My take on "Rule Fifty-One"
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya Paloma Reynosa. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Uhm, yes. She does get on my nerves majorly, and between the pseudo-poetic quote thingie going on and trying to do the impressive!mean!drug lady stunt... she's just incredibly boring and not impressive at all. Please don't ask me why, I don't have a logical explanation for it.
"You see slack?" - "I dunno, did you see a wink?" I love those two so very much, I haz no words. ^^ And the music they used in that scene! Funny, lighthearted, almost comedy. Adorable. :)
Gibbs trying to make Alejandro shoot him? So. Goddamn. Powerful.
Ziva punching Tony when he gets blunt with Gibbs on the plane. Awwww. She's trying to teach him some manners and/or watches out for the DiNozzo blabbermouth. For some reason, I find this utterly endearing. ^^
And man, Tony, questioning Gibbs like that? Hooo boy. He knows something isn't right, that Gibbs is hiding something.
The director making McGee rigg the phone battery - some people interpreted that as him trusting McGee when it comes to trusty stuff, while he "uses" Tony for the dirty work. (I don't. Keep that thought in mind, though, we'll get back to it later.)
"My mind's a complete blank!" - "Has that ever happened before?" Ducky and Palmer ftw! Oh, these two are so incredible together! And since I have an awful lot of Palmer love going on lately, have some, too! :D
Jimmy! <3
"Oh no, not again!" - "What again?" So, neither Tony nor Ziva know what's going on at this point. (Keep that in mind, too, we'll get back to that later.)
Vance calling Gibbs on who his mystery caller is, namely JP Dean. That man does know an awful lot more than he lets on, I swear. Also, McGee's look when Gibbs asks for his cell phone back from Vance! He suddenly knows whom he's been prepping the battery for.
The scene when Gibbs hugs Abby? Breaks my friggin heart and makes me cry every time I see it. Because for seven years, he has hugged her a lot of times... whenever she needed it. This is the only time we have seen him hug her because he needed it, and I do tend to believe that this is actually the only time he has ever done it..
Vance giving the lead to DiNozzo. In front of everyone. This kicks ass. It simultaneously tells Gibbs Vance doesn't trust him - and it does put a lot of that same trust into Tony's hands. And damn, our boy handles the job really well. He did learn a wee bit about being a good agent.
When they're waiting for JPD's plane to come in, Tony calls McGee and Ziva... and oh my dear Lord, did you hear how he says her name? (In case you didn't, I made an mp3-file of that sound to jog your memory.) I mean... whoa. THAT is some serious intimacy!voice going on here! *swoons*
"If something has to happen to Alejandro..." Did I mention that I love Vance fiercely? Did I mention that I love that he is willing to get his hands dirty, so to speak? (Although, in some moments that also makes me think that he may have picked up a few not so nice things from Eli...)
So, the montage when Ziva takes her oath is awesome, most of us agree about that. And it is even more awesome that her voiceover leads us directly to cowboy!Tony sneaking around in Mexico. (Most of us agree on that also. ;) ) But did you notice at which exact point the scene cuts to Tony?
"That I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law."
This gives me big fat goose bumps and creeps me out to no end. Tony is not just there to observe and report, no sir. He is there to make things happen with Alejandro, if needed.
The scene when Franks shows up further cements my theory that Tony isn't there to just be a watcher. If he were, he would have stopped Franks from "taking over", especially after Mike talked about pulling the trigger.
My theory why Franks calls him "Probie", btw? He finally sees some of the qualities he values in Gibbs in Tony. (Note that these are not necessarily qualities other people would describe as such - let me repeat, IMO Tony was not there to just observe and report, but for possible assassination, and Franks probably knew/sensed as much. I think Tony was actually following up on his "Whatever it takes" from "Patriot Down", and that's the thing that makes Franks approve.)
And that brings us back to the trust thing and Vance supposedly just using him for the dirty work - to which I say, that's not what's going on at all.
Tony has gained a whole new level of trust and standing, and we've been show that, especially with this last scene. You have to remember for a minute that the only people who know more about what's going on (and, most importantly, about Alejandro's involvement!) are Gibbs, Franks and Vance. The rest of the crew has no clue. Aside from Abby and Ducky, they don't even know about Gibbs and the cold case. I think McGee suspects that he may have rigged Gibbs' phone, but I doubt Vance has told him anything of value. They have no idea what's going on.
But Tony does now. He is in. He has taken this assignment, and given the way Vance acts, I am pretty sure that the director does know a lot more about this situation than he lets even Gibbs know. (Keep in mind that he has most likely made M Allison crumble in that scene last week, and presumably she has told him all about Col. Bell's agenda. We don't know that for sure, of course, but I doubt Vance would have let her out of his sight if she hadn't agreed to play by his rules.) So, it just might be that by now, Tony knows more about what's going on than Gibbs does himself.
And this is the kicker. And if they play this out the way it feels to me now, we're gonna see a lot more of competent!Tony during the next season. He'll settle.
The new rule? Breaks my heart. It didn't hit me that hard at first viewing, but every time I come back to think about it, about what this really means in the context of the person that Gibbs is, it makes me tear up. SB said the rule wouldn't be the real kicker of the episode, but to me, it actually is. It is a huge, huge admission from someone who has never really questioned his own moral code, his own beliefs before. And now, he does. He is not always right. *bites lip*
So, all in all? Really good storytelling, and a good way to wrap up a few loose ends and still keeping the way it will go up in the air. I actually loved it very, very much that it wasn't the same sort of cliffhanger they usually favor, and even though I hope they won't kill off Jackson (I actually doubt it, from a storyteller's perspective - deaths to evoke emotion have been overused in NCIS, really, and even SB knows that), it doesn't really leave me biting my nails and tearing my hair out for the next three months. I think it is a good place to leave the season, and it would have even been an incredible place to leave the show, if this season had proven to be the last.
And to close on a purely shallow note - OMG, Tony and Ziva! *squees* Can they get any more touchy-feely???
Grabbing her elbow to pull her over:
I haz no intelligent words left! <3
Holding hands while visiting Abby...? :D
Yes, yes, being close to your partner is a good thing...
... and he knows that, too. (This is the thing that cracks me up, really. The anti-T/Z people regularly yell that's it's always just Ziva running after him with her girly crush... and yet, in the latest eps, Tony has done his fair share of the touchy routine. *giggles giddily*)
Do I think they will pull through this? Oh, of course. Do I think him missing the ceremony will break them? Actually, no, because I think Ziva knows her way around orders you can't refuse. (On a side note, I think Gibbs missing the ceremony will present much more of a problem, possibly an even worse one if they do give us an Eli episode after all.)
Can I love them any more? Most likely, because every time I said that before, they came up with something new. ^^
So, in retrospect? Season seven doesn't feel as bad as it did three weeks ago. And I'm actually curious to see how this will play out and what their plans for the next season are. Yay! :D
On a side note - I do owe you all a big bunch of replies. Will get to that on Sunday.