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Ziva: I went to Israel to bury my father. It was a moment of weakness. I felt alone. Tony: You need to talk to legal. Ziva: No I don't. Tony: My Hebrew must ...NCIS Pics
Ziva: I went to Israel to bury my father. It was a moment of weakness. I felt alone. Tony: You need to talk to legal. Ziva: No I don't. Tony: My Hebrew must ...
January 30th, 2013 10:45 PM
@boonies
??? Are you replying to John G? I think he just said the crime fit with NCIS. Unless, I am reading it wrong, John?
January 30th, 2013 10:43 PM
@Michael
I have no idea what you are talking about. There was a murder and there was a crime, two in fact. A murder and a Ponzi Scheme. Unless, I am mistaken and the episode was nothing but a dream.
January 30th, 2013 10:22 PM
Thank you. My point exactly. They investigate crimes. There's no way they would be called out to investigate every auto accident nationwide involving on or off duty Navy/Marine personnel. NCIS would never have been called out to discover a crime since there was no evidence of a crime having been committed.
However, that's actually the least of my concerns with this episode.
The lame writing/story was the main problem. I want Abby to be the cool, confident, goth-leaning scientist she used to be...not the ditzy, hairbow-wearing 8 year old in knee socks she's become.
January 30th, 2013 10:01 PM
NCIS investigates crimes connected to active duty Navy and Marine personnel and their families. This includes reservists who have been called up to active duty. Crimes involving inactive Marines like the two Dads in this episode don't qualify... unless they also involve active duty personnel, like the Lance Corporal son.
Rank: Recurring Character
January 30th, 2013 9:36 PM
And, Abby has never totally failed the team for an entire episode -- but she has often been distracted and not given the case the serious attention it has deserved, whether she's taking hundreds of dolls apart for no good reason or figuring out if the crop circles were made by aliens (or whatever scifi junk experiments she was doing, with McGee gathering samples for her, thus taking both of them off the case Gibbs needed them on). So, I think you can justifiably criticize NCIS for playing up the character's "lovable" eccentricities (Tony the clown, McGee the geek, Ziva's English, Abby and her coffin, Gibbs and his rules, Ducky and his stories, etc.) -- and question whether this time they went to far with Abby; but I do think this was a mid-life crisis for the character, at least.
Rank: Recurring Character
January 30th, 2013 9:35 PM
How they manipulated the story for that flashback was for the adult, mature, worldly Abby to realize as the windshield brought back that long ago memory, that Nikki was still never going to see her grandfather again, that Abby's clever solution didn't change that. Her whole life thus hinged on an empty gesture ... which I think is significant, even significant enough for Abby to fail the team.
Rank: Recurring Character
January 30th, 2013 9:35 PM
Abby is all about people. She's the one who has made the NCIS team into a family. She's the one who comes down on Ziva for not being grateful enough to Tony for all he did to track down where she was (which actually was mostly giving orders to her and McGee, but she, as per her personality, gives more credit to Tony being the driving force). She's a mother hen -- and surprise! she always was. That's what we got to see. That's also how I took what @JustSayin was saying.
Rank: Recurring Character
January 30th, 2013 9:34 PM
@Boonies -- I don't think it was a minor disappointment. I think a little girl who was decidedly pleased with her cleverness from creating a magnifying glass to tracking down all the parties involved to where she would make "THE" decision about what she was going to do with her life, which was even re-enforced by her switching stuffed animals so that the little girl could keep the memory of her grandfather.
January 30th, 2013 7:54 PM
Its almost like the writer can't or have forgotten this is a show about crimes and murder
January 30th, 2013 7:40 PM
@Just Sayin...WRONG! I totally "get" the Abby who did her job for the past 10 years through Kate's death, Gibbs getting blown up and leaving, Jenny getting murdered, Tony being framed for murder, Ziva being taken prisoner, Ducky being kidnapped, McGee getting taken hostage, etc etc etc. What I DON'T GET is an Abby who goes to pieces and leaves the team in the lurch when they really need her just because she can't handle some minor disappointment from 30 years ago! If you "get" that then you really don't know the character.
Rank: Guest Star
January 30th, 2013 7:27 PM
@boonies:
1) Not sure about this. NCIS investigates ALL deaths of naval/Marine personnel. Once NCIS started digging, an unfortunate traffic accident looked less and less likely.
2) Apparently, the configuration of the windshield crack stirred up a memory.
3) Yeah...I don't get this one either. I cringed a little when she confronted the grandfather thinking she could solve family problems with a toy. Sure she was an idealistic kid, but how do you NOT pick up on adult vibes?
4) Agreed--and the father of the Marine was a macho, chauvinistic pig who deserved to lose his wife.
5) His class clown antics get on my last nerve too.
6) Yeah...strange. He HAD to have taken his share of chemistry classes; he should have known how to use it.
January 30th, 2013 7:12 PM
I think they are trying to push couples to much this year. Right now Tiva is way overboard and now it looks like they are going to try to push McAbby. Ok Tiva will happen because it has been pushed since Cote came on the show. But McAbby? I am sorry not a good couple. McGee follows Abby around like a lost puppy and Abby just uses him for her own good. McGee needs to stand up to her and they need to bring in a new person for McGee to have a relationship with that can last. Though I hope they don't bring back Dr. Ryan for Gibbs that was a train wreck from the start!
January 30th, 2013 6:47 PM
If you didn't get the episode, you don't get Abby. Plain and simple.
January 30th, 2013 6:36 PM
I didn't care for this episode. It felt fragmented. I think the writers missed the boat on this one.
January 30th, 2013 6:16 PM
Sure, in the end the feud was unrelated (Although one can say the victims got killed because they were seeking a way to get away from both families), but you don't just put down a lead just like that. So in the end I think I may have went on a rant there, but you are free to criticize my answer and point out if you may have felt offended. Still, I tried to be as logical as possible.
January 30th, 2013 6:15 PM
first car or your first crush or your first job and the events surrounding her first case do make the way she behaves today (Not necessarily in this episode) make sense. As for number 4, while story wise, it was just a means to connect the two stories, real life wise it is never that simple. When cops or agents or whomever investigate a crime, you start with family whether they are involved or not. Irregardless, NCIS found two victims who at first glance seem unrelated, so they needed to find a connection. They found a connection through family. They brought the family in for questioning in which they unfortunately discover the family feud which then makes the connection between the two families more pronounced. They didn't suspect either family at first, but as they found out more info, it became increasingly obvious the reason for murder might come from one of the family. It became the obvious lead and their only lead at the moment. So logically they had to investigate that lead. Sur
January 30th, 2013 6:14 PM
@boonies
While I agree with number 5 and number 6 (Although if the mass spec thing is a running joke, it really wasn't a problem with this episode) But for number 1, are you 100% sure that is the case. I don't disagree completely, but do you know that for a fact. For number 2, I connect what Abby said about good and bad to what she said when Dearing bombed NCIS. Add that to the fact about what we know of her character and the eerily similar crashed cars and is isn't completely out of the realm of possibility. As for number 3, we humans are impressionable as children. And just because the reason behind something is obvious, doesn't mean someone can't feel bad about it. While a little extreme, if you knew the reason why say a family member killed another family member, does that automatically mean you don't feel bad about it? Also considering it is what she considered her first case, it isn't hard to believe it made the biggest impression on her of all. It's like when you get your fir
January 30th, 2013 5:49 PM
Good news everybody. This episode got 21.82 million viewers making it the second most watched episode of the season, which means it beat Shabbat Shalom and only came down 1 million viewers from last weeks Shiva.
Rank: Recurring Character
January 30th, 2013 5:48 PM
@boonies -- I don't agree with you mostly, but it's tastes/opinion stuff I can't argue. Do agree that I don't like when Tony is presented like you cited, but on one of the DVD sets the show's head honcho says Tony interprets and plays his character like a clown. Anyhow, just jotting this reply to point out that the mass spec only working for Abby has been a running joke/plot device for many seasons and if it had worked for McGee, that would have been unrealistic to the suspend belief aspects of NCIS story telling (I think anyway).
January 30th, 2013 4:23 PM
Sorry, but they can do so much better than this drivel.
January 30th, 2013 4:21 PM
OK, I posted earlier that it was awful and here's why I feel that way.
1) Since when does NCIS investigate all traffic accidents involving Navy/Marine personnel? They don't. Locals would have investigated (without an ME present at the site) deemed it an accident and hauled everybody off. The end.
2) Abby has probably investigated dozens of accidents. No problems till this one? Why?
3) Abby was raised in the South. She loses her mind because she realizes she didn't solve the problems of racism 30 yrs ago in the South? Puleeeze.
4) The whole family feud nonsense meant nothing to the case. It was just inserted to fill time between Abby flashbacks. It was a garden variety murder over money.
5) Tony was made to look idiotic AGAIN with that goofy fight announcer scene. No purpose other than to make him look ridiculous AGAIN.
6)McGee has a degree in biomedical engineering and can't run a mass spec?
So, yeah, other than these it was a great episode (sarcasm intended). Sorry, but the
Rank: Extra
January 30th, 2013 3:20 PM
No kudos for that brilliant young actor who played Little Abby? Seriously, what a talent. She got PP's mannerisms and body language to a "T" and her way of speaking and communicating was so believable as the child who would grow into the Abs we love.
January 30th, 2013 2:16 PM
I really enjoyed the episode. The longer NCIS runs the greater opportunity to really know the characters. Little Abby was great! I loved the end with Gibbs and Abby. The writers of NCIS are a talented group and of course Pauley did an awesome job too! With sweeps coming I would say there will be another 2 episodes coming that will be awesome.
Rank: Staff Member
January 30th, 2013 2:00 PM
Me too, Blu. The family dynamic always hovers in the background when the team is investigating a case, but the emphasis over the past three episodes has been great to see. In real life, past memories can be as easily triggered by something as seemingly innocuous as a sound, such as the far-distant drone of a lawnmower during the summer, or the scent of a perfume. So it wasn't a hard stretch to believe that the combination of the cracked windshield and the air freshener could provoke a memory for Abby.
It's actually quite a good thing to see the wide variety of opinions on this episode. It means (I think) that the writers are doing something right when this happens. Some found it cloying and way too sweet, while others like me found it endearing and amazing. The worst thing possible would be for everyone to not care at all - that's the death knell of any series. Or movie for that matter.
Rank: Regular Character
January 30th, 2013 1:13 PM
I think they struggled at times to make reasonable and realistic correlations as far as transitioning between the flashbacks and how they were triggered by the present. I also think the flashbacks felt incomplete somehow. But I stol felt this was a truly beautiful episode. It was unbelievably touching and invoked the appropriate emotions. It was fitting for an Abby episode. I thought the young Abby was brilliant. Startlingly good mannerisms. I loved the transition from grieving Ziva to a more at peace one, and that it was acknowledged and not forced. Not too many shows pull off the transition between gut wrenching drama and everyday humor like this show. I absolutely LOVED the scenes with Abby and McGee but especially her and Gibbs. Their moments always make me smile but it was especially beautiful. I continue to enjoy the extra emphasis on the family dynamic this season.