Also I have seen the number of page views this thing got and I'm quite surprised to know that there seem to be quite a few people reading. So...hi, random people! Let's get started.
You know what really grabbed me from the beginning of the episode? Not the massive CGI explosion. It was when the sailor who ends up dead (spoiler alert) drops his phone from, like, ten feet and it breaks into a bunch of pieces, and he just clicks it all back together again and it works just fine.
WHAT? I want to know what kind of phone that is, because I need one.
So anyway, faulty wiring in navy ships established in last week's episode, terrorist dude plants a bomb to make the wires ignite and BOOM! Big explosion. NCIS's best agents (I assume - we never really hear about any of the other agents, expect when they get killed or sleep with one of Team Gibbs [usually Tony] or help out Team Gibbs, so it's hard to make a judgement on whether they're any better that Team Gibbs. But Team Gibbs is Major Case Response Team, and you'd probably put your best team on major cases. Also, why would you make a TV show about the second best team in the agency? Unless it was a comedy and they were always trying to derail the best team from doing their jobs, but got thwarted at every turn. That's actually not a bad idea. I'm adding that to my list of TV shows to develop along with Duckman and the Gremlin and my untitled McGee/Ziva undercover show from last week) are on the case, and McGee heads off to the explosion ship to get the lay of the land.
Meanwhile, Ziva knows that she's going to be working though the weekend (I genuinely want to know how many weekends free these people actually get), and she's on the phone to someone saying how upset she is that they have to cancel their plans. Tony eavesdrops, because that's what he's been doing since day one of this show, but 'covers' himself by shuffling papers while he watches her obviously.
The guy making this face is a United States Federal Agent, who we've been led to believe in the past is pretty good at undercover work (except when he accidentally falls in love - oopsie! - or develops a conscience). It's no wonder that Ziva catches on - she picks up on those small details, like men staring at her with barely concealed interest in her conversations - and when Tony asks what's going on she calls him DiNosy.
It's a pretty weak insult generally, but it's a good one for Ziva so we'll let her have her moment.
Meanwhile, another agent who works the middle east desk who I really liked and whose name I will have to learn at some point informs Gibbs that there's been no chatter about terrorism that the desk has picked up. I mention this only because I *really* liked the agent.
Yeah, I'm lookin' at you, Little Miss Middle East Desk Sassy Pants. You're a good sort. And not just because of the huge reveal that you and Ziva are, like, friends! Oh my God! Ziva has a friend! Special Agent Sassy Pants knows all about Ziva's weekend plans, and while she leans sassily over Ziva's desk she partakes in some gentle (but sassy) teasing of Tony and his desperate need to know all of Ziva's bizness.
Sass on, sister. Although the mere fact that you have shown friendship towards Ziva and that she has entrusted you with a piece of information about her life leads me to believe that you will actually turn out to be evil. I'm calling it now.
Onwards! McGee is finally aboard the explosion ship from the teaser, and he's not well. He's been awake forever and he gets sea sick anyway (of course), and no he interrupts his MTAC sit-rep with Gibbs and Tony several times to vomit off screen.
Oy, I hate to draw a parallel, but it's a good thing Sean Murray was *acting* sick with the vomiting, because he didn't really look or sound that much different to what he has been for the last two years. Get better, Sean!
While we're talking about looks, I interrupt this half-arsed, codeine-laced recap to pass judgement on the Dynamic Duo. Ziva's hair:
If you're going to insist on straightening your curls so that you look like every other woman on prime time except whatserface on CSI: NY (is she even on it anymore?), then keep doing it like this. It's a good look for you.
On the downside:
My fellow Twitterati loved this suit on The Weatherpants. I was not a fan. At all. And I wasn't a fan of Ziva's jacket here, either. Or this one:
My 60-year-old CEO wears a jacket just like this. I looks fabulous on her. On 33-year-old Cote? Not so much.
Where were we? There's a whole subplot going on where Ducky's asked Gibbs to be the executor of his will. Prior to this episode going to air, news came through that David McCallum had signed on for season 10, and me and the Twitterati were convinced that meant that Ducky was going to die in the finale because NCIS loves a good fake out. But now that they've made such a big deal about Ducky's will, I reckon he's totally safe. FAKE OUT!
"I'm David McCallum, and you all love me. It's hard not to. I'm adorable. If Ducky died, it would CRUSH you. We're talking a level of crushed on par with that final episode of The Wonder Years where you found out that Mr Arnold had a heart attack and Wayne had to take over the business. Remember that? You cried for ages. If Ducky dies, you'll cry for longer. Guaranteed." You're totally right, Sir David McCallum. (I know you're not a Sir yet, but you totally should be. Start petitioning the Queen about that.)
Also, because McGee's being suck a sicky-la-la on the SS Explosion, the rest of Gibbs come out to join him. We find out two things: 1) Tony and McGee seem to think that Abby's going to throw an epic bachelor party for Jimmy (that was only the gist of the conversation - it was hard to follow exactly because Weatherly's lines were impossible to make out), and 2) everyone but Tony seems to know what Ziva's weekend plans are. When McGee is about to innocently spill the beans to Tony, Ziva shows just how far she's come from killer Mossad Officer to regular person in the last seven years. Instead of snapping McGee's neck, she merely forcibly shuts him up.
I miss Mossad Officer Ziva. I really do. But I'm glad she didn't snap McGee's neck. That would've been a bummer. Not as painful for me as Ducky dying, but still a huge bummer. Way worse than Kate's exploding brains. But I digress.
They find a letter in Korean on the ship that McGee and Abby eventually work out is a code to tell the terrorist where to plant the next bomb, blah blah blah. And that's how we get to Naples, Italy. (How's that for skipping over the plot points?)
"Europe again?" Yep. You two have been racking up the Frequent Flyer miles lately, huh? But this time there won't be any time for fanfic-inspired bom-chicka-wow-wow. Especially not when Stan Burley, Gibbs' SFA before Tony, is hanging around and flirting his still-firm ass off with Ziva.
"Stay classy, Stan." Indeed. Although kind of hard for Tony to take the high moral ground here when they *both* appear to be staring at Ziva's ass. Not that I blame them. I would be too. Side note: Burley's still looking pretty fine nine years later, no? Good work, actor whose name I can't be bothered to look up.
Side note number two: I found it interesting that Tony would call out Burley for flirting his ass of with Ziva. Because you know what? A couple of years ago *Tony* was the agent who flirted his ass off with every halfway attractive agent/witness/random woman he came across. He doesn't do it as much now, but it leads me to think about this transformation/mid-life crisis Tony's going through, and how if he didn't have it he might've just kept following in Burley's footsteps. [End half-formed thought.]
Tony, Ziva and Burley set up a little sting operation to catch the terrorist sailor before he can blow up another ship. It involves Tony and Ziva playing dress up, and she ends up looking like this:
Hell yeah, girl. Work it, own it.
I don't think Tony rocks his sailor blues as hard, but he gets a pass because once upon a time he rocked them *this* hard:
Yeah, baby. Helloooo, sailor!
Anyway. Tony's all grumpy about Ziva and Stan's flirtfest.
Geez, buddy. Get over it. It's harmless. They won't even have time for a quickie in the Agent Afloat quarters on this operation, let alone the interest in forming a long-term, long-distance relationship. The confrontation does bring about a nice callback to the bikini photos Tony took of Ziva back in season five's Judgment Day, and which he had taped up in his quarters in season six's Agent Afloat.
In case you don't remember:
Yowza. Ziva says that she told him to delete those photos (which she did, several times), and Tony replies "A man's got to have leverage."
Yeah, that's not all he's using them for.
Meanwhile, terrorist sailor comes along and the agents scatter for cover. Terrorist agent gets inside the, uh...place where the cargo he needs in order to blow up the ship is being kept. Burley's already hiding in there, and he comes up on terrorist sailor with his gun raised. But, oh! Terrorist sailor senses him coming, picks up a knife and throws it, Ziva-style, into Burley. Tony and Ziva hear the commotion in their ear pieces and decide to bust some some doors and shoot 'em up, Mr & Mrs Smith-style:
That's right, terrorist sailor! They're comin' for ya! Needless to say, Tony smacks the guy in the face with some handy chains (if if were Ziva, she would've just beat the crap out of him. Bless her). And the next thing you know they're all in the ship's infirmary and cranky Gibbs is Skyping in from MTAC.
He's so cranky with this terrorist that he manages to make MTAC's camera zoom in on him to show his cranky face with just the power of his mind! (It's the only explanation. Seriously. Why the zoom?)
This is the part of the show where my personal politics are at odds with the show and I get kind of uncomfortable with all the torture and Gitmo talk. But on the up side, we get to see Tony doing his hot menacing face.
Nice.
So terrorist sailor give us a name of the head honcho terrorist who paid him to plant the bomb. It's Harper Dearing and that's important not just because it gives us someone to hate for the next two episode, but also because it introduces Richard Schiff to the show.
Hi Toby! I love and miss you greatly, and it's so good to see your cantankerous face.
So, we have a bad guy, and that should be the end of the show. Except that when Tony, Ziva and Burley arrive back at HQ, Ziva is wearing this:
I am at a complete loss for words.
Two episodes until the end of season 9. Who thought we'd be here? I certainly didn't.
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