S16.E11: Toil and Trouble

[thewhiteowl]

The secdef shuts down the team's investigation and wants some team members arrested.

[twoods]

First the CIA and now Secdef wants a piece of Vance? What did he do to cause all this hate aimed at him? Poor guy can’t catch a break.

I liked the humor in this episode and the case kept my interest. I’m also the only one that likes the Torres/Ellie potential relationship but wish he just asked her out instead of passively cancel her date and then give her mopey face. They are going to drag this all season long, aren’t they?

[mertensia]

I think they all think Vance has been Manchurian Candidated.

[Katy M]

5 hours ago, twoods said:

I’m also the only one that likes the Torres/Ellie potential relationship but wish he just asked her out instead of passively cancel her date and then give her mopey face.

No, you're not.

I actually got bored with this half way through.  I'm never a fan of the telling the story through flashbacks while you're being interrogated technique.  Not sure if that had anything to do with my disinterest.  And Torres and Bishop are adults. They ought to be able to sit quietly through a seminar without disrupting the whole class.  Having said that, I know McGee and Gibbs were supposed to go, and I can't see Gibbs sitting through it, either.  He would have just gotten up and quietly left though.  Maybe a glare if the lecturer tried to stop him.

[CountryGirl]

I'll take a seat at the Nick/Ellie table. I think they are doing a very, very s-l-o-w burn with these two. 

Also, I've been watching That 70s Show on Netflix and it's hard to wrap my head around Fez and Nick being played by the same guy. 

[laredhead]

Is McGee's character about to be written out of the show?  Evidently his wife and children will never be seen again, and it seems his role has been diminished this season.

[Trey]

I was wondering that too, what with the news that he's being head-hunted by some toy company, or whatever company it was.

[Sake614]

I liked the episode but still have no use for Nick. The man is an adult, at least chronologically. Maybe if he stopped acting like a 12-year-old I would like him better. And I just don't see any 'there' there between him and Bishop. 

[Runningwild]

I like Nick and Bishop. I would love to see them become a couple. 

Edited January 9, 2019 by Runningwild

[shafted]

I liked the episode. I always like Mitch Pileggi. I wonder if this Splendifida angle for McGee is like the angle they played with Tony when he was offered his own team, contemplated the change, but elected to stay in the end? I hope that's what it is because I enjoy Senior Field Agent McGee. I'm interested in the Bishop and Torres potential relationship. It's been slowly developed but not stuck in perpetual neutral either. The writers can definitely dial back on the Torres comic relief angle though. Or, at least, use it better and more sparingly than they have been. I remember Vance saying once that Torres was one of NCIS' best ever deep undercover agents. For like 8+ years, right? So, how did Torres ever succeed as well as he did undercover given his apparent inability (or unwillingness) to read the room?

[Katy M]

5 hours ago, CountryGirl said:

Also, I've been watching That 70s Show on Netflix and it's hard to wrap my head around Fez and Nick being played by the same guy. 

Yeah, if I didn't know it was the same actor, I wouldn't know it was the same actor.  That actually speaks to his acting ability, even if I don't like the characters.  I didn't actually like That '70s show at all, but Fez was one of the more palatable characters.  Nick, on the other hand, is probably in my bottom 3 of NCIS characters of all time.

[Driad]

12 hours ago, twoods said:

First the CIA and now Secdef wants a piece of Vance? What did he do to cause all this hate aimed at him? Poor guy can’t catch a break

Maybe they are funded by the lumber lobby, and lost a lot of money because Vance cut back on his toothpick consumption?  You'd think Gibbs's never-ending boat construction would make up for that, though.

[HurricaneVal]

15 hours ago, twoods said:

First the CIA and now Secdef wants a piece of Vance? What did he do to cause all this hate aimed at him? Poor guy can’t catch a break.

Yeah...I've never really understood why they keep trying to make Vance this super agent guy with the mysterious past.  He had those episodes where he was recruited specifically because the recruiter thought he'd be a bad agent, so he'd be the perfect goat for that European operation, but Eli ruined that plan.  Vance was also involved in that secret super-soldier program, but I always got the impression that he was more or less read-in as an expendable stooge.  We've seen nothing else in his history to suggest that he's really anything other than a mid-level kind of management agent who rose to the level of director via the management seniority route after Jenny died.  Trying to ret-con a mysterious and deep cover for him just seems...wrong.  I like the guy, I like the character, and his pathos after his lovely wife was killed is compelling, but I'm just not getting why they try to make Vance into something he's not, or at least has never been portrayed to be. 

 

That said, I did like last night's episode, but it certainly was clunky in places.  There were some pretty big plot holes, like SecDef could have ended the whole standoff by pushing the magic secrecy button under the table himself.

[Notwisconsin]

I wonder if they will mention President Hillary Clinton, as it's clear that in the NCIS world, Trump lost. The real SecDef, Mad-dog Mattis, wasn't the least bit corrupt.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Notwisconsin

[Linderhill]

I've come to the conclusion that the PTB can not seem to function without making one of the male characters an immature man-child. First they dumb down and infantilize DiNozzo and now we have the perpetual man-child of Torres. I kind liked him when he was first introduced, now he's just annoying with his frat boy behavior. Apparently there's a slot in the show bible that calls for a frat boy/man-child and that he has to have a slow developing romance with one of the secondary female characters. I am one of those viewers that does not need or desires a romance in my show for it to be interesting. They need to just stop ...

[welnoc]

On 1/9/2019 at 9:55 AM, laredhead said:

Is McGee's character about to be written out of the show?  Evidently his wife and children will never be seen again, and it seems his role has been diminished this season.

If Sean Murray leaves, I'm done. I love McGee and I resent like hell that he is being side-lined by Bishop and Torres.

Don't really care if I ever see his family though, I want to see the cases and the investigationg, not soapy drama.

[Clanstarling]

On 1/8/2019 at 11:03 PM, twoods said:

First the CIA and now Secdef wants a piece of Vance? What did he do to cause all this hate aimed at him? Poor guy can’t catch a break.

I liked the humor in this episode and the case kept my interest. I’m also the only one that likes the Torres/Ellie potential relationship but wish he just asked her out instead of passively cancel her date and then give her mopey face. They are going to drag this all season long, aren’t they?

Another one onboard with Nick and Ellie. Mostly because they have taken time with it, and it isn't high drama. Plus I like both of them.

McGee hasn't been much of a presence lately, so I wouldn't be surprised if he does go.

[ForReal]

3 hours ago, welnoc said:

If Sean Murray leaves, I'm done. I love McGee and I resent like hell that he is being side-lined by Bishop and Torres.

Don't really care if I ever see his family though, I want to see the cases and the investigationg, not soapy drama.

I would be very sad, too,  if McGee left the show, but I am somehow okay with the idea of him taking a job with less danger that lets him spend time with his family. He's earned it.

I failed to understand why the Secdef was so entrenched in opposing NCIS, only to fold when he realized he could potentially look bad and they were willing to believe him. Why such doubt and animosity? Did someone set this up knowing he could be potentially implicated? Seems like so much -- too much -- was left unclarified, for me, anyway.

I don't care about Nick and Ellie one way or the other. He annoys me, she's alright, I don't care if they do or they don't.

[Donder]

If the writers were smart, they would move Torres/Bishop in a very dark way. Nick is way into her.....but she is not into him.