S16.E02: Love Thy Neighbor

[thewhiteowl]

After a Navy Lieutenant is found dead in a hot tub the team interviews several families in his peculiar neighborhood. Torres must face the consequences after a volatile night out with Palmer.

[BookWitch]

Two weeks in a hot tub? Gross. Figured out the murderer fairly quickly. So Torres threatens his livelihood over missing Reeves? Hm. 

[threebluestars]

I really wish they had cancelled NCIS and fired up Gibbs and Fornell: Private Investigators because I would've been all over that.

Hot tub guy reminded me of the CSI episode where the guy died in the bathtub that overflowed into his house. Cue Catherine: "It's raining ... man juice?" lol.

[Xeliou66]

Case was decent, I suspected the wife a little while before NCIS did but I still found the case enjoyable. 

I liked that Ducky was used more, but I guess he never goes to crime scenes anymore, Palmer seems to do that by himself now, I guess Ducky is too old to go out in the field, I miss him out there. 

Palmer’s enthusiasm was funny, but Torres irritated me, he picked a fight when he could’ve just walked away, highly unprofessional for an NCIS agent and he deserves to be suspended, and all that over broken sunglasses that Reeves gave him? 

I didn’t like how Palmer seemed to be afraid of Gibbs again, he was past that last season and acted comfortably around him, but tonight he regressed badly.

[Lizzing]

I just don't get why two raging homophobic dudes would attend a wine & painting class together.  There are other ways to see scantily clad women while drinking.

The case itself felt very Bones-esque.

[Katy M]

4 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I didn’t like how Palmer seemed to be afraid of Gibbs again, he was past that last season and acted comfortably around him, but tonight he regressed badly.

To be fair, he had just been arrested the night before.  Gibbs would/could be justifiably angry about that.  

I liked the fact that this episode was mostly about a case.  the last few seasons the case has sometimes felt like an afterthought.  I didn't watch last week, because I figured it would be a lot of torture, so this was the premiere for me.  

[Xeliou66]

39 minutes ago, Katy M said:

To be fair, he had just been arrested the night before.  Gibbs would/could be justifiably angry about that.  

I liked the fact that this episode was mostly about a case.  the last few seasons the case has sometimes felt like an afterthought.  I didn't watch last week, because I figured it would be a lot of torture, so this was the premiere for me.  

Even before that he seemed a bit intimidated by Gibbs. I liked how last season he wasn’t at all, I like how Palmer’s confidence has grown and it seemed like he reverted last night.

I was very irritated with Torres, him picking a fight was highly unprofessional and he should be suspended for it, but I bet it’s never talked about again really. 

Can never get enough Ducky, I wish he still went to the crime scenes some. 

I’m liking Kasey a lot better than Abby, she doesn’t do the childish crap that Abby did, and last season it was so distracting not having Gibbs in the lab, it felt very forced and weird (and highly unprofessional on the part of both actors that they couldn’t do their jobs because of a beef) and it’s nice to have things back to normal with Gibbs in the lab. 

[enoughcats]

So Kasey with a Masters is all of a sudden all seeing and all knowing.  OK.  The show needs someone with depth of knowledge and Ducky has his side, but they haven't let anyone else grow professionally.

My point of reference is on the fly larvae.  I know the professor (not from the immediate DC area) who was called in on the Chandra Levy case because he was the regional expert.  I know him from a different side of his expertise, and he really IS an expert.  So I was somewhat insulted for him for  a MS beginner to come up with fly larvae knowledge based on no experience. 

[HurricaneVal]

Thankfully the NCIS team acknowledged that this was not their first decomp in a hot tub.  I was internally screaming through the whole set of initial scenes "They've done this before!  This is a recycled death of the week!  They'd better call back to the other one, or I'm gonna be pissed!"  And then they did, and I was all better.

I kind of liked Jack's session with Torres, and brightly calling his bluff.

I loved Palmer during the sip and paint, arts and carafes, cork and canvas, whatever event.  I loved that it was Palmer's idea of a "night out on the town."  The presence of the two homophobic and racist yayhoos was jarring, but taken in the context that they were there to ogle the not-nude model it makes a slight bit of sense.  A slight bit.  I loved how both Palmer and Torres deflected and deflected, but it wasn't until the insults from the jerks got too egregious to ignore that they were going to "take it outside" but then Palmer got too excited and threw the first punch.  He was so giddy!

The closeups of the teeth were creepy.  Teeth.  ::shudder::

[Notwisconsin]

this was much better than the premier. I think they're going to get rid of Torres.

[Sake614]

1 hour ago, Notwisconsin said:

I think they're going to get rid of Torres.

 

From your lips! But I don't see it happening unless they replace him with another Hispanic. CBS has gotten all kinds of grief over the years for a lack of diversity in its prime time shows. I personally don't care if an actor is white, black, green, blue or pink with purple polka dots. I'd rather have an amazingly talented Black/Hispanic/Asian man than a mediocre white woman. And vice versa. And of course it would help if he's easy on the eyes (yeah I'm shallow <G>).

[FormerMod-a1]

When Torres revealed he was upset over the broken sunglasses (well, really it was about grieving Reeves) I thought it looked like he was going to confess he was in love with Bishop.  I was so glad it was "just" the sungless/grief.  

[androzani1987]

I can understand Torres being upset about Reeves.   At the end of the episode, when he was talking with Bishop, I figured that was what the whole issue had been about.  I wonder if we will see more about him dealing with his grief in future episodes.

[stonehaven]

A bit better than the premiere..and a bit lifeless too...Although if I were the teacher, I would have talked to the homophobes before things got out of hand.

I wish this show still captivated me but it doesn't..Gibbs and Fornell as private eyes would have been well worth a watch.

Hulu now has all of St. Elsewhere streaming, I may get my Mark Harmon fix on that.

[Rambler]

Basically this was just a failed episode of Criminals Minds.

Gross out murder scene that leads to a serial killer that pulls the teeth of his victims. That sounds interesting, what would motivate someone to pull his victim's teeth? Was he molested by a dentist? Failed dental school? What? Never explained, despite the fact you have psychologist Jack standing there with her head up her ass and profiler Ducky in the episode.

So the victim tracked down the serial killer when the police and the FBI couldn't. How did he manage to do that? Not even an attempt at an explanation.

Oh so the killer turned out to be a woman. That’s interesting. What turned the woman into a serial killer? How did she choose her victims? Did her husband notice any weird personality traits that disappeared after she got married and had kids? Never explored.

No gun fights or car chases or any agents in danger, just a simple serial killer whodunit. Nothing wrong with that, but if you're going to do that, you have to make the killer and her motivations interesting, not just be some airhead soccer mom. This was Jack’s episode to strut her stuff and she was utterly useless. Why is she even on this show? All in all this was a totally forgettable episode except for Palmer's clumsy attempt at fighting. Maybe I’ll remember that. Not likely, but maybe.

[LuvMyShows]

2 hours ago, Rambler said:

All in all this was a totally forgettable episode except for Palmer's clumsy attempt at fighting. Maybe I’ll remember that. Not likely, but maybe.

I totes agree on the 'forgettable' part, but I appear to be a party of 1 on not thinking there was anything believable, amusing, or cute about the fight, especially Palmer's part.  It was just so out of character, but presented in a way that made it seem like it wasn't very far out of character.  It seemed like a such an extreme over-reaction. although I agree with stonehaven's comment that the teacher should have intervened sooner and stopped the comments.  And am I missing something as to why all the counseling and potential disciplinary comments were directed toward Torres and not Palmer? 

[JessDVD]

I of course had already forgotten that Reeves died, and am not really interested in Torres losing it over Reeves' old sunglasses, but that could be my advanced sense of IDGAF in this area.

All the casting changes in the last few years - I'm hoping that we can stick with the current bunch because the dynamic seems to be tighter and decent now. We could lose Jack at any time but I've just resigned myself to the reality that the writers deliberately keep at least one annoying cast member around for some reason I haven't grasped yet. Kasie is way better than Abby. Not having Reeves is a bummer but he was one team member more than we really needed. 

COTW fell flat, which is a bummer because it could have been really interesting. Statistically speaking, women are much less likely to be serial killers, and their reasons are statistically different than men's, so couldn't we have explored that? Rather than just leaving it at ditzy soccer mom? I of course called it about 15 minutes before the show figured it out, putting my record another notch closer to perfection.

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

Quote

And am I missing something as to why all the counseling and potential disciplinary comments were directed toward Torres and not Palmer?

As they were exiting jail, Gibbs said something along the lines that with Torres' training, it was inexcusable for him to get in a bar fight.  I think the implication was that he could have done real damage to those guys and because of his training could have been in real trouble.  As far as why Palmer wasn't getting in trouble - he doesn't have the training that Torres does and he doesn't report to Gibbs.  I think it would have been on Ducky to discipline him.

[LuvMyShows]

42 minutes ago, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

As they were exiting jail, Gibbs said something along the lines that with Torres' training, it was inexcusable for him to get in a bar fight.  I think the implication was that he could have done real damage to those guys and because of his training could have been in real trouble.  As far as why Palmer wasn't getting in trouble - he doesn't have the training that Torres does and he doesn't report to Gibbs.  I think it would have been on Ducky to discipline him.

Thanks for the explanation!  If I were Ducky, I would be very concerned about what Palmer did (Ducky didn't see what we, the audience, saw, that is supposed to be the explanation). Personality changes, especially drastic ones like this, are not something to be ignored...and Ducky of all people (with his profiling/psychological aptitude) would know that.  It could be a sign of substance abuse, mental illness, or physical illness.

[Chaos Theory]

I always like episodes where the woman is the killer.  Call it the feminist in me.

[UncleChuck]

Quote

As far as why Palmer wasn't getting in trouble - he doesn't have the training that Torres does and he doesn't report to Gibbs.  I think it would have been on Ducky to discipline him.

I think Jimmy is the new Ducky, as Dr. Mallard has semi-retired and Dr. Palmer is the NEW Medical Examiner.  Ducky could certainly give Jimmy the benefit of his wisdom, but it would likely be up to the Director to actually discipline him.  I think that Jimmy would be more humbled by Ducky's disappointment than Vance's official reprimand.

[HurricaneVal]

4 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

If I were Ducky, I would be very concerned about what Palmer did (Ducky didn't see what we, the audience, saw, that is supposed to be the explanation). Personality changes, especially drastic ones like this, are not something to be ignored...and Ducky of all people (with his profiling/psychological aptitude) would know that.  It could be a sign of substance abuse, mental illness, or physical illness.

But Palmer does have a history of acting impulsively and sometimes violently when he feels his friends are threatened, or is compelled to step up and do the right thing.  So I don't think it is out of character for him, and not really a personality change.  Remember when Gibbs told him to stay in the car for his own safety when Palmer followed the team out to a suspect's home, and then he used the car to ram into the suspects car to save his friends and catch the bad guy who was getting away?  Or when he literally went out on the ledge for that guy?  Palmer is usually shown to be a happy-go-lucky, go along to get along, Pollyanna, wilting violet type, but he has those hidden depths that occasionally come to the surface.  Remember when he stood up to his jerkish future father-in-law when he was sneering around about the MCRT team?  He's probably one of the most interesting characters on the show.  Or maybe that just means he's written inconsistently.  Either way, I always enjoy a Jimmy Palmer moment.

[Charlesman]

On 10/3/2018 at 3:23 AM, Lizzing said:

I just don't get why two raging homophobic dudes would attend a wine & painting class together. 

 

Yeah, I was laughing at this whole bit. It made no friggin sense that those guys would be at that class together. Didn't even bother to make it look like their wives dragged them to that thing or anything, just, two random dudes hanging out at the wine & paint club. Such a dumb excuse for a scene!

[Rambler]

20 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

And am I missing something as to why all the counseling and potential disciplinary comments were directed toward Torres and not Palmer? 

My take on it was that it was obvious why Palmer participated in the fight. Torres initiated the confrontation, and Jimmy enthusiastically jumped in because he thought a fight would bond him to his new BFF, and that backing up a teammate while standing up to bullies would meet with widespread approval from the other field agents. It worked too, since Gibbs basically gave him an "Atta Boy" when they talked later.

On the other hand, Torres spent the entire episode sulking like a moody teenager. You know - the kind that stomps around the house and slams doors until you are forced to ask what's bothering them. Of course when daddy, oops I mean Gibbs, asks him what's wrong, he has to respond that everything is fine over and over again, because this show has never met a cliché that it couldn't run into the ground.

Since he won't reveal what is bothering him, they have to send him to see the school counselor, oops I mean the NCIS psychologist. You would think that with doctor-patient confidentiality rules, he could finally reveal that he's been moping all this time because Reeves gave him the sunglasses. But nope, Jack continues to be useless, so they have to suspend him because they can't have a loose cannon who might go off at any time in the field.

OK maybe I am being a little too harsh on Jack, because it is soon revealed that he can only tell his secret to Bishop, the one person who truly understands him and probable future love interest. Cue the violins. It's like High School Confidential NCIS-style.

[eel2178]

On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 4:23 AM, Lizzing said:

The case itself felt very Bones-esque.

That was my first thought, too.

[welnoc]

19 hours ago, Rambler said:

My take on it was that it was obvious why Palmer participated in the fight. Torres initiated the confrontation, and Jimmy enthusiastically jumped in because he thought a fight would bond him to his new BFF, and that backing up a teammate while standing up to bullies would meet with widespread approval from the other field agents. It worked too, since Gibbs basically gave him an "Atta Boy" when they talked later.

On the other hand, Torres spent the entire episode sulking like a moody teenager. You know - the kind that stomps around the house and slams doors until you are forced to ask what's bothering them. Of course when daddy, oops I mean Gibbs, asks him what's wrong, he has to respond that everything is fine over and over again, because this show has never met a cliché that it couldn't run into the ground.

Since he won't reveal what is bothering him, they have to send him to see the school counselor, oops I mean the NCIS psychologist. You would think that with doctor-patient confidentiality rules, he could finally reveal that he's been moping all this time because Reeves gave him the sunglasses. But nope, Jack continues to be useless, so they have to suspend him because they can't have a loose cannon who might go off at any time in the field.

OK maybe I am being a little too harsh on Jack, because it is soon revealed that he can only tell his secret to Bishop, the one person who truly understands him and probable future love interest. Cue the violins. It's like High School Confidential NCIS-style.

No one has mentioned that Jimmy was drunk at the time. Alcohol has a habit of lowering inhibitions and raising belief in being invincible. 

[Kelda Feegle]

On 05/10/2018 at 1:47 AM, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

As they were exiting jail, Gibbs said something along the lines that with Torres' training, it was inexcusable for him to get in a bar fight.  I think the implication was that he could have done real damage to those guys and because of his training could have been in real trouble.  As far as why Palmer wasn't getting in trouble - he doesn't have the training that Torres does and he doesn't report to Gibbs.  I think it would have been on Ducky to discipline him.

See, for example, Con Air.

[Gothish520]

On 10/3/2018 at 5:27 PM, stonehaven said:

A bit better than the premiere..and a bit lifeless too...Although if I were the teacher, I would have talked to the homophobes before things got out of hand.

Exactly. She should've given those two yahoos their money back and thrown them out of the class.

Edited October 6, 2018 by Gothish520

[hookedontv]

I was bored by this episode. And I simply cannot warm up to Jack. Whenever she’s on screen, I just sigh. I think she’s so irritating, and comes off as a snotty know-it-all. How’s anyone supposed to bare their feelings to that type of person? 

I am warming up to Kacey and have to say, I don’t miss Abby screeching “Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!” 

[llewis823]

On 10/3/2018 at 3:43 PM, aquarian1 said:

When Torres revealed he was upset over the broken sunglasses (well, really it was about grieving Reeves) I thought it looked like he was going to confess he was in love with Bishop.  I was so glad it was "just" the sungless/grief.  

That's what I thought too.

[ForReal]

I can't stand the way the agents all seem to whine at the crime scene. I tried to recall (and did) if Tony whined -- he did, but he also stepped up to the plate. These guys were all looking for excuses to get out of doing what they were obviously going to have to do -- deal with the crime scene -- until Gibbs got on them. I just don't have a lot of faith in any of the three of them getting the job done, without Gibbs on the case.

I'm tired of Torres most of all, and I really, really don't want to see a romance between him and Bishop. It would be more interesting if she didn't return his feelings and he had to learn how to deal with the situation. I can hope.