Review: NCIS 6x24 "Aliyah"

[bananacosmicgirl]

For once, I'll post my review before I read everyone else's reviews of the episode, and then I'll see if they match at all. Yes, I know I'm late - I've been busy with other things, other shows, and after the trainwreck of the NCIS:LA introduction, I just didn't feel like watching.

Ziva.

I. Just. Don't. Care.

They have mangled her character into something I have no idea what it is. I see her in the final scene being beaten and I couldn't care less. In fact, I'm hoping that she'll be killed off and not come back to the team. The whole "veil" (more like choking blanket) of secrecy around her has long since played out its part. The "sexual tension" between her and Tony has been much the same as the crap between Jenny and Gibbs. Are the NCIS writers completely incapable of writing interesting, well-rounded female characters?

Also, I'm very tired of the multilayered secrets this way and that. First we had Jenny with all of her stupid vendettas and idiotic undercover missions, and now we have not only Vance with the is-he-or-isn't-he-a-good-guy, but we also have ten thousand versions of previous canon events, what with Eli/Mossad/Ari/Ziva/Rivkin and other characters I can't be bothered to recall. Everything is about moles, secrets, and getting people beat up this way and that. Are they honestly suggesting that Ziva has been lying to the team/NCIS about her allegiances, and to Gibbs about Ari, for years and we're still supposed to like her and root for her? Seriously?

I will say, at this point in my ranting, that I did enjoy at least parts of the episode. There were some good scene - most of them between Gibbs and Tony. Gibbs' unwavering trust in Tony is beautiful to see.

Also, I didn't see the Tiva. Which was a relief. I have absolutely no trouble seeing this as Tony being worried about his colleague and friend, and using the curiosity that he was born with to check up on her. With the talk a few episodes back (the boxing episode, I don't remember what it was called, but that was another mess) about how he still isn't over Jeanne, I really can't see that all of what happened was triggered by jealousy. I don't see him wanting Ziva. I have never seen him wanting Ziva. In I think season five, there was the episode where Ziva was blah-blahing on and on about soulmates. There, I think it's kind of obvious that she might be in love with him, but he's not interested in her. He has the look of get-me-out-of-here! while she's talking.

If I have to take Ziva as a character seriously - and really, I don't - I guess that her anger towards Tony about killing Rivkin is more fuelled by the fact that she knows that she's to blame, just like the other Mossad-dude said, more than at Tony. She knows she let her personal feelings get in the way. Also, if she is in fact interested in Tony, then her way of showing it sucks and either way, she needs serious therapy.

Onto other things.

Except for the scenes with Tony, Gibbs felt distant like he has on several occasions this season. At least this season finale wasn't tied to something that happened to Gibbs in 1991.

Tony was... oh, I don't know. I can't decide. On the one hand, I love Tony. On the other, he feels so extremely one-dimensional this season, not unlike Ziva (although on a whole, I feel Tony's character makes a lot more sense than Ziva's does). I would have liked to see more of a reaction to shooting Rivkin, would've liked to see some feelings.

I've been re-watching Buffy (as I've mentioned before here on LJ), and I adore the way they let the characters talk. They don't cut off in the middle of a scene for "suspense" or whatever. They let the characters talk, or for that matter be quiet, which gives great depth to the characters. NCIS? Not so much. They always stop when it's getting interesting. Gibbs and Ducky in the basement? Ducky asks about what happened, and they just cut the scene. I realize that we already know what Gibbs was thinking, but I really think there are more layers to add to what happened (especially as they've never actually talked about what happened on the show, other than the tearful scene when Gibbs regained most of his memory). And that's just one example - they always do the same thing. Cut off in the middle, where I would've liked to see what they say, or not say.

Anyway, that was a tangent. But yeah, I still feel Tony's one-dimensional this season. He's been a clown, a frat boy, and except for the elevator scene with the girl in the boxing-episode, the writers seem to completely have forgotten that there's more to him than that. He can be so much more. I believe fanfic writers have shown again and again that his character is full of possibilities.

Then again, I'm not always sure I want more, knowing the mess they made of Gibbs' past.

I enjoyed the scene with Tony and the Director of Mossad. That was a nice scene and Tony showed his skills. He played Eli, and that was very good to see.

I kind of enjoyed the scene between Tony and Ziva in Tel Aviv. No sympathy whatsoever for Ziva, but there was some emotion in Tony at least.

McGee annoyed the crap out of me, which isn't unusual (unfortunately). For some reason, the writers feel the need for him to be "funny", which was just inappropriate - and boring, when repeating the same "joke". Like Gibbs' coolness has been a reoccuring theme, McGee's inappropriate humor and ass-ness has been too. He's been hitting Tony under the belt (the "Love and War"-comment about Jeanne comes to mind), he's been making inappropriate comments (the bag-comment in "Bounce", if I remember right) and he's been acting like he's the best thing NCIS has ever seen (pretty much every episode). It was nice seeing McGee's character growth in the prison-episode, but why can't we have character growth without arrogance?

Abby. Oh, Abby. Haven't we seen the whole Abby-hugs-Tony-when-he's-hurt routine a few times already? Are the writers really running so low on ideas that they have to re-use everything? On top of that, she's highly annoying when Gibbs calls from Tel Aviv. They've gone to Tel Aviv, Tony hurt and quite possibly facing danger - and she's babbling on and on and on about... whatever, I don't remember what it was. Just shut up. And when will Gibbs actually tell her to shut up? He has no trouble telling anyone else.

Ducky was probably the only character I didn't have any issues with. Palmer was there for some reason - and that makes sense in autopsy, but in the bullpen? Not so much. Sitting in Tony's chair? Even less.

Well, this turned long. As an ending note, I'll say that I will tune in next season, but if they spend the first four episodes getting Ziva back and then acting as though nothing has happened, then I will definitely throw something at my computer screen. And if they can't stop with all this crap with secrets and moles and sleeper cells and more secrets, then I'll probably go bang my head into the wall.

ETA: Oh, and the room where Gibbs, Vance and Ziva were watching the interrogation-whatever with Eli and Tony? Could they not have done a better job disguising the regular interrogation room? *snort* I think it was even the same table.

Comments

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

Agrees with some of what you say, other bits not quite so much.

Definitely agrees over the whole comparison to Buffy and letting them talk, etc.

As for Jimmy. As much as I love him to me his presence was exactly the same as in S4 finale. The writers suddenly thought 'ooh, Jimmy has been with the show for so long, let's put him in an episode. Do we have a reason? Nah, but that doesn't matter.' As for him in the squad room, by take is that they are harking back to the Tony & Jimmy scene in 'Bounce'.

Overall I didn't think it was a great finale.

I don't think Ziva has been lying. I think either Eli is playing Vance and Vance genuinely believes it, or Vance is lying to Gibbs for whatever reason.

I too would like to have seen some reaction from Tony killing Rivkin. Whether he was a good guy or a bad guy at the end of the day that kind of encounter there should have been far more than what in effect came over as total detachment and 'so what'? He isn't that cold.

[bananacosmic.livejournal.com]

I figured you'd agree with some, other not. I just went over to read your review :)

I honestly don't get the point of Jimmy a whole lot of the time. I like his character, I do, but he seems pointless quite often. I enjoyed the Bounce-scene when they were doing their impressions or whatever, but at least then Ducky was up there as well. This time, it was just like you say - "oh, he hasn't been in the episode all that much, let's add him!"

No, agreed. To be perfectly honest, none of the finales I've watched so far - NCIS, House, Scrubs and Bones - have been very good. If rated, I'd say House was best (though only the last ten minutes, the rest was dull), and then NCIS.

I don't know what to think about Ziva. And more to the point, as is obvoius above, I don't care. And that's a shame, because she could've been a character I loved. Heck, she was a character I loved. Now she's just... not.

Yes, exactly. And that ties back to the whole "let the characters talk" thing. If they did let the characters talk, then Tony wouldn't have felt so cold throughout the episode. (Also, if they let the characters talk, maybe that'd have taken some screentime and we wouldn't have had to deal with quite so many twists). Sometimes I doubt the writers even know the chracters well enough to let them talk.

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

It'd be awfully boring if we agreed over everything, would it not?

Ah, I mean the scene when Tony uses Jimmy as Gibbs uses Ducky. They meet in the evidence garage and Jimmy says he'd laid in a supply of coffee and then he helps Tony with the case - pretty much as Ducky helps Gibbs. And people were saying 'cute scene' but where's the background, etc. So my guess was it was a nod at that to let us know that there was a friendship/attachment between them. Hence the 'Tony' and 'Jimmy' when Abby was calling him 'Palmer'. The impressions was at the beginning of Judgement Day.

I enjoyed House, very much indeed. I thought Grey's, which I don't think you watch was amazing. So I'd rate GA, House, NCIS. More than one person has said that a better ending for NCIS would have been last week's episode.

Not caring is far, far, far worse than actively disliking, etc. When the whole dislike of Jenny was round, at least it was something positive insofar as people cared because they disliked her, but you and others have used the 'not care' and that's not good for the show.

The writers have just done things to virtually all the characters this season to make people dislike them or just no longer care. I just don't know why.

*Nods in agreement* Now Gibbs I could see being that detached, because hey he's Gibbs. But not Tony - he shows his feelings in whatever way, but cold really sums him up. I think you're right on that fact, I'm not sure they do *sighs*

[bananacosmic.livejournal.com]

*g* It definitely would be.

Ah, you mean that scene. Well, then I understand what you mean more. I guess it's just so badly built, the Tony/Jimmy friendship, that it throws me when they suddenly have him in a scene. I don't think the two have interacted at any point since that Gibbs/Ducky 2.0 scene, right? At least not on their own.

Indifference is definitely extremely bad for a show. In a way, the way people get riled up about how bad Bones has gotten is better - because then we still care. But Ziva? I can't be bothered.

I really don't know either. People can do bad things that the viewers won't agree with (Buffy and Spike in season six are excellent examples), but we have to still like the basics of who the characters are. Unfortunately, I still have no idea who Ziva is, or who Tony is. I have a better grasp of McGee - but more of who he was *before* all of his current arrogance, than now. All of which makes it very hard for me to like them now that they're doing dumb things.

[tejas.livejournal.com]

The overall ratings this season show that we're not the only ones who are flailing around and going "what's happened to our show".

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

*Smiles* I'm glad you agree.

Yes, 'that' scene. It is badly built. We had nothing leading up to the 'coffee sharing' in 'Bounce' absolutely nothing. We go from Tony calling him 'The Autopsy Gremlin' or 'Palmer' or simply ignoring him. I can't think of a single friendly exchange between them. I'm not saying they were at odds, but the kind of 'did you have a good weekend' type of comment that colleagues share, something. But we've had nothing. Not even a hint, not a passing in Autopsy when Tony nodded at him, etc. etc. And then in 'Bounce' Jimmy is suddenly to Tony what Ducky is to Gibbs. Huh??? And you're right they haven't interacted since that moment. *Shakes head*

Indeed - that's it exactly. So bad.

I agree with you over Buffy and Spike in S6, but we did indeed have a basis for their characters and also an understandable reason/rationale. I understand what you're saying. And it's not just the field team, the less said about what they've done to Abby the better. I think we said before that with the exception of Gibbs and Ducky throughout and the others at odd times no one really seems to actually like one another. We've lost the 'family'. We've had odd glimpses of what we used to have. We had Tim fully supporting Tony under Gibbs's questions, without hesitation - just as Tony supported him in Probie. And Gibbs supporting Tony in a couple of episodes and some flashes of caring, but where have our closely knit team gone to?

[bananacosmic.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder, again as I know we've discussed it before, if the actors aren't getting along as well anymore. As it is, I don't understand how the team - if Ziva gets back - is supposed to function and trust each other. These are people facing life and death situations, so they can't go out and not trust each other.

Really, even if Ziva doesn't come back, I don't know how Tony and Tim are supposed to trust each other. They certainly don't behave as though they have each other's backs (although there was the scene in Aliyah where Tim supported Tony when saying something about how Tony wouldn't kill anyone just like that - but it's kind of a far cry to go from that to trusting each other with their lives). As you say, Ducky and Gibbs are the only ones who still seem to like each other.

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

From everything I've heard the actors say they still get on as well as they ever did. Apparently it's hugs and kisses when arriving and leaving. I do wonder how happy MH is; he's been vocal about the spin-off and now SB is doing both shows, maybe he's really unhappy and again from what they say he's very much 'Daddy' off set as well - Cote used that term recently. So if he's not happy then the others might well be feeding off that.

I'm not sure how they're going to get Ziva back and make it believable. I just don't see how.

That scene was one of the few we've had this season that showed us the relationship they had prior to that, when you knew that whatever they did or said to one another when push came to shove they were there 110% for the other.

[tejas.livejournal.com]

I really do hope we get some McGee - Tony bonding early in the season.

[tejas.livejournal.com]

With Jimmy, I think they're being prepared. DM isn't getting any younger and I think they're hedging their bets for the time when, for whatever reason, Ducky can't be around. So they're bringing Jimmy along and making sure we're ready for him.

As to why he was in the bullpen, I kinda figured it was mostly for the same reason Abby was. They were waiting for the team to return. I'd love to see more of the Tony - Jimmy friendship. While Tony has been mentoring McGee in being an agent, I get the feeling he's been mentoring Jimmy in an even more older brotherly way.