Review of NCIS 7X09 Child’s Play by Candice
Dear NCIS:
I was looking forward to this episode after seeing the previews, although I was a little bit puzzled over the whole Thanksgiving logic. I mean, it has been seven seasons now and not once had they done anything previously.
Anyway, I’ll just dig right into this episode. The first scene – with the children playing in the cornfield – made me think of a horror movie of some sort. Some horror movie victims start off with young kids in a corn field just playing around. But the fact that this was the beginning of an NCIS episode made me remember that they’d probably find the body. They bump into a dripping scarecrow and, yep, find the body of a Marine hidden inside.
In the next scene, we see Tony being his humorous self, making little snickers towards McGee about losing weight. I personally love the line where Tony says McGee is looking very Kate Moss-ish lately. Then you have Ziva and her lack of slang terminology. She’s supposedly been in America for at least four years now! You’d think she’d've learned already. Give me a break! It was cute the first season she was on the show but now it’s getting annoying. We get even more Zivaness when she uses the words “blonde bombshell” describing Tony’s possible Thanksgiving plans. Jealous much are we, hun? Seems as if she’s chasing him AGAIN! Or wait – did she ever stop?
All viewers and writers please note. The actress that played Ducky’s mom (Nina Foch) unfortunately died some time last year. Can we please give her character and storyline some closure already instead of playing it as if she’s acting up even more in the home she’s been in?
The scenery changes to the cornfield with the team’s arrival and we get a typical Ducky style of rambling off about random subjects. In this case, it’s what to have for the Thanksgiving meal. These are the moments that make me laugh, Ducky and his miscellaneous rambling.
Okay so Tiva fans all over would probably have been crowing over these next two parts of the scene: Ziva touching Tony with a feather and then her getting up on top of his shoulders. Not quite sure that either part was really necessary for the episode. But I do have one question: was the scalp and cheek massage to your liking, Tony? Since Ziva couldn’t keep her hands off you!
Okay now we have a big scene jump to Angela’s room. Angela is one of the kids at the center where the now-dead Marine was working. Since when does Gibbs eat at a crime scene exactly? Yes, I’m talking about the vanilla cupcake with pink frosting! I know we see him practically inhaling coffee all the time but eating? Not really sure on that one. This next part, to me, is foreshadowing certain things (thanks to my senior writing teacher, Mrs. Burt). But anyway, the fact that he leaves his number shows he thinks she’s hiding something. Also, Gibbs glances out the window in her room to a fountain, again foreshadowing.
Just one quick question. Is there anyone else out there who enjoys watching Gibbs eat? I find it very…amusing!
Time for yet another scenery change. In the interrogation room at NCIS, we meet the PC gang member, Eddy. I can see Tony has taken a few lessons on interrogation techniques from Gibbs. But at the same time he puts his own twist onto it. I love it! That’s all I really need to say about it. The scene is well thought out and well played.
Looks like Gibbs definitely knows his way around the kitchen. He’s hot, smart, funny and now domesticated – the perfect man! But seriously, the way he said that the cranberry sauce Abby was trying to duplicate needed more sugar was hilarious and amazing.
Now skip ahead a little bit and we have Gibbs and Angela in the elevator. Normally you’d see Gibbs turn the elevator off to “talk” to someone. But the cards on the table are switched and it’s Angela who stops the elevator to talk to Gibbs. I was shocked when I saw that, not only because stopping the elevator hasn’t been shown in a while, but also because it was actually someone other than Gibbs that did it.
Both Ducky and Abby are so resourceful. Abby experimenting with her cranberry recipe using lab equipment and Ducky thawing his turkey in cold storage in autopsy shows quite a bit of ingenuity, although I don’t know that I’d want to eat a turkey thawed in the same place dead bodies are kept. All these little character traits are one of the reasons why I can identify with the characters and I really feel like I “know” them. Another reason why I can relate — Cousin Tetra’s lime Jell-O with yams, marshmellows and pecans.
Back into Abby’s lab I believe there is even more foreshadowing within the first collage. The poem, Little Lady in the Fountain – hint, hint, maybe. That’s just my idea though. But hey, what happened to the Caf-Pows? First Palmer isn’t around (again) and now Abby’s drink of choice is gone?
Ok, I have to comment on this. All episode, well, actually all season, Tony has been being dumbed down. Especially with him saying he has a combined SAT score of 950? And please, we’re back to the 24/7 movie references!
Those two times I mentioned foreshadowing before lead to this next part. Deborah Dalton is found near the fountain outside Angela’s room and is quite dead. After she is found, Ducky and Ziva drop the ball and allow Angela to run away while they are supposed to be protecting her. How Ziva manages to miss that with all of her “training”, I have no clue. But she did, so bravo, hon!
I don’t blame Ducky so much, as it really wasn’t his job to guard and protect Angela; however, I guess he shouldn’t have relied on her help in preparing the holiday meal. They could have found something for her to do when she asked if she could help. There is ALWAYS something a child can do to help.
Back into the interrogation room and Gibbs reveals to Krista that her sister is dead. Ummm, little bit harsh there, Gibbs, to be honest. But then also, later on could he possibly drive any faster than he did? I thought Tony was going to throw up by the time they reached the house.
The ending of the episode was just one big risk. It was risky to let Angela go into the house by herself and it was risky for Ziva to take that shot. I have to say, for some odd reason, I was on the edge of my seat praying for her to be okay. I was really worried that Ziva would miss, with her being a changed woman and all. Do not know why I was, just was. The suspense of it all was literally killing me.
The very last scene with everyone at Ducky’s somehow for the Thanksgiving meal even though they all had plans beforehand – confusing, just a little. But a nice way to end an episode, especially with Gibbs smiling as the final still frame.
All together the episode was fun and kept me on my toes. Not once could I figure it out beforehand like I normally could. Still some confusion though on why the team met for the holiday, but that’s probably just me.
Thanks for giving us another great holiday episode. Can’t wait for Faith on December 15th!
With Love,
Candice
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RE: the Zivaisms. Cote de Pablo has been in this country for many more years than the character that she plays, but she still misspeaks. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Ziva continues to have problems with idioms.
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I don’t see why how long either actress or character has been in the country would be a valid argument for why the ziva-isms work. All reaslistic explanations aside, the only time the writers insert a ziva-ism is to break up a scene or draw attention to the character. Also the ziva-isms are destroyed in such a way as to make it improbable to be anything *but* a lame attempt at humor. Full immersion in the language and culture the way she’s had for however many years should have made the gaffes less obvious instead they are becoming more obvious and ridiculous.