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

[Julia]

To punish himself?

 

or so he would be able to live in the last place "his girls" lived in?

 

Granted, those are pretty much the same thing.

[GHScorpiosRule]

or so he would be able to live in the last place "his girls" lived in?

 

Granted, those are pretty much the same thing.

 

That too. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I see it as him blaming himself for not being able to prevent their murders, because he had to go to Kuwait? And so, it was just (meaning justice) for him to live with their ghosts and his memories.

Edited April 22, 2015 by GHScorpiosRule

[Julia]

I see it as him blaming himself for not being able to prevent their murders, because he had to go to Kuwait? 

 

I'm pretty sure that's canon. I know they mentioned it in the 200th episode.

[Ohmo]

In addition to anything related to Shannon or Kelly, I think Gibbs kept the house for practical and hobby reasons.  We've seen both Shannon and Kelly in the house in flashback and heard nothing about Gibbs renting it, so presumably he and Shannon bought it.

 

Gibbs has a practical streak along with not adapting to change.  I can see him believing that there's nothing "wrong" with the house, and he bought it, so why move?  I'm from the Midwest, and there's a certain practicality streak that I've noticed in many Midwesterners.  Geographically, we don't know where in Pennsylvania Stillwater is, but I've always personally fanwanked it in the western part of the state toward Ohio, and Jackson also seemed like a fairly practical man to me who I've also fanwanked spent time in the Midwest.  He reminded me very much of some of my older relatives who have lived in the Midwest their entire lives.  It's likely that Gibbs would be somewhat practical like his father was.

 

From a hobby standpoint, few things really bring Gibbs joy,  but woodworking does, and he likes to build boats.  Boats are big, so in practical terms, he needs a basement, which his current house has.

[kassygreene]

Now that I buy as a reason to keep the house: it has a special basement entrance big enough to egress a boat.

[slothgirl]

Now that I buy as a reason to keep the house: it has a special basement entrance big enough to egress a boat.

When this show finally gets cancelled, I want the very last episode to reveal how Gibbes gets the boats out of the basement.

[Sharpie66]

Sorry about the late notice, but I just found out that the JAG reruns on POP channel tonight at 8 and 9 Eastern time are the eps that introduce Gibbs and his initial team.

[Sharpie66]

I just watched the two JAG eps. It sets up a LOT of the foundations of NCIS the show! We have Tony and his Baltimore PD background, Ducky and his storytelling, Abby and her powder blue court suit and glasses that show up in the S5 ep Bloodbath as well as her Caff Pow addiction, and Gibbs with his coffee cup in hand, bonding with kids, saying "Whaddya got?" and getting into his subordinates' faces when they give him sass. Oh, and Director Morrow and Faith Coleman, both of whom were a surprise for me.

The two jarring things that seemed out of character, though, were the two minor attempts at flirtation, first with Abby hitting on Tony (ew), and then Ducky hitting on the female team member Blackadder (EW!!!). Very OOC as later established on the show.

Interesting thing that I noticed was that this pre-pilot demonstrated the show's need for a fourth team member with the brief use of an extra agent leading the search party of Marines looking for evidence, something that Belasario didn't adddress until McGee came on board.

[MyAimIsTrue]

I've never seen JAG and didn't know about these reruns in time so thanks, Sharpie66, for the recap!

[Sharpie66]

I noticed that a channel I'd never heard of, Inspirational TV (I think that's what it is--it's abbreviated as INSP on my channel guide), is also showing JAG reruns, and will be showing these two NCIS eps this Friday and Saturday at 1:00 am Eastern time.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I noticed that a channel I'd never heard of, Inspirational TV (I think that's what it is--it's abbreviated as INSP on my channel guide), is also showing JAG reruns, and will be showing these two NCIS eps this Friday and Saturday at 1:00 am Eastern time.

 

Yeah, but be prepared for major editing. Bet you they'll bleep/silence out words like Damn, Hell, sonofabitch, etc., cuz, you know, it's the Inspiration channel.

[jennifer6973]

they do

[jaytee1812]

I've been rewatching season 1 and I got to Dead Man Talking which I've always liked but I forgot how transphobic they get about Amanda Reed. From Abby's reveal to Gibbs reaction then Kate teasing Tony about 'kissing a guy' it's all in really poor taste. And I think it dates the episode, I don't think they could do that without criticism nowadays.

[Sharpie66]

Yeah, and they refer to the events of that show for a few episodes afterwards in the same really offensive way. It definitely wouldn't be done like that again, but then, there were a few episodes from the first few years that had Tony, especially, getting a bit leer-y with lesbian officers that would not be done the same way now.

 

Sub Rosa was on over the weekend, and as usual, I tuned in, mostly for the McGee intro and the early development of the McGee/DiNozzo relationship, which they really did a good job of building throughout that first season. Whenever McGee shows up, he is either paired up with Abby or, more often, with Tony. He gets the one ep with Kate with the stakeout of the escaped prisoner's in-laws' home, but they don't really interact in any significant way until the blind girl episode in the beginning of Season 2, which ends with him joining the team officially.

 

The other part of Sub Rosa that I like is the COB on the sub, played by Peter Onorati (sp?), who is an actor I usually enjoy when he shows up. He really nails the little bits of business he gets to have with both Gibbs and Kate--I love his repression of laughter when he walks in on the two of them right after an emergency blow has thrown Kate into Gibbs' arms, and she just glares at him on her way out the door.

[stonehaven]

I am watching Season 1 and am really enjoying these early episodes...Gibbs seems to have a bit more humor..and a swagger about himself...The line about how women find sawdust sexy is the reason he doesn't get many dates reminds me of how sexy Harmon really is.

The Season 12 ep from Thanksgiving was on last week..and Gibb's smile and "I'll give you one"...made me think they were trying for Season 1 Gibbs...

It feels like a whole different show.

[Ohmo]

I am watching Season 1 and am really enjoying these early episodes.

 

I do think the "early seasons" vibe is the one that Gary wants to most closely approximate as much as possible. 

 

I was watching a video of the Scorpion cast at Comic-Con, and they told Michael Ausiello that they had been back to work for three days at the time.  I'd imagine that the schedule is similar for NCIS.  The S13 vision is probably taking shape as we speak.

[stonehaven]

I must admit..these first season episodes have meatier mysteries than the last couple of seasons...and some a harder to follow..and some are out of left field.

The one Isaw tonight still leaves me confused...Season 1..The Truth is Out There..about the dead guy in the nightclub ceiling...

It was a prank gone wrong by his four buddies..except it wasn't...something about a $40k inheritance..What did the money have to do with it? 

Anyone explain the motive to me? I feel a bit dumb on that one..

[kassygreene]

The murdered guy had cashed out a $40,000 inheritance and hidden the cash in his room.  One of his buddies knew about it, and had set up this elaborate prank so that he could help himself to the cash that no one else knew about.  However, he couldn't find it or didn't get a chance to look.

 

The characters Nutter, Carter, Morgan, Bowman, Spotnitz, & Wong, as well as the victim, Gordon, were named for X-Files production crew.  Also Nutter was played by Brian Thompson, who is an X-Files HITG! (saw him on Hawaii Five-0 last season, somewhat disguised by a mustache).  There is even a Ford Taurus / Mercury Sable joke. 

 

Anyway, the motive was this big bunch of cash that the dead guy and his friend knew about, and no one else.

[Chaos Theory]

Not sure where to put this. If this is not the place; I apologize and feel free to remove and/or put in correct place.

I gave up on the show awhile ago but I heard that Bishop was likable so I watched the last couple of seasons pretty much in a couple of weeks so I kinda have it fresh in my mind. Exactly how many recurring characters did the show kill off this season?

I know the show is good for killing off a recurring character or two every season (and even a leadish one on occasion) but dude the show killed of a named character like the show was going off air.

Edited July 19, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[pcta]

I have done a rewatch of NCIS. For me, I have decided that NCIS was cancelled after season 11 episode 8. For me, the introduction of the Bishop character has made a significant enough change in the feel of the show that it is now a different show

[RockShrimp]

So the show just got added to Netflix, and I've never really watched it before, but it's good background noise. I'm about halfway through season 2... I want to murder Tony and I want Kate to press sexual harassment charges on him every single episode. People are saying he actually gets *worse?* Jesus.

[JessDVD]

I don't know that I'd say he gets worse, but it gets different when Ziva comes along because she deals it straight back to him. We're a few eps into season 3 right now, this is the first time we've re-watched anything past season 2, so I can't say this for certainty yet but I feel like I remember from the first watch-through, that from Ziva's beginning, she tended to "one-up" Tony often enough (it was REALLY bad in seasons 8 and 9), which overtook the sexual innuendo in my recollection. Tony can be pretty painful in the early seasons. I think he mellows in future seasons, matures also. Seasons 10 & 11 Tony were pretty good IMO. I've blocked most of about 4-9 out, but I seem to remember him having good moments there too.

[Julia]

So the show just got added to Netflix, and I've never really watched it before, but it's good background noise. I'm about halfway through season 2... I want to murder Tony and I want Kate to press sexual harassment charges on him every single episode. People are saying he actually gets *worse?* Jesus.

 

I don't know that I'd say he gets worse, but it gets different when Ziva comes along because she deals it straight back to him. 

 

Yeah, it does get worse, and I would argue that it's because Ziva _did_ give it right back to him. The whole tough broads can take it thing both she and Kate had kind of pisses me off, because tough broads aren't supposed to have to take it, and playing that game with Tony like it's OK is throwing the cafeteria ladies and interns who aren't allowed to slap his ears back under the bus. There's a reason for zero tolerance in the workplace of the kind of adolescent leering bullshit Tony pulled in those years.

 

Of course, Bishop 2.0 is doing the same damn thing. She even told McGee and DiNozzo flat out not to stop talking about sex because she came into the room, which, no, stop talking about sex because she came into the room, please. The only thing I liked about her in her first season was her not oversharing sexually, and while I like her a lot more this past season, she definitely loses points for talking about her sex life with her coworkers. 

Edited July 28, 2015 by Julia

[Chaos Theory]

Yeah, it does get worse, and I would argue that it's because Ziva _did_ give it right back to him. The whole tough broads can take it thing both she and Kate had kind of pisses me off, because tough broads aren't supposed to have to take it, and playing that game with Tony like it's OK is throwing the cafeteria ladies and interns who aren't allowed to slap his ears back under the bus. There's a reason for zero tolerance in the workplace of the kind of adolescent leering bullshit Tony pulled in those years.

Of course, Bishop 2.0 is doing the same damn thing. She even told McGee and DiNozzo flat out not to stop talking about sex because she came into the room, which, no, stop talking about sex because she came into the room, please. The only thing I liked about her in her first season was her not oversharing sexually, and while I like her a lot more this past season, she definitely loses points for talking about her sex life with her coworkers.

That never really bothered me. What bothered me about Ziva was that "everything became about her and her family". Honestly as the show went on I thought they actually toned down the sexual innuendo with Tony. I think they did that after his fake/real girlfriend.

I hated the Tony/Ziva pairing. I thought it took over the show after awhile.

There is a difference between talking about relationships and talking about sex and I think the later season especially now that Bishop has come along has transitioned to talking about the later. Yes Bishop talks about her husband but that is not a bad thing and that happens in real life work places.

I like Bishop slot more then I ever liked Zivamaybe because there is little or no chance of the show pairing her with anyone ornate because I just like her better.

[Julia]

Well, except for the episode where she took the magazine away from McGee and started listing the sexual positions she's tried. There is no universe where that's workplace behavior.

[Betweenthisandthat]

They have toned down the sexual innuendo a lot.  In past seasons, Ziva licked Tony's face during a sexual harassment workshop, he's talked about his exploits more openly, I don't know if we heard much from McGee.  Kate and Tony teased each other quite a bit even though she's known as a "prude."  NCIS used to be much more inappropriate about sex.  Remember when Ziva asked if Tony was afraid of a little pussy and said she was a screamer? Or when Tony talked about Kate at a wet t-shirt contest, and then we saw the photo and she, with Abby's help, photoshopped Tony's face onto a gay porn photo?  

 

Compared to some of this, and I'm not listing all of the behavior, what we've gotten has been very tame lately. Bishop talking about sex one time feels like nothing compared to Gibbs seeing Kate's wet t-shirt photo and Tony as a gay porn star in his work email.  That was some fun times, and it was fun at times because it's pretty clear that it's inappropriate and that everyone was being inappropriate, not just one person.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Betweenthisandthat

[JessDVD]

NCIS binge watch 2015 (underwritten by Netflix instant, bless you), now at the end of season 5. The show is trying so hard to make me care about Jenny dying and I just want to stand up and cheer that she's mercifully gone from the screen and I most likely won't have to watch her idiotic vendettas, inappropriate comments to Gibbs, and never, ever again see that bit when Gibbs has just woken up from the coma and she's all "You were remembering us making love"

 

The sooner Mike Franks goes that way too, the better!

[MyAimIsTrue]

Now I loved Mike Franks but couldn't stand Jenny because of the wooden way Lauren Holly played her.

[Julia]

I really blame the show for that, honestly. She's a decent actress, and very pretty. They put enough makeup on her to make her look ten years older, shaved her eyebrows and painted them on with a sharpie (for some reason women with power in NCIS-land are really bad with makeup), and made her character a strident nightmare with no boundaries who was one pantsuited leg away from being Captain Ahab. Who at least didn't sexually harrass or pimp out _his_ employees, not that it might not have been a more interesting book if he had.

They couldn't even let her go out like a badass without making the "Gee, I wish now I'd lived my life like a Real Woman" speech.

[ChaseMCP]

Just watched the end of season 2/beginning of season 3 and I wish the show had spaced out the time between Kate's death and Ziva's entrance. For one, it would have been interesting to explore the aftermath of losing a colleague/friend in such a sudden manner (she's laughing and then boom, dead. No dying words, nothing). They did a little bit but it got overshadowed by Ziva and Jenny's entrance. For another, it felt like the show was shoving the new characters in before it finished saying goodbye to the old one and it was too distracting.

On that note, I also hated Ziva's second entrance when she comes back to work for NCIS mainly because of the last scene when she's at Kate's desk. Nevermind whatever his reasons are, Gibbs is her boss and says she can't sit there so she should accept it as a newbie and sit at the other desk. She's only been there for one case and she thinks she's entitled to snoop through the desk of the dead colleague, whose death her new team is still coming to terms with, and then demand to sit there. It would've been a better sell to me if she had been there for a few cases and then her reasoning for wanting to sit there be from wanting to be more involved with the team or something. But she's only been there a few days, and her new team doesn't trust her yet because her half-brother murdered said dead colleague. Again, had she been there for a few more cases this would've been easier to swallow, but the fact she does all of this after one case reeked of entitlement and threw me off of her character before she really started. I don't care if she and Gibbs had a special bond, had I been him I would've found that more disrespectful than endearing.

[JessDVD]

LOL, Julia! Yeah, in Judgment Day Pt 2 (what we watched last night), Abby's all crying in the lab, and I'm like, Dude you're so better off without her. I don't know if writers struggle with writing a woman in a position like that without her coming off as a shrew or a pushover or worse, a love interest, or if they intended her to be like that, but either way or any other, I found her to be vastly unlike-able and again, not in the least bit disappointed to see her go. Vance, at least until all that awful BS with Eli David in whatever season that was (9?), was a breath of fresh air for me.

[fireice13]

I thought Ziva was disrespectful as well when she first came in. Also, I always felt the teasing between Kate and Tony was more sibling-esque fun. Whereas with Ziva, it felt like there was a mean streak behind it. She invited everyone over for dinner, except Tony, and then rubbed it in his face. That was just cruel in my opinion. Tony and McGee seemed to have a real good foundation and I felt that Ziva kind of got McGee to be a little mean too. I got really sick of Mossad by the time Ziva left. The first seasons were about investigating Navy crimes and then all of sudden it became about terrorism and the Mossad and Ziva's family and it just got old. 

 

I like Bishop. I think she made the dynamic change in a good way. I like Tony and McGee being the more senior agents and her learning from them. It seems everybody is more mature now.

[clarkbar]

I watched a Season 1 episode this morning on USA, and in it Tony doesn't get two pretty obvious movie references (one was Shane--don't remember the other).  When did he go from not knowing anything about movies to throwing out a movie reference in nearly every episode?

[betsyboo]

I watched a Season 1 episode this morning on USA, and in it Tony doesn't get two pretty obvious movie references (one was Shane--don't remember the other).  When did he go from not knowing anything about movies to throwing out a movie reference in nearly every episode?

clarkbar: I wondered this, too!! Here's my Q back in March from the "Questions"  thread:

 

http://forums.previously.tv/topic/18001-questions-about-the-show/?p=976996

[GHScorpiosRule]

One word: retcon.

 

In the pilot, it was Gibbs who was the movie connoisseur--how he kept trying to tell Kate that the plane they were on was just like in the movie Air Force One...down to how the gun rack was set, blah, blah, blah.

 

Down the line, I guess they just wanted to make Gibbs more...tough and not have a sense of humor like he clearly did in the first season, and gave the Remington Steele quoting movies* to Tony instead, I guess.

 

*Remington Steele used this method to solve all of their cases back in the early '80s.

[Ohmo]

One word: retcon.

 

Yeah, sometimes retcons do work.  The Gibbs/Fornell retcon is one of my all-time favorite retcons, and I think the movie quirk really fits both Tony's character and Michael's talent as a comedic actor.

[jaytee1812]

I've always suspected that they decided between seasons one and two that Gibbs had a dead wife and kid. In See No Evil, the first episode of season 2, Gibbs about puts the guy through a wall for risking his wife and kid. That reaction isn't there before.

[jennifer6973]

Actually in Season One in an episode where the guy fell off the cliff in a suicide he lit two candles in a church.

 

I also believe that in a tv shows first season, there is a fleshing out of the characters and some things might work better with others so I don't see it as a big deal if one character had change in the 2nd season.

[Julia]

Wasn't there also a random redhead in a convertible in season 1?

[kassygreene]

I think it was always a given that Gibbs had been married four times, because Kate Todd, while vetting Gibbs before letting him on that last flight in Yankee White (the one where he arrested the bad guy), would have read his file, and his marriages would have been listed.

 

AND, a little later on, in the bullpen she mentioned four marriages, or corrected Tony saying three, only to have Gibbs come in and say three - since they were talking about ex-wives, technically it was true.  They exchanged a look, and Kate forever dropped it.

 

SO, that's my evidence.  No retconning needed for this one, just slightly lawyerly use of language.  I cherish this as perhaps the single bit of continuity that goes back to the beginning. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Wasn't there also a random redhead in a convertible in season 1?

 

That was DPB's real life wife, and I guess a wink-wink or something.  She never said a word; always just showed up at the end of an episode to drive off with Gibbs.

 

Oh, I'm not saying I had a problem with the retcon of Tony being the one to be the expert on movies; just that for all his arrogant bad assery, Season One Gibbs smiled, had a sense of humor and said "Pleeeeeze", something that Abby mentioned in a "wow" sort of way to Ducky.

 

And I'm sure that Shannon and Kelly were always part of Gibbs' past--Bellasario isn't a last minute overall season kind of guy, even if he was a last minute script changer.

[JessDVD]

NCIS Netflix binge watch 2015: now at the beginning of season 10, aka Harper Dearing's last call. I am yet again baffled by the FBI agent who approached Dearing at the street corner and invited him back to her apartment in the universe's most transparent attempt to detain him. The president had already declared the extreme prejudice, and if it was that easy to find him on a street corner, why didn't she just shoot him there?

 

I remember not enjoying season 10, after this episode, too much Mossad crap and everyone one-upping Tony and I refuse to acknowledge Jackie Vance's death. Season 9 wasn't as bad as I remembered it though, so that was nice.

[crowsworks]

I always SWAK spoiled a good character ep by stupidly messing up the motive. So the girl was so terrified of her mom finding out about her BF tying her to a bed that she accused airmen of rape. He mom wasn't a  religious figure or something - she was a former wild child who posed nude at  Woodstock?. Also it is almost impossible to playfully tie someone so they can't get loose.

 

If they wanted to keep their Hanoi Jane line have the girl dating a cop (who mom would hate) who jokingly handcuffs her to the bed before becoming road pizza.

Edited November 6, 2015 by crowsworks

[NCChic]

That was DPB's real life wife,

And Sean Murray's mother.

[Julia]

[moved from some Ziva discussion in an episode thread]

 

I liked Ziva enough. I thought she was an interesting character, and I thought it was an interesting dynamic that the only person on his team who Gibbs could communicate with as a fellow soldier was the woman. Tiva wasn't my thing, but ships are very much milage varies, and that one really wasn't written for me.

 

What drove me straight up a damn wall was the funniest running gag in the history of ever (did you know that Ziva wasn't from here? Pinky swear. You can totally tell by her wacky issues with idiomatic english. Because she may have been fluent in ten languages, but close to a decade spending twelve hours a day with Tony DiNozzo and she was still adorably incompetent in american slang). Specifically, the part of the funniest running gag in the history of ever where a woman who was raised observant in an orthodox household in the middle east was blithely unaware that she was violating any taboos when she invaded the men's room.

 

I was fine with competent Ziva, and I wasn't crazy about broken-with-grief Vengeance Barbie Ziva but I could live with her, because at least she got to be female and not die. Ziva the cheap ethnic joke was really freaking annoying.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Julia

[camussie]

I dislike Ziva for so many reasons.  The first one that came up is that next to Gibbs she was the biggest Mary Sue to ever Mary Sue on this show.  She could speak 10 languages which meant that Tony suddenly couldn't speak Spanish anymore.  She could take down a trained Navy Seal who had 100 pounds on her.  Now I know Mossad training is good but so is Navy Seal training, actually some of the best training in the world.  

 

Then there was how much she got away with,  She flat out accused a team member of murder and then assaulted him while he was injured and she was still let back in the country.  This is not even counting that she was hiding the fact that her Mossad boyfriend was still in country and during that time he killed an ICE officer.  Yes I know she was tortured in the desert but none of that changes that no one in NCIS, least of all Gibbs, should have ever trusted her again. Still, because she had daddy issues he let all of that pass.

 

Then there the fact that she didn't follow orders and that she seemed to always consider herself above both McGee and especially Tony despite the fact that she was the most junior team member.  Sure she was more military trained than either one of them but that didn't make her a more trained investigator.

 

I am just glad her and her never ending drama and daddy issues are gone.  

[MyAimIsTrue]

I just caught the last ten minutes of the Charles Durning episode and bawled like a baby, because that's what I do each time with this one.  Despite my mostly dislike of the Kate years this is probably my favorite NCIS episode.

[Julia]

He wasn't alone, but otherwise Charles Durning's character reminded me a little of my late FIL, who volunteered in 1938 and didn't get out until late 1945. He didn't dwell on it in between, but I always got the idea that looking back at his ninetysomething years that time was a little more real to him than most.

[Chaos Theory]

I think I figured out why I like the Bishop seasons. There is a lighter more comedic tone to the show. I was watching it on Netflix and I forget which episode but Bishop was dumpster diving doing the whole "my god what am I standing in?" speal and Tony turned to Gibbs and smiled "Thanks Boss for getting us a Probie." And Gibbs replied "Your welcome." Even after Gibbs got shot there were light moments that were absent in the dreary Ziva seasons. After Bishop's husband got found an episode later Bishop whished for a quite day and Tony and McGee told her she cursed them to a day if hell. Toward the end of the episode they convinced her to stand on her desk and publicly wish for the busiest day in history to rid themselves of the curse.

These are the moments I love about Bishop.

<---edited because I should stop typing these posts on my phone.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[stonehaven]

I think I am close to wrapping up Season 4..they've toned down Ziva a bit..although her constant harassment of Tony and his love life seem odd...but I have lost my paitence with Jenny...

For awhile, she was just...there but I swear I wonder how that girl got to be head of NCIS...

It just seems like she has shit for brains..and everything is about her..and not really NCIS...

and she has to remind the audience a hundred times that she's the director...

God, I can't wait for Vance....it makes me almost want to skip to when he arrives..