Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on May 27, 2010 17:18:21 GMT -5
I didn't mean to give the impression that I disliked the character dynamics in this episode. For the most part, I totally agree with you - the way the characters interacted throughout the episode was very solid and more of a throw-back to the Old Days. The borderline mean-spiritedness between various characters seemed absent (pleasantly so), and they all functioned quite well as a team (Tony/Ziva throughout most of the ep, then the Three Amigos at the airport gunfight, and so on.)
As to Tony doing anything to protect Gibbs, while I agree with you, it still seemed OOC to me. Shooting someone in a firefight is vastly different than assassinating them, especially since Tony was never shown to be given the full picture about this mess.
It's just ... the ep in general didn't hold my attention as well as "Patriot Down" (which was, IMO, tied with "Truth and Consequences" as the best ep of the season ) did. *shrug*
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on May 27, 2010 14:58:15 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.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on May 20, 2010 15:30:47 GMT -5
Now this is what I've been wanting to see all season. The case was sharp (and not as ridiculously predictable as they have been most of the year), the acting was excellent, and the team banter was actually banter without being mean. - Harmon's acting was stellar once things started to fall apart - Gibbs has never been my favorite character, but Harmon knocked this one out of the park. I could totally buy that Richard Burgi's character was freaking terrified of him in that last interrogation scene.
- And then, there was Ducky. That second scene in autopsy when Dr. Mallard made the bullet in the sun comment rocked. Well done, Mr. McCallum.
- Pauley did another fantastic job, just like last episode.
- This was also the kind of Tony that I've wanted to see all year following the fantastic "Truth and Consequences" and "Reunion": professional, competent, but able to do the wisecracking gallows humor e & McGee had at the Macy fire. Weatherly's acting in the scenes with Cote were excellent, and I liked the subtle way they established that he was concerned about her in the wake of the rape case showing back up.
- Which leads me to Cote. She did an excellent job at conveying hints Ziva still hasn't fully recovered from Somalia (pity they've totally forgotten about that fact throughout most of the season.) The interrogation scene and Cote's acting was excellent. For all the hate she gets from the anti-Ziva people, I'm consistently impressed with how much she can convey with just her eyes.
- Hell, I didn't even hate Hart for a change!
- Like Lelu, I thought the final scene was kind of silly, even though I loved hearing the Man in Black himself - nobody tops Johnny Cash when it comes to tone setting. Still, the surprise about the identity of the corpse was cool - I was actually expecting it to be Franks, not Bell.
- Too bad about Macy - I totally dug her.
Totally superficial guy thought: Petty Officer Burrows was quite attractive. I give this episode a very solid 9. Which, if you know how down I've been on the quality of the series this season should tell you a lot. The cowboy attire at the end was just a little too much.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on May 12, 2010 19:59:28 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 Seconded. Well put.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on May 7, 2010 0:00:37 GMT -5
Gave it a 6. More in depth review in the other thread, but the short explanation is: Weatherly's acting was astounding, DiNozzo's sudden obsession was very poorly explained and he came across as kind of stalkery, Ziva was just as right to push him for his weirdness as he was to push her for hers during the Rivkin mess, and I'm already tired of the lawyer from Wolfram & Hart. Not going to be one of my favorites, no matter how good MW was.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Apr 28, 2010 15:55:11 GMT -5
Much better episode with Fornell than "Jack Knife" (which was pretty much a waste of his character, IMO.) The team felt more like the old team again, with their interactions. The snarky banter between the team wasn't the mean-spirited stuff that's been too prevalent of late IMO, and they did a good job at not revealing the bad guy for a change. Some of the highlights, IMO: - Gibbs & Fornell were awesome together. The Kenny Rogers dig was hysterical.
- Vance being in his office and the resulting conversation.
- Palmer. Seriously, he's turning into my favorite character on the show.
- Gibbs' joke about not getting Palmer wet made me laugh.
- Ziva looks fantastic, as usual.
- The entire autopsy scene between Ducky, Abby, Tony and Ziva was very old school NCIS and the kind of thing I've missed the most in the last couple of seasons.
- I actually liked Susan and thought her crush on Tim was well acted on the actress' part. Was kind of sad at the end 'cause I'd like to see her more.
- Liked the more adult, less idiotic Tony in this episode. Wish he was written like this more often. "Fornell and his beard were running contacts" made me chuckle and it was a subtle joke.
- The polygraph scene started out fairly amusing, but the notion that Gibbs has never had to take a polygraph is kind of silly. Also, not entirely sure, but I think he has divulged classified intelligence once or twice in the past.
- Lots of Abby without her being immature Abby.
- Jimmy, Tony, and Ziva going into the elevator was really funny.
Gotta disagree with Ziva's assessment that Gibbs' gut is never wrong - he's been wrong pretty frequently. Heck, he was wrong in regards to Ziva herself because she lied to him about Ari and her dad's orders in that regard. One weird thing leaped out at me though. Tony identified his "old friend, Rick Sacks." I thought it was Ron, not Rick. Gave it a solid 7.5 (which is really high for me). Better than most of this season, but not as good (IMO) as the first two eps this year, the jet pack ep, or the one with the Coast Guard people.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Apr 16, 2010 11:51:51 GMT -5
I think you're forgetting that they established she'd spent almost 30 grand in her three plus year search (through the PI who Tony & Ziva found in Arizona) for someone tied to Shannon & Kelly''s death. The woman was guilty as sin and it'll be a major eye-rolling moment if they pull out the "she was manipulated" card. Gibbs' comment about her not being smart enough to pull this off was clearly an attempt on his part to justify his actions when he knew she was guilty.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Mar 20, 2010 13:21:32 GMT -5
Woo Hoo, Phil. An 8 is as good as a 10. Yeah, for me, that's certainly true. What I find particularly interesting is that the two episodes with the worst (IMO) advertising trailers ("Ignition" and now "Jurisdiction") have turned out to be some of my favorites. In both instances, the teasers made the eps look like I would loath the episodes themselves, yet the opposite ended up being true. Totally weird.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Mar 20, 2010 13:12:50 GMT -5
Well, I liked it. Compared to the last half dozen episodes, this felt more like a return to old school NCIS that has been, to me anyway, greatly missed. The similarities between Borin & Gibbs were a little much, and I thought the characters could have all been a bit quicker on the uptake over whodunnit, but apart from that, it was fun. I was even okay with the final Tony/Ziva scene because it could so easily be taken any way that one wanted to take it. Hate "Tiva"? Well, then, they were simply friends. Love "Tiva"? Clearly it was a date. Etc. I'd very much like to see Borin come back.
My favorite line? "Real monkeys?" Cote's expression when she said that made me laugh out loud, although Tony's line about envying her brain was also worth a chuckle. There were a bunch of great one-liners in this one ("You can call me Abby." "That's not gonna happen." spring to mind), but none were quite as amusing as that exchange.
Gave it a solid 8, which is pretty darned high for me.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Mar 9, 2010 22:26:28 GMT -5
I thought it was average. Nothing spectacular (better than the previous ep), but nothing offensive. One thing I couldn't quite figure out was why Gibbs had Tony stay in the hospital - that was a probie's job, not a SFA's, and it kept Tony away from the rest of the team for too much of the ep for me. Ziva looked fantastic - Cote always does - but once again, there seemed to be a weird thing with stuff dropping out of the screen which prompts the question: are they filming the show in widescreen now? Or do I need to replace my old, crappy tv? Sad about Mrs. Mallard, though.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Mar 3, 2010 9:56:35 GMT -5
Ugh. I am getting so sick of Gibbs' vigilante justice. Apparently it's okay to murder one guy and frame another as long as you've got, y'know, a really good reason. And "They were in the drug trade and so was the guy who killed my daughter" is clearly a good reason. I gave it a 3. Agreed. Usually, they put people who did this sort of thing in jail, but since it's Gibbs, the rules get thrown out. Very disappointed.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Feb 9, 2010 20:59:46 GMT -5
I give a 4. Blech.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Feb 2, 2010 21:06:39 GMT -5
7.5
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Jan 30, 2010 2:00:27 GMT -5
Gave it a 6. Seen better. Seen worse.
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Phil
Forensic Specialist
Posts: 334
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Post by Phil on Jan 12, 2010 21:32:24 GMT -5
Generally liked it, but I actually think I preferred "Ignition" overall. The best parts were - to no one's surprise - Mr. Wagner's ADD Sr. (loved the reveal that he's totally broke and hiding it), but the Gibbs/DiNozzo father/son dynamic was once more back in full force in this ep. Really appreciated the reference to SWAK by Jethro and that last scene of the ep was pure gold, but it wasn't quite as good as I was hoping it would be. The reappearance of Ziva's necklace without any explanation where it came from irked me slightly.
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