S15.E01: House Divided

[MyAimIsTrue]

Two months after Gibbs and McGee were last seen fighting an elusive group of rebels in a Paraguay jungle, the NCIS team in D.C. tirelessly searches for their missing colleagues. Also, Vance and Torres are summoned to a congressional hearing regarding the fallout from the Paraguay mission

[Katy M]

I liked it.  Ellie came up with own "campfire."  LOL.  A little too convenient with the cell phone, but OK.  Happy ending always good.

[Sharpie66]

Excellent ep! I was nervous that the computer guy (who, btw, I found really attractive, even with that beard) was a set-up, but it was nice seeing him get his revenge and take care of Gibbs' and McGee's problem with what to do with El Jefe. Loved that the McGees' reunion wasn't a big kiss, but just a tender moment--very touching. 

Edited September 27, 2017 by Sharpie66

[Chaos Theory]

I thought this was a very good episode.  Everyone pulled their weight exceptionally well.  As someone who really likes Bishop I liked how she stepped up and took over in both Gibbs and McGee's absence.      

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well shit. For some reason my dvr didn't record this and I'll have to catch it On Demand.

[secnarf]

I thought this was a touch heavy on the torture porn - I don't *really* need to watch them waterboard Gibbs - but I did like how Gibbs and McGee worked together to get the knife and escape, ignoring the convenience of the phone.

The ending was sweet. It really seemed to emphasize Gibbs' loneliness, though - McGee comes back to his wife and a baby on the way. Gibbs' family are all dead.

[Linderhill]

I enjoyed this but definitely wondered who would let Bishop run the team.  There's no way that Leon would have left Bishop and Torres on their own.  Did they even say where Quinn went?  if they did I didn't hear it.  It could have been a good transition, Quinn running the team until Gibbs and McGee were back.  

On another note, now McGee has an in show reason for looking so skinny.  And He looks pretty good with the beard, unlike Gibbs who still looks pretty sketchy with that scraggly beard.

[Katy M]

15 minutes ago, Linderhill said:

Did they even say where Quinn went? 

Torres said something about that she was taking care of her mother.

[Linderhill]

thanks, I'm not sure how I missed that but at least it was addressed.

[Katy M]

11 minutes ago, Linderhill said:

thanks, I'm not sure how I missed that but at least it was addressed.

Probably because it was a quick line in the middle of the case stuff they were talking about and Torres tends to mumble, and nobody really acknowledged it.  Literally 6 or 7 words and that was it.

[slothgirl]

1 hour ago, Linderhill said:

I enjoyed this but definitely wondered who would let Bishop run the team.  There's no way that Leon would have left Bishop and Torres on their own.  

No kidding... how many months was Gibbes gone? Another more senior agent would have been assigned to supervise the people remaining. Or they would have been shuffled off to another team. Bishop taking over was so unbelievable as to almost ruin the episode for me. Best scenes were Gibbes and McGee by far. 

And what's with everyone going to Mcgee's house? Dude's been away from his pregnant wife for MONTHS... give them some private time to be together, at least for the 1st night for pity's sake! You can party with them in a day or so.

Was Jimmy in this episode? Did I blink and miss him?

[marina to]

This was a surprisingly good episode. It made sense that Ellie would be the one to step up - can't see Torres pushing paper and no way Reeves would be given that level of access. They just had to get rid of Quinn to set that up. I could have done without the torture porn too but the rest of the episode had a good balance of using everybody and no one element overpowered the others. 

Dare I hope this is a good sign of things to come?

5 minutes ago, slothgirl said:

Was Jimmy in this episode? Did I blink and miss him?

We saw him with the body. He was the one who told them which club they were looking for. 

"What? I have a life!"

[rhys]

Why were 2 agents looking rather chunky after being fed 300 calories a day for a couple months?

[slothgirl]

27 minutes ago, marina to said:

This was a surprisingly good episode. It made sense that Ellie would be the one to step up - can't see Torres pushing paper and no way Reeves would be given that level of access. They just had to get rid of Quinn to set that up. I could have done without the torture porn too but the rest of the episode had a good balance of using everybody and no one element overpowered the others. 

Dare I hope this is a good sign of things to come?

We saw him with the body. He was the one who told them which club they were looking for. 

"What? I have a life!"

I agree that neither Torres or Reeves would have been put in charge of the team either. Where I disagree is the notion that ANY of these junior agents would have been put in charge of the team. They would have been reassigned to another team leader or a senior agent assigned to them. The would most likely have been split up.

It's always been a pet peeve of mine that the entire Naval Criminal Investigative Service agency and work seems to be handled by so few people. Does Abby ever do work for other teams? Is there a whole different lab for the forensics needed by other cases, and it is staffed with ALL the other forensic scientists who work there since none of them are allowed in Abby's lab (or just don't want to deal with her preciousness)?  Does Gibbs' team get ALL the cases resulting in dead bodies so that Ducky and his one assistant never have other autopsies to cover or crime scenes to go to making them unavailable when Gibbs needs them? I know they have other agents... I see them wandering around the orange room. Gibbs' team gets center court in the room, but there are bullpens for other teams to each side. Those other teams must only deal with insurance fraud and jaywalking or something. The cyber division group that Mcgee was transferred to when Vance 1st arrived had more people working in it than autopsy and forensics combined!

I like Reeves. I like Quinn. I like Torres. I like the characters and I like the actors. But for some reason I don't like them all together. I never cared for Bishop. The cast just doesn't mesh anymore. I'd enjoy a show about Vance and Gibbes going all Rick and Renault (Casablanca) more than I enjoy the ensemble now. (the episode where they "rode together" because Vance's job was on the line was awesome) Or do a spin off with Coast Guard chick and Delilah. Something. There's just no chemistry creating cohesion in the team, maybe because it's too large with too many newbies added at once. Use Jimmy more. Get Joe Spano back. Add more humor back in, especially for Gibbs. In earlier seasons, the cases weren't all so earth-shatteringly significant and it allowed the focus to be less on the case itself and more on the people working it. That gave the characters a chance to establish dynamics. 

I'm not just complaining that just this ep was lacking, because that wasn't the nature of the episode. But it has been steadily becoming drearier for awhile. It's no longer "must see' tv for me.

Edited September 27, 2017 by slothgirl

[threebluestars]

I liked the focus on Gibbs and McGee because I felt a lot of that was missing last season. I still am not a fan of Bishop or Reeves, but I think Torres is on his way to fitting - I wish they'd only added Torres and not Reeves and Quinn last season.

I didn't miss Quinn at all.

I'm not sure how Maria Bello will fit into all of this, but the team still feels bloated and I can't imagine she'll improve that feeling.

[Kelda Feegle]

7 hours ago, rhys said:

Why were 2 agents looking rather chunky after being fed 300 calories a day for a couple months?

Not to mention being able to run up stairs and not be blinded by the helicopter's light even though they have been kept in a dimly-lit cell in the bowels of a ship for months.

Fornell would have been all over the 'find and rescue Gibbs' scenario - I miss him.

Still glad to have the show back though.

[stuckin60s]

I still cant stand Bishop.  She must be a relative of the Producers or something.  I agree with the others.  No agency would have allowed Bishop or the others to head the team.  They weren't supposed to be working on this anyway.  They would have been placed elsewhere or a new "Gibbs" would have been brought in.  Remember they didn't even know if Tim and Gibbs were alive for months.

Bishop still does not seem the right person for leadership or anything other than her major skills with computers.  She should be in  a computer lab with Delilah saving the world if she must.

they need a stronger female lead in the group.  I did like Quinn, but she didn't fit either.

And I really like  Abby, but they need to let her mature

Did anyone else get the feeling that the visiting coroner will slowly replace Ducky?

[Katy M]

9 minutes ago, stuckin60s said:

I still cant stand Bishop.  She must be a relative of the Producers or something.  I agree with the others.  No agency would have allowed Bishop or the others to head the team.  They weren't supposed to be working on this anyway.  They would have been placed elsewhere or a new "Gibbs" would have been brought in.  Remember they didn't even know if Tim and Gibbs were alive for months.

I like Bishop, but agree that they probably wouldn't have made her team leader for anything more than a week to cover vacation (yeah, I know, nobody at NCIS ever goes on vaca).  Way back when, when Gibbs retired or whatever, they did break the team up.  Sure, DiNozzo got to be team leader, but he had different people. McGee was in a computer lab or something. Was this when Ziva left?  I don't even remember.

[pally]

14 hours ago, Linderhill said:

I enjoyed this but definitely wondered who would let Bishop run the team.  There's no way that Leon would have left Bishop and Torres on their own.  Did they even say where Quinn went?  if they did I didn't hear it.  It could have been a good transition, Quinn running the team until Gibbs and McGee were back.  

On another note, now McGee has an in show reason for looking so skinny.  And He looks pretty good with the beard, unlike Gibbs who still looks pretty sketchy with that scraggly beard.

Why Bishop when technically Torres is the senior NCIS agent.  She may have more time on Gibbs' team but he has more time in as an agent.  She has even less time when you discount her training and probie time.

[Aliconehead]

15 minutes ago, pally said:

Why Bishop when technically Torres is the senior NCIS agent.  She may have more time on Gibbs' team but he has more time in as an agent.  She has even less time when you discount her training and probie time.

Could be that the fact Torres held the helicopter pilot at gun point caused a problem for him. Yes in the real world they would have been broken up but the is the NCIS tv world. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

Way back when, when Gibbs retired or whatever, they did break the team up.  Sure, DiNozzo got to be team leader, but he had different people. McGee was in a computer lab or something. Was this when Ziva left?  I don't even remember.

Ziva was still there. Vance broke up the team because of a suspected mole in the Agency, so he sent Ziva back to Israel, Tony to a ship as Floating Agent, McGee to cyber crime, and gave Gibbs a new team, which had Lee, who worked in Legal, Langer, former probie of Gibbs, who went to FBI, but came back to NCIS, and some other day player to be the "McGee" while they tried to figure out who the mole was. It was Lee, of course, and again, the show killed off a good actor/character, who could have been a good recurring character, by framing Langer. And I didn't like the retcon of why Lee was a traitor. Why can't traitors just be traitors?

Vance told Gibbs it was punishment for Tony and Ziva letting Jenny get moirdered. But I knew better. Hell, all of us over on TWoP knew better. And we were right!

[Packerbrewerbadger]

This episode was better than all of the disaster that was last season ( with the exception of Jimmy on the ledge).  

Should have replaced Ziva with " Coast Guard Chick" and never let Tony jump ship!

[MissLucas]

I hate Bishop's obsession with sitting on the floor and was really happy when Gibbs put an end to it during a prior season - too bad it made a return this episode. Don't get me wrong - I like to sit on the floor at home in those rooms where nobody with street shoes enters. But an open office space where people walk in and out all day, ewww!

Also: Torres is still a jerk. If someone borrows you a silk tie (because you're too cool to own one) then you take it off before eating fast-food. Or at least you offer them to pay the dry-cleaning once you've managed to get mustard on it.

Edited September 27, 2017 by MissLucas

[Chaos Theory]

Re: Bishop being in charge.  She has been on the team for awhile and my guess is that no one wanted to break the team up because that would mean giving up on Gibbs and McGee.  Also there was a time I would have said the same thing about McGee.  No way anyone would put him in charge.   You learn to lead by leading.  

Plus I like Bishop.  I know a lot of people don't but I much prefer her over Ziva.  I got so annoyed and bored with Ziva I stopped watching the show.  At least Bishop is fun. 

I've never watched this show for realism.   They could start flying and it wouldn't faze me.  

[Katy M]

5 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

Plus I like Bishop.  I know a lot of people don't but I much prefer her over Ziva.  I got so annoyed and bored with Ziva I stopped watching the show.  At least Bishop is fun.

I don't know that I prefer her over Ziva.  I like them both.  but, I'm so glad to find another non-Bishop-hater.  Yay.  She is fun.

And, yeah, I don't really care if a show is realistic about governmental agency procedures.  I think on another board they were complaining because Gibbs had reached the maximum retirement age.  Who cares, IMO.  It's TV.  Now, other things not being realistic, I sometimes do have a problem with.  Because it might take me out of the show, if it's too illogical.

[Chaos Theory]

7 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I don't know that I prefer her over Ziva.  I like them both.  but, I'm so glad to find another non-Bishop-hater.  Yay.  She is fun.

And, yeah, I don't really care if a show is realistic about governmental agency procedures.  I think on another board they were complaining because Gibbs had reached the maximum retirement age.  Who cares, IMO.  It's TV.  Now, other things not being realistic, I sometimes do have a problem with.  Because it might take me out of the show, if it's too illogical.

There is a difference between illogic and realism.  If a character on ont show does something that goes completely against the shows or their own logic then yeah...annoying.  But in a procedural I don't demand realism.  Does any really believe that police are anything like CSI or hell even NCIS?  

[Katy M]

Just now, Chaos Theory said:

Does any really believe that police are anything like CSI or hell even NCIS?  

I hope not, but I'm sure there are those that do.

[rainsmom]

1 hour ago, Packerbrewerbadger said:

Should have replaced Ziva with " Coast Guard Chick" and never let Tony jump ship!

The actress who played Borin ("Coast Guard Chick") burned her bridges with the NCIS higher-ups, and she'll never work on the show again. 

MW got a shot at helming his own show. If his contract was up, they couldn't hold him, and he'd have been a fool to stay. If the new show hadn't worked out, he could have come back.

[VinceW]

41 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

Re: Bishop being in charge.  She has been on the team for awhile and my guess is that no one wanted to break the team up because that would mean giving up on Gibbs and McGee.  Also there was a time I would have said the same thing about McGee.  No way anyone would put him in charge.   You learn to lead by leading.  

Plus I like Bishop.  I know a lot of people don't but I much prefer her over Ziva.  I got so annoyed and bored with Ziva I stopped watching the show.  At least Bishop is fun. 

I've never watched this show for realism.   They could start flying and it wouldn't faze me.  

Gibbs trusts her sleuthing skills ever since Bishop came over to the team from NSA. Bishop was a big factor in searching for a terrorist, Benham Parsa and she was instrumental finding his associate Bashir Malik after the drone strike that injured Delilah. Gibbs did pick her first over Torres to go to Paraguay as well. She has good chemistry with Abby, Reeves and Delilah.

[UncleChuck]

2 hours ago, VinceW said:

Re: Bishop being in charge.  She has been on the team for awhile and my guess is that no one wanted to break the team up because that would mean giving up on Gibbs and McGee.

I think that's right.  Vance made it very clear during those hearings that he was NOT ready to give up on Gibbs and McGee.  He assigned Bishop as temporary AIC (Agent In Charge) because the team not supposed to be investigating their own missing agents, and she would have been fully capable of leading the routine crimes and murder investigations until Gibbs returned. 

I liked it.  With the exception of her little "campfire moment" she led the team with confidence and maturity--no one questioned or challenged her, and the team clicked on all cylinders as usual.  If one of Gibbs' rules is not "Next Man Up"--it should be...

[Ohmo]

On 9/26/2017 at 10:17 PM, secnarf said:

I thought this was a touch heavy on the torture porn - I don't *really* need to watch them waterboard Gibbs - but I did like how Gibbs and McGee worked together to get the knife and escape, ignoring the convenience of the phone.

Major ditto.  I kept thinking "Wow, really?  This is an 8:00 show."

 

7 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Plus I like Bishop.  I know a lot of people don't but I much prefer her over Ziva.  I got so annoyed and bored with Ziva I stopped watching the show.  At least Bishop is fun. 

I've never watched this show for realism.

Agreed.  I kept watching the show, but I will never be anything short of delighted that we're rid of Ziva.  As far as the realism goes, that's why the waterboarding scenes really jarred me.  They were "Meat Puzzle"-level heavy, and I still find "Meat Puzzle" to be an icky episode.

22 hours ago, marina to said:

We saw him with the body. He was the one who told them which club they were looking for.

He was also the one that they sent into the hearing one time to get a message to Leon.

[Ohmo]

22 hours ago, slothgirl said:

They would have been reassigned to another team leader or a senior agent assigned to them. The would most likely have been split up.

Yeah, but I'm glad they weren't split up.  Beyond the fact that that's already been done on NCIS, I'm tired of the "Let's start the new season of any show with some random, temporary characters that we'll have to get rid of later somehow."  I started the NCIS: NO premiere, and there's some agent in charge at the moment instead of Pride.  I know situations like that are driven by storyline issues, but the whole concept of starting a season with temporary characters is getting tiresome to me.  I was willing to suspend a bit of belief and realism and be happy with Bishop running the team.  Just our regulars and our recurring regulars.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Ohmo

[Emma9]

What bemused me most during the episode was Abby's reaction - or rather lack thereof - to her favorite agents being missing with no sign of life for two months. In any situation remotely like this in the past, she's been the one with the biggest emotional swings, but in this episode she's 100% chill as she strolls into the bullpen with evidence that, oh yeah, might point to where Gibbs and McGee are?

Now, I'd be happy to take that as a sign of character growth and maturity - there was the faint implication that being the strong one for Delilah had grounded her a bit as well - but it felt more like no one bothered to write space for her usual personality into the episode.

 

Absolutely enjoyed the 'Bounce' vibe with Bishop - taking care of the team, putting her own spin on campfires, and an attagirl from Gibbs at the end.

Followed by Gibbs looking damn rough. Pity he couldn't swing by the stables at Rock Creek Park and see Jody, who I'm sure misses him. Can't beat a horse for a little uncomplicated support.

 

The subplot with the Horrible Evil Authority Figures grilling Vance...only to turn the cameras off and tell him to go get his men...felt weird and forced. Like Vance of all people would be caught completely off-guard by political grandstanding.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Emma9

[MortysCleaningLady]

Things I liked:

McGee and Delilah reunion (although Abby and Torres did not need to be there)

Sergeant Getraer from CHIPS being elected to Congress

 

Things I couldn't understand:

Bishop running the team.

Dr. Jimmy Palmer being the note giver to Director Vance.

No real transition from Quinn.

 

I used to watch NCIS live or the night it aired, now I watch when I have time. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

So I was able to watch this last night and Bishop "leading" the team wasn't as awful or ridiculous as the promos/spoilers led me to believe. Like, the way it was hyped, I had this vision of Bishop going into Paraguay, leading the posse to save Gibbs and McGee.  What she actually did was okay and good, because she was using her research and 'purer skillz. What I didn't care for was her version of "campfire." Seriously? After Gibbs shut that nonsense down?

The whole Congressional hearing was also eye roll worthy and ridonkulous. I've been to hearings, and seen them. And aside from obnoxious witnesses who ramble and suck up instead of answering questions, which lead to the senators or rather, Congressman interrupting them to please just answer the question, they let the witnesses actually answer the damn fucking questions.

Really, Torres? Gibbs and McGee are your friends? It would have sounded better and more accurate, at least to me, for you to have said "My BOSS and colleague" when referring to saving Gibbs and McGee.

Thankfully, I was spoiled about the waterboarding torture of Gibbs so I looked away when that happened. Man, how many times is this show going to torture Gibbs? Poor Mark Harmon. Even though I know that it was probably a stuntman underneath? Hell, since they use hand models to show it's "Abby" typing when she's doing a search or whatever, I'd like to think that's a stuntman underneath that bag who was thrashing around.

Did I miss something? someone up thread mentioned that there was a visiting coroner last night, but I only saw Ducky and Jimmy.

18 hours ago, MissLucas said:

Also: Torres is still a jerk. If someone borrows you a silk tie (because you're too cool to own one) then you take it off before eating fast-food.

And this confused me when I first read it and when I saw the actual show, it made sense. But unless there's a language reason, it should be if someone lends you a silk tie, because Torres was the one who was doing the borrowing.

Now everyone who knows me knows I have disliked and loathed Ziva, and very rarely did I like her. And I liked Bishop when she first came aboard, her ridiculous insistence on sitting on the floor and thinking the office was her living room, notwithstanding. What turned me off her was the show giving her drrraaaaama and tragggggeddyyyyyy and attempting to make her "dark" with the killing of her boyfriend, a character I'd totally forgotten had appeared on the show before--that's how much of an impression he made on me, and turning her into a psuedo-Gibbs. Because one, she hasn't been a field agent that long, and certainly doesn't possess that killer instinct that Ziva and Gibbs have. But to make her equal to Gibbs when it comes to shooting and getting revenge, blah, blah, blah, just didn't ring true for me. 

And I know she's on another show, but would it have been that difficult to try and get Troian Bellisario on last night? I mean, her brother, McGee had been missing for over two months! If they couldn't get her for whatever reasons, Binder (writer of the episode, and who's been around almost from the beginning) could have written a line where Delilah said, she spoke with her or whatever. Why do I keep expecting this show to remember its history and canon?

And on a side note, I know there are some of you who watched JAG (cuz you watched the back door pilot of this show on that show), so I'm begging making a request that won't you join me over on that forum so that I don't end up "talking" to myself? PLEEEEEEEEEZE???????

[Katy M]

1 minute ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

The whole Congressional hearing was also eye roll worthy and ridonkulous. I've been to hearings, and seen them. And aside from obnoxious witnesses who ramble and suck up instead of answering questions, which lead to the senators or rather, Congressman interrupting them to please just answer the question, they let the witnesses actually answer the damn fucking questions.

I saw part of one on Youtube where I would have to disagree with your assessment.

2 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Did I miss something? someone up thread mentioned that there was a visiting coroner last night, but I only saw Ducky and Jimmy.

Oh good.  So, it wasn't just me.  Yeah, I didn't see one either.  

[MissLucas]

19 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And this confused me when I first read it and when I saw the actual show, it made sense. But unless there's a language reason, it should be if someone lends you a silk tie, because Torres was the one who was doing the borrowing.

Language reason - I always get it wrong.

[Clanstarling]

On 9/26/2017 at 7:17 PM, secnarf said:

I thought this was a touch heavy on the torture porn - I don't *really* need to watch them waterboard Gibbs - but I did like how Gibbs and McGee worked together to get the knife and escape, ignoring the convenience of the phone.

The ending was sweet. It really seemed to emphasize Gibbs' loneliness, though - McGee comes back to his wife and a baby on the way. Gibbs' family are all dead.

I looked away. I didn't like it either. Was that his father's ID bracelet he put on at the end? "Jackson Gibbs" I think it read. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that moment, but maybe it was a way to connect with his dead family. 

22 hours ago, stuckin60s said:

I still cant stand Bishop.  She must be a relative of the Producers or something. 

Is it the actress or the character you dislike? I personally like both, but mileage varies.

30 minutes ago, Emma9 said:

What bemused me most during the episode was Abby's reaction - or rather lack thereof - to her favorite agents being missing with no sign of life for two months. In any situation remotely like this in the past, she's been the one with the biggest emotional swings, but in this episode she's 100% chill as she strolls into the bullpen with evidence that, oh yeah, might point to where Gibbs and McGee are?

Now, I'd be happy to take that as a sign of character growth and maturity - there was the faint implication that being the strong one for Delilah had grounded her a bit as well - but it felt more like no one bothered to write space for her usual personality into the episode.

I think maybe they are trying to make her more mature. Although she still had the pigtails and collar, the dress she was wearing was the first I'd seen that I thought actually looked like a grown-up's dress. And the first outfit of hers I have ever liked.

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

Was that his father's ID bracelet he put on at the end? "Jackson Gibbs" I think it read.

Funny. I thought it might have said Shannon and Kelly, but I didn't pause to see. I know he used to wear that bracelet back from season one. At some point, he took off; and I have to disagree about him not having any family. He's Godfather to Franks's granddaughter. It's too bad that we never saw Maddie (Kelly's childhood best friend) again after her one and done episode in Requiem in Season Five.

[Chaos Theory]

I actually really liked Bishop's version of "campfire" because it is her going back to what felt comfortable for her and people tend to do that under stress.  Yes with Gibbs around and under normal situations she would never do that but under "ok let's think about this...I need to sit down and think.  I think best on the floor".  I thought it was a great allusion to the person Bishop was and how far she has actually come.  .  

Edited September 28, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[Sharpie66]

I am pretty sure that the bracelet was Jackson's dog tag--the numbers looked like a serial number.. 

[VinceW]

7 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

....The whole Congressional hearing was also eye roll worthy and ridonkulous. I've been to hearings, and seen them. And aside from obnoxious witnesses who ramble and suck up instead of answering questions, which lead to the senators or rather, Congressman interrupting them to please just answer the question, they let the witnesses actually answer the damn fucking questions.....Thankfully, I was spoiled about the waterboarding torture of Gibbs so I looked away when that happened. Man, how many times is this show going to torture Gibbs? Poor Mark Harmon. Even though I know that it was probably a stuntman underneath? Hell, since they use hand models to show it's "Abby" typing when she's doing a search or whatever, I'd like to think that's a stuntman underneath that bag who was thrashing around.......

The congressional hearing scene really didn’t make any sense given that director Vance was not the government official who ordered the original RAC surveillance. NCIS was contacted to investigate US soldier remains found in a hostile area of a foreign country. The commander of the surveillance unit should have been the one getting grilled about the operation. Why was the rogue injured soldier not explaining his actions at the hearing? Torres comments to the committee members were right on because the hearing was just a show to cover CIA failures. 

When it was revealed during the summer hiatus that Gibbs and McGee were captured, I gave the writers too much credit. I expected that Gibbs and McGee would be rescued by the Paraguay military and both would stay in country to help uncover the mastermind behind the black market operation, but instead viewers get an overdone torture scenario in order that Gibbs can return home with depression. McGee needs to rethink his field agent status and get serious about his family life. He has a disabled pregnant wife confined to a wheelchair, but he only wonders about learning to change diapers. 

Edited September 28, 2017 by VinceW

[MDL]

I also thought that the Bracelet had "Jackson Gibbs" on it.

[Clanstarling]

3 hours ago, Sharpie66 said:

I am pretty sure that the bracelet was Jackson's dog tag--the numbers looked like a serial number.. 

Dog tags don't generally fit on a bracelet - though I suppose they could be re-purposed by a jeweler/artisan. They generally show the name, serial number, blood type, and religion (or at least, did in Jackson's day - which was my father's day as well).  This image is close to what Jackson's would have looked like (though without rubber coated edges). 

I thought maybe it was a medical alert bracelet, but didn't get a good enough look.

[VinceW]

12 hours ago, Sharpie66 said:

I am pretty sure that the bracelet was Jackson's dog tag--the numbers looked like a serial number.. 

The bracelet is Vintage Sterling Silver WWII Army Air Force Id Bracelet Tag Wings Propeller with name and serial number "Jackson Gibbs 0732545".  Gibbs was carving the symbol from the bracelet on a wood scrap in his cell.  McGee tossed aside the wood carving which started them fake fighting.

Edited September 29, 2017 by VinceW

[VinceW]

On 9/26/2017 at 10:21 PM, Linderhill said:

I enjoyed this but definitely wondered who would let Bishop run the team.  There's no way that Leon would have left Bishop and Torres on their own.  Did they even say where Quinn went?  if they did I didn't hear it.  It could have been a good transition, Quinn running the team until Gibbs and McGee were back.....

At the phone booth crime scene:

Bishop: "How'd the hearing go?"

Torres:  "A lot of talking. They want to talk to Quinn; I told them she was on leave and she was taking care of her mom, but they didn't care."

[ForReal]

1. I FFed through the torture scenes; I don't want or need to see Gibbs hurt. I liked their fake fight and how they worked together, and I also wondered at their strength during the escape. I remember thinking I'd be dying running up all those stairs, and they are hardly out of breath.

2. I liked how the jefe was dealt with -- tied that up nicely.

3. I did not care for Bishop's management style. I like the actress and I like the character, but I do not like the direction in which they are taking her and forcing us to go along. I don't see her as the female Gibbs and I don't think she has the chops that the writers apparently do. I felt like she was a bit pushy -- "What do you guys have for me? C'mon, get going!" like the others were just lollygagging, and yet initially, it almost seemed like they were. That part felt rather strange to me.

4. I FFed through most of Vance and the hearing, too. Snooze.

5. I liked McGee and Delilah's reunion. Agreed, he needs to reprioritize his...priorities. He's a special agent, yes, but there are other special agents out there, and he is the only husband and father to be in his family.

6. I had to pause on the bracelet twice. Yes, it was his dad's. At first I wondered why, or at least why he decided to wear it, and then I figured it made him feel close to his dad, like they'd been through similar circumstances? What would have been a perfect ending, for me, was if Gibbs had left the building to be picked up by the mystery red head in a convertible. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

26 minutes ago, ForReal said:

 What would have been a perfect ending, for me, was if Gibbs had left the building to be picked up by the mystery red head in a convertible. 

Sadly she won't show up again; at least not the same woman, as she is Bellisario's wife. And considering how Harmon was responsible for ousting him from the show...

[Clanstarling]

13 hours ago, VinceW said:

The bracelet is Vintage Sterling Silver WWII Army Air Force Id Bracelet Tag Wings Propeller with name and serial number "Jackson Gibbs 0732545".  Gibbs was carving the symbol from the bracelet on a wood scrap in his cell.  McGee tossed aside the wood carving which started them fake fighting.

Thanks! I was confused because though I'd been around a lot of dog tags as a military brat - I hadn't seen anything like that. Since I wasn't around pilots, that explains a lot.

[webruce]

09-26-17 "House Divided" 15.01   I wondered who the guy talking to Clayton at the scene was. Then we learn he was his killer, Mickey Clark. Liked how Bishop handled the team. Thought that when Gibbs saw Tim getting the sandwich it would make problems. Didn't see it was a trick so the fight would help him secure the weapon. Should have known. Thought after the fight Tim would have had to help Gibbs get his head back together. Also the old style IBM printer was cute. Both Tim and Jethro looked good in whiskers. Liked the Tim coming home bit, and the Gibbs in quiet contemplation at end. Gibbs does look worried.
Zachery Brooks in a way was lucky his hair was falling out, or they might not have so quickly figured out about the radiation?
Other highlights of this episode, the Congressional Committee off the record backed Vance. Also liked "Chips" alum Robert Pine(Congressman Theodore Randolph) in the episode. Chris Pines daddy.
Liked Nicks comment to blonde Jezebel Poppins when she was found dumping gas around the bar. Telling her she better put up no smoking signs.
Liked Gibbs giving "Santa" Jere to the Printer Guy to take care of.

Edited September 29, 2017 by webruce
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