S16.E01: Destiny's Child

[thewhiteowl]

Sept 25 

One month after Director Vance was kidnapped Gibbs is assigned as Acting Director while the team searches worldwide for his whereabouts.

[enoughcats]

One month? With all the electronics that exist today?  And massive computer power?

Guess they can't bring back Tony, Ziva, Mike Franks, Dormer, and the coast guard person (and maybe Ellie's ex husband) and Parnell and Abby.  From rewatching the final S15 ep last week, this group just don't seem to have the aura of getting the hard stuff done.  

[kassygreene]

3 hours ago, enoughcats said:

One month? With all the electronics that exist today?  And massive computer power?

Guess they can't bring back Tony, Ziva, Mike Franks, Dormer, and the coast guard person (and maybe Ellie's ex husband) and Parnell and Abby.  From rewatching the final S15 ep last week, this group just don't seem to have the aura of getting the hard stuff done.  

This is how disengaged I've become: I didn't remember the cliffhanger, and must now do a rapid re-watch.

Of the list you suggested,

Tony is a) in Paris raising his daughter or b) has undergone a massive personality change so that he can avoid shaving and is hiding behind his scruff in NYC.

Ziva is dead.

Mike Franks is dead.

If by Dormer you mean Dorneget, he is dead.

The CGIS chick is in limbo because her actor criticized production practices in New Orelans.

Ellie's ex's actor is now a DCI in London.

Parnell??? one episode from nine years ago and I can't remember him, so no snark here.

Abby - is on her quest in GB.  

And now I have run out of delaying verbage, and have to re-watch the cliffhanger.  Joy.

[secnarf]

7 hours ago, kassygreene said:

Parnell??? one episode from nine years ago and I can't remember him, so no snark here.

 

I think they meant 'Fornell'.

I also don't recall the cliffhanger.

[kassygreene]

Fornell makes sense.  He's also not dead, and hopefully still sober....

I "re-watched" the cliffhanger.  Remembered the episode from the teaser, fast-forwarded to the tag, and remembered why it was forgettable.  I think I'm still watching from muscle-memory.

[scorpio1031]

I'm still mad about Reeves. 

[slothgirl]

I liked the episode in general.

But ...

I wish Middle Eastern actors could get work other than as terrorists. I loved Pej Vahdat on Bones, and especially the way they played with stereotypes by having his character fake a "middle eastern" accent at the lab until he got caught out not using it eventually (and the reasons the character did that).

The actor playing the fake CIA guy was good in Tyrant. They both did really good jobs here (even if Hakim was a bit "mustache twirling"), but it's a shame that these are the kinds of parts they get offered. And that portrayals such as this reinforce stereotypes in the minds of viewers.

[NYGirl]

I didn't watch all last season as my daughter had me watching WWE Smackdown with her... insert eye roll here:::

I didn't even see Abby leaving.

Here's my thoughts:  Ellie looks good...I like the ponytail

Tim gained weight!  Married life must be good.

Torres stayed the same

The new Abby is just like Abby...annoying...why? why? why?

I thought Ducky retired.

[secnarf]

I missed bits and pieces due to a repeated tornado warning for an area 4 hours away, so I completely missed the whole lava lamp explanation (and probably some other things too). However, I did immediately catch on that not!CIA guy was only pretending to be CIA, and that the woman was actually on Hakim's side (even when Sloane let her guard down).

Decent episode though. Maybe it's because I just watched an old rerun earlier today, but the contrast in Tim's appearance from then to now is quite striking. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing for him to put on a bit of weight, but a) I normally never notice these things and b) it's a huge difference from him looking a wee bit underweight in the earlier seasons.

I want to like new Abby, but I need her to be toned down just a bit more. But, she's gorgeous, so she's got that going for her.

[enoughcats]

It took them four frickin' weeks to consider that Vance + the terrorist+ the airplane had never left US airspace? 

And one more supporting agent gets killed because timing matters. 

[Xeliou66]

This show has become such an over the top joke with its plot lines. Why did Vance’s daughter only have one agent protecting her instead of being in protective custody? There were a stream of suicide bombings all across the nation and it seemed like barely anyone was reacting or working on it. How did it take them so long to deduce Vance was in the US? I’ve never watched NCIS for realism, but it’s become completely over the top now. And there’s no way after this episode that Vance would be able to continue to act as director after doing what he did, he would have to step down. 

Only one scene with Ducky which sucked, he’s the best character, but I have a feeling he will barely be on anymore, Palmer has grown on me a lot and I like him but Ducky is awesome. 

I have to say, I like the new forensics person better than Abby, she’s a lot less childish. 

[Driad]

I was hoping that Vance had gone back to using a toothpick, and had put a tracking chip in it.

[Ohmo]

I liked the stuff with spelling out K-A-Y-L-A.  I didn't immediately get that from those words.  I also thought the lava lamp thing was clever, and I got a kick out of the line "You can Google it."  I'm sure that's what the writer did.

I was kind of surprised that Kayla seemed to not know how to shoot.  Not that I'd expect her to hit the guy at center mass, but she's the daughter of the director of a federal agency who used to be a field agent back in the day.  With Jackie dead and Leon's job being what it is, I'm surprised that she doesn't have basic awareness of how to fire a gun.  I could see Jackie having an objection when Kayla was young, but once she was of age?  If Kelly Gibbs had survived to reach 18 (or 21), I bet Gibbs would have given her some sort of instruction.  Not full-on sniper training, mind you, but how to handle and shoot a gun if she were under threat.

I also notice that Frank Cardera is now the only once listed as EP.  Wonder what happened to Schenk (sp?).  Those two have almost always been listed together with an & for the entire length of the series...like a partnership of sorts.

Edited September 26, 2018 by Ohmo

[rhys]

Did Leon really believe that guy so easily? Maybe I wasn't paying attention too well but I thought: "hmmm, Leon, slow down. How do you know you can trust this guy?"

[stonehaven]

Ok..I have to ask this...I was flipping channels..so I caught bits and pieces..but didn't Vance use to have TWO daughters(or at least TWO kids?) Am I losing my mind? Or were the budget cuts for NCIS that bad?

[enoughcats]

Just now, stonehaven said:

but didn't Vance use to have TWO daughters(or at least TWO kids?)

One daughter and one more recently invisible son.  This episode did mention that the son was with a (?) cousin in Maine, and that the terrorists wouldn't be able to find him there.  

[mertensia]

2 hours ago, rhys said:

Did Leon really believe that guy so easily? Maybe I wasn't paying attention too well but I thought: "hmmm, Leon, slow down. How do you know you can trust this guy?"

I figure after 4 weeks of mind games and interrogation Vance probably isn't thinking the clearest.

[Lizzing]

If I worked in a basement lab with unopening windows in the summer in the DC area with no AC, I'd have cornered Gibbs in the elevator, turned it off, and throat punched that motherfucker until he signed off on the repair.  Not signing the damn paperwork isn't a quirk that shows dedication, it is just grade A assholery.  Especially since it took these idiots a freakin' month to figure out Vance never left the area.  And who the hell boils hotdogs in a cast iron skillet?  I don't know if it was my mood watching the show, or the writing has just gotten so bad last season and didn't improve with the season opener, but I'm really starting to hate Gibbs as much as I do Pride on NOLA.  NTL, I am still a sucker for the sunken cost fallacy when it comes to TV shows, and I'm 15 seasons deep in this mess, so I just can't quit it yet. LOL!

[Chaos Theory]

11 hours ago, stonehaven said:

Ok..I have to ask this...I was flipping channels..so I caught bits and pieces..but didn't Vance use to have TWO daughters(or at least TWO kids?) Am I losing my mind? Or were the budget cuts for NCIS that bad?

He has a daughter who is at college and a son who is supposedly at a previously unmentioned relative.    

Hobestly not a bad premier.  I am just hoping they don’t brush past Vance being held hostage for months and being forced to do things like rob a bank.    

[Rambler]

I wonder when Vance got his ESP powers? He blinked out his daughters name to the camera long before terrorist guy actually had the chance to threaten her.

Hey protective services guy, you’re supposed to be watching the surroundings for threats to your protectee, not have your face buried in some pamphlet. You would have thought Gibbs could at least call the poor guy and give him a warning that an assassin was on the way, but maybe this was Director Gibbs own unique way of firing people since the dude was obviously incompetent at his job.

Seems weird that our military is one earthquake or clumsy janitor away from losing all of its encryption protocols.

[threebluestars]

I really liked Rod who was protecting Kayla. I hate when they bring on an interesting side character and kill him immediately. They've done this with SO many agents. Pisses me off. I loved Rod's humour and honestly cared about his character more than Jack, Torres, Ellie ... everyone else lol.

[HurricaneVal]

"And it's so dusty here I can't wax my...."  Don't ever change, Torres, don't ever change....

And thank you, Sean Murray, for finally eating that sandwich we've been begging you to eat for years now.  You looked slim and healthy last night, not all gaunt and sickly like you've been looking in the past few seasons.

I liked how when they were in lockdown at the naval nuclear facility, and the problem was with the computer code, Gibbs immediately threw full confidence into The Elf Lord to fix it.  And even when the trojan kept popping up, he still trusted McGee's play.

The destruction of that wall of lava lamps was awesome. 

I hope Jack found some peace, but holy cow did her character get see-sawed all over this episode!

[Dr.OO7]

On 9/21/2018 at 10:50 PM, enoughcats said:

Guess they can't bring back. . . (and maybe Ellie's ex husband) 

Heh. Nice to know I'm not the only one still holding out a teeny-tiny bit of hope that he'll come back.

[Rambler]

4 hours ago, Rambler said:

I wonder when Vance got his ESP powers? He blinked out his daughters name to the camera long before terrorist guy actually had the chance to threaten her.

On second thought, I guess they must have threatened his daughter to get him to rob the bank since they didn’t really explain why he did it. They must have edited that part out or I wasn’t paying enough attention.

[Ohmo]

1 minute ago, Rambler said:

On second thought, I guess they must have threatened his daughter to get him to rob the bank since they didn’t really explain why he did it. They must have edited that part out or I wasn’t paying enough attention.

Or he knew they would likely go after Kayla so he persuaded them to take him along to do the bank job as a way to get a message to Gibbs.  We know that he knew where the bullion was being consolidated.  It could have happened either way.  The bank job could have been a way to make him comply and keep Kayla safe, or he could have used it as a means to send a message.

[twoods]

I liked that the CIA guy was fake- he fooled me (loved the eye candy so was hoping he was one of the good guys) and it was a nice twist. Hakim sucked ass. That poor agent got killed and I really liked him!

New Abby isn’t as bad as I thought she would be.

[GHScorpiosRule]

So. Gibbs and McGee tortured last season in the season opener.  This season it’s Vance. AAAND...They decided to do a twist on Patty Hearst with Vance.??????

This episode was soooo predictable.

The only thing that wasn’t was killing Kayla’s bodyguard. And my ???? so HARD at her shooting with her hair in her face blocking her eyes from seeing the assassin.

Jaah/Fake!CIA! Rickman can join Martini in the group of hawt villains. I feel so dirty. But I want fooled. It was just too easy. Didn’t believe that Traitor Ambassador Lady got the drop on Jack, either.

And for FUCK’S SAKE!!! Who is styling Harmon’s hair???!!!  I was hoping last year was an aberration, but no. It still looks hideous.  Someone needs to cut it!

Production values have gone down because it was sooooo obvious in the opening credits that  at the forefront, they were standing in front of a screen that was playing scenes from previous seasons.

Edited September 27, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[may flowers]

I thought the episode was slow moving. I’m not a huge Jack fan, so that may have added to me thinking the show was slow - though I do love Pej. Too bad he played such a central villain - now he can never be an NCIS agent. 

 

I also thought Mark Harmon seemed to be showing his age more in this episode. I wonder how TPTB have Gibbs age?  

[Raja]

15 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

So. Gibbs and McGee tortured last season in the season opener.  This season it’s Vance. AAAND...They decided to do a twist on Patty Hearst with Vance.??????

This episode was soooo predictable.

The only thing that wasn’t was killing Kayla’s bodyguard. And my ???? so HARD at her shooting with her hair in her face blocking her eyes from seeing the assassin.

 

Well she did miss. But then the stand in the open terminator type assassin presumably missed after the head shot on the bodyguard too.

Now most federal agencies replaced their revolvers with pistols back in the 1980's. Maybe they ran out of prop pistols on the set.

[LuvMyShows]

Overall, this show just keeps sliding downhill:

On 9/25/2018 at 11:32 PM, rhys said:

Did Leon really believe that guy so easily? Maybe I wasn't paying attention too well but I thought: "hmmm, Leon, slow down. How do you know you can trust this guy?"

Also, he didn't check the gun to see how many bullets, if any, were in the gun.

On 9/26/2018 at 2:32 AM, mertensia said:

I figure after 4 weeks of mind games and interrogation Vance probably isn't thinking the clearest.

I wish that could have been the explanation, but they made it pretty clear by showing his antagonism and his feisty attitude, that he was still thinking clearly.  

On 9/26/2018 at 10:10 AM, Lizzing said:

If I worked in a basement lab with unopening windows in the summer in the DC area with no AC, I'd have cornered Gibbs in the elevator, turned it off, and throat punched that motherfucker until he signed off on the repair.  Not signing the damn paperwork isn't a quirk that shows dedication, it is just grade A assholery.  

Loved how you worded that!  I thought it was such a dick move on his part!!

On 9/26/2018 at 10:10 AM, Lizzing said:

And who the hell boils hotdogs in a cast iron skillet?  I don't know if it was my mood watching the show, or the writing has just gotten so bad last season and didn't improve with the season opener, but I'm really starting to hate Gibbs as much as I do Pride on NOLA.  

I actually remarked on the hotdog thing to my husband.  He theorized that the writers wanted to plant the fantasy idea in the female viewers' heads that "Oh look, he needs a woman's touch."  But really, super lame.  I've only watched NOLA a few times, so I'm assuming that Pride is the Scott Bakula character, and one of the reasons I was unable to get into that show, is his disappearing/re-appearing n'awlins accent.

On 9/26/2018 at 4:14 PM, Rambler said:

On second thought, I guess they must have threatened his daughter to get him to rob the bank since they didn’t really explain why he did it. They must have edited that part out or I wasn’t paying enough attention.

Yeah, totally left out as to why he did it or any commentary about it later in the show.

On 9/26/2018 at 4:47 PM, twoods said:

I liked that the CIA guy was fake- he fooled me (loved the eye candy so was hoping he was one of the good guys) 

On 9/26/2018 at 9:04 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Jaah/Fake!CIA! Rickman can join Martini in the group of hawt villains. I feel so dirty. 

Glad I wasn't the only one...hot, hot, hot!

On 9/26/2018 at 4:47 PM, twoods said:

New Abby isn’t as bad as I thought she would be.

Jury is still out for me.  One thing that was so very, very bad on the writer's part (thus not the New Abby character's fault) was that they had no analysts watching that video of Vance.  In reality, they would have had sooo many people analyzing it every way from Sunday, so it wouldn't have been up to the quirky nowhere's-near-qualified forensic scientist to figure out Vance's blinked message.

On 9/26/2018 at 9:04 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

The only thing that wasn’t was killing Kayla’s bodyguard. And my ???? so HARD at her shooting with her hair in her face blocking her eyes from seeing the assassin.

And how the assassin completely.stopped.shooting as she was running up the stairs and once she got to the top.

The other stupid thing from a plot perspective is that the bad guys provided a non-existent location to Vance, instead of a real location that would have diverted Gibbs and the gang to be looking in the wrong place.

I do have to give credit that I did not foresee the twist at all, that the misjudged-then-apologized thing of Jack was fake, so that the bad guy woman would hopefully take her to bad guy headquarters.  And as corny, preachy, and jingoistic as it was, I actually like Jack's little speech at the end about the U.S. being the good guys.

[Clanstarling]

On 9/25/2018 at 6:50 PM, secnarf said:

I missed bits and pieces due to a repeated tornado warning for an area 4 hours away, so I completely missed the whole lava lamp explanation (and probably some other things too). However, I did immediately catch on that not!CIA guy was only pretending to be CIA, and that the woman was actually on Hakim's side (even when Sloane let her guard down).

It was when Sloane let her guard down that I realized it was a gambit on Sloane's part. Sloan's never let her guard down.

On 9/26/2018 at 7:10 AM, Lizzing said:

If I worked in a basement lab with unopening windows in the summer in the DC area with no AC, I'd have cornered Gibbs in the elevator, turned it off, and throat punched that motherfucker until he signed off on the repair.  Not signing the damn paperwork isn't a quirk that shows dedication, it is just grade A assholery. 

Totally pissed me off. It's one thing for him to be a bit of a rogue about rules, it's quite another to shrug off responsibility and let things go to hell because "Leon's going to be back."

On 9/26/2018 at 1:47 PM, twoods said:

I liked that the CIA guy was fake- he fooled me (loved the eye candy so was hoping he was one of the good guys) and it was a nice twist. Hakim sucked ass. That poor agent got killed and I really liked him!

Eye candy indeed - I fell into those eyes.

On 9/26/2018 at 7:45 PM, may flowers said:

I also thought Mark Harmon seemed to be showing his age more in this episode. I wonder how TPTB have Gibbs age?  

After years of denying it - yeah, I think he's finally showing his age.

11 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

I actually remarked on the hotdog thing to my husband.  He theorized that the writers wanted to plant the fantasy idea in the female viewers' heads that "Oh look, he needs a woman's touch."  But really, super lame.  I've only watched NOLA a few times, so I'm assuming that Pride is the Scott Bakula character, and one of the reasons I was unable to get into that show, is his disappearing/re-appearing n'awlins accent.

As much as I love Scott Bakula (and that's a lot), I couldn't watch the show because of that damned accent. His character did not need to have one - being an agent who could have come from anywhere. It was Kevin Costner in JFK bad.

Edited September 28, 2018 by Clanstarling

[illdoc]

2 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

His character did not need to have one - being an agent who could have come from anywhere.

Actually, it's well-established that he was from New Orleans.

However, as was pointed out elsewhere, NOLA had a "Skype" scene with Gibbs and the agent asks how Vance is doing and Gibbs says "on the mend". Which is interesting since the NOLA episode takes place a day or two after its season finale and NCIS takes place a month later! I guess Gibbs is psychic!

[slothgirl]

On 9/26/2018 at 11:56 AM, Rambler said:

Seems weird that our military is one earthquake or clumsy janitor away from losing all of its encryption protocols.

Almost as weird as the fact that the 3rd party super special world class encryption company is in the DC area at all instead of silicone valley or some other place where super special computer companies are. It's not like they need to be local to the federal government for a contract like that.

On 9/26/2018 at 9:04 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

And for FUCK’S SAKE!!! Who is styling Harmon’s hair???!!!  I was hoping last year was an aberration, but no. It still looks hideous.  Someone needs to cut it!

I've been saying this ever since they went through that time period where he started wearing button-down collared shirts and let his high&tight hair grow longer because of some "changed outlook on life" plotline. The longer hair drags his whole face down and ages him.

[Clanstarling]

23 minutes ago, illdoc said:

Actually, it's well-established that he was from New Orleans.

However, as was pointed out elsewhere, NOLA had a "Skype" scene with Gibbs and the agent asks how Vance is doing and Gibbs says "on the mend". Which is interesting since the NOLA episode takes place a day or two after its season finale and NCIS takes place a month later! I guess Gibbs is psychic!

What I meant was that when they were planning the show, they could have made him come from anywhere - the military posts people all over, not just where they're from. That he's supposed to be from New Orleans makes that accent that much more egregious.

[stonehaven]

I sat down and tried to watch the premiere and couldn't make it past the 20 minute mark.  The plot seemed like it was a retread. The show doesn't have that spark it once did. It's showing it's age and I am seriously bored. So I may watch a few more episodes but the show's been on too long..and needs to end soon...at the very least, give me more Gibbs and Fornell.

[enoughcats]

16 minutes ago, stonehaven said:

I sat down and tried to watch the premiere and couldn't make it past the 20 minute mark.  The plot seemed like it was a retread. The show doesn't have that spark it once did. It's showing it's age and I am seriously bored. So I may watch a few more episodes but the show's been on too long..and needs to end soon...at the very least, give me more Gibbs and Fornell.

I have been retired for a long time.  At my age, it's important to know what day of the week it is (without checking my computer screen.)  Tuesday is NCIS day.  Has been for quite some time.  8pm Eastern.  It helps set and reset my weekly schedule. Ya know, fifteen minutes might be enough.

The problem with the show is that I feel as if I've seen it before, in one iteration or another.  I even knew not to fall for the fauxCIA guy holding Vance hostage.  Good looks?  Bah.  He didn't come across with the gravitas and that room would have been bugged by the bad guys and they would have overheard everything.  I guess they aren't going to recruit the smart guy from The Walking Dead, but I'd really like to watch someone who is sharp enough to think outside the box and to suggest alternative paths to follow...even if it took two episodes.  

Hettie 'knows' everybody and has lots of contacts and that plays a net part of NCISLA.  Where are Gibbs' contacts?  and by this time, where are Tim's?  Even Ellie might have a few who aren't just friends of her ex?  

Where's the depth of relationships that we might expect after fifteen years?

Edited September 28, 2018 by enoughcats

[slothgirl]

1 hour ago, slothgirl said:

Almost as weird as the fact that the 3rd party super special world class encryption company is in the DC area at all instead of silicone valley or some other place where super special computer companies are. It's not like they need to be local to the federal government for a contract like that.

Quoting my own post here... I just realized that if your entire system relies on a wall of breakable lava lamps, you wouldn't want to locate your business anywhere in earthquake prone California!

36 minutes ago, stonehaven said:

at the very least, give me more Gibbs and Fornell.

And Fornell's daughter. She rocks!

19 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

Where's the depth of relationships that we might expect after fifteen years?

They kill them all off because they don't know any other way to create "drama" other than death.

[MDL]

Quote

"Also, he didn't check the gun to see how many bullets, if any, were in the gun."

"I figure after 4 weeks of mind games and interrogation Vance probably isn't thinking the clearest."

I thought I heard the fake CIA guy say, as he covered Vance, "this one has a firing pin".

(Somehow I messed up with the quote button)

[UncleChuck]

Quote

I really liked Rod who was protecting Kayla. I hate when they bring on an interesting side character and kill him immediately. They've done this with SO many agents.

The only thing missing from those expendable agents is a red shirt.

[Charlesman]

On 9/25/2018 at 8:00 PM, Ohmo said:

 I also thought the lava lamp thing was clever, and I got a kick out of the line "You can Google it."  I'm sure that's what the writer did.

You know, I was sure I had seen that device in another TV show in the last year, for a while I thought it was maybe "Elementary" that did something with it. But maybe it was just because I watch a lot of Tom Scott's YouTube episodes and he did one on this idea.

[tessaray]

The lava lamp thing made me smile. I do like it when writers get the tech stuff kind of right. (Allowing for dramatic license and all...) 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/encryption-lava-lamps

[brgjoe]

Can someone give me a quick synopsis of what happened during the last 5 minutes or so?

Our affiliate was cutting in and out during that time.  I saw them rescue Vance.  But how did they know where he was?  And when the show came back on, it showed Sloane burying something.  Was that the box she was carrying around?   Thanks!

[Trey]

Sloane allowed herself to be captured by the Embassy woman so she would be taken to wherever Vance was being held - she had a tracking device on her so the rest of the team could follow her.

The box held the dog tags of the marines who were killed by the bad guy (who made her choose which one to kill next);  since he was now captured she felt some closure and so buried the box at the grave of one of the marines.

[chitowngirl]

Why was Gibbs in charge instead of the Assistant Director, who we’ve met before? Besides plot point?

[brgjoe]

@trey:  Thanks!  Appreciated the synopsis.  I did wonder at the time if Sloane allowed herself to be captured so they could track her.  Otherwise, she let her guard down WAY too early.

Thanks again for taking the time to recap it for me.