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NCIS MODERATORS' BLOG 95
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GIBBS AND FRANKS REVISITED
20th May 2010
With the season 7 finale next week I thought it was a good time to revisit the topic of Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Mike Franks.
Discussions arising out of my earlier blog raised the question was Gibbs angry with Mike Franks for not saving Jenny in "Judgment Day"? After much discussion it was agreed that Gibbs wasn't angry with Mike, just in shock from Jenny's death.
But will Gibbs be angry with Mike now? At the end of "Patriot Down" Mike has disappeared and his house burned to the ground. Has Mike Franks sold out his probie to the Reynosa cartel? This debate is raging around various places on the internet at the moment.
I don't think Mike Franks has. Mike has a very strong personal code of conduct. Screwing over Gibbs would definitely be against his code. However, if it came to saving the life of his grand-daughter Amira, I think he would throw Gibbs to the wolves. Gibbs would understand that too.
I am hoping that "Rule Fifty One" will see Mike Franks come racing to the rescue of Leroy Jethro Gibbs like the one-man Seventh Cavalry that he so often is.
NCIS without the Gibbs/Franks dynamic would be a much poorer, sadder place.
LAST UPDATE ON 21st May, 2010, 6.43AM AEST
SUBMITTED BY MargyW
NCIS AND M*A*S*H
19th May 2010
A recent interview with Michael Weatherly got me thinking. In the interview he talked about NCIS writer Jesse Stern and how he watched all ten years worth of M*A*S*H in four days (and I thought my obsession with NCIS was bad). It got me thinking about how much in common both shows have.
On the surface, the only commonality is the vaguely military aspect of each show. M*A*S*H was set in a mobile army surgical hospital and NCIS is set in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Both only loosely military at best.
What gives them common ground is the deliberate ambiguity of each show. Both mixed humor with drama. though M*A*S*H was billed as a comedy and NCIS as a drama. Neither are purely what they are billed as. Both are also more than what they are billed as.
Both are shows that have worked their ways deeply into the psyches of the viewers. I can still remember with utter clarity the ending of the episode where Henry Blake died. Sweet, funny episode and Henry leaves in the chopper. The moment of utter stillness as the announcement is made over the camp PA that the chopper carrying him has crashed and there are no survivors. The looks on the faces of the other characters. Not a word was said. Not a word was needed. Fast forward to the beginning of NCIS season 5 the episode "Bury Your Dead". Tony's car has blown up. Everyone believes Tony has been killed. Camera pans from character to character. Pain, sorrow, deep anguish. Again, no words necessary.
Both shows have a pivotal character around which the show swings. For M*A*S*H is was Hawkeye Pierce; for NCIS it is Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Episodes may focus on other characters, but it is these pivotal characters that made the shows the classics they are.
The quality of the writing is another commonality. The same sharply drawn, incisive, very real characters. These people are not two dimensional. Many of us know people like Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Tony DiNozzo, Frank Burns, Jimmy Palmer or Margaret Houlihan in our daily lives. I personally have a cousin very like DiNozzo, and my father and Gibbs had much in common.
M*A*S*H went ten seasons; longer than the war it was set in. Personally, I am with Rocky Carroll, I want to see NCIS go longer than Gunsmoke.
LAST UPDATE ON 20th May 2010, 6.38AM AEST
SUBMITTED BY MargyW
MOONLIGHTING
18th May 2010
I would have to say that this episode, written by first time collaboration of Jesse Stern and Steven Binder is one of my favorite episodes of season 7 and of all time.
Where to start? This episode had so many great scenes and great lines.
Jimmy Palmer in the squad room showing Ziva photos of the matching henna tattoos he and his girlfriend got. The scene of the murders with Ziva and Gibbs trying to get witness statements from two guys who seem to only speak street lingo rather than actual English. The complete confusion on both Ziva and Gibbs' faces is a classic.
Ducky and Palmer's "sand mite" conversation was wonderful. I freely admit I did not hear all of it. I was laughing so hard I was literally in tears. This is one episode that is going to need repeated viewings when the DVDs come out.
I lost it again at the start of the polygraph scene with Susan Grady wiring Gibbs up. The look on his face when she explains one sensor goes near the sphincter... Fornell was the only one who cracked up laughing.
What made this episode, scene-wise, was every single scene that had the combination of Gibbs and Fornell in it. From the scene in the elevator with Fornell almost acidly comparing Gibbs to Batman, to the scene in the evidence garage with Fornell coaxing McGee to interview Susan Grady, to Fornell nagging Gibbs about his coffee consumption, to the polygraph test on Gibbs. Each and every scene was pure undiluted gold.
I really hope the season 8 and beyond will hold more collaborative scripts from Jesse Stern and Steven Binder.
Because of the sheer volume of wonderfully memorable lines I have had a hard time choosing a few favorites.
Tony: Ziva invited him up here.
Gibbs: Don't get him wet.
Gibbs: Words. Useful words. Use them.
Tony: That's surprising, coming from the Once and Future King of Dorkland.
McGee: You don't seem to be gaffing very well. Try hooking.
Fornell: Saves me a trip to the rooftop to send the Gibbs-signal.
Gibbs: I thought you were in MTAC.
Vance: We all make mistakes. That's why God invented knocking.
Ducky: Mr Palmer. If you have finished with your interspecies insensitivity.
Abby: I'll be in the next room closing in on the killer.
Tony: When Jimmy Palmer's out-girling you, you need my advice.
Ziva: You certainly provoke a strong response in him.
Susan: Yeah. A response to run.
Gibbs: Questions? Answers? Wavy lines next to them?
Fornell: You were appointed Judge. Not Jury and Executioner.
Tony: Dear God! Someone fed him after midnight!
LAST UPDATE ON 19th May 2010, 6.34AM AEST
SUBMITTED BY MargyW
WHAT SORT OF GIRL WOULD SUIT MCGEE?
17thMay 2010
Another in my occasional series of blogs. What kind of girl would suit McGee? Obviously one better than what he has mostly been attracting, which appear to be complete fruit loops...or out to kill him.
McGee is a sweet, wholesome kind of guy. This suggests to me that what he really needs is a sweet wholesome kind of girl. The sort who bakes cookies for your colleagues, and you can take home to mom without fear of her having a myocardial infarction.
It goes without saying that she would need to be intelligent. McGee is not Tony. You get the impression that Tony is not interested in what's inside a woman's head, only what's inside her clothes. McGee is looking for a soul mate in many ways.
McGee is a romantic. Every time he dates he is looking for that fairy tale happy ending, and every time he is disappointed. He pushed it too far too fast with Abby, sending her into a blind panic. She also freaked him out when he discovered the "box sofa" they had slept in was actually a coffin. And not just slept in, as Abby reminds him.
Of all of the team, McGee is the one who had the most stable childhood, helping make him one of the more emotionally stable members of the team. It is ironic then that the women he attracts tend to be more than a little unstable. Though understandable. We often look for what we are not but would like to be in our partners.
LAST UPDATE ON 18th May 2010, 6.25AM AEST
SUBMITTED BY MargyW
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, May 20 2010, 4:46 PM EDT
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| MargyW | What Sort of Girl would suit McGee? (page: 1 2) | 31 | Jan 6 2011, 7:17 PM EST by shadowolfhunter | ||
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Thread started: May 17 2010, 4:26 PM EDT
Watch
My blog for today:
http://cbsncis.wetpaint.com/page/NCIS+MODERATORS%27+BLOG+95 Any feedback/discussion would be great
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| MargyW | NCIS and M*A*S*H | 5 | May 23 2010, 5:21 PM EDT by MargyW | ||
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Thread started: May 19 2010, 4:41 PM EDT
Watch
My blog entry for today is a little off the beaten track:
http://cbsncis.wetpaint.com/page/NCIS+MODERATORS%27+BLOG+95 I hope you enjoy
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| MargyW | Moonlighting - Blog Entry | 3 | May 19 2010, 3:38 AM EDT by emerellda | ||
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Thread started: May 18 2010, 4:36 PM EDT
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My entry on what is one of my favorite episodes of season 7 and of all time.
http://cbsncis.wetpaint.com/page/NCIS+MODERATORS%27+BLOG+95 I would greatly appreciate any feedback.
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