SCRIPTS OF STEVEN D. BINDER

• Family Secret. This season 3 episode is one on my personal favorites. A dead Marine, an exploding ambulance and Gibbs' head-slapping himself. Steven's first script was certainly memorable.
• Bloodbath. Abby has a stalker and Gibbs isn't happy. This episode gave us the wonderful scene with a drunk Abby in Gibbs' basement wrecking havoc on Gibbs' boat.
• Escaped. We meet Fornell and Gibbs' ex-wife Diane and meet Fornell and Diane's daughter.
• Twisted Sister. McGee's sister is a suspect for murder and McGee risks his career to save her. Probably the best McGee episode until "Caged" came along in season 6.
• Sharif Returns. Gibbs poisoned and Mann saving the day. As you can guess, not one of my favorite episodes, but a solid episode all the same.
• Brothers In Arms. Introduction of Trent Kort. Mostly notable for Jenny storming off on high heels. Aren't too many women who can do that without falling flat on their face.
• In The Dark. A murder and the witness is blind. Notable side story in Palmer trying to track down Michelle's missing underwear.
• Family. A nice antidote to the harrowing "Bury Your Dead". Tony makes his decision about where he belongs.
• Judgment Day Part's 1 and 2. Jenny gunned down in an abandoned diner in California.
• Murder 2.0. Season 6's Halloween episode that tipped the hat to the Halloween movies. Another of my all time personal favorites.
  
• Love & War. A gun found in a kid's bedroom that was used in several murders. Abby angsting over the "evil" gun. Best scene was McGee tracking the body.
• Bounce. Tony in charge; Gibbs' wisecracking. Complete role reversal which was a delight to watch.
• Toxic. Abby "borrowed" by the FBI. A strange plot, but what we have come to expect from Steven Binder.
• Reunion. Second episode of season 7. Ziva trying to find her place with NCIS after her ordeal.
• Power Down. The team struggling to cope in a blackout without their fancy toys.

LEAST FAVORITE NCIS VILLAINS

• Ari Haswari. My apologies to all the Ari fans, but I simply could not stand this character. Arrogant and sexist, and given his attitudes to all people, most probably sociopathic as well. There was nothing about this character that endeared him to me.
• Charles Sterling. A geeky little wet blanket. Annoying and whiney. I figured he had to be a villain at his first appearance. The writers wouldn't foist anyone that totally unappealing on the audience without good reason. And it was pretty obvious that he wasn't supposed to be a hero. Heroes don't snivel.
• Fred Rinnert. The computer geek from "Ex-Files". Almost as unlikely a villain as Charles Sterling. Not a sniveller, but worse, an uber-geek. Got his comeuppance when Abby punched him in the face.
• Tommy Doyle. The serial killing sociopath from "Murder 2.0". Even before I knew he was the villain, I wanted to remove that smug smile from his face.

ACTIVITY OR BADGERING TIME AGAIN :-)

LEAST FAVORITE EPISODES OF SEASON 5

• Requiem. Yes, it is a powerful episode. Yes, it is a well written, well acted episode. However, it sent me into a major freak out with Gibbs apparently dead in the first few minutes. This is not a device designed to endear the episode to me. I still can't watch it. *shudders*
• Designated Target. Ziva twaddling on about soul mates and Tony's rampant xenophobia makes this episode virtually unwatchable. I keep wanting to smack both of them around the head.
• In The Zone. Too much Tony, and irritable nasty Tony at that. This episode was only redeemed by the discovery that Nikki has a brother who was a Marine who is in a coma in hospital. Beautiful, poignant ending to an extremely irritating episode.
• Recoil. Again, it was Tony who spoiled this episode for me. Nasty, mean and just downright cruel. Even Gibbs was showing a distinct lack of empathy for what Ziva had gone through. Felt almost all the characters were out of character for this episode.