S15.E04: Skeleton Crew

[MyAimIsTrue]

Director Vance welcomes NCIS Special Agent Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane, a forensic psychologist he lobbied to transfer from California, to headquarters. Also, in the midst of a storm that has shut down Washington, D.C. and knocked out power, the NCIS team investigates the kidnapping of a sailor, which sends Torres and Bishop out to sea to track evidence.

[Katy M]

I don't feel like we need another person on the team.  Nothing against that Jack Sloane person.  I was hoping Ellie's high school enemy was the killer.  It made no sense for Gibbs to throw her the keys to lock up, though.  How would he get his keys back?  I realize he "knew" who she was and she knew who he was, but she didn't know that he knew, so she should have thought that more odd than just letting her stay there.

[Chaos Theory]

You have Gates McFadden and you put her in ONE SCENE!!!! You could have at least made her a serial killer or something.

[marina to]

Gates McFadden! *flails wildly* Why didn't we get more of her?

I liked that Ellie and her teenage tormentor have grown up. I pegged the bank guy from the beginning. I loved the moment between Jimmy and Abby. Another episode where Torres didn't annoy me. I'm meh on Sloane. Guessing the marks on her back are meant to show us she's escaping an abusive relationship?

[AimingforYoko]

47 minutes ago, marina to said:

Guessing the marks on her back are meant to show us she's escaping an abusive relationship?

Nah, I'm guessing it's why she owes Vance.

So which cues were they hitting harder: Sloane-Gibbs or Bishop-Buckner?

[secnarf]

50 minutes ago, marina to said:

Gates McFadden! *flails wildly* Why didn't we get more of her?

I liked that Ellie and her teenage tormentor have grown up. I pegged the bank guy from the beginning. I loved the moment between Jimmy and Abby. Another episode where Torres didn't annoy me. I'm meh on Sloane. Guessing the marks on her back are meant to show us she's escaping an abusive relationship?

As she is coming from a war zone (can't remember which Middle Eastern country), I assumed that the whip marks were from torture there.

[marina to]

10 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

So which cues were they hitting harder: Sloane-Gibbs or Bishop-Buckner?

Bishop-Buckner was pretty damn hard. Gibbs has more chemistry with Dr Grace than Sloane.

[enoughcats]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

You have Gates McFadden and you put her in ONE SCENE!!!! You could have at least made her a serial killer or something.

not even a follow up.  

Oh, wait, with so many bland characters, each of them need a lot of words to try to make them interesting.  They're trying really hard with Ellie giving her a highschool bully.  And we're supposed to care about "Jack" instataneously.  Without knowing why Rocky decided he needed her to bother Gibbs.  

A couple of tens of minutes into NCIS NOLA, and NCIS still is the better of the two. 

[scorpio1031]

I'm sorry, I feel the same way about Sloane that I did about Quinn, Dr Ryan and Ziva in a lot of episodes.  Very annoying.  

And why bring in Clayton's character if they aren't going to have him on every episode!!!???

[Passing Strange]

Oh, goodie, another snarky, smirking, all knowing psych person.

I can understand being concerned if your friends/coworkers are on a ship with a possible murderer, but Abbey's hysterics were unwarranted. Even if Smiddy had been the killer, the murder wasn't part of some crazed, multi-victim plan. She was acting like everyone on board was going to be found dead when the storm passed.

There's still too much Bishop in these episodes.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Passing Strange

[brgjoe]

Yeah, I didn't give two shakes about Bishop and/or her H.S. tormentor.  And I don't hate Bishop or anything -- the whole thing just seemed out of place for, I dunno, a *murder* investigation.  On a personal note, I avoided going to a few of my high school reunions as well because I didn't want to run into those a-holes that I knew in school.  But as the years went by, they actually turned out to be nice, decent human beings after all. 

Agreed on yet another smirky all-knowing psychiatrist appearing on the show.  My guess is they are splitting up Ducky's duties -- Dr. Palmer doing the physical autopsy's and she will be doing the psychological ones.  Her character annoys me though.  I mean, this is another time some shrink-type has met up with Gibbs under slightly false pretenses.  Didn't Gibb's meet his current psychiatrist in a "random" encounter there in the diner?  And this one shows up on Gibb's doorstep IN A FREAKIN' HURRICANE just by "chance".  Just don't like those silly little games those characters play.

Had a feeling Abby's silly zombie apocalypse bag would be a plot device somewhere in this episode. 

And Torres is growing on me as well.  Still think though there still too many new characters.  Yet again there was no Clayton Reeves.  And he's supposed to be a regular character(?)

[MissLucas]

Can't say I'm a fan of plots about bullies who turn out to be nice - still waiting for the guy who bullied me remorselessly and did actually break one of my fingers to apologize. My rule's rather that if you're a complete a** as a teenager you remain one as an adult. But that's of course not Hollywood-fare.

I'm having a hard time accepting Sloane as a kick-ass psychiatrist since she chose to introduce herself to Gibbs in a way that she must have known would antagonize him from the get-go. I know - I know: I'm supposed to admire her for not being intimidated by the consequences and playing hard-ball. Still strikes me as dumb. And why does Vance hire her without telling anyone - yet Ducky knew about her? And why does the team all of a sudden need a profiler (because that's what she is)?

That said:  I actually like the actress and think the character has potential. I just wish the show had not introduced her so ham-fisted.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I haven't watched yet, but, 

27 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

And why does Vance hire her without telling anyone

because he's the Director and doesn't have to tell anyone who he's hiring, firing or the reasons for them. In show. Not sure how real life NCIS hiring practices go.

[MissLucas]

Of course Vance doesn't have to tell anyone in-show. But he knows exactly how well that will go down - and still does it. Another move written for maximum antagonizing potential. No wonder Gibbs is so bullheaded.

[Katy M]

11 hours ago, scorpio1031 said:

I'm sorry, I feel the same way about Sloane that I did about Quinn, Dr Ryan and Ziva in a lot of episodes.  Very annoying.  

And why bring in Clayton's character if they aren't going to have him on every episode!!!???

I don't mind having a character that's not in every episode. But, I don't think we need Sloane.  Maybe with Ducky gone they thought they needed someone older for Gibbs to talk to?

[Chaos Theory]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I haven't watched yet, but, 

because he's the Director and doesn't have to tell anyone who he's hiring, firing or the reasons for them. In show. Not sure how real life NCIS hiring practices go.

 

1 hour ago, MissLucas said:

Of course Vance doesn't have to tell anyone in-show. But he knows exactly how well that will go down - and still does it. Another move written for maximum antagonizing potential. No wonder Gibbs is so bullheaded.

Because God forbid Gibbs gets his feelings hurt or gets put out for a minute or even worse dislikes someone in the building.

[MissLucas]

Well, if your most senior agent just returns from three months of imprisonment and torture you might be a bit considerate. Especially since the hardball approach seems to have worked so well with him all those past years. I'm sure Gibbs will be okay though because that's how this show rolls. Never take the smooth path - because the rocky road creates more drama.

Edited October 19, 2017 by MissLucas

[threebluestars]

If a psychologist pulled that on me, I would NEVER trust them. And any decent one wouldn't alienate people by pulling that shit. I am irrationally angry about this fictional character acting like a huge douchecanoe.

Don't care what happened in her past either.

I like Maria Bello, and I wish they had introduced her character way better than this.

[Humbugged]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I haven't watched yet, but, 

because he's the Director and doesn't have to tell anyone who he's hiring, firing or the reasons for them. In show. Not sure how real life NCIS hiring practices go.

Was it even a new hire ? I thought she had just been reassigned to DC - Ducky has been pulling double duty doing the autopsies and profiling for years and if McCallum is winding down in kinda makes sense that the roles had to be split between Dr Jimmy and the newbie .And Gibbs knew she was coming anyway because Ducky told him

An heh Teddy Montgomery joined the navy

[ali59]

Hurricane Molly must be one big ass storm for them to have weather like that 48 hours before landfall.

[Katy M]

When Gibbs said that she had flashed her license like a badge, I thought she had showed a badge. Because I've never seen anyone do that with a license before.  And, even if I had been in that situation, I don't think I would show my license to the homeowner as I don't know what good it would do.  My name wouldn't be familiar to him.  Crooks and murderers generally have driver's licenses, I would imagine.  Plus, I try never to show my DL picture.  Man, it's bad.

[MyAimIsTrue]

16 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

So which cues were they hitting harder: Sloane-Gibbs or Bishop-Buckner?

I was in the Sloane-Vance camp myself.

[HurricaneVal]

4 hours ago, MissLucas said:

That said:  I actually like the actress and think the character has potential. I just wish the show had not introduced her so ham-fisted.

 

2 hours ago, threebluestars said:

If a psychologist pulled that on me, I would NEVER trust them. And any decent one wouldn't alienate people by pulling that shit. I am irrationally angry about this fictional character acting like a huge douchecanoe.

Don't care what happened in her past either.

I like Maria Bello, and I wish they had introduced her character way better than this.

Exactly.  I knew Maria Bello was joining the cast to be part of the team, so when she showed up at the door as a damsel in distress, I got a little confused--it wasn't matching what I knew from reading articles about casting her for the show.  Then she showed her ID like a cop shows a badge, then I knew that she was playing a game with Gibbs, and I went "uh-oh, that ain't going to go over well."  When he tossed his keys at her, I knew he knew.  I just don't know if she knew he knew.  Gibbs was well within his rights to be irritated with her subterfuge and to require her to prove herself as more than just a game player.  If she wants to be a valued member of the team, she's going to have to get herself beyond her poor introduction. 

As other have noted, she can't be all that great of a psychologist if she didn't realize what a really, really bad idea her little game was.  Even with normal people, that isn't very well done, but with Gibbs?  Yeah.  That's digging a hole so deep you may not ever see the light of day again.  She had no endgame.  No way to excuse her behavior, no way to make up for it.  I think Gibbs will use her expertise to help with their cases, but he's going to freeze her out of actually being a team member.

[GHScorpiosRule]

It just hit me. The title of this episode? STOLEN! from JAG, which had its own episode with the same title!

What?

Yes, I'm bored today, and all the entertainment news is depressing.

[eel2178]

14 hours ago, brgjoe said:

Agreed on yet another smirky all-knowing psychiatrist appearing on the show.  My guess is they are splitting up Ducky's duties -- Dr. Palmer doing the physical autopsy's and she will be doing the psychological ones.  Her character annoys me though.  I mean, this is another time some shrink-type has met up with Gibbs under slightly false pretenses.  Didn't Gibb's meet his current psychiatrist in a "random" encounter there in the diner?  And this one shows up on Gibb's doorstep IN A FREAKIN' HURRICANE just by "chance".  Just don't like those silly little games those characters play.

I still think Kate's sister was much, much worse. She should have had her license revoked for the way she attempted to ingratiate herself into the team.

14 hours ago, brgjoe said:

Had a feeling Abby's silly zombie apocalypse bag would be a plot device somewhere in this episode. 

Why couldn't they come up with a better reason for upgrading their go bags than Abby coming unglued over a zombie apocalypse? They were trying to wait out a hurricane to begin with. Couldn't Abby tell them they needed to enhance their prepping,  just because of the actual hurricane? She's always bragging about what a fantastic scientist she is, but now she is accepting the inevitability of a zombie invasion without any scientific proof? Also, why didn't McGee ask Abby why she had a key to her coffin? I was hoping for an answer to that by the end of the episode. 

[eel2178]

15 hours ago, brgjoe said:

 On a personal note, I avoided going to a few of my high school reunions as well because I didn't want to run into those a-holes that I knew in school.  But as the years went by, they actually turned out to be nice, decent human beings after all. 

I use a fake Facebook account to cyberstalk the people I knew in high school, college and former co-workers. I get all the information I need without having to have any face-to-face interactions with them. People are incredibly lax at maintaining their privacy, then they wonder how they ended up being victims of identity theft.

[Katy M]

39 minutes ago, eel2178 said:

I use a fake Facebook account to cyberstalk the people I knew in high school, college and former co-workers. I get all the information I need without having to have any face-to-face interactions with them. People are incredibly lax at maintaining their privacy, then they wonder how they ended up being victims of identity theft.

Wouldn't work with me, I only accept friends people I actually know and was at least at one time good friends with. And, even then, I don't post anything too exciting.  

[Janimo]

I was rather bored by this episode-very meh.
A quick question though. Did they ever explain where Jennifer Esposito (Quinn) went, or what happened to her??

I was rather bored by this episode-very meh.
A quick question though. Did they ever explain where Jennifer Esposito (Quinn) went, or what happened to her??

[eel2178]

40 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Wouldn't work with me, I only accept friends people I actually know and was at least at one time good friends with. And, even then, I don't post anything too exciting.  

You don't have to make a friend request, let alone have it accepted, in order to see someone's Facebook page. If you haven't divulged all your secrets on Facebook there is also LinkedIn, google, professional license registries, property records, marriage and divorce records, etc. Try searching on yourself and see how much you come up with. People just aren't aware of how much privacy we have given up in exchange for internet access. 

16 minutes ago, Janimo said:

A quick question though. Did they ever explain where Jennifer Esposito (Quinn) went, or what happened to her??

She's taking care of her mother. Mother's dementia progressed rapidly, so she needs a primary caretaker.

[Katy M]

4 minutes ago, eel2178 said:

You don't have to make a friend request, let alone have it accepted, in order to see someone's Facebook page. If you haven't divulged all your secrets on Facebook there is also LinkedIn, google, professional license registries, property records, marriage and divorce records, etc. Try searching on yourself and see how much you come up with. People just aren't aware of how much privacy we have given up in exchange for internet access. 

I actually have googled myself.  Another person with my name comes up for the first three pages, and nothing interesting on me at all.  All you can see on my FB page is my picture.  Big whoop.  My thing is though, I don't think banks should have your records on computers with outside access.  Or anything with any private info--credit card companies, government, schools.  It's irresponsible.  And, I'll never understand people who bank online.  Especially those who do so on their phones and use wifi in public places.

[secnarf]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

I actually have googled myself.  Another person with my name comes up for the first three pages, and nothing interesting on me at all.  All you can see on my FB page is my picture.  Big whoop.  My thing is though, I don't think banks should have your records on computers with outside access.  Or anything with any private info--credit card companies, government, schools.  It's irresponsible.  And, I'll never understand people who bank online.  Especially those who do so on their phones and use wifi in public places.

Well, depending what you mean by "outside access" - but if you want to be able to visit more than one branch of your bank, they're going to have some sort of connection that can be hacked.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Hey guys, please get back to discussing the episode. Perhaps take the one offs to the Small Talk thread?

[ForReal]

I am with the people who thought Sloane's trick was uncool, particularly with someone like Gibbs. Not the way to establish your professional credibility. Yes, Vance can hire whomever he pleases, but it's good management (and friendship) to tell the team beforehand, especially if he anticipates resistance. I don't even care what the back story is between Sloane and Vance; I always have a hard time believing Vance was a credible field agent anyway. Yes, the badge flashing was a red flag to me, too -- who does that, and shouldn't she have known better? I almost wondered if she did it on purpose to see if he would figure it all out, but no, in the end, he knew more and he won. To be honest, I like it that way. I like Gibbs for the win every time.

Yeah, Abby could have just been joking about the zombie apocalypse and then included the beepers in case wifi went out, or whatever it was that caused all communication devices except beepers to stop functioning. That scene just didn't ring true for me.

I think for Sloane to work, she can be opinionated and outspoken, but she has to realize her place in regards to Gibbs, or it will just be annoying. I know some people don't like that Gibbs is always right, but you know, that's the premise upon which the show is built. He da man. Watching people try to topple him is tedious and tiresome for me.

[MommaBee]

I came in to see if I missed the scene where Gates McFadden (yiii) realized her daughter's death had nothing to do with the family money and I see we were all cheated out of that.

I remember a few years back that some agency (would it be homeland, or fema?) had written zombie preparedness brochures because for the most part, it is the same tips as other emergencies.  Water, meds, paper list of names/numbers, exit plan and meeting point.  It could have been a more mature presentation.  "I was double-checking my plan and found this, so I zombie-fied additions to your go-bag." 

Edited October 19, 2017 by MommaBee

[Clanstarling]

On 10/17/2017 at 7:13 PM, AimingforYoko said:

Nah, I'm guessing it's why she owes Vance.

So which cues were they hitting harder: Sloane-Gibbs or Bishop-Buckner?

I'd say about even. 

17 hours ago, eel2178 said:

Why couldn't they come up with a better reason for upgrading their go bags than Abby coming unglued over a zombie apocalypse? They were trying to wait out a hurricane to begin with. Couldn't Abby tell them they needed to enhance their prepping,  just because of the actual hurricane? She's always bragging about what a fantastic scientist she is, but now she is accepting the inevitability of a zombie invasion without any scientific proof? Also, why didn't McGee ask Abby why she had a key to her coffin? I was hoping for an answer to that by the end of the episode. 

Yeah, that bugged. Abby is quirky (too much so for my tastes after, what, 10 years), but she is a scientist first and foremost. 

I actually am not fond of Maria Bello, but liked the character. Weird. The introduction was strange, but there have been strange introductions before. I just roll with them.  I personally thought she and Harmon had chemistry. 

But though I like Bishop in general, I hated her reactions to the XO.  And thought she and bland pretty boy had no chemistry. So this was an opposite episode for me.

[enoughcats]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

I hated her reactions to the XO. 

Yes, in so many ways.  She's supposed to be smart, so did she fall for his continuing good looks?  Or was his heart felt apology for years of bullying that good?  All less than a page of dialogue of it?  No way in video hell.

Her fluff of her hair and glance over her shoulder as she left, probably practices to show her 'good' for the camera side, "Call me" just reeked of writers desperation at getting some romance into the show this or next season.  In that small a group, romance isn't going to happen all the time.  When it does, back in the day Ziva's keeping it out of the office was a more realistic approach.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

Her fluff of her hair and glance over her shoulder as she left, probably practices to show her 'good' for the camera side, "Call me" just reeked of writers desperation at getting some romance into the show this or next season. 

What? Does this mean she's ready to date after losing what'shisface? It's only been, what? six months? After all, it was his murder that led her down her "daaark" path.

[MortysCleaningLady]

I liked this episode; haven't saif that in a while!! I think it was the hurricane backdrop tht won me over.  Could care less about the new female agent, who stopped by a new coworker's home, unannounced, to snoop.  She is still better than Bishop, but tjat is a low threshold....

[basiltherat]

I think the female psychiatrist that I hated more than Kate's sister or this chick was Jamie Lee Curtis.  I like Laura S.G. the best.

[ForReal]

To this day I can't watch any episodes with Jamie Lee Curtis. To me she looked positively reptilian. I hated how she always held back information from Gibbs and wanted him to trust her, and then when she and her son were threatened she up and leaves, with no trust in Gibbs' ability to look out for them and seek justice. Yuck.

[enoughcats]

Why don't we bring in a male shrink to understand and explain quirky Abby?

[UncleChuck]

Quote

I think for Sloane to work, she can be opinionated and outspoken, but she has to realize her place in regards to Gibbs,

So far as it has been explained to this point, she does NOT work for Gibbs.  She reports directly to Vance, so while she and Gibbs can work together on some cases, Gibbs is not the boss.  I think she'll be more like Ducky, who worked with--but never "for" Gibbs.

[Chaos Theory]

It’s funny I liked the episode probably for the reason a lot of people didn’t.  I like Bishop so Bishop episode are usually fun for me.   I liked the new shrink.  She and Gibbs have a good amount of chemistry.  No one ever comes strait at a problem or a person.  I don’t think anyone has ever just said “Hi my name is...” and lasted more then five minutes.   Even Ziva for the record.

Gibbs is not the boss and has never been the boss so she could have waited for the introduction but from what I understood she wasn’t sure she wanted the job or to work with someone with Gibbs reputation so this was her roundabout way of finding out if she could.

Still pissed  that Gates was only in one scene and not even a particularly important one.

[Clanstarling]

10 hours ago, UncleChuck said:

So far as it has been explained to this point, she does NOT work for Gibbs.  She reports directly to Vance, so while she and Gibbs can work together on some cases, Gibbs is not the boss.  I think she'll be more like Ducky, who worked with--but never "for" Gibbs.

You're right.  "Her place" is as an equal to Gibbs, just in a different job. (and I suppose, does open it up for an appropriate workplace romance)

I didn't even recognize Gates McFadden. Sheesh.

[BigBeagle]

Quote

Why don't we bring in a male shrink to understand and explain quirky Abby?

One exists?

[GHScorpiosRule]

16 hours ago, enoughcats said:

Why don't we bring in a male shrink to understand and explain quirky Abby?

They did. Which season was it that Leon got stabbed by Michael O'Nell's EVUHL character? They sent a male shrink to talk to the team. He had an English accent and used to be on Bones, I think. I'm too lazy to look up his name. 

3 minutes ago, BigBeagle said:

One exists?

Yes. But he was a one and done.

[rainsmom]

3 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

They did. Which season was it that Leon got stabbed by Michael O'Nell's EVUHL character? They sent a male shrink to talk to the team. He had an English accent and used to be on Bones, I think. I'm too lazy to look up his name. 

Not Bones. Crossing Jordan (though he did work in the autopsy bay). The actor's name is Steve Valentine. I remember because I used to work with a guy by the same name.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, rainsmom said:

Not Bones. Crossing Jordan (though he did work in the autopsy bay). The actor's name is Steve Valentine. I remember because I used to work with a guy by the same name.

Right! I knew even as I typed Bones, it didn't sound right. Yep, Steve Valentine. I love him. Remember his stint on Pysch!

[enoughcats]

I didn't even remember that Leon got stabbed until I looked up Michel O'Neil images.  I thought O'Neil made a really interesting backstory/character.  We must have missed the Steve Valentine show.  

It's different with NCIS than with a lot of shows.  There are characters that we know so well, and then there are characters who aren't developed and who just drop off the writers' radar.  Jimmy's wife and child.  Leon's children and their nanny.  Ellie's brothers.   McGee's quirky family.  Fornell and his daughter.  

With the addition of an agent equal to Gibbs, will we get any backstory only to have it drop off into fan memory?  Besides the Leon connection, whatever that means.

[MommaBee]

Crossing Jordan came to mind as I read the comments about Sloane because their approach would have worked well on NCIS.  Have a quirky, introspective, psyche-driven episode a season, leaving someone with a history to pop in when needed for a case or to deal with the fall-out.  Oh, and if it could have been Wallace Shawn, so much the better.

Instead, we get a quirky character, to bring out the quirks in individuals and almost no connection until we need someone to deal with the quirks.  Laura SanG played a professional acting doctor.  I understand why Sloan would want to see if she could work with Gibbs, but maybe she should have shadowed him at WORK before deciding.