig.

I didn't think they were ready to bring Wiigy back in this soon; but since Yoda's identity wasn't revealed in this ep, I'm more inclined to think it could be her...

Also, a couple shout-outs I liked: Gail having a Thin Lizzy song in her head (I'm not overly familiar with their stuff, but I love "Jailbreak," "Cowboy Song" and "Black Rose," as well as their take on "Whiskey in the Jar" -- I'd love to see Gail try to play one of them on the accordion), and Tandy getting a couple seasons of 'Judging Amy' on DVD for Yoda (my mom loved that show). :)

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sarahthenerd

sarahthenerd

I hope the kid is joining the show! This show strikes me as one which would fit a child actor in nicely, since its main character tends to act like a child half the time anyway...

This was a bit of a filler episode, I'll grant. But the Tandy bits, where he's remembering life before and after Carol, were really sweet.

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ottoDbusdriver

ottoDbusdriver

So, how many episodes are going to go by before Kristen Wiig's character shows up ?  

It's been 3 episodes so far, and it doesn't look like she's showing up next week either based on the trailer at the end of this episode.

Who's kidding who, Tandy will figure out some way to kill this kid in the Yoda mask since he will be horning in on Tandy's territory as the center of attention.

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HotRats2112

HotRats2112

(edited)

Did anyone catch the quick piano riff (from the main theme in the first season) when he looked at the Jenga tower?  I really loved how badly Tandy wanted to save Yoda mask and how personal it became.  

Not a ton of laughs in this one but at this point I'm so invested in the characters it could go straight drama and I'd still love it.  I'm worried that Gail will be the next to go, now they have her popping pills.  But I did love Todd going to the elevator and getting his attitude checked.  Imagine 10 days in there.

Edited by HotRats2112
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Matt1

Matt1

2 hours ago, MarkHB said:

I'm picturing what it must have been like for a kid to try to survive (2 years now?) all alone in that environment. Damn, that's heartbreaking,

We're nearly 5 years removed now, actually.  It's the spring of 2024, and the virus seems to have been in the summer/fall of 2019.

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GRChereck

GRChereck

(edited)
4 hours ago, HotRats2112 said:

Did anyone catch the quick piano riff (from the main theme in the first season) when he looked at the Jenga tower?  I really loved how badly Tandy wanted to save Yoda mask and how personal it became.

I did, yeah. :(

4 hours ago, HotRats2112 said:

Not a ton of laughs in this one but at this point I'm so invested in the characters it could go straight drama and I'd still love it.  I'm worried that Gail will be the next to go, now they have her popping pills.  But I did love Todd going to the elevator and getting his attitude checked.  Imagine 10 days in there.

I agree, that was a great little moment.

I got the impression that she and Erica (given their recognition of the pills) likely experimented with drugs during their time together before they found Phil/Tandy in Tucson; but Gail seems like she could all-too-easily fall back into bad habits...

8 hours ago, MischaMouse said:

There was a guest star in the end credits. 

 

  Hide contents

Keith L. Williams. Checked IMDb and he's a kid. 

Good eye! :) One thing we haven't had on the show yet is a child character (not counting Mike's vision of Young Tandy last season); it'll be interesting to see how they deal with one when Tandy is already pretty much an overgrown kid himself, but I suppose this could be a good opportunity for him, Carol, and Erica to try out their parenting skills before the babies are born.

Edited by GRChereck
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Traveller519

Traveller519

This episode was a sacrificial lamb to the serialized story of the show. It's not a particularly good episode on its own merit but does move the needle, albeit incredibly slowly, on some of the bigger plots. The Todd and Gail B plot was well done in my opinion. Especially Gail placing the Xanax on the dashboard, Todd discovering the elevator prison, and Todd explaining why Melissa's Santas Penis comment is conventionally Funny.

The amount of time spent with Tandy out in the woods really just felt like filler though, we got the jokes early and got his emotional connection to him just as quickly, dragging the whole night-time observation out felt very padded.

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GRChereck

GRChereck

1 hour ago, Traveller519 said:

This episode was a sacrificial lamb to the serialized story of the show. It's not a particularly good episode on its own merit but does move the needle, albeit incredibly slowly, on some of the bigger plots.

Well put. This and "Whitney Houston, We Have a Problem" (3x8) are the only eps so far this season where I really felt that... Well, at least this one had a little forward movement, while the earlier one pretty much went in a circle (with Gail still trapped, and Melissa's disappearance resolved on its own with no explanation of where she'd been or what she'd done -- even Tandy seemed to serve less purpose than usual, and I didn't feel that Todd's conflict with Carol landed nearly as well as his interactions with Gail did here). :\

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Charlesman

Charlesman

2 hours ago, Traveller519 said:

This episode was a sacrificial lamb to the serialized story of the show. It's not a particularly good episode on its own merit but does move the needle, albeit incredibly slowly, on some of the bigger plots. The Todd and Gail B plot was well done in my opinion. Especially Gail placing the Xanax on the dashboard, Todd discovering the elevator prison, and Todd explaining why Melissa's Santas Penis comment is conventionally Funny.

The amount of time spent with Tandy out in the woods really just felt like filler though, we got the jokes early and got his emotional connection to him just as quickly, dragging the whole night-time observation out felt very padded.

 

I've always been surprised at how many episodes have pretty much nothing happening. Most shows, they'd see the yoda pictures, stake him out, find him, and unmask him, in four scenes in the first half of the episode. Fully done before the second commercial break. This show stretches it out over three episodes.

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peeayebee

peeayebee

I was disappointed we didn't find out in this ep who Yoda is (and I'm not checking spoilers). Like others, I did like Todd's realization of what Gail went thru. It was also sweet that he brought back Gordon. 

I liked Carol doing a roll-out from the parked car. Oh, and the camouflaged car was pretty funny, as was Tandy wearing the moss with leftover Xmas decorations.

I wonder if the teriyaki Cheetos also had raisin balls in them. BTW, I ALWAYS think of Carol when I open my container of raisins and find some clumped together.

I figured Santa's penis somehow translated into what Melissa had been taking. No way would I have figured that out on my own.

I LOVED when Tandy said, "As Lewis used to say, That's great," which of course Lewis would say sarcastically.

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GRChereck

GRChereck

3 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I liked Carol doing a roll-out from the parked car. Oh, and the camouflaged car was pretty funny, as was Tandy wearing the moss with leftover Xmas decorations.

The return of the ghillie suit, yes! :D Love that Carol, Erica, and the car had them, too.

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sarahthenerd

sarahthenerd

I don't think even this show would kill off a kid. Child death is one of those things that's Just Not Funny. My theory is that Pamela will turn out to be connected to the kid somehow and eventually they'll be written out of the show together.

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Traveller519

Traveller519

12 hours ago, sarahthenerd said:

I don't think even this show would kill off a kid. Child death is one of those things that's Just Not Funny. My theory is that Pamela will turn out to be connected to the kid somehow and eventually they'll be written out of the show together.

Or not even connected. Just can't deal with this group of people, and the kid effectively becomes her new Dog.

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GRChereck

GRChereck

(edited)
4 hours ago, CofCinci said:

Maybe this kid will help Melissa. 

Aww! :) I hadn't thought about that, but yeah, whether she still actually wants a kid or that was merely a reflection of how far gone she was into her psychosis, having a child in the group could help her decide what she really wants in that regard.

Also, while I think the first half of this season didn't seem to know what to do with Tandy for the most part -- at least the previous two seasons clearly traced both his spiraling out of control until he alienated most of the community, and his integrating himself back into the gang by becoming a better person -- having to already deal with a kid could give us more of a chance to see him prepare for fatherhood, which should be the next major step in his development. 

Edited by GRChereck
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GRChereck

GRChereck

2 hours ago, sarahthenerd said:

It's occurred to me - one of the pictures at Melissa's house was of her volunteering with children. Maybe she really did like them, and wanted some....

Good point. :) It's possible that she did want a family at one time, but the combined traumas of her failed marriage, losing everyone she knew in The Virus, and how Phil/Tandy tried to manipulate her into having sex with him (under the pretense of "repopulation") pretty much put her off. 

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iMonrey

iMonrey

Did I miss something? How did Tandy and Todd find Melissa? The last thing I remember was the two of them driving around Akron trying to find her but I don't remember them finding her. Yet here she was back at the compound at the beginning of this episode.

It also seems unlikely to me that Todd would still be this heavy. Even with the fresh supplies in the office building they aren't exactly living high off the hog if Carol still has to make these weird snacks for the kid.

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Virtual

Virtual

Uhh..... what exactly happened this episode? Other than Tandy finally making contact with the Yoda person and Todd & Gail finding out the type of pills Melissa was taking. I am interested in seeing where both of those stories go, and hope we find out what we need to know in the next episode.

As a side note, I thought Tandy saying about Mark (Lewis' lover) that they all knew he was dead a couple of episodes back, was baseless at first considering how many people have popped up and joined Tandy and the group so there's a considerable chance Mark could do the same at some point. But I was thinking about it, and I now believe that those thoughts Tandy had about Mark may have been his own thoughts regarding Mike. He didn't want to check inside the room to find out for sure if Mike was dead when he went by the house he'd left him at. Maybe it's easier on Tandy to just assume his brother is dead without having to see it, and that way, he avoids tormenting himself every day.

And still, I wonder just what it was that caused Melissa to downspiral mentally. I don't buy the meds wearing off/expiring just now, nor that it took her years to decline mentally without taking the meds.

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iMonrey

iMonrey

Quote

They went to her office, found the magazine with her home address, where they found her sleeping in her bed.

I know but . . . later when they were at her house after Todd saw her taking a pill she just took off and then they got in their car driving around looking for her. That's the last I remember of it. Am I mixing up the order of things?

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CofCinci

CofCinci

On 3/30/2017 at 0:23 AM, Virtual Side said:

Uhh..... what exactly happened this episode? Other than Tandy finally making contact with the Yoda person and Todd & Gail finding out the type of pills Melissa was taking. I am interested in seeing where both of those stories go, and hope we find out what we need to know in the next episode.

As a side note, I thought Tandy saying about Mark (Lewis' lover) that they all knew he was dead a couple of episodes back, was baseless at first considering how many people have popped up and joined Tandy and the group so there's a considerable chance Mark could do the same at some point. But I was thinking about it, and I now believe that those thoughts Tandy had about Mark may have been his own thoughts regarding Mike. He didn't want to check inside the room to find out for sure if Mike was dead when he went by the house he'd left him at. Maybe it's easier on Tandy to just assume his brother is dead without having to see it, and that way, he avoids tormenting himself every day.

And still, I wonder just what it was that caused Melissa to downspiral mentally. I don't buy the meds wearing off/expiring just now, nor that it took her years to decline mentally without taking the meds.

Depending on her diagnosis, increased stress or physical illness could have trigger the psychotic episode. 

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GRChereck

GRChereck

57 minutes ago, CofCinci said:

Depending on her diagnosis, increased stress or physical illness could have trigger the psychotic episode.

In Melissa's case, her downward spiral really seemed to begin with Todd's rejection of her proposal (in the Christmas episodes, 2x9 and 2x10). If her initial mental problems coincided with (or were possibly triggered by) her husband having cheated on her / left her for someone else, it makes sense to me that her ex and his lover dying in The Virus might have given her peace of mind for a while but she would be set off again by Todd having turned her down, compounded by the added stress of Phil 2's sudden death. (Granted, she seemed to have it under control for a brief period when she and Gail worked out an arrangement to share Todd, but then Mike falling ill with symptoms similar to The Virus sent her into crazy-survivalist mode, cemented by her shooting Darrell in the s.3 premiere. After that, the trauma of having actually killed someone could've pushed her totally over the edge...)

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