So how did Gibbs get the boat out of his basement on NCIS?

A full episode’s worth of an investigation, and still no solution as to how Gibbs managed to get his boat, The Kelly, out of his basement and down to Mexico. But how funny was it that Abby continued to gather clues about that, as everyone else on the team investigated the double homicide that brought Gibbs’ boat back to the US?

For one reason or another, I’ve never quite enjoyed any story that involves Mike Franks (Muse Watson). I’m sure at first that was because he was introduced during Gibb’s retirement, then later because of his association with Jenny’s death. Either way, I’ve never really been able to get on board with his plots. I mean, I enjoy seeing Gibbs as a Probie once again, but that could be successfully achieved with a better senior agent to Gibbs.

It was funny seeing Robert Patrick playing the head of a defense contractor. I know he’s played many things, including something regular on The Unit, but my memories of the actor stem back to The Sopranos, when he had an arc as Tony’s old friend Davie, the degenerate gambler with the sporting-goods store. I liked him better then.

I would imagine it might happen more often, but in the NCIS world  it’s an unusual thing to have an old character come back the way Damon (Paul Telfer) did last night. He’s from the 2007 episode “Corporal Punishment,” the story of a marine escaped from a Naval hospital, who’s later discovered to be part of a plot to create “super soldiers.” I don’t remember if Damon was the main character, but Tony’s not recognizing him would suggest otherwise. Either way, clearly he was left with a good feel for our team. Lucky them.

With the settling of the team’s structure at this point in the season, McGee is now back to his traditional pairing with Abby, as opposed to being out in the field with Tony. It’s too bad that that’s now the case … McGee’s more fun in the field than at the office, he and Tony are a stronger duo, and with McGee in Abby’s lab, giving him more screen time means giving her more as well. Abby’s okay, but for me she’s better served in small helpings only.

Anyway, rounding out the specifics of last night, Leyla (Tehmina Sunny) is actually an interesting character, who likely has a very interesting back-story with a lot more things that could leap out at her from her past than we could ever imagine. But she’s so far removed from the core of the show, that I wonder why she was introduced in the first place. Did the writers feel so strongly about Franks that they wanted to craft original stories for him, too?

Like I said above, I like his relationship to Gibbs, and things like his being able to shoot through gunshot wounds to destroy evidence are cool, but are things so dull at the Navy Yard that there’s the need to stir things up south of the border and from fifteen years ago?

There’s a lot going on right now back in DC. Where’s Gibbs on investigating Vance? McGee on another book? Tony on some interesting drama? Gibbs on a new boat? Lots to do people — there’s little time for strolling down memory lane.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 04, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT