What the hell happened to NCIS?
Seriously. This used to be one of the best shows on television and now that its become a sleeper hit, it sucks. I can count on one hand the number of really good episodes this season - 3, by my measure: 6.02 "Agent Afloat," 6.08 "Cloak" and 6.16 "Bounce."
So what are my problems? Shall I count the ways?
So what are my problems? Shall I count the ways?
- Incompetent, buffoonish Tony DiNozzo tops the list. This guy is supposed to be a law enforcement officer with 15+ years of experience, yet he is consistently written as a complete moron incapable of tying his own damned shoes. Compare this season's interpretation of Tony with the funny yet capable version we saw in seasons 1 through 5. I get that they want him there to be funny - in a show like this, comedy relief is a necessity - but this over-the-top BS has gone too far. It's like the character has suffered massive brain damage in between 5.18 "Judgment Day" and 6.01 "Last Man Standing." You'll note that the above-mentioned 3 episodes I listed as really good all have a competent Tony who can wisecrack but isn't an idiot. Ironically, I've seen this happen before in Enterprise when the morons running the show decided it'd be a great idea to turn the ship's chief engineer (played by Connor Trinneer, who, like Michael Weatherly, was clearly capable of doing good comedy) into a complete idiot during season 2. It wasn't a good idea then; it's not now. And don't get me started on the stupidity of DiNozzo's explanation for why he's been an idiot to the hooker lady in the forgettable Vance-centric episode, 6.18 "Knockout." So Tony hasn't had sex for a while; it isn't going to turn him into this moron who, frankly, deserves to be fired for the crap he's pulled this season.
- Schizophrenic Tony/Ziva interactions. I'll be upfront: I really like the idea of Tony/Ziva (or "Tiva" as they're known though I personally dislike the mashing together of names like that) because the chemistry between Cote and Michael is sizzling (or at least it was until this year.) This season, their interactions (what few they've had) have been really screwed up (although I loved them in "Cloak.") Even in the fantastic "Agent Afloat," we get Ziva all excited about seeing Tony again and then the show promptly implied that she started screwing the Rivkin guy from Mossad after "Judgment Day." Enough already. They need to either have a fraking relationship or they need to discuss why they aren't going to have a relationship, but this 'will they, won't they' crap has to end. Unfortunately, based on the hit & miss (emphasis on miss) of this season, I don't have very high hopes that this will be resolved. More likely, they'll push it forward in the final four episodes of this season as stated in spoilers and then throw out the usual 'we can't be together right now' shite so next season will be full of angsty looks of longing. And the introduction of a potential new love interest in the form of the Rivkin guy is so cliched that it's painful.
- McGee has become an asshole. I don't know what the hell happened, but this season, Tim McGee has turned into a real dick in his interactions with DiNozzo. Admittedly, Tony has turned into an immature retard at times, but there have been a number of instances where McGee's reactions have just been mean. During "Bounce," for example, I wanted Tony to smack him upside the damned head, especially when McGee made that inane comment about Tony not supporting them if they had been accused of murder. You know, like Tony did when Tim was accused of killing a cop back in 3.10 "Probie."
- Too much focus on Gibbs. Yeah, he's the "star," but this is supposed to be an ensemble show and I'd like to see someone other that Gibbs save the damned day on occasion. At this point, I no longer care about his background - we know more about his past than any other character and its getting boring. I can't help but to notice that Mark Harmon is now an executive producer and have to wonder if this one of the reasons we've had so much attention paid to Gibbs. Seriously, I'd like to see an episode dealing with Tony's background (about which we actually know very little), or Ziva's or ... hell, Palmer's. Anybody but Gibbs.
- The team dynamics are all screwed up. Watch an older season episode and note how everyone bounces off each other. This season, its just not the same. The fun is gone. McGee is being paired off with Ziva for investigations that should have gone to DiNozzo (who is the senior field agent), Abby has turned into a caricature of herself, and I've already mentioned how immature Tony is being written. For that matter, Ziva has come across as little more than the Token Girl on the team this season instead of Action Lass! Those little quirks that made the show fun - the head slaps (which I will admit to not really missing), Ducky's rambling monologues, the good-natured teasing between the team (not the cruel and vindicative taunts we're seeing right now) - all seem to have been dropped. And I'm still pissed at McGee & Ziva for not cowboying the fuck up and admitting that they screwed up too during that investigation that showed up in "Bounce." It was a team failure, not a Tony failure. Real bad guy? Somebody Ziva friended on Facebook (though why a fraking spy would have an account there eludes comprehension.) Errors on the computer? Conveniently missed by super hacker Tim. Grrr.
- Lack of a coherent direction. Too many episodes this season have had absolutely no purpose and were frankly incoherent. Both 6.17 "South by Southwest" and the most recent episode 6.20 "Dead Reckoning" made no sense whatsoever; the former especially felt like three or four different episodes chopped up and jumbled together into an incoherent mess. 6.20 was so unbelievably mundane and absolutely required the characters to act like idiots that it made my eyes bleed - if I can figure out that the accountant dude in the beginning is dirty, then the trained investigators sure as hell should at least suspect him! Gibbs is supposed to have some legendary "gut instincts" yet he couldn't tell when this guy (or even the faux HS agent in 6.17) is playing him? And he went to meet Trent Kort, a guy who may very well have tried to kill DiNozzo back in season 4? Willingly? Come on! If that had been Fornell (someone else who has been sadly missing), I might have been able to believe it, but Kort?