S15.E18: Death from Above

[MyAimIsTrue]

The NCIS headquarters are evacuated after the team discovers a body as well as bomb materials on the roof of the squad room. Also, the team reads the first draft of Ducky’s book.

[Katy M]

I really liked this episode.  It's the first episode in a long time that I've been engaged all the way to the end.    At first I was disappointed that Ellie and Jimmy's "adventure" came to nothing, I decided I liked that it didn't help at all.  Because that's just the way things work out sometimes.  And it was kind of hilarious that they ended up basically destroying Abby's lab.  I didn't really care for the whole "Judith dumped me" thing.  Really, Senior?  Bigger fish at the moment.  Plus, I didn't really care anyway.  Once again an inside job.  And, we've actually seen her before, right?  She really has been hanging out on episodes in the background of the MTAC room?  If so, that's cool.  

Once again, Jack did nothing for me.  I feel awful not liking her, but I just can't. 

Loved Reeves trying to get back in to help.  

The one part I thought was stupid was Abby and Jimmy each trying to get the other to take their evidence down to the garage.  They already boxed it up and transported it somewhere else.  Is the garage that far away?  And, Jimmy's right.  It doesn't make sense to move the evidence in an evacuation if it's already in a secure place.  He apparently didn't have to move any bodies anywhere.  And, Abby didn't have time to take her one box of evidence to the garage, but she had time to talk to Senior and then move a body to freezer, or whatever?  

But, for the most part, I just loved the action and that everyone was paired up and working in teams.  And, I loved that the secret breakroom turned out to be Gibbs'.  I figured it was Tony's and the stuff was just still there. The only thing I would have liked better would have been if Ducky had joined him up there.

[david gideon]

There was a cryptic moment when Senior says "I was just trying to protect Abby. I had no idea she was..." and then gets interrupted by the bad guy. If that was explained during the rest of the show I missed it.

[Runningwild]

When Reeves came in with the REACT team, I said, “Where’s your helmet, dumbass?”

I enjoyed this episode though. I do agree, the “Judith dumped me” really could have waited. 

[Chaos Theory]

I watch this show off and on so I really don't take it all that seriously.  I did however really enjoy Bishop and Jimmy destroying Abby's lab portion of the story. It was the silly kind of humor that I appreciate.    The rest of it was just kinda fun caper-ish.  

Edited March 28, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[Gothish520]

I'm surprised at how much I didn't like this episode. I'm never happy to see Tony Sr., so there's that. And of course he was as self-absorbed as always. The bad guys and their reason for being there were a snooze. Jack is still completely superfluous. I didnt buy her tough-guy act with the computer chick (it did surprise me that she was the mole though). Gibbs refusing to evacuate his team was nonsense. Talk about insubordination. 

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, david gideon said:

There was a cryptic moment when Senior says "I was just trying to protect Abby. I had no idea she was..." and then gets interrupted by the bad guy. If that was explained during the rest of the show I missed it.

I think it had to do with her being in the thing where they store bodies at the end.

[Notwisconsin]

As Paulie Perette is leaving the show anyway, they missed a perfect opportunity to kill Abby off. It would have been great.

[Packerbrewerbadger]

5 hours ago, Gothish520 said:

I'm surprised at how much I didn't like this episode. I'm never happy to see Tony Sr., so there's that. And of course he was as self-absorbed as always. The bad guys and their reason for being there were a snooze. Jack is still completely superfluous. I didnt buy her tough-guy act with the computer chick (it did surprise me that she was the mole though). Gibbs refusing to evacuate his team was nonsense. Talk about insubordination. 

I totally agree with everything in this post!  I never understand how they always  so lovingly embrace Sr when he treated Tony like crap.   Has Gibbs ever obeyed Vance- he is his boss, right?  I thought the bad guys were idiots ( especially when the one shot up the Office when the machines were going’s- Gibbs had the tech skill to pull that off???    The mole was my first surprise on this show in a long time. 

[enoughcats]

I guessed the mole early on, but that didn't make it better.  

I hated when Bishop and Jimmy deflected blame to each other.  Life shouldn't be like that.  Probably millions in damages.  Contamination of evidence.  Wanton destruction.  Going for  a younger demographic audience?

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, Packerbrewerbadger said:

I thought the bad guys were idiots ( especially when the one shot up the Office when the machines were going’s- Gibbs had the tech skill to pull that off???

They were idiots because they apparently only wanted to destroy the evidence.  Therefore, he could have just killed Abby and Senior in the first place and gone down to the garage (where he seemed to know the evidence was somehow, I think the first words out of his mouth were take me down to the garage to where the evidence is) and then gone down there and set the fire.  No need for keeping everyone alive.  No, I'm not personally that blood-thirsty, but they had obviously intended on loss of life in plan A.

 

30 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

Wanton destruction. 

I wouldn't necessarily call it wanton.  Most of it was accidental, until the great pipe bomb plan.

[Linderhill]

I did like that it was Vance that shot the bad guy when Gibbs strategically broke the glass. And yeah, I don't get the popularity of Senior even tho it was nice that he updated everyone on how Tony was doing.

[laredhead]

I enjoyed the episode.  Gibbs is obviously more technically adept, than he lets on.  When I saw the baseball bat or pipe, I figured out what was coming for the bad guy. 

I thought morgue storage drawers are refrigerated.  If so, Abby would have been pretty cold when they found her.  Yet another episode where she and Gibbs have no face to face scenes.

I did not think that Robert Wagner's character added anything to the episode.  I have enjoyed his guest appearances in the past, but it's time for him to ride off into the sunset on this series.

I loved the ending when it was revealed that the chair and the umbrella on the roof belonged to Gibbs.

[Katy M]

7 minutes ago, laredhead said:

I thought morgue storage drawers are refrigerated.  If so, Abby would have been pretty cold when they found her.  Yet another episode where she and Gibbs have no face to face scenes.

But, at least the power was out, so it wasn't getting more cold.

 

8 minutes ago, laredhead said:

I did not think that Robert Wagner's character added anything to the episode.  I have enjoyed his guest appearances in the past, but it's time for him to ride off into the sunset on this series.

I really think without Tony he doesn't make much sense.  Not a lot of people hang out with their children's former co-workers.

[threebluestars]

I wish they could do a big story with Abby leaving, but I doubt it since it's extremely obvious Pauley Perrette and Mark Harmon want nothing to do with each other. It's probably going to be something totally lame, like she gets a new job offer. Just go, for crying out loud.

They need to address Gibbs/Abby. It is BLATANTLY OBVIOUS they have had no scenes together. It's distracting and stupid. The character leaving storyline needs to address this someway, because it's become a completely unprofessional piece of crap that these two actors are hampering things on-screen without a whisper of anything going on on-screen. Pile of shit, writers.

I feel like NCIS is floundering really badly.

I am still holding out for cancellation and a spin off: Gibbs and Fornell: Private Investigators lol. Guest appearances by the NCIS people occasionally. Emily Fornell there to yell at them when they're stupid.

[enoughcats]

1 hour ago, laredhead said:

I did not think that Robert Wagner's character added anything to the episode.

Unless his passing his magnifying glass on is going to be a way to move Abby to membership and presumed leadership of the crime fighters club....whatever it's called.  

[MDL]

While I've been neutral to "why?" on the character "Jack", I have felt the recent glimpses into her psyche/pats are intriguing. The scars, the shoulder patches, her talk with Vance, and tonight her near panic at being "Caged", (even though it was in a room that was larger than my apartment!) pique my curiosity. I liked the subtlety of her initial reaction at the locked door. I also liked how Vance seemed attuned to her reactions and consoled/encouraged her. I'm curious as to their history together?

[Katy M]

19 minutes ago, MDL said:

While I've been neutral to "why?" on the character "Jack", I have felt the recent glimpses into her psyche/pats are intriguing. The scars, the shoulder patches, her talk with Vance, and tonight her near panic at being "Caged", (even though it was in a room that was larger than my apartment!) pique my curiosity. I liked the subtlety of her initial reaction at the locked door. I also liked how Vance seemed attuned to her reactions and consoled/encouraged her. I'm curious as to their history together?

I don't think it much matters how large the space is.  It's the psychological effect of knowing that you can't just leave.   That's one reason why some people can't go on cruises, or live on islands.

[nitrofishblue]

The big bad guy last night was the same character that played Tobin in The Walking Dead. Of course he just died in TWD sunday.

[HurricaneVal]

Senior?  Again?!?  Sigh.  Go away.  Quit bothering your son's former co-workers.  Let 'em catch up on Facebook or Instagram like the rest of the world.  Actually, that would be a good running gag...show Ellie and Jimmy giggling over a monitor, or McGee hurriedly wiping what looks to be  a Facebook profile off the big screen as SecNav walks in, or Gibbs softly smiling as he looks at something on his newly acquired smart phone.  That's how you keep the relationships with Tony going.  Not Senior.

I had the mole pegged as soon as she was reluctant to give up computer control to McGee, the acclaimed computer genius of all of NCIS and someone who is extremely familiar with the inner workings of MTAC, as we've seen him at the console many times. 

I think Jack is on drugs.  I don't think her reaction to being locked in the room had anything to do with claustrophobia and a fear of being locked up.  I think it was time for her fix.

I loved how everyone on the team was acting independently to escape and effect rescue.  Except for Abby, who was actually helping the most by staying the hell out of the way.  I wonder if she will see the destruction of her lab and go into mourning for Major Mass Spec and join her nun friends at the convent?  Torres went from bugging the hell out of me to charming me to bugging the hell out of me last night.  He really is an arrogant ass, but not in the charming "little boy lost" way that Tony was, but in the "I'm an arrogant ass" kind of way that he is.  Never been dumped?  Can't be bothered to read Ducky's memoir?  Dead to me.  But his "I'm just the janitor grooving to my Latin beat" was pretty funny.

But the best part was Gibbs casual breaking of the skylight to allow Vance get the drop on the bad guy once he could see him through the hole Gibbs made.  That's confidence in your team.

 

No.  I'm wrong.  The best part was that the secret rooftop slacker refuge belonged to Gibbs.

[betsyboo]

16 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I watch this show off and on so I really don't take it all that seriously.  I did however really enjoy Bishop and Jimmy destroying Abby's lab portion of the story. It was the silly kind of humor that I appreciate.    The rest of it was just kinda fun caper-ish.  

I enjoyed the <smoke billows> Bishop: "I think we're gonna have to change our strategy."  Jimmy, all matter of fact: "We're gonna have to change our names."

[betsyboo]

3 hours ago, threebluestars said:

They need to address Gibbs/Abby. It is BLATANTLY OBVIOUS they have had no scenes together. It's distracting and stupid. The character leaving storyline needs to address this someway, because it's become a completely unprofessional piece of crap that these two actors are hampering things on-screen without a whisper of anything going on on-screen. Pile of shit, writers.

Agreed - especially because he would have 1. yelled at Jimmy and Bishop about the lab and 2. would have asked repeatedly where she was and if she was ok if senior was roaming about. In fact, no one seemed worried about her. I guess they could have assumed she got out. But in the past, she would have always been his first concern.

[12catcrazy]

I'm actually liking this season much better than last season.  Why do so many people seem to dislike Jack?  I think Maria Bello is a good actress and is bringing something intriquing to the part.   As for Jack not wanting to be in a locked up space, wasn't it already spoken that she had been held captive and tortured when she was stationed overseas?  We haven't been told much but enough to know that experience happened to her.  

Has anybody read any scuttlebutt about why Pauley Perrette is leaving the show and why she and Mark Harmon are probably not getting along?  I've only been watching NCIS for a few years (since the season when Bishop came on board) and I've never cared for Abby.   Maybe if she were 25, Abby could be considered cute and quirky, but at this stage of the game the actress and the person she is playing has got to be over 40 and the double pigtails and the outfits are looking ridiculous.   It would be a kicker if on Abby's final appearance, she waltzes in and her hair is cut and her clothing is more mature and she announces that she's leaving because Abby has decided to "grow up".   I still don't understand why on the NCIS shows the tech people have to be presented as cute, quirky, weirdos.  Talk about stereotyping!

Edited March 28, 2018 by 12catcrazy
correct typos

[Trey]

2 minutes ago, 12catcrazy said:

Has anybody read any scuttlebutt about why Pauley Perrette is leaving the show and why she and Mark Harmon are probably not getting along? 

You will find what scuttlebutt is available on the media thread.

[betsyboo]

Also, I meant to point out I liked Jimmy's callback:

"That is three inches of hermetically-sealed bulletproof glass."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Changes were made after the sniper."

"WHAT? What sniper?"

"Doesn't matter."

[MissLucas]

4 hours ago, betsyboo said:

Agreed - especially because he would have 1. yelled at Jimmy and Bishop about the lab and 2. would have asked repeatedly where she was and if she was ok if senior was roaming about. In fact, no one seemed worried about her. I guess they could have assumed she got out. But in the past, she would have always been his first concern.

And vice-versa. Prior seasons Abby would not have managed to sleep during a siege with her beloved team (and especially Gibbs) in danger. No normal human being could sleep during that scenario, even outside a freezer. I wonder if the writers were having a field day with that 'plot' since it looked for a moment as if they had fridged Abby. 

I enjoyed Bishop and Jimmy in the lab and Reeves and React lady (I mean Special Agent Joanna Wright).

I missed shout-outs to 'Die Hard' - were there any? I only got Torres' Terminator quote.

Eternal mystery of all crime procedurals: Why is the bomb squad always 10 minutes out???

[Katy M]

38 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

And vice-versa. Prior seasons Abby would not have managed to sleep during a siege with her beloved team (and especially Gibbs) in danger.

Well, then, in the same situation, she probably would have died.  She said she needed to conserve air, and that meant slowing down her breathing

[HurricaneVal]

4 hours ago, 12catcrazy said:

I think Maria Bello is a good actress and is bringing something intriquing to the part

Oh, I completely agree.  Maria is acting the hell out of the role.  Her PTSD claustrophobic anxiety and/or jonesing for a fix but gotta-keep-it-together-in-front-of-witnesses  behavior was really well done.  I just don't like the character, or how she's written, or...something...

[brgjoe]

I thought it was an OK sort of episode.  Agreed with most the best parts of it were the scenes with Bishop and Palmer were stuck in Abby's lab.  I thought immediately about the windows.  Not necessarily to try and break them.  But I thought maybe they would try to signal through them (like Morse Code or something) to the outside world that they needed help.   And yeah, I can't imagine Abby would be too happy with all that destruction -- especially her precious Mass Spec. unit.

I actually don't mind Sr.  I guess mainly because he's our link to Tony.  And I thought his big secret was that he was dying or had some sort of serious illness.  That's the reason why I thought he quit the Sherlocks and also decided to act brave and impersonate Ducky during that episode.  Him being dumped being the big secret just really seemed like a letdown after all that.

And even with inside help, I just couldn't buy those bozos being able to get into a secure facility like NCIS like that.  They seemed so incompetent from the very start.  And speaking of incompetent, you'd think MTAC would have an outside landline or even a two way radio in that place so you could call out in case of a cellphone dampening field being activated.

[Clanstarling]

On 3/27/2018 at 7:00 PM, Katy M said:

I really liked this episode.  It's the first episode in a long time that I've been engaged all the way to the end. 

Me too. I can't remember the last time it kept my complete attention.

On 3/27/2018 at 7:25 PM, Runningwild said:

When Reeves came in with the REACT team, I said, “Where’s your helmet, dumbass?”

Didn't say that - but did think that. :) I did like the REACT team leader. I'd like to see more of her.

On 3/28/2018 at 4:33 AM, Packerbrewerbadger said:

I totally agree with everything in this post!  I never understand how they always  so lovingly embrace Sr when he treated Tony like crap.   Has Gibbs ever obeyed Vance- he is his boss, right?  I thought the bad guys were idiots ( especially when the one shot up the Office when the machines were going’s- Gibbs had the tech skill to pull that off???    The mole was my first surprise on this show in a long time. 

I figure Gibbs has always known more than he lets on. He keeps his secrets (like his hideaway on the roof).

On 3/28/2018 at 6:04 AM, enoughcats said:

I hated when Bishop and Jimmy deflected blame to each other.  Life shouldn't be like that.  Probably millions in damages.  Contamination of evidence.  Wanton destruction.  Going for  a younger demographic audience?

Eh, I'm old and have seen this blame game all my life, in insignificant situations and in larger, more earthshaking events. Youth has little to do with it, in my opinion. Life shouldn't be like it - that's very true. But, unfortunately, in my experience it is.

23 hours ago, laredhead said:

Yet another episode where she and Gibbs have no face to face scenes.

My take is that it's pretty clear that this is the status quo, and they won't have scenes, except possibly, on her last show. I personally don't mind, as I was never a fan of their dynamic. I know I'm an outlier when it comes to that opinion. It hasn't hurt the show at all, in my opinion.

19 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

I had the mole pegged as soon as she was reluctant to give up computer control to McGee, the acclaimed computer genius of all of NCIS and someone who is extremely familiar with the inner workings of MTAC, as we've seen him at the console many times.

It took me way too long (which is to say, I didn't peg it at all, I was thinking - jeez, it might be nice to show the woman pulling up the code for once, since McGee's not the only computer guy, when they showed the close up of the computer station number). Surprise! Boy, did I feel stupid.

Edited March 29, 2018 by Clanstarling

[androzani1987]

I liked this one.  I like Torres and thought him pretending to be the janitor was funny.   I agree though that the writers need to stop making it seem that he is self-absorbed, like not reading Ducky's memoirs and not seeming to care to even though he told Ducky that he had.   

[Sarnia]

On 28/03/2018 at 11:34 PM, betsyboo said:

Also, I meant to point out I liked Jimmy's callback:

"That is three inches of hermetically-sealed bulletproof glass."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Changes were made after the sniper."

"WHAT? What sniper?"

"Doesn't matter."

That bit of dialogue was fun (sort of). But I couldn't help wonder why they didn't also change the glass of the roof in the office room (which apparently can be broken just by throwing a piece of pipe and/or firing a bullet).

[UncleChuck]

12 hours ago, Sarnia said:

"That is three inches of hermetically-sealed bulletproof glass."

Glad to get that tidbit.  I always thought it strange that Abby's lab, which almost always contained potential and actual evidence of some really major crimes, had those strange windows open to the sidewalk outside.  If ordinary windows, no problem at all for someone to get into the lab.  Of course, this is NCIS world, where the New Orleans office has a huge barn door that is always open, and the entire squad room is just a few steps from the street, and the LA office uses some ridiculous boat shed for interrogating some very vicious terrorists and assorted bad guys.  No effort is ever made to keep the location secret, and it is surrounded on three sides with water, which makes it accessible to anyone who can swim. 

[ForReal]

On 3/28/2018 at 10:35 PM, brgjoe said:

I just couldn't buy those bozos being able to get into a secure facility like NCIS like that.  They seemed so incompetent from the very start.

This! The whole episode felt off because it didn't ring true to me, at least as far as TV programming goes. I did not like the scenes with Jimmy and Bishop in the lab -- well, they were fine with each other, but it was too unbelievable to me that after destroying that expensive machine, they went on to destroy more things and to blow up the window. Seemed out of character for both of them, individually and professionally.

Knew who the mole was as soon as she resisted giving up her computer screen. No one ever talks back to the main characters, so that was a big heads up. 

I think I liked most how worried Reeves was about possibly losing his people now that he's finally feeling close to them. Torres can take a hike; he takes one step towards being likable and then two steps back. I'm fine with Jack and think her backstory is going to have as much anguish as Gibbs, which is how they will bond. I saw Gibbs resisting Vance's orders as simply a means to set up the scene where they came together in the end. 

I actually thought the lab being destroyed was going to be the beginning of Abby's exit -- and I think I am okay with that. This situation of Abby and Gibbs not sharing scenes has really disappointed me in the whole show.

[webruce]

I did like the break area on the roof as being Gibbs. Not sure how often he uses it. Maybe more so since his injuries in the last couple of seasons. It would have been nice for Ducky to also join him as stated above.

I did like the team reading Ducky's writings for his book and giving their well wishes. Should be an interesting read.

Tony Sr. and Gibbs didn't actually call Tony Jr. by name this episode, did they? He was called Junior, Sr.'s name for him. But can't his name be used on the show anymore? Or did I miss something? I like Sr. and his interactions with Abby. They always make a good meeting. One of his  redeeming actions in the show was to become Ducky and then being used to locate the evidence on the Adrien Fincher case. This left Abby hopefully safe from the bad guys and give her a chance to get help. Also later when cuffed with Nick, Sr. had his tool from the "Sherlock Consortium" to help them break free. I don't know how Burke Bernhardt, bad guy that had them in evidence room, was going to dispose of the evidence, but the fire he started seemed to be a desperate attempt to burn it and finish his mission. True his brother Eric who blew up on the roof had explosive devices. Not sure though if that was to distract and empty the building of inhabitants while the other 2 stole or destroyed the evidence, but either way they seemed like cheap muscle and didn't really have a good plan. But he said "Plan C" was to toast the building. The 3rd baddie, who was shooting up the bullpen, got what he deserved from Gibbs and his baseball bat. It was cute that "Janitor Nick" tried to get his weapon. I to was surprised that Gibbs could make the electronics make the guy go off on them. Must be that Tim has been rubbing off on him.

I did like the teams being paired up and having their own problems to help stop the 4 baddies. I was surprised that Agent Leslie Vyas was a mole. I didn't recognize it until really when Tim said it was from inside. I must be slipping. I did like Jack tackling her, and then trying to get her to spill info. If she was paid 75 thousand to control the systems in the building, the other 3 must have been paid very little. Looks like Vance has his work cut out for him to check all employees again for cracks.
It was cute how Jimmy and Bishop basically destroyed the lab to finally blow a window to break out. I thought earlier, can't you break a window? But they answered that.
I liked that Reeves and Agent Joanna Wright worked together. Her trying to wait until the Bomb Squad shown up was a thing you would think would happen. But at-least Reeves didn't try to reenter the building alone. He did need a helmet, but at-least he wasn't leading the charge. They might make a good team(pairing). I also liked the scenes with Gibbs and Burke and Gibbs telling him to shoot him and he knowing enough to let Gibbs live to help his escape. The fight on the roof was good too. I figured that Burke would fall through the skylight, but didn't know it was over the bullpen and that the hole in it from the pipe would have Vance be able to shoot him. Wouldn't skylights in a Government building have some kind of grate system over them to protect from break ins, or things being dropped on them? I know buildings in the city have protections like that.

I do think that Tony talking about Judith leaving him at that time was not the right time. But he was very nervous and probably not sure if he would live and wanted to get it out.

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, webruce said:

don't know how Burke Bernhardt, bad guy that had them in evidence room, was going to dispose of the evidence, but the fire he started seemed to be a desperate attempt to burn it and finish his mission. True his brother Eric who blew up on the roof had explosive devices. Not sure though if that was to distract and empty the building of inhabitants while the other 2 stole or destroyed the evidence, but either way they seemed like cheap muscle and didn't really have a good plan. But he said "Plan C" was to toast the building.

IIRC, the original plan was to drop the bomb down into the evidence room - but the brother got fried before he could do that.