Baltimore!
The short story on "Baltimore": I loved it.
This ended up being a lot quieter than I had anticipated, but I thought it was lovely--we saw a very competent, sarcastic Tony, and I loved his dynamic with Gibbs. The first head-slap on record was adorable, "No! Have higher self-esteem!"--particularly with Tony's incredulous, "Did you just physically assault me?" reaction. And Gibbs's Rule Number Five! And the cheek pat! It was all so cute and warm and fuzzy. Plus, the origins of the Mighty Mouse stapler and the suits--although knowing that they represent his fear of not being loved is pretty tragic.
In the modern story, I loved how McGee and Ziva were being very quietly supportive of Tony (and Gibbs slightly more loudly supportive): they knew he was hurting, even though they were confused by how long he hadn't spoken to Danny. I also loved McGee's WTF with the Russian/Chinese fortune cookie maker.
And I think what I like best of all are the little loose ends: what happened with Wendy? And we still don't know why Tony was considered so heroic by everyone in Baltimore, or the basis behind his thing earlier this season about "almost letting that kid die in Baltimore." There are still a lot of loose ends.
Although the whole thing does remind me of how much I miss the season one dynamic between Gibbs and Tony--it was looser, friendlier. I love the team dynamic, and wouldn't trade away McGee or Ziva, but I do miss the more casual, less hierarchical Tony and Gibbs. And I wish the chilliness over E. J. would go away already, although I do like that Gibbs was able to banish that enough to be there for Tony when he knew Tony needed him.
Oh, NCIS--you could be like this all the time. I believe in you! You could have characters that were funny without being mean, and you could have heroism and cuteness and a dash of moral ambiguity!
Spoilers now for the promo, in case anyone missed it or doesn't want my guessing to get in the way...
...
Also, with regard to the promo for next week: okay, I really don't think Tony's going to die, but I have to say, the M.E. van with Gibbs staring inside it looking devastated does not sit well with me coming off a reminder episode of how close Tony and Gibbs are. DOES NOT SIT WELL WITH ME AT ALL. Plus, the over-dramatic promo voice--it will "strike at the heart of NCIS." I hope they've misjudged that terrifically, and to them, the heart of NCIS is Mike Franks. Because, well, I hate Mike Franks.
I don't want any dead main cast members, though. I love my cast.
And this episode.
This ended up being a lot quieter than I had anticipated, but I thought it was lovely--we saw a very competent, sarcastic Tony, and I loved his dynamic with Gibbs. The first head-slap on record was adorable, "No! Have higher self-esteem!"--particularly with Tony's incredulous, "Did you just physically assault me?" reaction. And Gibbs's Rule Number Five! And the cheek pat! It was all so cute and warm and fuzzy. Plus, the origins of the Mighty Mouse stapler and the suits--although knowing that they represent his fear of not being loved is pretty tragic.
In the modern story, I loved how McGee and Ziva were being very quietly supportive of Tony (and Gibbs slightly more loudly supportive): they knew he was hurting, even though they were confused by how long he hadn't spoken to Danny. I also loved McGee's WTF with the Russian/Chinese fortune cookie maker.
And I think what I like best of all are the little loose ends: what happened with Wendy? And we still don't know why Tony was considered so heroic by everyone in Baltimore, or the basis behind his thing earlier this season about "almost letting that kid die in Baltimore." There are still a lot of loose ends.
Although the whole thing does remind me of how much I miss the season one dynamic between Gibbs and Tony--it was looser, friendlier. I love the team dynamic, and wouldn't trade away McGee or Ziva, but I do miss the more casual, less hierarchical Tony and Gibbs. And I wish the chilliness over E. J. would go away already, although I do like that Gibbs was able to banish that enough to be there for Tony when he knew Tony needed him.
Oh, NCIS--you could be like this all the time. I believe in you! You could have characters that were funny without being mean, and you could have heroism and cuteness and a dash of moral ambiguity!
Spoilers now for the promo, in case anyone missed it or doesn't want my guessing to get in the way...
...
Also, with regard to the promo for next week: okay, I really don't think Tony's going to die, but I have to say, the M.E. van with Gibbs staring inside it looking devastated does not sit well with me coming off a reminder episode of how close Tony and Gibbs are. DOES NOT SIT WELL WITH ME AT ALL. Plus, the over-dramatic promo voice--it will "strike at the heart of NCIS." I hope they've misjudged that terrifically, and to them, the heart of NCIS is Mike Franks. Because, well, I hate Mike Franks.
I don't want any dead main cast members, though. I love my cast.
And this episode.