I wanted to re-watch this with an eye of posting more detailed thoughts but last week was determined to be a cruddy work week soooo that didn't happen. In lieu of more detailed notes, I'll point out a few things that stuck out and stuck with me.
- I was pretty impressed with how good a character McGee was from the start. Yeah, he was the stuttering rookie, clearly nervous (and unnerved) by the murder. But he showed flashes of courage (standing up to Gibbs when Gibbs stared him down after he warned them about the 'difficult' Captain). I always figured that was something that impressed Gibbs about McGee. And considering that he asked the question (did anyone quit recently) that ultimately ended up saving the crew, that probably didn't hurt either.
This is what missed after Mr Bellisario was ousted. He knew how to craft characters. He knew how to consistently write for his characters. I liked Tim right from the get-go and thought his presence completed the ensemble quite nicely. He was smart and more on the ball than his nervousness implied.
- Tim also showed a good sense of humor in light of Tony's hazing and he took the teasing pretty well. I really liked when he told Tony that the woman at the personnel office "wasn't his type" to tease Tony with his own words after Tony told Tim that Abby wasn't his type.
You're right, he did. Maybe as a big brother he did the same to his sister so he recognized it for what it was. Tony undoubtedly got hazed when he was first hired as a cop in Peoria and probably as a junior member of sports teams. - The ending where he told Tony he got a tat and left DiNozzo speechless was pretty good too. I'm still not sure if I believe him or if he was yanking Tony's chain. If he did, I'll bet it wasn't a literal 'mom' tattoo though.
I was never quite sure of him actually getting a tat either. Missed opportunity that Tony never brought it up with "Wheels".
An off the cuff: "Do you like Probie's tattoo?" may have produced a response that would let him know if it existed or not.- It's interesting watching this episode now that women can in fact serve on submarines. The conversation where the captain told Gibbs that Kate couldn't go to the sub because women can't deploy on subs bugged me but not because he was clearly determined to bar her from her job because she was a woman. While I wish that Kate had been there to witness Gibbs give it to the captain, it mostly bugged me that Gibbs asked Kate to leave and not Tony when he argued his case. Tony should have been asked to leave too and kept it a CO to CO fight. Kate was right to be indignant that she was the only one dismissed from the room because she was the woman.
I haven't followed the story since it was announced the Navy was starting with a few women officers so I don't know if there are enlisted women aboard nowadays.
I understood him asking her to step out but not that he allowed Tony to stay. He was about to chew out a Captain and as a former Gunny he was treading water lightly so he should have had both of them leave.
- For as much as Gibbs made a big deal about having Kate on the ship, she didn't actually do anything to help identify the impostor. Lucky for them, Tim realized that there had been an inside man and Abby was able to get a picture of the dead sailor from somewhere else. These days, finding a photo online somewhere would be a lot easier though!
Gibbs needed his profiler and she did contribute even though her skills weren't needed after all.
In large part I think Gibbs fought for her as a matter of winning a power struggle. The Navy largely hates NCIS (still NIS back in my day) investigations. Like cops who hate Internal Affairs and still follow the Thin Blue Line way of handling things, the Navy leadership wants to handle thing - or NOT handle things - in house.
Oh yeah. Much easier to get information now that the WWW is so effective. - I liked the banter between Abby and Ducky and the Cary Grant vs Hugh Grant.
Ducky was fun and back when Abby was an adult - quirky without a hint of being a hyperactive toddler. I missed that Abby.
- Lots of humor in the episode too on top of the good mystery. And of course this episode was the birth of Michael's improv on the show. I'm wondering what was in the script versus what Michael came up with to go with his dancing around. Sean's reactions were great. He and Michael played off each other nicely in this episode.
Sean was seriously good in this scene when Michael went off-script. I was happy when Bellisario was annoyed until he saw the dailies and left it in - and gave official permission for Weatherly to ad-lib.
My favorite scene remains:
Kate: Wow
Gibbs: That's what they all say.
And the COB trying and failing to keep that swallowed laugh grin off his face.
- I'm glad that they kept finding reasons to bring McGee back. He really was the last puzzle piece that they needed in the squad room. And it was great to watch his character grow from his Probie days to the senior field agent he is now.
Ditto. It was a great way to add a regular character and it lasted until the end of Season 2/Episode 1. He DID complete the "dysfunctional family".
