Past Seasons Talk: Gibbs Is Standing Right Behind Me, Isn't He?

[formerlyfreedom]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from NCIS' first ten plus seasons. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for current episode threads, character topics and other places for show-related talk.

[catray]

Getting the conversation started-- have anyone else watched past seasons and realized something they hated at the time isn't actually so bad? Mainly for me, it's the Jeanne/Frog arc during season 4. At the time, I really didn't like it at all, but now rewatching the old episodes (usually during USA marathons) I find that I don't mind it. Are there parts that still annoy me? Sure, but in the bigger picture, there was actually some really good stuff going on, at least character wise-- especially with Tony. Or maybe it's just rose colored glasses for the nostalgia of the Bellisario days, before Brennan took over and made a giant mess.

[St. Claire]

I think that whenever I watch TV again, I am more equipped to find the things that I like among the things I don't. Upon first watch, the dislike is more prominent, but once I know what's coming I have a better time appreciating the smaller aspects that were more likable. Sometimes it's because things that were small and likable in early seasons pay off later, sometimes it's the nostalgia of the heyday of the show, and sometimes it's just because I am becoming more forgiving as I get older (I like the series overall, so I'm willing to excuse the previous mis-steps. Kind of like how I can forgive my kids for being boneheads as they get older in the moments when I look at how much they've grown up and become really good people.)

[itsmeyousee]

For me it's Ari. Wasn't into his storyline and Gibbs obsession with him when i first watched it. But Ari turned out to be the best of all the Mossad storylines for me. I think because it didn't start out as personal, it became personal because of who they were Gibbs and Ari .Unlike all the other Mossad storylines are personal because of Ziva and Vance. I don't know but making it constantly personal made the world seem too small like the street you lived in. Instead  being international politics and intrigue.

[Watcher0363]

For me one of the things that i really appreciate now is Gibbs and Jenny's relationship. For two people who were very intimate with each other in the pass. They conducted themselves like adults. Having seen some of these thing play out in real life. It was good to see to two people still respect each other after ending a sexual relationship. People are not robots so I enjoyed when things got a little personal but never out of hand. When she pulled the boss card Gibbs backed down and gave her respect. Also I like the way he let her know he always had her back. Gibbs new how to be both a confidant and a subordinate to Jenny. Bravo writers for that!

[Ceindreadh]

When she pulled the boss card Gibbs backed down and gave her respect.

 

In all honesty, I did not see that played out on screen at all. 

I thought that Gibbs gave Jenny little to no respect for her position as director, and it makes me wonder how he lasted as a marine with his lack of respect for the chain of command. 

 

Even in her first episode, she tried to lay down the law with the "on the job it's director or 'Ma'am" "there is no off the job"

and pretty much the first thing Gibbs does is tell her he's going home to change and makes her come with him if she wants to talk.

 

Granted, I'll admit that I'm no fan of hers, but I was even less of a fan of the way Gibbs treated her. 

[Julia]

Didn't Gibbs and Jenny get together while she was working for him? That's what I always assumed, and if it's true, Gibbs has much bigger chain of command issues.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Didn't Gibbs and Jenny get together while she was working for him? That's what I always assumed, and if it's true, Gibbs has much bigger chain of command issues.

 

No. They were partners, and then became lovers. And she was totally so not fit for that job, failing, and failing, only to have Gibbs cover up for her mistakes.  There was this one scene in a flashback, where Gibbs apparently is "arrested" or something, and she's just standing there like a deer caught in the headlights.  We were never told what happened and how he got out or if that was the end of the relationship.

 

Her incompetence came back to bite her in the ass at the end of the Frog arc, when the guy who she was supposed to kill, but didn't--his handler came gunning for her or something.

 

That said, I do agree, he never gave her the respect her title deserved; always treating her like a partner, instead of boss.

[jennifer6973]

@GHScorpiosRule

 

Did you know his handler/lover/whatever was played by Kathleen Gati (Obrecht)

[Julia]

No. They were partners, and then became lovers.

I guess I took boss from the way she told Mike Franks that Gibbs trained her, but even if she was his (junior) partner it seems to me like the kind of power imbalance that fraternization rules were designed to prevent. I also kind of side eye the way a lot of the women who found a place in this team seem to have started on third base. Jenny, Ziva and Barret were the daughters and the niece of major power players. The men are a former NCO, a former cop, and a couple of guys who did really well in school. Maybe that's realistic - I know very little about how real life intelligence services operate - but it made me uncomfortable.

[GHScorpiosRule]

@GHScorpiosRule

 

Did you know his handler/lover/whatever was played by Kathleen Gati (Obrecht)

 

That was Gati? I didn't even recognize her!

 

 

 

I guess I took boss from the way she told Mike Franks that Gibbs trained her, but even if she was his (junior) partner it seems to me like the kind of power imbalance that fraternization rules were designed to prevent. I also kind of side eye the way a lot of the women who found a place in this team seem to have started on third base. Jenny, Ziva and Barret were the daughters and the niece of major power players. The men are a former NCO, a former cop, and a couple of guys who did really well in school. Maybe that's realistic - I know very little about how real life intelligence services operate - but it made me uncomfortable.

 

I disagree. Barret had her OWN team in Rota. How was she junior? And again how was Jenny a junior? When she joined up on Gibbs' team, if you will, she was his boss, not his underling.  And Ziva, well, she was just a liaison when she started not even a U.S. citizen.

 

We don't know (thank goodness, because those Paris flashbacks were horrid enough), who started the relationship from partners to lovers. We do know that Gibbs has long mourned his first wife, Shannon. Who knows what was in his mind. And since the show's canon is all wonky, Gibbs was married to wife number three when they were in Europe, separated? he partnered with Jenny? Not sure. It's possible Jenny pursued Gibbs and not the other way around. I'm just speculating this scenario based on what we know and have seen of Gibbs.

[Julia]

I disagree. Barret had her OWN team in Rota. How was she junior? And again how was Jenny a junior? When she joined up on Gibbs' team, if you will, she was his boss, not his underling.  And Ziva, well, she was just a liaison when she started not even a U.S. citizen.

 

I'm sorry. I guess I put that badly. I believe Jenny, whose father was a person of influence, was Gibbs' junior when they worked together as agents, since we have her word for it that he trained her. Ziva was the daughter of the head of intelligence for the government of one of our most important allies, and her father was a personal friend of the man Gibbs reports to. Barret had less time in place and the same job as Gibbs, which would make her junior to him in most military contexts, I think, but she did have the same job. The impact of that seemed to me to be blunted by the fact that someone who didn't have a whole lot of time in grade was the niece of her boss' boss (and that she made a number of mistakes I don't think someone with more experience would have made).

 

It just seems odd to me that three out of the five leading women in this story had friends in high places. I don't think that's how it works IRL.

[itsmeyousee]

 

 

We don't know (thank goodness, because those Paris flashbacks were horrid enough), who started the relationship from partners to lovers. We do know that Gibbs has long mourned his first wife, Shannon. Who knows what was in his mind. And since the show's canon is all wonky, Gibbs was married to wife number three when they were in Europe, separated? he partnered with Jenny? Not sure. It's possible Jenny pursued Gibbs and not the other way around. I'm just speculating this scenario based on what we know and have seen of Gibbs.

 

 

Very wonky for me anyway but i thought Gibbs got together with Sephanie after Jenny. That Jenny left that team and Gibbs for that matter to move up at NCIS and Gibbs stayed on in Europe as a Field Agent and that's when he meet Stephanie. Though i could be wrong, i find Gibbs past hard to get time wise.

Edited June 20, 2014 by itsmeyousee

[Ohmo]

Granted, I'll admit that I'm no fan of hers, but I was even less of a fan of the way Gibbs treated her.

 

 

While I'd agree that Gibbs did not give Jenny a lot of respect, I also didn't think she deserved a lot of respect either.  She held the office of Director, but I saw nothing that indicated that she actually deserved to hold that office or had the competency to reach that office.  Her tenure as Director was marked by a year-long personal vendetta that almost killed Tony, she was the one who repeatedly brought references about her sexual past with Gibbs into their conversations, the Paris flashbacks at least hinted that Gibbs had to bail her out of a dicey situation, and she was stupid enough to ditch Tony and Ziva in "Judgment Day," which led to getting her ass killed.

 

I know that NCIS does not have great success with writing female characters, but, in my opinion, Jenny was written as ragingly incompetent that bordered on absurd.  Nothing about how the character was written ever convinced me that she possessed the acumen or skill to become the Director of NCIS.  If the latest retcon is added in, Jenny also did not recognize that Ziva was planted by Eli in order to get close to Gibbs.

 

Shane Brennan did several things that I don't like, but one of the best things he did was to kill Jenny off.  The character was such a flawed mess that I think it was easier to get rid of her instead of trying to reinvent her as a competent professional.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Ohmo

[GHScorpiosRule]

Oh Noessss!!!!! "Legend" is on and I can't look away! I can feel the bile of my rage working its way up through my body. I can't make my finger change the channel! I needs help!!!!! Man, why'd I binge watch my Law & Order two days ago?!!!

[slothgirl]

USA was showing season 1 episodes tonight. Regardless of your feelings about Kate vs Ziva or whatever, there was a lightheartedness in the early episodes that I realize I miss. The later seasons got so angsty and Gibbes never seems to have any humor at all in him. It's not like he had never faced tragedy until some point later in the series... arguably he had already faced the worst tragedy of his life before the series even starts.. so what's the rationale behind the character becoming so hard and bitter over the years shown of his NCIS career?

 

Abby was more kick-ass and less pathetically "little-girl". Her voice is even a lower register, and she's in pants rather than those silly dresses that make NO sense for a woman her age. She walks like a normal person instead of like a geisha in a tight kimono on platform geta (little mincing hopping steps). She has an exchange with Gibbes in one of the episodes where she's not oblivious to his desire for her to get to the point while she presents as a quirky nerd and possibly child savant.. she's teasingly goading him with the delay deliberately, and he is bantering right back at her like a collegue, as they try to trick each other into 'fessing up 1st with information.

 

What happened to THESE characters? Did they get abducted by aliens and replaced by bots programmed with simple 2 dimensional stereotypes the aliens pulled out of a cartooon? The only main character that seemd to grow more layers over time was Ziva. She started as a cartoon and became more human. (IMO). Tony has sparks of it sometimes, and I guess it's all the more powerful by not being the norm.

 

But Gibbes and Abby really went in the wrong direction over the years IMHO. Ducky is the only one who started out as a reasonably well dimensioned character and has stayed that way consistently. Maybe the fact that we get so little of him protected him from being ruined by the "creative team".

 

I want Season 1 Abby back! And more early-seasons Gibbes too!

[immortalfrieza]

Slothgirl, at some point any long running series does this to all of it's characters. The writers take the characteristics of every character that most of the fans like and find notable and focus on them to the exclusion of every other characteristic they've ever shown, unless an episode specifically focuses around that character and thus the writers need to make them more nuanced before going after that afterward. Any character development is a secondary concern to doing this for the writers. This is pretty much fiction in a nutshell. The exact same thing would have happened to Kate had she stuck around for much longer than she did.

 

For instance, when fans think of Abby they think of a hyperactive quirky little Goth woman that acts half her age, everything else doesn't matter to them and the writers start writing the character to reflect that.

 

The thing people noticed about Gibbs was his cold, no nonsense side, therefore the writers focused on that more than anything else.

 

The thing people noticed about Tony was his clownish behavior, therefore they played that up while dialing down his overall competence and professionalism.

 

The thing people noticed about Ducky was his tendency to go off on tangents about irrelevant facts or stout off psycho analysis babble, therefore that's pretty much all we see.

 

And so on.

 

Ziva was one of my favorite characters on the show precisely because she was written more evenly balanced, and that's because fans in general love her fish out of American water side, her deadpan snarker side, and her badass Mossad agent side more or less equally.

 

If Bishop sticks around for any real length of time the writers are probably going to do the same thing. I'd bet money they're going to play up her absent minded genius aspects if they do.

 

In fact, any long running piece of fiction in general tends to do this. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is. Whether fans even care that they're doing this depends on if they actually like the characteristics the writers are focusing on or not.

Edited September 15, 2014 by immortalfrieza

[Sharpie66]

I was busy today, but I had noticed that they were going to show "Sub Rosa," so I dvr'd it since I hadn't seen it in a while. Interestingly, they had done a re-edit so that the scene that is usually gone when it's on USA (Tony's playing at throwing a football before heaving the rock through the door at the unsub's house) was there, but some other stuff had been shaved off, although I couldn't tell what.

 

And I totally agree about Abby being much more mature. Her lower speaking voice is very obvious to me after watching all the later eps. I'm hoping that, now that they've finally let Tony grow up, that they do the same with Abby.

[Betweenthisandthat]

Ziva was one of my favorite characters on the show precisely because she was written more evenly balanced, and that's because fans in general love her fish out of American water side, her deadpan snarker side, and her badass Mossad agent side more or less equally.

 

Honestly I think Ziva lost balance too.  They made her storyline too tragic.  It always was from the beginning with her killing Ari, but around season 6 it just got a bit worse imho.  Her daddy issues, her romances, everything was tortured.  She was more rounded to me in the beginning.  She was tough and had anger issues but she showed more openness and vulnerability.  She was more relatable to me in the beginning and then her shell got hardened.  The worse her life got the more she lost that balance between hardness and softness and after season 6 the writers didn't seem to know how to bring her back or recapture that balance.  I found her character compelling but she became a hard character to relate to in the end for me. 

 

All the characters suffered from this lack of balance in the middle seasons.  I think the show has started correcting this.  McGee gets more to do and isn't strapped to his computer as much anymore.  Tony is still funny and a bit all over the place but has regained his competence in the last two seasons. Gibbs isn't as dark as he was before.  Abby has lost her way since season 3 but I don't think she's as childish as she used to be. I hope they get that balance right again.  I see some signs of it, and it should continue. 

Edited September 15, 2014 by Betweenthisandthat

[slothgirl]

For instance, when fans think of Abby they think of a hyperactive quirky little Goth woman that acts half her age, everything else doesn't matter to them and the writers start writing the character to reflect that.

 

If Bishop sticks around for any real length of time the writers are probably going to do the same thing. I'd bet money they're going to play up her absent minded genius aspects if they do.

 

The things is, I don't think people ever saw Abby as acting half her age in the beginning. It wasn't "something fans loved" about her. It was a characteristic they introduced later and then shoved in our faces. She was upbeat and optimistic. If that's "acting half her age" then the show seriously misunderstood what really made that fun. She was Goth, but she was positive and optimistic. THAT was the fun paradox. Being "childlike" had nothing to do with it (from my perspective)

 

Of course, I do wonder if the lower register voice was not natural for the actress, and she reverted to her own way of speaking because talking that low in her throat jsut wasn't comfortable.

 

Bishop: From what I can tell there really isn't ANYTHING that fans like about her and she's already a caricature or cartoon. They don't have far to go before she starts to make every other character look more nuanced than Willy Loman by comparison.

[GHScorpiosRule]

No, the lower register voice is how Pauley Perrete actually sounds like/uses. it's the little girl voice, that is a 'put on' or affect.

[Betweenthisandthat]

Bishop: From what I can tell there really isn't ANYTHING that fans like about her and she's already a caricature or cartoon. They don't have far to go before she starts to make every other character look more nuanced than Willy Loman by comparison.

 

I like Bishop.  I like that she doesn't (yet) have the kind of overwhelming baggage that comes with characters on long-running shows.  She feels fresh to me.  Not tortured (yet), not tragic or completely dysfunctional. She's not trying to take out ten men on her own or speak 45 languages.  She's not a master of everything.  I do think she needs to be fleshed out and don't see that as impossible, but I don't see her as a character as a cartoon.  YMMV but I do think Ziva had a cartoonishness to her in what she could do.  She was superwoman.  I really hope they make Bishop less...intense and more rounded in general.  

 

The rest of the characters got to became cartoons, too, and that actually was the first thing I thought when I started watching reruns of the show on USA.  I thought every character was a cartoon.  It wasn't until I saw the earlier seasons that I realized that there was more to them than that. 

 

PP's voice is quite deep, almost raspy when I hear her speak as herself.  She used that voice in the first season and wish that would come back.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Betweenthisandthat

[Julia]

She's not trying to take out ten men on her own or speak 45 languages.  She's not a master of everything.  I do think she needs to be fleshed out and don't see that as impossible, but I don't see her as a character as a cartoon.

 

And yet she knows enough about forensics to school Duckie from skimming a textbook, and she's enough of an internationally-known expert on profiling in her twenties that high-ranking terrorists are obsessed with her?

 

So far, I think if she's escaped being Very Special Agent Mary Sue it hasn't been by much.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Julia

[immortalfrieza]

And yet she knows enough about forensics to school Duckie from skimming a textbook, and she's enough of an internationally-known expert on profiling in her twenties that high-ranking terrorists are obsessed with her?

 

So far, I think if she's escaped being Very Special Agent Mary Sue it hasn't been by much.

I think Bishop's weaknesses that prevent her from being "Very Special Agent Mary Sue" is she's a downright terrible field agent, being clumsy and awkward away from a desk, a lack of any social skills and thus she lacks the tact necessary to avoid coming off as stuck up, and she's a genius, but a bizarre absent minded one.

 

All of these issues I could see disappearing with another season or 2 under her belt, while the writers will no doubt bring up new ones.

[Ohmo]

We have been talking about how Season 12 feels a lot different (in a good way) to some of us.  My personal opinion is that's because I think we're seeing the NCIS that Gary wants to write.  It seems to me that Gary is very much a fan of the first two years of the show.  We're back to a lot more Navy content than during the Brennan years and the tone of the show "feels" like it did in the first two years.

 

I think this shift is a direct result of the departure of Ziva.  When Gary gained full control of the show, the whole Tiva issue was still on the canvas.  Gary didn't torch Tiva, but he also didn't advance them either.  I believe that's because Gary knew he couldn't do anything drastic to Tiva, but they were also not how he chooses to write couples.  McGee/Delilah, Abby/Bert, and Ellie/Jake are more Gary's speed.  I have no explanation for why Gary killed Jackie.  Jackie/Leon seems to fit more with the other three couples I just mentioned, but I think Cote's decision allowed Gary to "clear the decks" so to speak and write the show that he wanted to write.

 

I also think that NOLA has a similar vibe---and that's not a coincidence.  IMO, I think that if Gary COULD do it, we'd see Sasha guesting as Kate.  In the S9 commentary about "Life Before His Eyes," Gary talked about wanting Sasha to actually be in the episode, but she was unavailable.  Gary also created the character of Rachel as a sort of throughway to Kate.  I think he'd LIKE to actually have Kate, but there's only so much he can do with a character who's dead.

 

Lastly, I believe that the chances of revisiting Ziva in any significant way decrease with each year that passes beyond her departure...and that includes the end of the series.  Anything significant will open a huge can of worms, and I'm not certain that Gary would want to deal with that again if he doesn't have to address it.

[Betweenthisandthat]

Lastly, I believe that the chances of revisiting Ziva in any significant way decrease with each year that passes beyond her departure...and that includes the end of the series.  Anything significant will open a huge can of worms, and I'm not certain that Gary would want to deal with that again if he doesn't have to address it.

 

I think the can of worms is always open depending on who you ask.  The Ziva issue will never go away for some people and that's part of the reason why I believe Gary had the characters mention her again.  At some point either she returns - even at the end of the series - or the show has to close the door on her firmly, which it hasn't really done.  As long as the chance is there for her to come back, that situation won't die down.  I might be wrong, but I think Gary does/did like to play with Tiva and the hype it gave the show.  I'm not sure he's willing to give that up completely, business wise.  If the topic gets people to talk about the show even in a controversial way, I don't think he or the network want to do anything to let that die down either because that's part of its buzz.  The desire to bring back Sasha or other characters from the history of the show make it feel to me like he's not the kind of showrunner to close the door on anyone from the past.

 

For some viewers and the media, Ziva returning will always be a question mark.  The great thing for me about season 12 is that the writers have confronted that fact but haven't let her define the show anymore either.  There are elements about season 12 that's like the first two seasons, like you said.  There were seasons where the characters were stuck and one-dimensional and I don't get that feeling of creative laziness this season.  I don't want to blame Ziva for all the show's ills, but without her NCIS had to change.  Just so happened that for me this change worked. Tony's character had to stand on his own again.  McGee gets more to do.  Ellie isn't like Kate or Ziva.  She's a probie and doesn't resist that title.  She's smart but doesn't antagonize anyone and no one is really treating her roughly.  They respect her and she respects them and I haven't been given a reason to doubt the trust they all put in each other.  Gibbs is less sullen and secretive.  It's a lighter show but it also feels more complex at the same time.  The tone is similar to seasons 1 and 2, but the characters feel more mature or confident and secure in their abilities.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Betweenthisandthat

[JessDVD]

I keep hoping that we'll find out that Kate's death was faked and she's actually been in witness protection this whole time. I'm completely aware that this is delusional.

 

Which season was the switch from Bellisario to Brennan, and then which from Brennan to Glasberg?

[Betweenthisandthat]

Which season was the switch from Bellisario to Brennan, and then which from Brennan to Glasberg?

 

Brennan started running the show in season 5 through 8 I think.  Glasberg officially was showrunner in season 9.  

Edited November 28, 2014 by Betweenthisandthat

[JessDVD]

Interesting... It's been a long time since I've watched 5-8 but I know I remember not liking them as much as 1-4, definitely not as much as 1-2 (We re-watch 1-2 on a relatively regular basis, I don't know that we've ever re-watched 4+). I despised about 90% of 9 and 10. I do feel that there was some sort of change in the writing, whether or not one is a Ziva/Tiva fan, between seasons 10 and 11.

 

I know they'll never make everyone happy, but they have made me very happy by moving past all the emotional angst, letting people be reasonably happy for awhile, letting everyone be competent human beings, and having everyone be reasonably nice to each other. It is reminiscent of 1 and 2, but with people who are 10 years older and thus more skilled and mature.

[Ohmo]

I might be wrong, but I think Gary does/did like to play with Tiva and the hype it gave the show.  I'm not sure he's willing to give that up completely, business wise.

 

I think there's a difference between writing for something because you have to and writing for it because you want to.  If Cote had stayed, like you said, for business reasons, I absolutely think Gary had material ready for Ziva/Tiva.  It would be ridiculous not to.  However, I don't think that he's playing so much now.  I agree with you that he's not going to completely shut the door and do something like kill Ziva off, but I also don't think he particularly likes the character either.  At least the choices that Gary has made do not make it seem to me that he likes Ziva all that much.  Bishop?  Yup. Kate?  Yup.  Delilah?  Yup.  Borin?  Yup.  Even Carrie.  Yup!

 

I think timing and specifically the timing of when the show ends will have a lot to do with if we see Ziva again.  If we had ended at the end of s11, yes, I absolutely think we would have seen Ziva again.  Now we're in to S12, and it's almost December.  Unless there's a major surprise coming in May, I'm expecting a Season 13.  Gary's also helming the newest spin-off, so his vision is obviously approved on some level by the network.  I think whatever becomes of Ziva going forward will depend on a) what Gary feels b) how much "standing" he has gained with the network and c) how much the network will want to push the Ziva/Tiva train.

 

 

t's a lighter show but it also feels more complex at the same time.  The tone is similar to seasons 1 and 2, but the characters feel more mature or confident and secure in their abilities.

 

Absolutely agree.  I think that's a reflection of the passage of time though.  Season 12 Tony is how I would see Season 1 and 2 Tony maturing and growing after 10 years.

 

Ellie isn't like Kate or Ziva.

 

In terms of Bishop being a probie, she's not like Kate, but she reminds me of Kate in other ways.

 

 

keep hoping that we'll find out that Kate's death was faked and she's actually been in witness protection this whole time. I'm completely aware that this is delusional.

We've seen Kate's dead body, though.  Bellisario really made it difficult for Gary to do anything with Kate, which is one of the reasons I think Rachel was created.

[amensisterfriend]

How would you guys rank the seasons from your very favorite to least favorite? If you're up for a challenge, don't allow yourself any ties :) 

[catray]

Ohhhh, that's a toughie! Season 3 is probably one of my favorites because that's the year I started watching, followed by season 2 and the current season, 12, which I am enjoying. After that, seasons 1, 11, and 4/5 (those two blend in my mind because of the overarching Jenny stuff). Then 8, 9, 10, 6/7. I initially put 8-10 in the bottom because a lot of the episodes were convoluted and uninteresting, but then I went back and read through some episodes and put 6/7 in the bottom because those seasons contained the worse storyline in the series: Rivkin and the assassination of Ziva's character. Oh, and 7 introduced the worst character EVER in this series: M. Allison Hart. The worst!

 

So: 3, 2, 12, 1, 4/5, 11, 8, 9, 10, 6/7. (I can't do it without tying!)

[JessDVD]

Mine is probably 1 & 2 (it's been too long since last watching to pick a winner), 3, 12, 11, and then 4-10 probably in that order. I re-watch 1 and 2, and would re-watch 11 and 12, and probably would re-watch 3 at some point, but I can't imagine ever re-watching 9 and 10 (barf) and based on the above reminder of 6/7 having Rivkin and MAH, skip those also, and I didn't care for most of the Reynosa part, whatever season that was in, and I hated Jenny and didn't care for the Frog/what's her name thing... none of these except 9 and 10 were painful to watch originally, but I didn't like any of them enough to ever see them again.

[Packerbrewerbadger]

Was watching the show from Season 1 - it was sure good back then....- where a sniper is shooting Marine recruiters and they mention how there's a problem with medical training in the Marines ( not sure of technicality ) but was reminded of the recent show where a female Marine got in trouble for aiding auto accident victims because of this technicality - so good job with the continuity show!!

[kassygreene]

Marines don't have medics - they use Navy corpsmen, or so I recall.  So Marines can't be qualified as medics, and that Marine was practicing medicine without being legally allowed to do so, even though she apparently had the training and the skill.

Edited March 16, 2015 by kassygreene

[proserpina65]

I mostly watch NCIS on USA reruns, and vastly prefer the first two seasons (although I do like the most recent seasons with Bishop and don't even mind Ziva too much at the beginning before every episode was more Daddy/Mossad/Tiva angst), but no matter how often they run stuff from Kate's seasons, I have never managed to see the episode where she gets killed.  Not that I'm looking forward to that, but for completion's sake, I do want to see it.  I really miss the vibe of the show when Kate was there, less sexual tension and more humor.

Edited March 24, 2015 by proserpina65

[betsyboo]

Watched Requiem last night on USA, where Gibbs helps Kelly's best friend from childhood escape a stalkery boyfriend. What a great episode. Mark Harmon could do the entire ep with his eyes and never speak. I loved that it opened with Tony running full throttle shooting bad guys and then dives in the river. I felt cheated tho that Gibbs didn't open the lunchbox - was I to assume that at the end he buried it again without opening?

 

Tony is my series-long MVP and this ep just cemented it. He's so snarky and irreverent that I forget he was a Baltimore detective before joining NCIS.

[jennifer6973]

He did open the lunchbox, there were pictures in it.

 

But what I think happens (and USA denies it) is that non relevant scenes are chopped for more ad space.

[slothgirl]

He did open the lunchbox, there were pictures in it.

 

But what I think happens (and USA denies it) is that non relevant scenes are chopped for more ad space.

I don't remember him opening it, but maybe I've only seen the edited version. I actually like him not opening it. Respecting Kelly's privacy and little girl secrets even now.

[GHScorpiosRule]

He did open the lunchbox, there were pictures in it.

 

But what I think happens (and USA denies it) is that non relevant scenes are chopped for more ad space.

 

 

 

I don't remember him opening it, but maybe I've only seen the edited version. I actually like him not opening it. Respecting Kelly's privacy and little girl secrets even now.

 

 

What Jennifer6973 said. Except in the original airing, we didn't see what it was, either. You had to go to CBS' website to see what it was.  It is there in the DVDs, though.  And I liked knowing and seeing that, for Mark Harmon's smile alone.

 

Whaaaat?

[slothgirl]

 

 

 

 

 

What Jennifer6973 said. Except in the original airing, we didn't see what it was, either. You had to go to CBS' website to see what it was.  It is there in the DVDs, though.  And I liked knowing and seeing that, for Mark Harmon's smile alone.

 

Whaaaat?

Is the "Whaaat?" for me?

 

As I recall, Kelly and her friend were sitting on the box (or the spot where they buried it) giggling and being all "Nnnnnothing..." when Gibbes asked what was up. It was their secret just for the 2 of them. By re-burying it without opening it, he would be preserving that original dynamic.

 

The only thing that seemed "off" to me was that he hadn't unearthed it sooner, assumign he ever did any digging in his yard.

[Julia]

What Jennifer6973 said. Except in the original airing, we didn't see what it was, either. You had to go to CBS' website to see what it was.  It is there in the DVDs, though.  And I liked knowing and seeing that, for Mark Harmon's smile alone.

 

....and? Inquiring minds and all.

[GHScorpiosRule]

....and? Inquiring minds and all.

 

 

What you said in your original post. It was a picture of Kelly and Maddie from that day he found them digging, I think. Also some girlie things too. It's been too long since I watched the unedited version.

 

And I very much doubt Gibbs did any digging in that yard after Kelly was killed; knowing she loved to play and dig in that yard. I also don't think of him opening it as snooping--it was more of a time capsule kind of thing; and didn't Maddie tell him there was something in there for him? I think Kelly wanted to give that picture to her Daddy of her and Maddie later. I think. Not sure.

[betsyboo]

Thanks. I think i've seen almost the whole series now (out of order), and I don't remember Maddie ever coming back. I would have liked to see her and Gibbs remain friends. Esp since her own father had passed away.

 

Fun fact: this ep aired in 2007, and the scooby crew sussed out Maddie's relationship to Gibbs by checking her MySpace page. Was that still relevant, even then???

[slothgirl]

What you said in your original post. It was a picture of Kelly and Maddie from that day he found them digging,

The box contained a picture taken of them digging a place to put the box? That doesn't seem right somehow. But I guess if it was a polaroid, it could have been. Shannon would have had to take the picture, or Gibbes would have known about the digging.

 

I still like a version of him not opening the box. Knowing what was in the box wouldn't be as important as the memory of them that day. Re-burying the box unopened would mean that memory would remain the predominant one.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Yes.  Kelly asked him to take a picture of her and Maddie; they were giggling and laughing in the backyard, trying to hide what they were doing in the backyard.

 

Ask me, it was a nice sweet memory for him to look back on, knowing that Kelly had put her copy of the picture in the box.

 

But to each their own.

[kassygreene]

What was always off to me about this episode is that Gibbs held on to that house.  He didn't keep Shannon's and Kelly's stuff (at least not out in the open), and he apparently lived with each of the subsequent wives in that house, and while he was overseas being an undercover spy it apparently sat empty...  Housing in the DC area is EXPENSIVE.  Show always has the enlisted owning very nice little bungalows, but a) those nice little bungalows don't really exist inside the Beltway, and b) military enlisted get paid not much at all...  Aarrgh!  If Gibbs was in a deployable unit at the time of the First Gulf War, it was not at all likely that it was assigned to the DC area.  And contrary to Show's belief, Norfolk is too damn far for a daily commute.

 

But what bugs the most is that he held on to a house that his first wife and child were not living in at the time of their deaths, in an expensive area with significant property taxes, apparently so decades later he can find a time capsule his child buried with her best friend.

[Julia]

What was always off to me about this episode is that Gibbs held on to that house.  He didn't keep Shannon's and Kelly's stuff (at least not out in the open), and he apparently lived with each of the subsequent wives in that house, and while he was overseas being an undercover spy it apparently sat empty...  Housing in the DC area is EXPENSIVE.  Show always has the enlisted owning very nice little bungalows, but a) those nice little bungalows don't really exist inside the Beltway, and b) military enlisted get paid not much at all...  Aarrgh!  If Gibbs was in a deployable unit at the time of the First Gulf War, it was not at all likely that it was assigned to the DC area.  And contrary to Show's belief, Norfolk is too damn far for a daily commute.

 

But what bugs the most is that he held on to a house that his first wife and child were not living in at the time of their deaths, in an expensive area with significant property taxes, apparently so decades later he can find a time capsule his child buried with her best friend.

 

I'm not sure how much alimony Gibbs pays - three of his ex-wives have since remarried, and I doubt the one who cheated on him got a significant payout - but he bought his house when the area wasn't particularly affluent, he wears clothes from Sears, and he mostly does carpentry in his basement and drinks well booze for fun. I think he could swing it.

[kassygreene]

I'm not sure how much alimony Gibbs pays - three of his ex-wives have since remarried, and I doubt the one who cheated on him got a significant payout - but he bought his house when the area wasn't particularly affluent, he wears clothes from Sears, and he mostly does carpentry in his basement and drinks well booze for fun. I think he could swing it.

I think he could swing it too.  Diane remarried at least fifteen years ago?  Emily's (??) age plus nine or more months.  Number 2 was Jeri Ryan and apparently the psycho who called him every anniversary prompting him to drown his phone.  How much she got, especially if her lawyer was the guy she was cheating with, and I think she had money herself, is unknown.  Number 3 was Kathleen York and seemed pretty independent.  And I think nowadays alimony tends to be "term-limited".  He was married to none of them when he was a Marine, so the pension is probably safe.  His position certainly provides a decent income (for government work).  And his expenses are not very high (don't know how good his bourbon is, but I don't think he guzzles it).  Most importantly, he doesn't seem to have cable (although that may have changed, at the very least he would have to get a digital receiver since the analog signals are dead and gone).  But back at the beginning, after he finished being Lord High Executioner and signed up with NIS, why would he have kept the house?  

 

Yeah, you can save a bundle if you don't have cable.  You can save a bundle if your government work doesn't require a DC dress code (and attendant dry-cleaning) either.

[GHScorpiosRule]

But back at the beginning, after he finished being Lord High Executioner and signed up with NIS, why would he have kept the house?

To punish himself?