Season 4 Discussion

[Raja]

5 hours ago, david gideon said:

Seems like there's a lot of turnover on this NCIS team. I thought it started going downhill when Zoe was written out. Don't know if I'll be around for another season.

I think the entire franchise from JAG forward has suffered from Bellasario being forced into retirement.

 

Somehow I got the impression that Sergeant Halliday was joining the Los Angeles office of course being here makes a lot more sense. Hawaii 5-0 just added there second straight from special forces, both SEALs in that case, to law enforcement. If every producer didn't have the elite trooper  bias I would think it was a CBS thing. Even MacGyver went from an Explosive Ordnance Disposal specialist to one who supported his bodyguard's special operations team in Iraq.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Quickest and cleanest extraction from a hot zone in the history of Special Ops.   

I liked the Colonel.  He seemed very real to me - he had a neat solution and from what I could tell, they were on to different tasks/operations as soon as Rivera took a dirt nap and he could bring Watkins home.

[brgjoe]

You beat me to it, LR.  I also liked that Colonel.  Kinda hope he makes a return somehow.

I will also miss Shalita Grant.  I think the new character will probably be fine.  But will definitely miss Percy though.  And she's acting the heck out of that character too -- you can see the conflict in Percy's demeanor and facial expressions as she fights with her decision.  I just hope she gets a good sendoff now. 

And yeah, CIA guy definitely looked like the obvious bad guy to me.  He even was wearing black.  :)  

Filler episode, but at least one with a decent amount of action. 

[mythoughtis]

I believe that Shalita was doing another series at the same time she was doing this one- the reason she missed a lot of episodes. As to why she is leaving - no idea 

[CooperTV]

19 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I believe that Shalita was doing another series at the same time she was doing this one- the reason she missed a lot of episodes. As to why she is leaving - no idea 

She was in the first season of Mercy Street, and she played a secondary character role in a season of six episodes. It doesn't exactly explain her constant absence from NCIS NOLA.

[Trey]

14 minutes ago, CooperTV said:

She was in the first season of Mercy Street, and she played a secondary character role in a season of six episodes. It doesn't exactly explain her constant absence from NCIS NOLA.

True, so I wonder why she was away so often.  Was it her choice or tptb? I really would like to know.

[JustS]

37 minutes ago, CooperTV said:

She was in the first season of Mercy Street, and she played a secondary character role in a season of six episodes. It doesn't exactly explain her constant absence from NCIS NOLA.

De-lurking to say that season one of Mercy street wrapped and aired over two years ago.  My personal opinion was she was benched way too often by the producers/writers for it to make sense to block that much of her calendar. Especially, if her contract only paid her for the eps in which when appeared (disclaimer: I don't know how she was paid, just speculating). When I watched the show more often than not, Patton appeared when she wasn't on, although there were times when Percy and Patton were in the same episode. Budget reasons? But, given how little she was used and the well publicized issues with the showrunner, I'm surprised in hindsight the actress lasted as long as she did. 

21 minutes ago, Trey said:

True, so I wonder why she was away so often.  Was it her choice or tptb? I really would like to know.

You aren't the only one. She was my favorite character on the show. Her leaving and the way they wrote the character this season is why I'm done with the show. 

Edited March 31, 2018 by JustS
Lovely typos

[JessDVD]

The agents on this show are terrible investigators because I instantly pegged Redhead as part of the bad guys when she was overly enthusiastic about seeing the book and they're just all, who is she hitting on. I had almost thought I was wrong but then the way she grabbed the paper saying she speaks French and of course the intercepted text (I'm sure that's totally real life technology).... Yep, I'll be here all day. Also, you trained investigators should really pay more attention to people's visual cues.

[Kelda Feegle]

I'll miss Percy and agree she was woefully underutilised. Love Gregorio standing up to Pride - she had facts and he had a gut instinct - not enough to call her into question but enough for her to call him on it, shame he was right. Percy's exit is being handled much better than Abby's on the mothership - nfi what's going on there so it is nice to see an arc written in here.

[threebluestars]

Well that sucked. Not sure how invested I am in the show now that Percy's gone.

[CooperTV]

Quote

Pride and his bar patrons, including Sydney Halliday who is visiting Pride after leaving the Army, are held hostage by a group of volatile thieves.

Promos

[Trey]

They were really playing with us there.  Percy is going to the FBI, nope she turned it down, now she's gonna get killed, nope, she's going to the FBI.

I like Percy well enough although not as much as I used to so I'll be okay with her leaving.  I am even liking Gregorio now.

For one brief moment, I thought Pride's daughter was going to tell him she wanted to work for NCIS instead of being a musician. Oddly enough, dh also thought she was going to tell him that. But that didn't happen, which I think is a good thing. 

[Chick2Chic]

Man, they should've just have Percy and LaSalle kiss. I feel robbed.

This season has been very uneven to me and I doubt I will watch it post-Percy but I am glad they didn't kill her off and she got a better exit than Brody but that's not exactly a high bar.

[Raja]

1 hour ago, Chick2Chic said:

Man, they should've just have Percy and LaSalle kiss. I feel robbed.

This season has been very uneven to me and I doubt I will watch it post-Percy but I am glad they didn't kill her off and she got a better exit than Brody but that's not exactly a high bar.

They did take great pains to shut down any possibility of long distance love or LaSalle being an undercover's husband 

[fellini]

The show isn't going to be the same without Percy!!! I wonder why their doing this cast change?

[jcbrown]

I did not realize that Percy was my favorite character until I realized that she was leaving.

[TheGreenWave]

On ‎4‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 11:15 AM, Chick2Chic said:

Man, they should've just have Percy and LaSalle kiss. I feel robbed.

Count me in on this disappointment.  Couldn't have had at least one on camera (I like to believe that they hooked up on the DL at some point) kiss??  Just ONE good bye kiss??  Sigh.

[mythoughtis]

I was very put-off by the distance between Pride and his daughter. He acted like he had only seen her a few times in his life.  We know that is not the case.  She’s even been home from college several times  and stayed there. 

I was actually bored with the case of the week too. 

[Chick2Chic]

On 4/4/2018 at 7:06 PM, fellini said:

The show isn't going to be the same without Percy!!! I wonder why their doing this cast change?

IMO, Shalita Grant got tired of the one that kept getting sat out of eps. Watching S2, she got decent story, development, and screentime. It seemed to diminish greatly a third of the way through S3 and then S4 was spotty re: her screentime as well. I felt that despite it being an ensemble show, Percy should have been the #1 female lead after Brody left regarding cases and the show instead spent much more screentime on "developing" Gregorio. I can't blame SG for getting tired of being sent to the basement instead of getting the spotlight. The only positives I can give the exit is they didn't kill Percy off and TPTB treated SG better than they did ZM. 

For me, Percy is a much more engaging character than Gregorio (I don't dislike Gregorio, I'm mostly neutral on her) so her exit dims the show a lot for me since I was already somewhat tired of Duane's superhero who knows NOLA better than anyone and saves the day no matter what routine each ep. 

Also, I remain salty that TPTB slowly built up Persalle only to squander it stupidly. 

[greyflannel]

I used to enjoy her, but Percy hasn't been an engaging character for a while. I don't know if the actress was unhappy, or the writers decided they didn't like the character anymore, but it showed. A lot. I'll miss who Percy used to be, but I've been missing her for a while. The obviously unhappy, just here because I have to be, checked out Percy, not so much.

[marina to]

Really, really hope that LaSalle and Percy have one grand night in bed before she leaves. I'm with everyone though who is pissed we didn't get a goodbye kiss. I'm glad we didn't have them involved as teammates but now that dynamic is gone, it doesn't make sense that these characters won't take a taste of what they wanted.

[CooperTV]

Quote

Gregorio calls on Claire McGrady, her former behavioral science professor, when the team’s latest case matches one she studied during FBI training.

Promos

[TheGreenWave]

Ah, another local corruption story.  I know this takes place in NOLA, but geez.  Also, they may want to rethink Halliday, considering she could not help herself and went rogue (although, that does seem to be the type Pride likes....)

Definitely missed Percy.

[threebluestars]

I'm missing Percy too.

Someone in that writer's room is obsessed with corruption.

I barely recognized Sergeant Halliday as the same character from the jungle episode. Apparently I notice clothes way more than facial features because she looked so different to me.

[Raja]

Elite SWAT team goes mad minute on a bus with 3 friendlies while saying I'm not going to lose another cop. No sir you were going to kill at least two yourself 

[brgjoe]

Yeah, I didn't like that episode very much either.  Part of it is, I typically hate hostage situation stories.  Because usually they have the same old tired moments repeated over and over.  Like having the cop first attempt to blend in, and then having him be discovered as a cop later.  And then you have said cop doing something stupid while being a hostage (i.e. dropping the phone so everyone knows he's communicating with the outside).  And we have a hostage getting sick (a heart attack or some other medical emergency).  And then the, "Please take me with you -- let all the hostages go!" stuff that always seems to take place.

And I am also a bit weary of those corruption storylines as well. 

On the plus side, for continuity sake, they remembered the landline.  And even the pink phone too!  :)

[JessDVD]

I know procedurals, you know, tend to follow a similar procedure, but that was like the let's throw every single procedural trope into a single episode. Guy from the agency refusing to listen to our stars? I have literally never seen that before! Other agency refuses to consider obviously innocent suspect's innocence? Brand new territory! Corruption from within? I totally didn't see that coming! Hostage situation with previously mentioned predicability? I just can't believe what a shock that was.

Totally missed that Halliday was from the jungle one. I can live with her. I liked the guy from nopd or whatever that was talking to Pride at the end.

Was the guy driving the bus the one who killed the guy from the beginning and gave the heroin to the other guy's girlfriend or were we still not sure on that at the end? All the sirens and TV tropes impeded my ability to track with the investigation.

[Trey]

10 hours ago, JessDVD said:

Was the guy driving the bus the one who killed the guy from the beginning

Yes, he was the victim's partner.

Totally agree with the rest of your post, and brgjoe's post too.

[Maverick]

 Am I watching an episode of Dexter?

[secnarf]

I thought it was more like a Criminal Minds episode...

This might actually be the first episode where I was able to tolerate Gregorio though, so we can call that a plus. A bit too much blood/gore for my taste, though. Also, I wish the prof hadn't been so obviously evil from the get go. Would have been nice to have us put the pieces together at the same time as Gregorio.

[MerBearHou]

46 minutes ago, secnarf said:

I thought it was more like a Criminal Minds episode...

This might actually be the first episode where I was able to tolerate Gregorio though, so we can call that a plus. A bit too much blood/gore for my taste, though. Also, I wish the prof hadn't been so obviously evil from the get go. Would have been nice to have us put the pieces together at the same time as Gregorio.

I came on here to post the exact same thing about Criminal Minds which I stopped watching because of the gore and disturbing depravity.  Did not enjoy tonight’s episode at all.  

[brgjoe]

You mean I had to sit though all that blood and gore and violence and Gregorio somehow...lives!?  Well, color me disappointed.  ;)

And you would think that once Professor Serial Killer was ID'd, there would be a massive man, er, personhunt throughout New Orleans.  But apparently she felt safe enough to stroll into a bar and kidnap Gregorio's girlfriend.  On the plus side, those red light cameras actually were useful for once.  ;)

[CooperTV]

Quote

When journalist Oliver Crane posts a scathing article documenting Pride’s “reckless use of justice,” the team is concerned about the fallout from the piece and the confidential information included in the story. Also, Rita Devereaux warns Pride that someone in D.C. has coordinated this attack on him, and the article is just the beginning.

Promotional pictures

[Jaded]

Sounds like I can delete this one without watching. I saw the first few minutes before changing the channel since the DVR was recording it and thought then it looked like an episode I'd want to skip.

[Kelda Feegle]

Felt like I had blundered into a different show.

I'd be happy with less torture on my screen,  thanks 

[Linderhill]

I pretty much fast-forwarded thru the torture scenes. I still don't like Gregorio and I still think Sebastian as an agent is a giant misstep. Seriously, he's the worst when it comes to actually doing agent work outside of tech background. I definitely missed Percy in this one. She would have been a big help since it was only the guys doing the heavy lifting here. Patton wasn't even around to help out, just Sebastian as an ineffective babysitter and Dwayne and LaSalle scrambling to investigate. And of all the episodes with the FBI muscling unnecessarily in on investigations, they're no where to be found in this one?

[TheGreenWave]

Agree with everyone that this episode felt very not-NCIS:NOLA (and I don't mind a VSE every once in a while but the torture scenes complete with blood dripping down the fronts of their shirts made me want to vomit).  Mr. GreenWave and I couldn't believe how incredibly stupid Professor Serial Murderer was going to New Orleans and breaking into Gregorio's apartment.  There was literally no reason for her to come down to NOLA.  Gregorio had remembered the case study from BAU training and called PSM for a profile.  PSM could have given some random false profile (at the end of the episode, we still don't know why she did what she did) and stayed away, because there was NO evidence tying her to the crimes.  Like none.  UNTIL she went down to NOLA and had terrible timing with Gregorio calling/seeing her in the apartment. 

8 hours ago, brgjoe said:

You mean I had to sit though all that blood and gore and violence and Gregorio somehow...lives!?  Well, color me disappointed.  ;)

HA HA HA!!  I totally thought the same thing.  As soon as she was stupid enough to drink the crap that PSM gave her, I was like, ok, I have no issue with whatever was going to happen to Gregorio here on out because she is that freaking stupid.  She already knew that PSM had an MO and killing whatsherface was completely unlikely, so why would she think it was a good idea to do exactly what PSM wanted?  She knew what was going to happen.  Ugh.

I really want to like this show, but it just makes it SO DAMN HARD.

[Trey]

Ugh!! Far more blood and gore than I want to see in my shows.  I know it's a 10pm show (even though I watch it at 7pm) but that was just too much. And I hate when the perp is crazy.

Just like last week's episode, this was another  that has been done so many times on other shows. We knew before we saw her that the crazy was going to be Gregorio's old teacher.  We knew Gregorio was going to be tortured (but not too much) before she saved herself and then the team comes in to pick up the pieces.  They really do need some new writers with fresh ideas.

Was Gregorio in a funk at the beginning because of Sonja leaving?

I like Sebastian.

[MDL]

Was the killer the played  by same actress who played a serial killer a few years ago on "Bones"?

I don't remember the actress' name, but IIRC the character was called "gravedigger".

[Trey]

Yes, the same actress, Deirdre Lovejoy, played the serial killer, Heather Taffet aka "the gravedigger" and Claire McDermott on this episode.

[notcreative enough]

At the end was that Sebastian telling Gregorio that it was "just a blanket" or the actor because of the way she acting like every move he made pained her. I'm totally sure that it would and I'm pretty sure Sebastian would be more accommodating.

So how did the professor find all this women all over the country that just happened to have traumatic events in their lives that they blamed themselves for. 

I was hoping that Gregorio was playing the professor and somehow get out but the professor broke her and I kinda stopped caring. She knew what was happening and what would happen and she fell into it.

[MDL]

2 hours ago, Trey said:

Yes, the same actress, Deirdre Lovejoy, played the serial killer, Heather Taffet aka "the gravedigger" and Claire McDermott on this episode.

Thanks!

[illdoc]

Apparently Gregorio wasn't too traumatized by what happened in Hawaii---she made a scrapebook/photo album! Personally, if my best friend got murdered while on a trip with me (whether or not I blamed myself for it), I think the last thing I would do is make a photo album of the trip and look at it throughout the years (the album was out when Sebastian came to pick her up, so she must have been looking at it recently). This isn't a photo album of her & her friend, it is a photo album of the trip the friend was killed on!

[secnarf]

8 hours ago, Trey said:

Yes, the same actress, Deirdre Lovejoy, played the serial killer, Heather Taffet aka "the gravedigger" and Claire McDermott on this episode.

Thanks! This explains a lot.

[mythoughtis]

To be fair to Sebastian, Gregorio went on the balcony to take a phone call. He thought she was safe there and expected her to show more sense than to climb down the fire escape and just hand herself over to the killer.  She’s former FBI in addition to NCIS.  

There was too much blood and torture.  Also- I could do without Gregorio self destructing at the beginning of the episode.   We are supposed to think that she missed Sonya ( a woman she’s known for a year and a half?) and that somehow caused her to turn into a depressive complete slob( from a neat freak?) and also become bi- sexual?  Did I miss an episode where that was brought up before? She’s divorced from a male, right? It just seemed to come from left field rather than something we’ve known for a while. 

Edited May 3, 2018 by mythoughtis

[secnarf]

23 minutes ago, mythoughtis said:

To be fair to Sebastian, Gregorio went on the balcony to take a phone call. He thought she was safe there and expected her to show more sense than to climb down the fire escape and just hand herself over to the killer.  She’s former FBI in addition to NCIS.  

There was too much blood and torture.  Also- I could do without Gregorio self destructing at the beginning of the episode.   We are supposed to think that she missed Sonya ( a woman she’s known for a year and a half?) and that somehow caused her to turn into a depressive complete slob( from a neat freak?) and also become bi- sexual?  Did I miss an episode where that was brought up before? She’s divorced from a male, right? It just seemed to come from left field rather than something we’ve known for a while. 

Well, Gregorio and Sonja were roommates, were they not? I didn't really see it as self-destructing, but I could see that she might be feeling lonely. And yes, we did know she is bisexual. It has been brought up before, a couple of times I think. We met one of her ex-girlfriends.

[mythoughtis]

43 minutes ago, secnarf said:

Well, Gregorio and Sonja were roommates, were they not? I didn't really see it as self-destructing, but I could see that she might be feeling lonely. And yes, we did know she is bisexual. It has been brought up before, a couple of times I think. We met one of her ex-girlfriends.

I must have missed that episide.  That would have helped me a lot. 

[illdoc]

14 hours ago, secnarf said:

And yes, we did know she is bisexual.

Actually, except for the ex-husband, I think all the romantic partners we've seen with Gregorio have been female (there was the girlfriend when she was first going to New Orleans, there was the spy, this one, etc.).

[UncleChuck]

Quote

And yes, we did know she is bisexual. It has been brought up before, a couple of times I think. We met one of her ex-girlfriends.

And of course, a big clue was the woman wandering around the apartment in her underwear.

[CooperTV]

Quote

Pride assembles an off-the-books team with hacker Elvis Bertrand, retired Green Beret Sydney Halliday journalist Oliver Crane and attorney Elliott Newman, to search for a loophole when he faces a grand jury indictment for abuse of power. Also, Pride and the team uncover a sinister plot during the New Orleans Tricentennial Fleet Week celebration.

Promos

Edited May 9, 2018 by CooperTV