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Post by Lelu on Jan 20, 2011 20:14:07 GMT -5
I really wasn't a fan of this episode. The big problem I had with the 'gay' storyline is that it wasn't actually central to the plot. It wasn't an episode about DADT, and I also never got the impression that the father had an issue with the son's orientation. (He did say his son had issues with authority, but I guess that doesn't matter.) Let's put the sexual orientation aside for a moment and say that it was a straight male recruiter and a female high school student. (And there was a big scandal here a few years back involving just that, so yes, it happens.) And the father is seeing a close relationship between the two (secretive emails, etc.) which goes WAY beyond what is appropriate for the scope of the naval recruiter's job. If the father killed the recruiter to protect his daughter from what he feared was happening, do you think Gibbs would have gone all Mister Judgeypants at the end? Heck no - in fact it's just as likely Gibbs would have let him go free. But - lest we accidentally think that the father has any redeeming qualities, don't forget that he's An Unemployed Alcoholic!!11! (Drinking after your wife dies = Not Okay. Cruising down to Mexico & murdering a Mexican drug dealer = Okay. Letting your ex-mother-in-law skate on an unrelated murder = Also Okay.) And the cutesy scene at the end (during the Very Special Montage - I hate montages on this show) rang particularly false with me because I never got the impression that Paul was super gung ho for serving his country - his relationship with the recruiter was due to his being The Only One Who Understands. [Side note: are the TV writers telling us that the only ones who can understand a gay person are other gay people? Am I the only one who has a problem with this line of thinking?] Speaking of things that rang false... the scene in MTAC with Bob Newhart, while cutesy, was also totally token. McGee and Co. may feel good about themselves for their grand magnanimous gesture, but at the end of the day it changes nothing. Dr. Magnus has Alzheimer's, and it will keep getting worse, and there is no cure. And if I seem like I'm callous about the Alzheimer's storyline, it's because we literally did not know Walter Magnus from Adam. At least when they killed Pacci in Season 1, the writers had the foresight to introduce him as a character beforehand. Gibbs' line to the cheated-on wife "You've got a lot of hate in you" made me barf. We've seen before on this show how differently Gibbs treats cheating wives vs. cheating husbands, but this was over the top misogyny. Yes, she must be a terrible, terrible person for not being thrilled about the fact that her husband cheated on her with another man.This episode also highlighted why I am not a fan of stunt casting on procedurals: was there ever a moment when Bob Newhart was onscreen when you were not thinking, "Hey! That's Bob Newhart!" I mean, I never even watched any of his shows (too young ) and it completely ruined the effect for me. One more thing and then I will climb down off my cranky soapbox. I wanted to slap Gibbs when he was condescending to the dad with his "Well if it was MY son I would blah blah blah." It's easy to be the perfect parent when your only child has been dead for darn near twenty years. I am going to heck.Wow well said and almost my feelings totally. I hate stunt casting. I rarely comment anymore because I'm a cranky b.... and am too negative. We're all shiny happy people
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Post by Lelu on Nov 17, 2010 15:50:22 GMT -5
Kensi was awesome in this episode, the whole hetty thing was kinda meh but i love the Yoga girls bit as well as the boat house scene where she was like "so i should have pistol whipped him instead" "YES!!!". You really like scary kick-ass women. ;D ;D ;D I just like strong female characters
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Post by Lelu on Nov 16, 2010 23:31:26 GMT -5
Just curious what was the link to NCIS?
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Post by Lelu on Nov 14, 2010 12:56:03 GMT -5
I find Nell to be adorable! Whenever I look at her, I just remember the cute moment she had with Callen and Sam where Callen was like "she looks like runaway not an agent" and told her not to take candies from strangers! I think it's rather cute the team's got a little one to feel protective over. As for Nate, I'm hoping this special assignment is meant to give more edges to his character because they need to find him a place. One mildly amusing moment does not come close to saving her character IMO, shes a waste of space because she provides most of the same services as Eric and shes taking Nate's place. She really doesn't bring anything unique to the mix which is why she feels completely superfluous. As for last nights episodes I could spent a few paragraphs roasting its factual inaccuracies as I'm a bit of a JSOC nerd but it was on the whole pretty good. I'm still not wild about the Kensi/Deek's dynamic because it still feels like they're trying to force it. I have however decided I was wrong in thinking that they were shooting for Tony/Ziva type vibe, they're actually going for Tony/Kate vibe. Its clearly more of a brother/sister rivalry thing but at the same time I think they're going to squeeze in as much UST around the edges as they can just like they did with Tony and Kate. WOW I actually agree with you.
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Post by Lelu on Nov 10, 2010 17:14:06 GMT -5
Wow, Even Tony has become boring.
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Post by Lelu on Oct 27, 2010 18:46:15 GMT -5
9.5 - 10.0 Liked it last night. Loved it when re-watching. I found Abby more wonderful than ever. In no way did I find her babyish. She was frightened that what happened to Clea could happen to her - a brilliant woman who had a psychotic break. She was overwhelmed by the similarities and lost her objectivity for a while. Once she had it back - due in large part to the talk with Clea's mom she was able to see and think more clearly and provide the team with crucial information that led to Tim finding the canister that had slowly driven her into her psychotic break. Her relationship with Gibbs and Gibbs reaction to her was just beautiful - even when he raised his voice to her, ESPECIALLY because he raised his voice to her. Last season the knight got knocked off his white horse. This season we're seeing Abby seeing Gibbs clearly for the 1st time ever. He's no longer her hero, he's a flesh and blood man with flaws just like the rest of the human population. And also for the 1st time, I can see them as something other than father/daughter or big brother/little sister. I felt for Tony AND Michael with the 2 sizes too small Saturday Night Fever outfit. He looked horrid and he knew he looked horrid. This time the joke wasn't on him, he was in on it. I don't see it. I see a 40 year old woman dressing like a teenager talking in a baby voice with the expectation that every one treat her like on of those Precious Moment figurines. I hate those and have a great desire to smash everyone I see. Just once I like to see an adult female on NCIS. Even the villain was acting like a jealous teenager..."they liked her better than me"
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Post by Lelu on Oct 27, 2010 13:38:12 GMT -5
Wasn't really a good episode. I found it pretty boring and Abby was acting more than strange. I'm really annoyed with her "baby" attitude, especially the scene with Gibbs when she tells him that he never rose his voice with her. I was hoping that she would have acted a little bit more mature. I know that she is always portrayed as different and a little bit eccentric but this episode was a little too much. It's a shame that the Abby focused episode turned out this way. I think they focused a little bit too much on the science part and how Abby tried to solve the mystery, I was missing the drama and suspense and action in this episode. The Travolta thing was just plain stupid and idiotic. I absolutely hated that part. It totally didn't fit Tony's character, he was never a fan of Halloween and even hated that holiday. I found it pretty out of character to show him in his costume at the office. I totally agree Abby is 40 at least and they still won't allow the character to grow up. The only other character similar to her on TV is Criminal Minds' Garcia, who is a total eccentric, but a total adult. I actually think she is the only female character on TV I like If they wanted to do something for Halloween go something original... oh wait I know lets make Tony the butt of another stupid joke. the John Traveled costume awful, embarrassing totally IEEE
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Post by Lelu on Oct 27, 2010 0:26:19 GMT -5
Not a bad episode all things considered. Tony was competent which is always good, but the John Travolta thing at the end was just painful, very eew.
Abby has got to be nearly as old as Tony so I wish she'd cut out the baby girl act and dress like a professional.
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Post by Lelu on Oct 12, 2010 21:17:12 GMT -5
Actually this for me is the best episode of the season. Except for the obvious villain not to bad.
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Post by Lelu on Sept 26, 2010 10:38:53 GMT -5
Actually the episode wasn't worth rating, dull as dirt and stupid to boot. Sigh, I remember when NCIS was at least annoying.
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Post by Lelu on Sept 22, 2010 15:53:33 GMT -5
Snorrrrrrrrrrrrre UM Hey there was a new episode.
Contrived Pablum for those with total loss of any connection to any kind of reality.
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Post by Lelu on May 27, 2010 17:03:59 GMT -5
I guess I'm going to have to be the lone voice of dissent. It was very underwhelming for me (for a finale), so I can't give it a higher rating than a 6 out of 10. As a standalone episode, "Rule 51" would have been a pretty decent episode, but as a finale, it wasn't as good as it could have been. Yes, there was some very good elements in this ep - the Tony/Ziva partnership was quite well done throughout, with good-natured teasing that didn't feel mean; the continued presence of competent Tony was very nice to behold; Vance was again well presented; and some of the character moments throughout (i.e., the hysterical Ducky/Palmer moment, the before-mentioned Tony/Ziva partnership, the nice autopsy scenes, etc.) - but overall, at the end, I was left with a big BLAH feeling. For all the hype centered around this stuff, I just expected ... more. And better. Just like last season, the episode immediately prior to the season finale was vastly superior to the actual finale. The thing that probably bothered me the most was the implication that Vance sent Tony to Mexico ... on an assassination mission. Seriously, WTF? Tony is supposed to be a cop, not an assassin, and this violates NCIS' mandate in so many different ways that it isn't remotely funny. I don't believe for a second that Jackson Gibbs is in any major danger, not when they went out of their way to have Jethro Gibbs make that phone call to him earlier in the episode, so as a cliffhanger endings, that wasn't a particularly effective one for me. While I totally agree with you in many respects, I mean everything about this show violates accepted Law Enforcement Codes. It's rife with vigilantism, poor evidence collection and retrieval and the like. I still liked the episode. Yes Tony is a cop, but he'd do anything to protect his team. In this family dynamic he's the big brother, taking the blame for things taking the heat off other members, protecting. He'd do anything to protect Gibbs, Gibbs is the boss, confidant surrogate father. If Vance told Tony to go kill somebody to protect Gibbs, Tony would do it... not without remorse and significant consequences to himself, but for Gibbs... no doubt What is good about the show are the character interactions. IMO that has what has been off this season, good characterization. That said, this episode corrected a lot of ills for the season (one of if not the worst season). Finally they got it right Ziva/Tony, Ducky and Palmer. If Gibbs was a bit stoic and silent hero, it worked in this case; and finally a Vance I could like. That is why I gave it a 9.
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Post by Lelu on May 18, 2010 21:20:14 GMT -5
Cheez-Whiz
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Post by Lelu on May 11, 2010 21:15:34 GMT -5
I was surprisingly moved by this episode. The whole serial killer thing was a total wash. Tony and Ziva were used stupidly and it was annoying.
The Mexico story and the interaction between Abby and Gibbs was very well done. Abby's loss of her hero and innocence was poignant. Mark Harmon was superb as Gibbs.
If it wasn't for the stupid serial killer story I would have given this episode a 10, but because of the total misuse of Tony and Ziva it gets a 7
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Post by Lelu on Apr 27, 2010 21:08:54 GMT -5
All in all much better than I expected
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