It's not often that the green-eyed monster pays a visit to the NCIS team. Yet there it was in all its glory, arriving just in time to celebrate Delilah and Tim's reunion.

It was actually front and center, almost from the get-go. And it was more entertaining than the case of the week.

To be sure, NCIS Season 12 Episode 18 provided an interesting (albeit weak) case, with the one-man terror group breaking into military houses, just so he could, uh, brush his teeth and try on clothing and whatnot.

I mean, that's real horror.

Watch NCIS Season 12 Episode 18 Online

It was amusing to see Gibbs and Vance get so worked up about it. You have to imagine that if the guy ever managed to upload his terrible horror home movies, the troll gods of the net would have torn him a new one with their viciously mocking commentary.

It would have been fun to watch.

But then again – maybe if he added an ominous soundtrack to his movies, he could have frightened someone.

The one positive aspect of the case was that it was different. In fact, the variety of cases over NCIS Season 12 has been consistent and welcome.

The truly compelling part of the episode was the delightful rancor between McGee and Delilah. The back and forth arguments between them seemed all too real, as well as true to life and therefore believable.

The icing on the cake was Tony's and Bishop's involvement, what with all of their phenomenally bad advice. It's hard to believe that either of them were actually in successfully committed relationships. I mean, does Tony or Bishop practice the art of the flirt, deliberately – just to get some practice? Or was that advice just for their amusement and McGee's naive acceptance?

Whatever their motivation, I couldn't help laughing at it all.

Speaking of humor, there was a lot of it, wasn't there? Vance mockingly pretending to call Gibbs back in MTAC was a thing of beauty.

Then there was this:

Tony: Tim. How many times have you tried to contact Delilah in the last twelve hours?
McGee: Texts? Couple. All right, a dozen. But I only called six times.
Tony: What?
McGee: And left messages.
Tony: Honey.
McGee: I know.
Tony: I know you know but you're scaring her. That's not good. Women want the illusion of being chased. They don't want to actually be chased.

• Permalink: I know you know but you're scaring her. That's not good. Women want the illusion of being...

Honey? Honey? That blew me away.

Plus there's the advice itself. I always cringe whenever any guy says he's got the low-down on what women want. If that isn't just asking for trouble I don't know what is.

Maybe he's right. I don't know. I'll never put money down on it though.

Funny thing: I thought McGee and Delilah were far more advanced in their relationship than their mental game of footsies implied. Is he really still trying to "get the girl" here? I was sure he already had her, and that they were maturing together.

I guess not.

And what's with her response to his question about her moving half way around the world:  why did you let me?

Wow. Here he thought he was empowering her, and she wanted to him to somehow stop her from going? Maybe what she meant was that he should have at least objected or something.

It's great that they finally made up though. And that she's staying on American soil.

Final thoughts:

• It was hard to tell whether that walking hormone Special Agent Rafi Ali was traitorous or just not able to do his job. Turns out he was dangerously incompetent. Kudos to Scott Speiser for playing the guy so well – a man we couldn't help to hate.
• Ducky's observation about our use of the net was spot on. We see it all the time – people geo-tagging their Facebook posts to show that wherever they are, they're not at home. It really is like putting up a sign saying "come on inside my house and help yourself – we won't be home for hours!"
• Speaking of Facebook, it was clear that this was the social media vehicle they were all talking about. Though the Facebook name (and its likeness) never made an appearance, I'm hard-pressed to know of any other social media outlet that uses the same term as the title of this episode "Status Update."
• When Gibbs was interrogating Bleeker's brother Scott, McGee interrupted him to say that he might know what the symbol means. If he only guessed that he might know, why did he interrupt at all? Why not go and find out and then contact Gibbs? For that matter, why didn't Gibbs call him out on it? I'd have read him the riot act for such nonsense.
• There were two great team-ups in this episode. The first was Gibbs and Vance as they banded together against Ali. The second was Tony and Bishop, as they gently poked McGee. Nice to see that chemistry.
• Gibbs' rule #9 made an appearance: don't go anywhere without a knife.
• Be sure to tune in next week for NCIS Season 12 Episode 19 titled "Patience".

What did you think? Was Tony's advice to McGee completely correct? Partially correct? What would you have told McGee to do? What are your thoughts on the case of the week? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Remember: you can always catch up on the episode when you watch NCIS online.

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Douglas Wolfe was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He retired in 2016. Follow him on Twitter