About NCIS 10x10 - You Better Watch Out (Part I)

[littlesammy]

I had very mixed feelings about this episode, and it took me a long while to wrap my heap around this, let alone put this into words. I have serious issues with several things, and if you're a fan of Senior, you might want to skip the review, because I rant with a rather filthy mouth about him. (Also there's an occasional snide note about Kate

Comments

[mewofford]

Excellent thoughts.
Not sure I agree with all of them but boy, do you always make me think! And I love it!!

The one thing I think we will have to agree to disagree about is forgiveness though. I think, and this is just me, that by forgiving Eli, or Senior, or Jackson, whoever hurt you, our characters (and we ourselves) are only helping ourselves. The pain and suffering we carry around from them, it eases dramatically when we forgive them. NOT saying forget, but forgive. I've put this into practice and find it worked for me - big time.

When he told the goldfish she was getting fat it threw me right back to LBHE when the new father Tony told the new Mother Kate that at least she looked like she'd lost some weight.

I am going to wait to say more (and probably agree more) with your Tony thoughts. I can hardly wait.

[tonyfan31970]

I have mixed feelings on the forgiveness thing, and I totally see what Sammy says about the abusive-spouse thing- but I do agree with you, MEW, on the personal part of forgiveness. (It has been scientifically proven to help the forgiver physically, even) It does make the forgiver feel a release of that burden of resentment and bitterness

[mewofford]

I am not sure the people in MTAC knew what had happened. Ziva said he told her it was just "complicated."

Who knows.

But I do agree with you, tonyfan31970. It will be better for Tony to forgive and then not spend much time with his father in the future.

Despite what Abby says!

[ext_886242]

Completely agree with you on the forgiveness bit. It's NOT saying "Oh, it wasn't a big deal/It didn't really hurt that bad." It's saying, "Yes, it was a big deal, yes, it hurt, but I'm not holding onto that hurt." Much easier said than done (believe me, I know), but ultimately worth it. And it doesn't automatically mean you trust the person who hurt you, either. I don't know if I would have reacted the same way to Senior's attempt at an apology - and Lord knows I usually tend to give second chances pretty easily (I'm probably a lot like Abby in that respect). Still, I like the fact that he's still willing to forgive his father after all that.

[kytivafan]

I have never liked Senior and this episode made me like him even less. And while I am a huge proponet of forgivenes and the fact that is more for the forgiver than the forgivee - I hate that the whole team was fobbing Senior off on Tony as if Tony was the one in the wrong. I wanted to Gibbs slap them all

[bellestarr09]

Considered and thoughtful as always. I, too, teared up at the "nothing's funny about this" line and the expression on his face.

The goldfish didn't bother me one way or the other. At one point Gibbs had a goldfish and I chaulked this up to Gibbs emulation. Since MW tweeted that some visitor on set suggested the name, I let the whole thing go.

What did puzzle me was not the twin bed but the furniture style. It seem inconsistent with the other furnishings. I'm looking forward to your analysis.

[corruptinnocent]

I love Robert Wagner and he's so funny as Senior, but your analysis of the Junior/Senior relationship is exact. They play it for laughs, but this episode was direct-in-face dysfunctional. I don't think NCIS has fully closed the Ziva/Eli story either, which bothers me. A man who left me to die would never hear from me again, father or no. I understand forgiveness is vital, but sometimes forgiveness does NOT mean reconciliation. You can forgive while still severing a relationship. Sometimes severing the relationship is better, but those who have never been in a destroying relationship would not understand. Your comment about an abusive relationship summed it up perfectly

[xphile101]

I feel the same way about most of your points -- I loved the scene where Tony says "There's nothing funny about this" because he was, as you said, being totally honest. (And the tears in his eyes... kudos to Weatherly for that one. He was amazing in that scene.)

I hated Ziva's touchy-feely-ness with Senior. It was definitely far more Cote than Ziva. I can see giving him a hug when he first arrives - he's charming, he likes Ziva and she likes him, but other than that... don't touch him.

I absolutely despised Tony's turnaround in the final scene. He was right to be pissed, he was right to kick him out, and he was absolutely right to not want to see him. You're definitely right in that it felt like bad fanfic.

I actually really didn't like the episode. That final scene and its implications left a bad taste in my mouth.

Looking forward to Part II. :)