About NCIS 8x18 - "Out of the Frying Pan"
The bad and the weirdness~
What's with Vance and the instant!obsession about the boy? Kinda creepy - but then again, that's nothing new these days, right? *snarks*
Speaking about the boy - I don't get it. He wasn't *that* bad, but he really wasn't one of the actors that can make me feel it. And especially after all the great guest actors they had over the past few episodes, he just fell totally flat for me and I couldn't care for the kid at all. And come on, the fake tears and snot during the axe scene? Geez.
Pairing up McGee and Ziva so obviously during the whole episode felt weird and almost forced. And especially after the end of the last episode, it also felt like it was written that way to keep Tony and Ziva apart and emphasize that there is something deliberately *not* going on. (Well. At least my last two stories still work more or less in canon.)
Another Casablanca reference - the third one this year? Looks like I will need to watch that one after all so I can say where they are going with all of this.
The few things that I felt agreeable with~
(Notice that I deliberately didn't use the phrase that these were "good" or even "strong" points. I just kinda sorta liked them better than the rest.)
Gibbs calling Tony "loverboy" on the phone but not in front of Ziva. Good style.
The interrogation scene was, on first viewing, interesting and bordering on awesome because Tony as bad!cop was kinda unexpected and cool. On second viewing, though? It just bordered on creepy again, almost twilight zonish when, for instance, the watch thing came into play. And yeah, we were told Tony would have a Bond-ish swagger, but that? It just didn't feel like Tony. At all. (And actually, for the rest of the episode, that feeling remained for me. Since when is Tony that cold and calm?)
McGee looked no longer quite as thin and sicklish, which is a plus. But I still miss baby!McGee so much it is almost painful to watch current!McGee, especially since I began rewatching the show a few weeks back. For some reason he was so much more expressive back then, and his face did the wildest things. Current!McGee? Is like Keanu. He only has two expressions and one mood. Meh.
Come to think of it, I miss all the characters I fell in love with, actually. During seasons seven and eight, they all have changed in a way that often reduces them to two or three specific character traits, but leaves them kinda cartoonish and not very... "whole". They're no longer real persons. They're specific behaviors the writers tick off a list.
McGee snooping around EJ's desk was nice and unexpected. And more classy than having Ziva do that.
And that's it already. It pains me to say that there wasn't a single scene in this episode that would count as an actual "highlight" for me.
Again with the foreshadowing~
Okay, I still say Vance will go off the deep end and Gibbs is forced to take over the job or even forces Leon to step down on his own - remember that ep when he filled in for Vance during the hospital stay? This time Gibbs has proven that he really has a better grip on things than Vance has these days. Then, maybe cue a second standoff between Tony (who will *want* to take over Team Gibbs) and EJ (who is already team leader and the more likely choice). Also, the last scene with Gibbs and Vance staring each other down and then EJ is calling - I think that may also count as foreshadowing, showing that she bats for Team Vance and not Team Gibbs. (ETA: On closer thought, this might lead to a "double threesome" instead, so to speak - with Gibbs, McGee and Ziva in one corner and Vance, EJ and... Tony in the other. Reason? EJ fucking Tony into allegiance. Plus, that weird bonding moment between Vance and Tony in Interrogation. But hey, I might just as easily be wrong here.)
I think that most likely Vance has seen the end of his storyline and Rocky Carroll will not be back for the new season. The sad thing about this is that not many people will care about it. I might, in retrospect, because since the very beginning I've been very fond of badass!Vance and the way he worked so effortlessly with Gibbs. Lately, though, he hasn't been all that badass or even likeable, so... *sigh*
(Don't ask for my opinion about what will be going on with Ray and EJ - I have no idea so far. Only thing I keep thinking since I saw the latest promo shots is that maybe Tony didn't bang her in the shower after all. Why else would he *keep* making google eyes at her? *snarks*)
So, all in all...~
I swear, if I hadn't been sick and coughed myself awake half an hour before my alarm went off anyway, I would have been pissed off hard that I'd gotten up an hour early to watch this one before work.
Yeah, the case file was solid. But was there any soul to it? None at all. There was *no* emotional connection between any of the characters. This? Was just any old frickin procedural ep. This was the perfect example for why I don't watch other crime shows. This was *not* why I fell in love with this show. This was boring me to death.
This was the first week in which another show (= Hawaii Five-O) gave me all the thrills and squees I used to get from "my" show. And yeah, this was also the week that made me realize that I will probably give them until the end of this season because some rudimentary hope is still there that they'll get their shit together and that they did all of this for a reason. But if not, I dunno. *ogles H5O and its shiny active fandom*