Reviews of Hawaii Five-O 1x02, NCIS 8x02, and NCIS:LA 2x03
I've been shockingly remiss in keeping up with reviewing my shows lately. So, I am absolutely covering my shows for the first half of the week tonight: the NCISs and my new love, Hawaii Five-O. The latter I'm doing by memory, but the other two I took post-it notes in the dark while watching. :-D So, here goes:
“"Why are your lips moving? I am talking!"”
Since I didn't take notes, I'll be quick. I was worried the second ep might be a bit of a disappointment, but it wasn't. I still love this show! I liked the opening-Steve's dad's voiceover overlayed with clips of the team going about their day-to-day lives. And is that Steve's sister's picture I spy? She may appear after-all. Who knows? Aw, Kona's so excited about her graduation and wants Chin to be there. And she became a cop because of him! And doesn't care what other people think! I love their relationship. I tried the whole episode to figure out who the kid was. He seemed so familiar; it was driving me crazy! IMDB showed nothing, but a LJ search revealed that it was Little!Sammy from Supernatural. Nice. :) I was not a big fan of Steve throwing the guy off the roof by his ankles, so I appreciated Dann-o complaining about it. It'll be nice if their partnership/friendship results in them becoming better men. The guys staged a rescue mission and Kona held her own. I loved, loved the graduation at the end! So sweet! Having fun catching the symbolism of their roles in her life based on what they said and gave her (also by how they've interacted so far): Steve will be her boss. He'll protect and treat her as one of the men, but he'll do by teaching her how to be a cop. And he'll always give her all the fire power she needs. Danny will be her guardian angel. He'll be the one watching out for her, saying we need to pull her out. She may not need that now, but some day she might. And he'll always be the one saying “We'll make sure you you won't miss your graduation.” Lastly, Chin will always be her mentor. He'll be the one with the advice. I look forward to next week!
“”
On to sticky notes! That means my notes are (mostly) linear. I've also numbered them to make them easier to follow.
I think this ep made my dad's day: First, the heating/air unit played a role and then they mentioned fly fishing!
I like the interns. (I actually quite liked them. Even if the girl was slightly ditzy/annoying. I especially thought it was cool that it wasn't obvious who they were “younger models” of until we watched. There was speculation beforehand that they'd be McGee, Tony, and Ziva. Instead they were Tony, Abby, and Ducky! Clever!)
Early into the episode, I decided I really liked it. It felt like the “old”, normal NCIS, free of vengeful drug cartels and Evil!Mossad boyfriends/fathers or mysterious secrets.
Nice continuity with Abby having a problem with people in her lab.
I got a giggle out of Tony's and Ziva's pivot to let McGee through.
“Then who would catch all the bad guys?” Oooh! Touched a nerve, did he, Tony?
Poor Palmer!!! (Repeated several times throughout the episode. He was so adorable, though. I liked him confiding in Tony and trying to get people to use him. And him clearing the pathway in the end.)
“So why are you angry, man?” :-D Gibbs, occasionally you crack me up.
I loved Ziva and Gibbs teaming up. And they did so more than once this episode! It's been a while.
“I'm not even sure I'm authorized to see this.” “I know I am not!”
“Sorry, I'm more scared of her than I am of you.” I bet that's the first time Gibbs had heard that! Although, he knows that she's scary when she wants to be. :-D Did she threaten the poor intern with killing him and leaving no forensic evidence?
Poor Tim and Ziva! Were the Tim fans delighted or horrified that Tim nearly got strangled? I think he was mostly annoyed and not hurt, though. If that makes you feel better (or worse).
Did anyone else think Gibbs sounded as if he was talking to a petulant child when he said “Stop it.”?
I loved Ziva's purple top in the last segement.
“Yeah, we want to find him. Just not face down in a Cuisinart.” Ouch! Snarky!Tim!
Poor Tony! Getting his gun snatched away like that.
Oh, I fell for it. Oops! (At least that made the scene make sense. I.e Ziva randomly shooting the dude when he hadn't really made a threatening move to shoot and, of course, being able to snatch the gun so easily.)
I love the ending! I love Conrad and I love them filling out the internship application for him. If NCIS ever gets another spin-off, it can have him and Dwayne Wilson (the agent Gibbs is asked to evaluate in 6x07 Collateral Damage).
Love the promo! I suppose I have grown rather fond of Fornell since his last appearance in Jackknife.
A few other notes that didn't make it onto the sticky notes: I love Gibbs and Ziva rescuing Rebecca together. I seriously think this ep may have reawakened my inner Giva shipper. :P I loved Tony complaining about being replaced by newer models, only to have Ziva retort: “I am the newer model.” “If that was meant to wound me, it did.” Ah, show, if you could only keep Tony/Ziva more like this, I think they might have more fans. Or is just me? I didn't consider it a full-blown Tiva moment or anything, but I do like their relationship where it is now. End Tangent. One last note: I was so expecting Palmer to get some kind of validating moment. And he never did. I hope they're saving that for sweeps.
“”
>
Intense beginning.
Morning, Kensi. I was all like 'Oh, she knows a random homeless dude. Oh, wait, it's Deeks? Huh?' Still don't understand what he was doing begging.
“Soon Hetty's going to have us reusing bullets.” :-D
NATE!!!!!!!!!!!
“Somebody's been giving him shooting lessons.” Dun, dun, dun...
Showers on timers! :-D Hetty's really serious about going green/saving money, isn't she? Why can I see her holding these sorts of things over their head to get them to spend conscientiously on undercover assignments? “Mr. Callen, you overspent your budget by five-thousand dollars. A thirty second cold shower for you!” :-D
“What kind of school give out awards for good hygiene?” :-D Eric, at least you got in one good line.
“He grows on you.” “So does ringworm.” :-D So much to say about this exchange. Somehow Deeks foot-in-mouth is both hilarious and endearing. And, Callen is right. I must reluctantly admit he is growing on me. So much so, that even though I don't want Deeks/Kensi, I still loved the scene of her dragging him off and saving him from digging an even deeper hole.
Hetty is totally blowing them off about where Nate's been.
Hee hee! Deeks and Kensi riding bikes! I guess this cracks me up, because they are expert dust bikers. And, while I am sure Kensi is experienced, Deeks specifically said he was a city mouse. Doesn't seem like he'd have experience.
“Deeks, this is not the Sahara.”
Cue Dad talk. I'm of two minds about this scene. On the one hand, we get to learn more about Deeks past and I'm a total sucker for the guy with the daddy issues. On the other, Kensi talks about her dad with someone other Nate. Which just confirms my suspicions that Deeks is completely replacing Nate. (This I. Do. Not. Like.)
Oh, it's just a rattlesnake. :-D Scene cracked me up, though, especially with (albeit traumatic) story about being strangled by a boa constrictor.
And Nate again! He interrogates well. Not intense Callen-style interrogation, but simply gathering-the-facts interrogation. It's just good to see him and to see him being put to use.
What was up with the quick sand/tar pit conversation? Other than the later use to say Sam might throw JJ into the tar pit.
Wow, Callen really dislikes JJ, doesn't he? That threat was just way too intense, to me, for a guy we saw for aa minute, who, although no outstanding member of society was no BIG BAD. Perhaps the guy needs to be really scared to be kept in line?
Hmmm.... Nate called Hetty patronizing. I definitely see a different Nate this side of his mysterious operation. He's more grown-up ans serious. And less afraid of Hetty. :-D
NOOOOOOOO, Nate, don't go!!!!!!
Hetty tries to get her point across: “NLV, NLV.”
“How are you going to use 'headlock' in a sentence?” Oh, G, that's what we were asking ourselves about 'abracadabra' last week.
“He asked or he would appreciate?” Clearly Callen isn't afraid of Hetty either. :-D
*Crash!*“Here he comes!”
“I'm not in the navy, so you gotta let me go, stupid!” Pricless! Favorite line of the entire ep!
“Ooops.”
“They have a greande laucher.” “This is worse than anything in Butch Cassidy!”
“I'm a cop! I stop the people doing it!” Deeks on hotwiring a car. He raises a valid point. :-D
Here comes the calvary!
“Well done, Marine.” Nice touch, Sam.
“We're not political analysts. We just arrest the bad guys.”
Aww! The hug scene! The thank you! Hetty reminded Nate he'll be back! And that he's an important part of this team! (Thank you for that, Hetty. I think so, too, and SB needs to bring him back. As a regular.) Such a sweet scene, even if the fact that Nate was leaving (without saying goodbye!!!!!) made me want to cry.
“Keep your gun loaded.” Of course, Callen was standing there! I was glad he got to say goodbye and give some advice of his own to the counselor who's been giving him advice. I'm glad, too, that he got to give Nate his blessing. I have a feeling Nate needed it.
To be honest, overall, I didn't like the episode. Too much Kensi/Deeks, too team lite, and even Sam and G didn't get much banter. Nate was brought back, but only to flit about. He only got to talk to Callen, Sam, and Hetty. He had significant scenes with Hetty, but, other than the ending scene with Callen, not with anyone else.
On the plus side, I thought the ending was pretty amazing.
I have high hopes that Nate will be back, for real. This do seem like pretty foolish hopes, considering A.) This is the sixth cast shake-up they've done since their pilot eps on NCIS. And B.) The last time they did this (disappeared a cast member, no goodbyes or anything, he turned up dead. Macy also suffered a similar fate, although her appointment with death was for a plotpoint on NCIS:Mothership.
So, that's that. Kudos to you for getting through the whole thing!