Review of NCIS 7X11 Ignition by Webbgirl and Bethany
Dear NCIS,
I wasn’t sure what to expect from “Ignition” tonight. It seemed to get a bit lost in the whole fandom excitement over the appearances of Papas Gibbs and DiNozzo. While the episode wasn’t quite a “failure to launch”, but it wasn’t entirely a successful “lift off” either. (Okay, McGee’s jet pack talk may have rubbed off a bit on me.)
Bethany says:
I agree with Webbgirl that this episode seems to have gotten lost in the hype of next week’s 150th. I did enjoy the fact that McGee got to take the lead on an investigation, something he really hasn’t done since Cover Story.
So we have a pretty standard opening with the body discovery. This segment has become somewhat formulaic for NCIS, but it still seems to work for them. After the opening credits we come to the squad room where we find Ziva stumped yet again by common pop culture references. I realize that the writers seem to find her malapropisms amusing, but after four years in the country and hanging out with Tony, Abby and McGee, you would think that she would be better at it. I feel like every time they return to that well, the writers reset Ziva to being straight off the boat from some backwoods country with no modern technology. She’s from Israel, not a Tibetan Monastery, folks!
Anyway, we finally get the team headed out to the crime scene. I have to say that one of my favorite aspects of that whole scene was the sight of Ducky and Palmer arriving on an ATV. The look on Palmer’s face when he talked about how Ducky wouldn’t let him drive was beyond priceless.
Bethany says:
I agree that the scene at the beginning seemed a bit out of place. I am still not sure what the point was. I agree with Webbgirl on the Ducky/Palmer scene; I laughed so hard. Poor Jimmy!
We got a couple of ‘goofy’ Tony moments during the search of the crime scene, but I have to say, it felt much less annoying than normal. He did get to deliver Palmer’s “first autopsy subject” to him.
It was nice to see Gibbs trusting his agents enough to let McGee go with his gut and the lead on this case. It was clear when they were looking around that McGee had already formulated a theory of what had happened to the victim. It’s clear from the time that he announces that there was a jet pack involved with the Navy pilot’s death that this will be a somewhat McGee-focused episode. We discover that not only is McGee familiar with jet pack technology, he’s more than a bit obsessed with it and not afraid to share that obsession with his co-workers. He’s obviously subjected them all (with the probable exception of Gibbs) to his ramblings on the subject. He even narrated and produced his own mini-documentary. One has to wonder if that’s where all his royalty money went instead of the hit in the stock market he referred to in Season 6.
Bethany says:
I loved the fact that it was a McGee-centered episode. He is such a geek in this episode that it was funny. I especially liked Abby’s deadpan reaction to McGee’s ramblings in the lab. She was really funny for the short amount of time she was on screen. The “Thom E. Gemcity” was so classic McGee; it was one of the best scenes in the episode.
We find out through Jimmy’s autopsy of “Rocket J.” that the pilot was poisoned. We also get a nice Ducky and Jimmy moment as Jimmy attempts to emulate his mentor in telling his tangentially related story about his squirrel baiting mother…or shark baiting if you’re French. This was a nice moment with them and it was rather amusing to watch the exasperated look on Gibbs’ face as he suffered through the telling of the story.
Bethany says:
Gibbs in this scene is what made the scene. I enjoyed the bantering between Ducky and Jimmy, but Gibbs actually being silent while Jimmy was rambling was priceless. I almost felt bad for him having to listen to Palmer.
Since McGee is the lead on the case, Tony and Ziva get sent out to investigate the jet pack manufacturer, Tillman. Once back at NCIS, McGee starts to interrogate Tillman (with Gibbs supervising him in the room). This is when we are finally introduced to M. Allison Hart, Tillman’s attorney. (From the law firm of Wolfram, Hart and Donowitz for all you Angel fans. *g*) Although, it’s fairly clear from Tillman’s reaction that he’s just as surprised as Gibbs and McGee are to see her there as his attorney.
It’s very obvious from the beginning that this character is there because of Gibbs. Everything else is secondary. She purposely trades barbs with him and works to get under his skin. I have an issue however of Gibbs immediate comparison with her to his ex-wives. I don’t see the underlying flirting that we’re told is there later in his discussion with Ducky.
I’ve been a fan of Rena Sofer since her days on General Hospital, but I have to say that this whole role felt forced. There’s a difference between there being tension between characters (sexual or otherwise) and there being a clunky awkwardness. This just felt much more like the latter.
Bethany says:
I would have to agree. I was so looking forward to Rena coming on, as I too have been a fan since her days on General Hospital. I thought she out Gibbs-ed Gibbs (if that makes sense *g*) She was abrasive, mean, and witch-like. She didn’t display any compassion that we sometimes see from Gibbs. I can only hope that she gets better, because I did not enjoy her scenes at all.
So we come to find out that the pilot’s CO is the one who killed him. I’d love to have a much bigger build up to recounting this revelation, but we were handed one bad red herring after another.
This brings me back to Ms. Hart. It was obvious that the plot-line was a by-product to introduce her. I just wish the writers would have found a more graceful way to do it. I’m one of those annoying people who, much like Gibbs, doesn’t believe in co-incidences. In fact, I abhor the obvious ones in storytelling. This is why I have more than a tiny issue with the fact that within the same week Tim randomly pulls up a news article about Colonel Bell (from “In-laws and Outlaws”) being released from Mexican prison, Ms. Hart, who is following Gibbs’ people, happens to follow them to a case involving one of her former/current clients and the article used a cropped photo that had her in it originally?
Bethany says:
I found the whole Bell thing at the end to be confusing. I was unsure of where it fit into the story. Maybe the writers will find time soon to explain it further. One can only hope.
Either Bell (and the writers) wanted to leave a neon, blinking sign that Bell is setting Gibbs up for something, or that’s just lazy writing and art department. I’m not sure if I fear more that this story line will be dropped or picked up again. *sigh*
To end on a good note though, I did enjoy the interaction between the team much more this week. The end scene with Gibbs and Tony was wonderfully reminiscent of their relationship in Seasons 1 and 2; Gibbs talking to Tony instead of at him.
So, while not a stellar episode it was passable for the small moments we fans of the various characters got. I just wish there were some subtlety courses for writers these days.
Bethany says:
While the episode wasn’t as great as I hoped it would be (Ms. Hart), I did enjoy the scene at the end between Gibbs and Tony. I have felt that the writers in recent seasons have moved away from their relationship, while concentrating on others. I am hope that their interaction and the team interaction as a whole is the direction that the writers are going in this season.
With Love,
Webbgirl & Bethany