NCIS MODERATORS' BLOG 50

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7.07 ENDGAME

17th November 2009

Written by Gary Glasberg as the finale to the short story arc created in NCIS: Los Angeles episode "Kill Shot", "Endgame" is possibly the most emotionally powerful episode of season 7 so far. Where to start?

The relationship between Vance and Gibbs continues to grow stronger. Gibbs is understanding of Leon's desire to protect his family, and to deal with Kai himself. The small smirk on Gibbs' face when Jacki Vance refuses to go into a safe house said volumes. Looking at the strong relationship between Leon and Jacki is I think similar to that which existed between Jethro and Shannon. The smirk acknowledged that.

Paula Newsome who plays Jacki Vance turned on a wonderful performance. She rounds out Jacki giving us a picture of a strong woman who loves, and is fiercely protective of, her husband, but is also his equal in every way. Jacki wasn't afraid to confront Kai when she was parked outside their home, nor was she afraid to do what was necessary to protect her husband, by killing Kai herself. This confrontation scene towards the end was one that will remain etched in my memory whenever I think about this episode.

Another strong scene was Ducky explaining Kai's motivations to Gibbs in autopsy. This is the scene that I think, for me, turned Kai from a bad guy figure, into one that was almost sympathetic. And it is hard to be sympathetic towards a cold blooded killer.

Thankfully the episode also gave us some lighter moments. McGee's self help CDs, Tony's role reversal by cornering Ziva in the women's toilet, Gibbs mysteriously manifesting two different sorts of Caf-Pow (where was he hiding those things?) and right at the beginning when Gibbs spilled his own coffee.

The episode also gave us some great lines:

Vance: You chase someone for almost 20 years, you start to think like them. I almost know Kai better than I know myself.

Ziva: You annoy me sometimes.
Tony: Sometimes?
Ziva: Most of the time!

Gibbs: Keep talking Leon. Just keep talking. I want it all.

Tony: Who do you think you are? Sarah Palin?

Gibbs: It's not her.
McGee: Boss, she shot at us with a very big gun.
Gibbs: It happens.

Ducky: He's been her partner in all this. The one man she can count on.

McGee (Voiceover): Who we are might be predetermined. The path we follow is always of our own choosing. We should never, never allow our fears or the expectations of others, to set the frontiers of our destiny. Your destiny can’t be changed but it can be challenged. Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one

LAST UPDATE ON 18th November 2009, 6.28AM AEDT
SUBMITTED BY MargyW

FURTHER TO TONY'S EMOTIONAL CRISIS/MELTDOWN WHATEVER

16th November

I've noticed the discussion is still going strong regarding Tony's mental state or lack thereof. Who would have thought this was a web on a psychoanalysis! LOL . Although I don't join in the discussion, I do like taking a dip into the thread now and again. And what can I say? Freud, Nietzche, Kant et al., would be proud of you all. Just hope Marcos Rojas or Punset don't drop by, they might not like the competition - LOL

Joking apart, it's nice to see such a lively discussion, and evidently we've all missed our vocation as potential shrinks, although this is definitely a good place to practice if anyone's thinking of changing career, since our intrepid team does make for interesting analysis given their endearing dysfunctionality. I think Vance may be the sanest among them, not that we would have them any other way. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to find out how the members of BAU on Criminal Minds would assess them.

I think the wonderful thing about these analysis discussion threads is that the characters are such, we have room for even the wildest of analyses given what we know, what is supposition and what we don't know about the characters; and therefore have to imagine all kinds of wonderful or terrible things about them to justify their behaviour.

Y con esto y un bizcocho se acabó lo que se dió.
Agur bihar arte

LAST UPDATE ON 16th November 2009 8:55 PM CET
SUBMITTED BY Sorgiña

7.08 POWER DOWN - COMMENTS

15th November

Just mulling over Tuesday's new episode Power Down, and the team having to work without electricity. It will be interesting to see how they work particularly Abby and McGee who are so accustomed to state-of-the-art technology as are youngsters today in general, yet it wasn't so long ago, that much of the things we do today with the aid of computers were done by hand. I mean 35 years ago my first professional translation was written by hand using a fountain pen, because we didn't have a typewriter at home, and electric typerwriters were still very much a novelty. Police reports used to be typed up on manual typewriters in most police stations except perhaps the very large ones 30 odd years ago. Now we don't know how to manage without PCs, PDAs or GPS - and most of this we take for granted, and it's only when there's major power cut that we realise how much we depend on them, and how little thinking outside the box is done without computer back up.

People have been commenting on emergency generators, and well as the name suggests they are for emergencies and cover only the most basic of necessities with priority being given to places like hospitals and similar. Plus the fact the amount of energy these generators produce is limited and for a limited time only, and in large office blocks, they basically cover things like lifts and emergency lighting so people can leave buildings without having an accident along the way.

So Tuesday's episode will certainly be interesting from the point of view of seeing how Abby, McGee or Ziva manage without their modern technology, Gibbs, Tony and Ducky are old school so it should be easier for them, although no doubt they'll get frustrated by the fact things can't be done as rapidly without all the electricity based modern paraphernalia.

Y con esto y un bizcocho se acabó lo que se dió.

LAST UPDATE ON 15th November 2009 11:55 PM CET
SUBMITTED BY Sorgiña

FAVORITE EPISODES OF SEASON 5

15th November 2009

Today I thought I would take a look at my favorite episodes of season 5.

Identity Crisis. First appearance of Fornell for season 5. Weird murder, even weirder plot. A fun episode by one of my favorite NCIS writers, Jesse Stern.
Leap of Faith. Introduction of Nikki Jardine. Gibbs and DiNozzo both playing pranks on Nikki made for two very funny, very memorable moments. The image of Gibbs standing in Jenny's office running his hand over the door handle whilst staring at Nikki is one that immediately comes to mind when I think of this episode.
Lost and Found. This is the one with Carson, the mini-DiNozzo. The scenes between Gibbs and Carson made the episode a great one.
Internal Affairs. THE episode of season 5. Fornell investigates the team over the murder of La Grenouille. The interrogation scenes were the highlight of an episode that is acknowledged as one of the most popular episodes of all 7 seasons so far.
About Face. Jimmy Palmer's episode. Brilliant written and Brian Dietzen gave us so much more than we had previously seen from Palmer.
Judgment Day. Gave us one of the best performances by Muse Watson and Mike Franks yet. Also, the scene in autopsy when Gibbs cannot bring himself to open the body bag containing Jenny's remains. An emotionally powerful episode.

These are my favorites episodes. What are yours?

LAST UPDATE ON 16th November 2009,9.07AM AEDT
SUBMITTED BY MargyW

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Favorite Episodes of Season 5

Nov 22 2009, 3:00 AM EST by weatherlywatcher49

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7.07 Endgame - Blog Entry

Nov 17 2009, 4:18 PM EST by emerellda

Thread started: Nov 17 2009, 2:31 PM EST Watch

My blog entry for today:

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