Review of NCIS 1X13 Jet Lag by Sandy and Bethany

Dear NCIS,

This week I followed my regular Tuesday night routine of letting out the dog, getting a glass of iced tea, curling up on the couch, opening up Hetty (my netbook) and logging on to Twitter, then switching on CBS and watching my favorite show, NCIS.  As you know, there was a lot of hype concerning the possibility of the return of Tiva—if it was ever really there to begin with. My take has always been that what people perceive as Tiva is in reality unresolved sexual tension. To each her own.  So, when I sat down to watch it wasn’t to squee like a fan girl over Tony and Ziva getting it on.  Nor was it to lament over the demise of my favorite show because the writers might have succumbed to the angst of Tiva fans everywhere. It was to sit back and enjoy an hour of escape called NCIS.

There were three seemingly divergent storylines in this week’s episode, Jet Lag. The first storyline was Ziva and Tony going to Paris to escort a whistle blower back to the states to testify. The second was the murder of a Marine in D.C. The third was what did Ziva and Tony do in Paris? Personally, I loved the way the stories were woven together.

Bethany says:

I have to agree with Sandy. I was pleased with the way these three storylines were woven together. It did not seem to me that one took  precedence over another, and I liked that.

It seemed at first that the much anticipated Parisian getaway was over in just the opening credit roll.  I wasn’t expecting there to be a trickle of information throughout the episode. But from the early in the episode, when Ziva tells Nora that she slept on the couch, to the end of the episode, when Tony tells McGee he slept on the couch, we get the idea that we don’t know the whole story. That, in a nutshell, also describes the Tiva relationship. We only have suspicion, innuendo, and wishful thinking.

Bethany says:

I have to say that I was afraid that the idea of Tiva would dominate and take over this episode. While, I believe that we as viewers still do not know the whole story, I think that we were given enough information to keep Tiva fans happy for awhile.

The character of Nora Williams (played by Lily Rains) was in essence the personification Tiva fans. She saw what she wanted to see between Ziva and Tony. She mentioned that she and her fiancé met at work. When she heard they shared a room, she assumed that they were intimate. She refused to take their excuses as truth.  Meanwhile Ziva and Tony were the voices of those who argue against the evidence of their relationship. They cite Gibbs’s rule 12, Ziva says she slept on the couch and denied that they’ve ever had sex, they point out that they don’t get along. It was as if the writers had been listening to both voices in the audience.

Bethany Says:

I have to agree with Sandy on this point. I thought the character of Lily personified what fans wanted to see happen between Tony and Ziva. I find it interesting that the writers can give fans a Tiva relationship without actually showing it on screen.

Part of the fun of watching an NCIS episode with ones friends on Twitter is reading their reactions—especially at the commercial breaks. There were several comments in my Twitter stream when they suspected the Air Marshall of being an assassin out to get Nora that he was too easily made. Finding him dead in the lavatory with a knitting needle in his neck quickly ended that lead. The next logical person had been behaving strangely and had been sitting behind the woman with the knitting needles. Some of my friends jumped on that idea pretty quickly as well, only to have their theories dashed by his coming to the rescue of the witness, who had succumbed to an allergic reaction to peanuts. That of course brought the flight attendants into question. My reaction was the assassin was the snarky male attendant who had put Tony on his list. But of course, it was the female attendant who Tony had tried to charm. For an investigation that took place in the confined space of an airplane, it had enough twists for the Gran Prix.

One of the bright spots of the episode was Ducky’s part in the case.  Of late, McGee has been the one who has pulled something out of thin air to find a lead or solve the case. In Flesh and Blood he traced the car’s GPS to figure how when the bomb was placed and by whom. In Ignition he was the jet pack expert who figured out that it was the parts of three jet packs they were looking at. In Jet Lag Ducky had the save when he identified the allergic reaction that Nora was having. He also joined the virtual Mile High Club, so to speak, with Tony in the mens’ room. For some reason, I had the idea that Ducky might already be a member. This of course followed the earlier conversation between Ducky and Gibbs about seeing a show together. I have to wonder if these comments weren’t an oblique nod to the slash fan fiction community.

Bethany says:

I loved the fact that Ducky solved the case this week, or at least contributed a large part to it. David McCallum, and thereby the character of Ducky, in my opinion has been sorely underused as of late. He is really an extraordinary actor and I was very happy to see him get some screen time. I was also pleased to see him banter with Mark Harmon. That has been an element that has been missing from the show as of late. I am glad to see a return to that easy exchange between the characters.

As much attention as the Paris trip got for the intimation of something going on between Tony and Ziva, the more interesting conversations were the ones between the Washington madam Holly Snow (played by Dina Meyer) and Gibbs. Who would have thought that Gibbs wouldn’t deny that he likes it rough or would deny that he likes roleplay. No CSI Grissom-esque friendship between Gibbs and Holly in the upcoming episodes, I’m sure. But there was definitely heat between them.

Bethany says:

I loved the scenes between Holly and Gibbs. I thought they were both smart and funny. I loved the fact that Gibbs did not deny he liked it rough (who knew) and that Holly could stand on her own against Gibbs. I enjoyed that both actors seemed to connect and that showed through in the scene.

Another surprise for me in the Holly Snow interrogation scenes was the realization that in some ways Leon Vance has replaced Tobias Fornell as Gibbs equal, or at least partner, in these sorts of situations. I still miss Fornell, but I’m feeling comfortable with Vance in that role.

Wrapping up the investigation was a fast-paced adventure that kept the audience guessing until the last few minutes. While some might have suspected the fiancé, getting the story to the point where the pieces fell into place in the end took some fancy footwork. Unfortunately, Gibbs was slower moving from in front of the moving car than he was following Daniel Sturgis (played by David de Lutour) to the parking garage.  Gibbs has taught McGee to stand his ground well, because Gibbs flinched first, pushing McGee out of harm’s way and getting hit by the car himself. The number of times we’ve seen Gibbs stand fast in the face of danger, it was a surprise to actually see him injured. This might be part of the reason that, when Tony harassed McGee about it later, Gibbs told him it was an accident. I believe from the way he left the building and the statement to Tony that Gibbs blames himself for getting injured.

Bethany says:

Gibbs did have a certain dejectedness about him as he was leaving the garage. It was almost as if he didn’t want to show McGee that he was in pain. He will never  stop being a Marine, so therefore he did not want to show any weakness in front of his agent.

I know that this is a controversial episode for many, but I firmly believe that we’ve started the return of Tiva only to the point where we had unresolved sexual tension in the past.  It’s possible that the powers that be might eventually take the story forward, but this episode wasn’t it.

Bethany says:

I have to admit that I was apprehensive going into this episode because of the Tiva spoilers that I read. I was afraid that the whole episode was going to center around the coupling, and was pleasantly surprised when this was not the case.

Love,

Sandy & Bethany