| 1 | '''As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.''' |
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| 3 | |
| 4 | * Why does Abby get away with mouthing off to Gibbs so much more than the rest of the team? I'm guessing because [[ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful she's so cute]] |
| 5 | ** Since it's a TV show, I'm guessing that it can be PlayedForLaughs. |
| 6 | * In "Truth or Consequences" how did the team get Ziva back into the country? Unless they somehow had access to her Israeli passport, she had no visa or papers to get her past US Immigration. |
| 7 | * In "The Meat Puzzle", why wasn't the FBI or some other investigating agency involved at any point? A federal judge, jury foreman, police detective, AND federal prosecutor were ''all'' slain and dissected in the same way. All of them wound up missing. All of them were connected by a single trial. So how was the suspicion of the local police departments or even the FBI not tweaked at any point? |
| 8 | ** NCIS is also a federal law enforcement organization, so they can also have jurisdiction. Though, they will also work with other organizations. |
| 9 | * The way they were talking about La Grenouille's murder in 'Internal Affairs' (5.14), La Grenouille's murderer was talking to him on his boat, grabbed his hand, pulled the gun out and shot him, and then either the force knocked him over the side of the boat or his murderer threw him off the side. But in 'Bury Your Dead' (5.01), his body is far away from where the boat is docked. So how did it get so far from the boat? |
| 10 | ** There was a current? |
| 11 | *** You'd be surprised how far something tossed in the water can drift in just a few hours, especially if there's a current. |
| 12 | * Who actually killed La Grenouille anyway? |
| 13 | ** Jenny Shepard. Note the flashback at the very end of "Internal Affairs": the gun he was killed with, the one that Jenny had testified she'd given to La Grenouille in her office earlier, ''never actually left her office''. While she had handed it to La Grenouille at that time, he'd ''put it back on her desk before he left'' . The only way the gun could possibly have gotten to the site of La Grenoiulle's murder is if Jenny carried it there herself. |
| 14 | ** Actually, Trent Kort is the one who took out La Grenouille. Don't forget, he warned Jenny Shepard that things would not end well for her in "Bury Your Dead". He stole Jenny Shepard's gun, trying to make it look like she killed La Grenouille, went to the boat, used what Ziva referred to as a thumb tap on La Grenouille, then shot him. When Gibbs brings Kort before Vance and Fornell, he produces a termination sanction order for La Grenouille. So it was Kort, not Shepard, that killed La Grenouille. |
| 15 | *** But that's assuming that a. Kort, a notorious liar disliked by both Gibbs and Fornell, was telling the complete and utter truth and b. that it wasn't simply convenience that Shepard killed Grenouille in the first place. |
| 16 | * Speaking of 'Internal Affairs', how come Fornell was put in charge of the investigation? First off, he is a member of the FBI, not NCIS, and secondly, he is best friends with one of the top suspects, and has a pretty close relationship with the rest of the team. |
| 17 | ** Fornell was investigating Shepard, not Gibbs. |
| 18 | ** While the second point is valid (as Fornell has personal connections to Gibbs) the former makes sense--Jenny is the highest-ranking person at NCIS. There basically isn't any way for any in-house investigation to appear impartial. The FBI is about the only default agency that would have jurisdiction. |
| 19 | *** And even though Fornell has strong ties to Gibbs, he has shown time and time again that he has no qualms with putting Gibbs on the spot. It was probably something like "oh, Gibbs is the prime suspect in one of Fornell's investigations... [[ButForMeItWasTuesday Sounds like a Tuesday]]." |
| 20 | * What was the deal with Jenny's father? Did he commit suicide? Is he still alive? What the hell here, show? |
| 21 | ** It's implied that La Grenouille and Kort faked all that stuff to get Sheppard fired to get her off his back. The polygraph tests that were scheduled at the end of that arc would have suggested that, as said by Gibbs "Subject displayed emotional instability indicating delusional belief that her father is still alive." NOT the kind of person you want running your armed federal agency. |
| 22 | ** Well, there's still her father's old friend who swore that he saw Jasper Sheppard, ''alive'', in his hospital room 3 weeks prior. |
| 23 | *** I sort of assume this is like the Meat Puzzles: It's something that will get picked up in a later season when they need an idea. He'll probably turn out to be connected to Mossad, since everything seems to lead back to them these days. |
| 24 | *** And it's not like La Grenouille and/or Kort couldn't find a combination of threats and bribery revolving around the dying man's family to make him claim otherwise. |
| 25 | *** However, since it's been at least two seasons since Jenny's death, it looks as if the writers just plain forgot about this plotline, or at least didn't know what to do with it. |
| 26 | *** There's also the question of whether or not there'd be any point in bringing it up again. The only one who was really invested in it was Jenny herself; while tying things back to her would be enough to make things personal for the team, the conclusion wouldn't have the same effect if she wasn't there to see it herself. |
| 27 | *** The daughter of the man said that because of medication that he had a failing memory, so that could mean that he didn't see her father 3 weeks ago, he only thought he did. |
| 28 | * Why did Abby and [=McGee=] split up? |
| 29 | ** Because [=McGee=] asked Abby where their relationship was going, and it freaked her out. She presumably thought their affair was only a fling, and he was moving too fast for her, or something. She complains about it to Kate in an episode. |
| 30 | ** What episode was this? |
| 31 | *** Season 1, Episode 22 'A Weak Link.' |
| 32 | *** Thank you. |
| 33 | ** Rule 12. |
| 34 | ** The show later says Abby has a secret list of criteria that the men she dates have to meet within a certain time frame. If her partner fails to fulfill ''each and every criteria he didn't know existed'' she promptly ends the relationship with no explanation. [=McGee=] says that he failed her test but did accidentally learn about the list before the relationship ended. |
| 35 | * If [=McGee=] has been working at NCIS for six years, why the hell is he still on probation? |
| 36 | ** Erm... If you're talking about the way Tony addresses [=McGee=], this Troper always thought that was just a nickname, kind of like the way an older sibling might act. He isn't ''literally'' on probation- it's just Tony talk. |
| 37 | ** It's apparently an office custom that the people who were on your team when you were the probie get to call you that for life, even after you graduate. Mike Franks still calls ''Gibbs'' 'probie', even 20 years later. |
| 38 | ** Also, Tony's a bit jealous of the fact that [=McGee=] is competent in areas he is not, and has a life outside of work that isn't based around sex. Basically, [=DiNozzo=] is an arse to [=McGee=]. |
| 39 | ** When [=McGee=] joined Team Gibbs full-time, he had been working for NCIS, but not as a field agent. So he was a probationary field agent, hence 'probie', and now it's just what Tony calls him. Note that Ziva gets it now, too, as she's working on joining NCIS now that she's left Mossad. |
| 40 | * When other people get shot in NCIS, they get their brains splattered. Kate gets a neat little hole in the forehead. What the fuck? |
| 41 | ** Well, the exit wound was on the back of her head, which we never saw. It was stated that there was a hole the size of a grapefruit back there. |
| 42 | *** Ari used a jacketed round (for some odd reason-that's not what a real pro would generally use.) There would have been a neat hole entry (since he hit her straight on, on the hardest bone in the skull) and a larger exit wound at the back. Probably NOT 'grapefruit sized', as Tony said, but larger than the entry. A softnosed or hollow-point round would have blown her head apart (which is why a professional killer would usually prefer a hollow round-a body hit is less likely to be survivable than a full jacketed round, so accuracy is not as critical.) |
| 43 | *** The ammo choice's reason is given in the second half of the episode: Ari deliberately killed Kate with the same model rifle and same type of ammo that Gibbs was originally issued as a Marine Corps sniper, just to piss Gibbs off even further. (Note that international treaty forbids the use of expanding ammo in war.) |
| 44 | *** When I was in first grade, I saw John F Kennedy's autopsy pictures in a documentary (our teacher ended up getting fired because of that). I recall it was a copper jacket (and looking through the internet verifies what I remember). The front was a small bullet hole, but at the back of the head was a very large opening. The skull and scalp that was left were kept in one piece though. The coroner even fitted it over the wound. |
| 45 | *** Because Kate is beautiful and BeautyIsNeverTarnished. |
| 46 | *** I'm not sure if SFX Awareness is a valid trope, but in that scene you can see Michael Weatherly ([=DiNozzo=]) flinch just before the squib on Kate's back splatters him with blood. |
| 47 | * What the hell is NCIS even doing investigating half the cases that they investigate? For example, Ari was probably a matter for the CIA, even if he did do all those bad things inside NCIS. It could be theorised that they weren't actually supposed to be investigating him but they did anyway because of Gibbs' vendetta, but still... |
| 48 | ** One could reasonably presume that crimes committed in the headquarters of a federal law enforcement agency are within that agency's jurisdiction, not someone else's. |
| 49 | *** That would be the case. A crime against NCIS agents or employees makes it their dibs first. |
| 50 | ** NCIS is, in fact, a law-enforcement agency heavily involved in anti-terrorist activities, particularly in the past decade. They are involved in any terrorist activities that can "be a threat to the Navy or Marines". As Ari was a suspected terrorist, it would fall right into their jurisdiction. |
| 51 | *** But if somebody attacks the Navy or Marines they are not terrorist, they are only terrorist if they target civilians. NCIS would not go after a terrorist unless they attacked a military contractor on a naval base (like Ari did). |
| 52 | *** Besides, Special Agents ''are'' civilians. Their civilian status is why they're 'special agents' instead of just 'agents'. So shooting Gibbs and Gerald in shoulder while taking Kate and Ducky hostage was an act of terrorism, since all of the involved were civilians. |
| 53 | ** Also, Gibbs was ordered to back off more than once. He didn't. |
| 54 | ** A LOT of the cases they're involved in would really not be their jurisdiction. In reality, if it's not ON Navy property (including ships) it's not their business no matter who the victim or killer is--local or FBI would have jurisdiction. A particularly egregious example is the case of the Admiral killed while riding in a taxi, where it turns out the taxi driver was the target, having been mistaken for another refugee immigrant. It wasn't relevant that the victim was a Navy officer--the crime occurred in an area that would make it the D.C. Police's jurisdiction. In Ari's case, once it was clear he was 'off the reservation' and killing people, he would have been a matter for the FBI and locals. (The CIA, contrary to everything you see on TV and in the movies, is NOT a law-enforcement agency and doesn't have those sorts of powers, least of all within the US.) |
| 55 | ** You are seriously underestimating their jurisdiction over crimes committed by or against Naval and Marine officers. According to their own [[http://www.ncis.navy.mil/FAQ/Pages/default.aspx web site]], their criminal jurisdiction includes: |
| 56 | *** All crimes punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice by confinement of more than one year (note that they don't investigate purely military offenses, like desertion or consensual sexual activity.) |
| 57 | *** Felony crimes when Navy personnel/properties are involved, and |
| 58 | *** '''Any''' death of a naval service member other than natural causes. |
| 59 | ** Having said all that, Gibb's team has been described as one of the [[http://www.ncis.navy.mil/MissionSupport/MCRT/Pages/default.aspx Major Case Response Teams]] -- which are '''only''' responsible for processing crime scenes and doing forensics. A completely different team of agents would do the actual investigation and arresting. |
| 60 | ** Additionally, although a Federal law enforcement agency, NCIS is so small and specialized that the majority of civilians they meet and question would not ever have heard of the agency before. Why does the authoritative badge flash always elicit recognition of the agency and meaningful cooperation, rather than the suspicion typically levied when someone claims to be from a police agency that (as far as you know) does not exist? (Best guess: having the main characters give a presentation on the existence and role of NCIS five times per episode would be very tiring.) |
| 61 | ** This did come up a few times in the early episodes, but after that they dropped it. At about the same time that the show's publicity ought to mean that people in the real world would start to recognize the agency. CelebrityParadox, maybe? |
| 62 | ** As for the CIA bit, the CIA is legally barred from carrying out operations inside the United States. They would either have to cooperate with a federal agency that can (like NCIS), or do it off the books. |
| 63 | * Why the hell doesn't anyone report [=DiNozzo=] for sexual harassment? Every other episode he is doing something that either violates a coworker's privacy, violates them, or is just plain old inappropriate. It makes my blood boil just thinking about it and he seldom does anything that redeems him in the eyes of the audience. Why isn't this sort of possessive behavior portrayed as dangerous or deviant? Also it has unfortunate implications for Italian men. |
| 64 | ** They're afraid of [[MemeticBadass Gibbs?]] |
| 65 | ** Gibbs has been shown to not really care about what he does. At a few points Gibbs is praying for a crime (i.e. ''someone to die'') in order to get out of going to sexual harassment training. |
| 66 | ** Generally, [=DiNozzo=] only does it to the other members of his Nakama, who don't care. Note that when he was stuck as field agent on the aircraft carrier, he practically lived in his office and didn't socialize at all: he knew durn well that he wasn't among friends out there. |
| 67 | ** His harassment of [=McGee=] is also really bad, as he breaks into him computer to read anything that might be embarassing, at one point forces himself into his home to check things out and generally be a dick. As a man, I've worked with the types who want to insert themselves in the middle of my private life to learn who I am or am not sleeping with and all the details, and since this is supposed to be a crack investigation team there is no way that behavior promotes anything near cooperation. |
| 68 | ** Hasn't this been lampshaded in two different episodes on 'Sensitivity Training'? |
| 69 | ** "Doesn't do anything to redeem himself in the eyes of the audience" really, I'd say helping to put murderers behind bars would be redeeming. |
| 70 | *** Not to mention doing things like risking his life repeatedly for those coworkers he 'harasses?' To the point of being tortured by the terrorists holding one of them hostage? |
| 71 | *** Redeeming qualities does not reverse his creepitude. specially since he acts just plain slimey to a lot of women he's known for all of a few seconds because they're attractive to him. Personally, the breaking point of this for me was when he was reading an article out of a fifties women's magazine, and completely agreed with a golden piece of advice that basically said "If your husband wants to have sex with you, totally let him no matter what! It's your duty as a wife and as a woman!" Yes, [=McGee=] and another officer called him out on it, but he just... Laughed it off. |
| 72 | *** Someone is taking [=DiNozzo=] a BIT too seriously... |
| 73 | *** Exactly half the time [=DiNozzo=] is trying to mess with his audience (which is probably what the above was) and the other half is just the writers not caring. |
| 74 | *** Well, since [=DiNozzo=] had already been working at NCIS for a few years when the series starts, most of his coworkers probably already knew what to expect of him. |
| 75 | ** I agree; it's one thing for his team to put up with him, as his friends. However, it's shown multiple time that he sexually harasses other women in the building. They reference female agents who won't return his calls, in one episode he uses [=McGee=]'s computer to chat a woman up because she's stopped answering Tony's messages, etc. Why don't those women report him? |
| 76 | *** Because [=DiNozzo=] is a [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny-Ears Detective]], so good at his job that most of NCIS is willing to look the other way when he acts up. Most of the women there seem to shine him on and don't pay much credence to his antics. The ones that really can't stand him, usually just resign. |
| 77 | *** Tony also seems to be aware of where to draw the line with his coworkers - if they'll put up with it with little more than an eyeroll and some snark, and especially if they'll play along (like Kate and Ziva), he'll make the comments, but when someone makes it clear that they WOULD take things up the chain if he did it with them, he seems to avoid them as best as possible. |
| 78 | ** The kind of activities he engages often go unreported in real life because the victims fear the consequences. On top of that, his direct superior (Gibbs) goes around slapping his subordinates on the back of the head and is never reprimanded for it, a clear indication that any attempt at reporting any member of the team would be pointless. |
| 79 | * Does the rest of the team consider Palmer part of the main group, half the time they show him with everybody else in meetings and in the other half nobody comments on his absence. He has been there longer then [=McGee=] and Ziva but remains a FakeGuestStar. |
| 80 | ** Well it is known that at least Dr. Mallard and Tony consider Palmer "part of the Team". Ducky requested special protection for Palmer, and also has invited him or acknowledged him during interactions with the rest of the Team. As for Tony it was shown during the time Tony was head of a case that he had actually assigned Palmer the role of a MysteriousAdvisor, providing a perspective that no other members of the Team could provide (in particular when Gibbs [[strike:quit]] [[strike:retired]] went away. (Then there's that Palmer seemed to be quite effective at giving advice) |
| 81 | ** And he was invited to Ziva's for dinner as early as season three. Actually, it seems everyone was invited except Tony. |
| 82 | ** [=McGee=] has been there before Jimmy. He was introduced Season 1, episode 7; he worked with the team before he was officially made a probationary field agent in S2 E1. Jimmy showed up in S1, E21 as a replacement for Gerald and wasn't offered a full time position until AFTER [=McGee=] was made probationary field agent. So, [=McGee=] has more episodic seniority than Palmer (no offense to Jimmy, but [=McGee=] has been there AT LEAST as long). |
| 83 | * Speaking of Jimmy Palmer how long has he been in medical school, most people spend 4 years and do not start interning until their second, yet he has been at NCIS for 7 years and has yet to graduate. |
| 84 | ** Well, I thought he already graduated, and he and Ducky just consider themselves teacher and student. |
| 85 | ** I seem to recall them having a graduation party for him a few seasons ago. |
| 86 | ** The discussion in Season 6's Broken Bird doesn't seem to agree. |
| 87 | ** This is almost a wall banger, this troper just researched the requirements for becoming a Medical Examiner Assistant. The requirements being, a medical degree and four years of residency as a pathologist. And a two year residency as a forensic pathologist. Basically, Jimmy should've had his doctorate when he debuted as well as four years of residency at a hospital as a pathologist. And his first couple of years as Ducky's assistant would've served as his residency as a forensic pathologist. He should've received his certification as a forensic pathologist by the third season. He shouldn't be a medical examiners assistant, he should've been a full fledged medical examiner for several seasons. Ducky would still be calling shots, though as he's the chief medical examiner. |
| 88 | ** When Ducky had a heart attack in the Season 9 Cliffhanger and was put on medical leave, Palmer was made Acting Chief Medical Examiner in his absence. This would suggest that Palmer has completed his degree and is a fully qualified Medical Examiner, else they would have to bring in a loaner to run autopsy. |
| 89 | ** In later seasons Palmer has been shown to perform autopsies himself, its just a matter of seniority between him and Ducky. |
| 90 | ** As of Season 14, he has his medical degree. He is now Doctor Palmer. |
| 91 | * How is it that during the episode where Kate, Gibbs, and Tony go to Guantanamo Bay, Tony has ZERO idea what the Maltese Falcon is when talking to the bartender, when he's supposed to be the resident movie genius? |
| 92 | ** HypeAversion? [[ObfuscatingStupidity Obfuscating Obliviousness]]? |
| 93 | *** HypeAversion? With Tony? Please. He'd see any movie ever just to know about it. And he doesn't seem to have a reason to Obfuscate Obliviousness, but Tony is a JerkAss, so he may just been doing it to mess with Barkeep. |
| 94 | *** Actually, you're probably right. I seem to recall Tony at one point using the quote [[MacGuffin "it's the stuff dreams are made of."]] I could be wrong, though... |
| 95 | ** CharacterizationMarchesOn. WordOfGod stated a while ago that they didn't quite have the defining features of each character worked out in Season 1- i.e. Tony being a movie nut, Abby and Gibbs having a father/daughter relationship- hence, there are moments where Tony doesn't get movie references and Abby and Gibbs seriously flirt in Season 1. |
| 96 | * In the season one episode Left For Dead the team was near ground zero when the {{Yandere}} bomber that Kate had been helping detonated a high explosive that leveled half the building and killed a lot of people, yet none of them seemed hurt at all by it, Kate just seemed worried because she had helped the mad woman kill people. |
| 97 | ** Where did you get the idea that it killed a lot of people and leveled half the building? Not to be a dick, but just because she says it's volatile doesn't mean that it is some super powerful explosive that can do a ton of damage despite very little volume, it means it doesn't take a lot of added energy to make it blow. Also, Kate gets patched up in an ambulance afterwards. |
| 98 | ** I assumed it killed a lot of people because there were several ambulances outside the building and I assume not all of them survived. As for leveling half the building, I admit that was a guess but considering the fact that hours later the fire was still going it definitely caused a lot of damage. |
| 99 | *** Not necessarily. Let's say that it was a very small explosion (enough to kill her and the guy). The concussion and "shrapnel" (body fragments) would probably hurt or even seriously injure those who were very close. A hand grenade has a kill radius of approximately 5-8 meters with an effective radius of approximately 15 meters (but a lot of that is the shrapnel. If memory serves, this was basically a brick of C4, so the only shrapnel would be the aforementioned body fragments). There wasn't anyone very close to them (they wanted privacy to discuss their affair), and we can adjust the distances according to TV magic. So the number of casualties and the damage to the building are likely VERY small. Why were there a lot of ambulances? Panic attacks, taking precautions, and just a general response to "911, there was an explosion in an office complex". And, if memory serves, Kate was pretty banged up. |
| 100 | * The serial killer who wasn't a serial killer in ''Smoked''. How ''did'' the toe get into his stomach? Assuming that they weren't a serial killing/toe eating team and the husband just ended up dead because the wife got tired of him, that is. If he really was innocent, and she killed him because he found out she killed people, why force him to eat the toe? If she forced him to eat it so that they would think he was the killer, why try to incinerate him? She had no way of knowing he would get stuck and found, ergo: no need to feed him the toe. Right? |
| 101 | ** Yeah, this bugged me too. I always had the feeling that I was missing something and I could never figure out what it could be. |
| 102 | ** I assume she was covering her bases so they would suspect him just in case he was not incinerated, she probably force fed it to him shortly before killing him because it was not at all digested. |
| 103 | ** Or they were ''both'' the serial killer! How else would his fingerprints and hair be at the serial killer's crime scenes? |
| 104 | ** I think what you said about them being a team is the explanation. She got mad at him over something and killed him, then kept right on killing. |
| 105 | ** Another, more convoluted possibility is that the husband was in fact innocent and finds out about the killings after following his wife to a recent crime scenes (accidentally leaving his prints there) and takes a dismembered toe with him as evidence while he decides what to do. The wife somehow deduces that her husband discovered the truth and goes to the his workplace at the high school to murder him. The husband manages to escape for a moment but knows that his wife is going to kill him soon enough and he does the only thing he can think of to protect the evidence from her. That's it, he ''[[StomachOfHolding shallows]]'' the toe, hoping that the M.E. will find it during the autopsy and connect the dots. The wife then catches the husband, kills him with an improvised weapon (a screwdriver), stashes the body in the chimney (perhaps a dump place of opportunity; a guy's corpse is a lot more difficult to move around than a woman's, her usual victims) and gets rid of his car to throw the police off the track once she fills the missing person report. The incident and the fact she never finds the toe force the killer to lay low for a long while, probably hoping to pin the murders on her husband should the necessity arise (i.e. the old "the killings stopped after he died" plot), but a few years later she isn't able to resist the urge anymore and kills again. However, now she can't risk to have the bodies found, changes her M.O. and buries the next four victims close to home so she can be sure they won't be discovered without her knowing. |
| 106 | * Maybe it's just me, but the ending of the season three episode ''Boxed in'' really bothered me. At the beginning of the episode, when Tony finds out that [=McGee=] and Palmer went to Ziva's for dinner, it's kind of funny and you don't really think about it that much. But then at the end, Tony finds out that he was the ''only'' one from the team not invited, and I was uncomfortably reminded of psychological bullying and ostracism from school. Is the viewer really supposed to find that funny? |
| 107 | ** [[WhatTheHellHero No.]] |
| 108 | *** This isn't meant to condone her behavior or anything, but let's look at it from a different point of view. "Boxed In" is an early-ish Ziva episode. Tony IS rather obnoxious at times, and considering "Undercovers" and all of that he may have ended up making things awkward. Ziva was fairly new, maybe she didn't want to deal with that? Except, even that early, she didn't act that way... |
| 109 | *** I like to think it was kind of rectified when she took him home to dinner the night after. Just him. Sort of a non-verbal apology. |
| 110 | ** I thought maybe she did it because asking her coworkers/friends to dinner was one thing, but asking Tony would be different. Maybe something romantic. And she did totally rectify it when she took him for dinner at the end as an apology. |
| 111 | ** Having watched the episode again recently a few things have become more clear. Ziva never tells Tony that everyone was invited but him, Gibbs and Abby accidentally reveal that. While it was rather mean-spirited not to include Tony it is still Ziva's choice as it is her home, and she may have never intended for him to find out. She only brought up [=McGee=] and Palmer to lightly tease Tony with the knowledge that the geeky men got to see her home first. Furthermore, Palmer tuned her piano, it's possible that she invited the others as a thank you for various favors as well. |
| 112 | * In the season four episode where some crazy stalker mimics the plot from [[strike:[=McGee=]'s]]Thom E. Gemcity's unfinished novel, they talk to his publisher since she's the only one who has read his script. She tells them that she may be the only one on her firm but definitely not the only one in the city, and then she says: "Obsessed fans always find a way to get material early. They dig through trash, hack computers, anything short of writing it themselves." Well, that's all fine and dandy miss Publisher, except that... they ''do'' write it themselves. Has she never heard of [[FanFic fanfiction]]? |
| 113 | ** She probably has, but an obsessed fan can't write the actual canon unless WordOfGod okays it. |
| 114 | ** [=FanFic=] doesn't count as "getting material early." |
| 115 | * Kate was almost always a bitch to Tony (and sometimes [=McGee=]) but nobody ever called her on it or punished her for it. While it is true Tony would often also tease her he was always scolded or hit for doing so and was nice to her several times. Perhaps the best example of this was SWAK when she finds out that Tony is infected with the pneumonic plague but she wasn’t she turns around and tells him that he also infected her and because of him she was going to die. Making a person believe they accidently killed someone they cared about is probably the meanest thing you can do to somebody on their death bed. While she showed concern for him when he was not around she never did to his face. Other examples of her being a bitch include when a heartbroken Tony came to her for support after the ATF agent he was interested in turned out to be a weapons smuggling traitor and she responded by reminding him he once kissed a heshe. There was also the time when she told everybody in the office his fraternity EmbarrassingNickname, and after he threatened to show a legitimate picture of her in a wet t-shirt contest to get her to stop constantly insulting and humiliating him she responded by doctoring gay porn with tony’s face on it. Even her last scene has her being mean to him, after he told her that she did good and Gibbs said that “[=DiNozzo=]’s right”, she responded by saying she thought she would die before hearing that before being KilledMidSentence . Yet people seem to misremember the scene as her being happy that Gibbs complimented her despite the fact he had done so several times in the past. |
| 116 | ** It's like you don't watch the show at all. Everyone makes fun of everyone all the time to keep their workplace's light and cheery mood. It's all friendly. You're making it sound like they're trying to hurt each other. The reason she's makes fun of Tony so much is because of the way he keeps playfully harassing her and "epitomizing sophomoric." During the plague thing, Kate said she was infected so she wouldn't have to leave. She did it because she cared and wanted to stay without regard for her safety. I'd hardly call it being a JerkAss |
| 117 | ** I know it was always supposed to be fun and it usually was but there were times when he was hurt and tried to open up to her for support but she just responded by attacking him. She might not have been trying to hurt him but she obviously did. Even though she did obviously care about him a lot she never showed it to his face. While it is true she claimed he infected her so she could stay with him in SWAK she could have done it without making him think he killed her by pointing out that she could not get infected in that room like she did with the doctor a few minutes earlier or saying it was not his fault she got infected. Getting angry at Tony and Guilt tripping him for killing her was a JerkAss move no matter how you look at it. |
| 118 | ** When Kate died she was NOT referring to Gibbs complimenting her, she was expressing (mock) disbelief that Gibbs agreed with [=DiNozzo=] on something. Note that the entire conversation following Kate getting shot in the chest consisted of the three of them joking around in relief because she had a vest on. Even if you consider this jerkish behavior towards Tony it's common for the whole team to do that, it's not a Kate thing. |
| 119 | ** If you look at the "team relationships", Tony and Kate are like a brother-and-sister pairing. Sure, they have their petty making fun of each other sessions all the time, but when the chips are down (i.e. the team is threatened), they show their Nakama by being there for each other. |
| 120 | ** You also have to remember that Tony figured out very quickly that Kate had lied about being infected since she was showing absolutely no signs of it like he was. They also had several scenes of her joking on him where he knew she was trying to distract him and act like everything was going to be okay. Also, reminding Tony about him kissing the he/she was a way to joke with him and make him laugh at his own luck. |
| 121 | ** Yeah watching the scene where she claimed to be infected, Kate specifically started to be a "jerk" to Tony when she noticed him starting to freak out over the diagnosis. She was distracting him with the caustic banter that they were both familiar with and giving him something much, much easier to focus on, as well as making an excuse to stay with him in the process. It wasn't her trying to guilt trip him. It might have freaked him out ''more'' for her treat him gently and reassure him that it wasn't his fault, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness as is often the case in real life where a sudden change in behavior only hammers home that something serious is happening.]] |
| 122 | * Why is it that in Dog Tags, everyone treats [=McGee=] like he is a jerk and an animal hater for not immediately loving the dog that almost KILLED him? At the end Abby forces him to even adopt the dog! If I was in his situation I would never stand near a German Shepard again let alone be force to live with the one that tried to rip out my jugular! |
| 123 | ** It was pretty much only Abby that felt that way, everybody else was distressingly unworried about the whole event. It seems that Abby was a dog lover the whole time, though the rate she turned on [=McGee=] was somewhat uncharacteristic. As for [=McGee=] taking the Shepard in, do you honestly believe he ''ever'' says no to Abby? What is more worrying that the dog wasn't put down after the investigation; whether or not it killed somebody, it attacked somebody unprovoked. |
| 124 | *** Think about it. Abby is a famous, brilliant forensic scientist. She's also excellent at getting Gibbs to do things for her, and he in turn was very good at convincing Director Shepard to do things. This is not the first time NCIS has done something to break protocol, and like the other times they had a good reason: saving an innocent animal. |
| 125 | *** What I find just as worrying is that Abby, in spite acting like irrational and horrible to [=McGee=] for supposedly Jethro's sake, didn't seem like she cared about the dog as much as she claimed she did. She doesn't volunteer to take the dog in (when she knows her job will afford her more opportunities to give Jehtro the attention and devotion he deserves), and instead puts him with someone who has a job in which sudden death is a guarantee and doesn't seem to consider the possibility that, in case something does happen to [=McGee=], none of [=McGee's=] family might to want to be bothered with a dog. And while it's a good thing [=McGee=] is a nice person who wouldn't dream of hurting an animal, even one that almost mauled him to ''death'', imagine the abusive hell Jethro might've went through if he mauled some other agent who doesn't have any moral qualms in abusing animals (especially ones who attacked him/her) and "Saint" Abby somehow managed to convince them to take the dog in. |
| 126 | *** Abby wanted to take the dog, but her apartment doesn't allow pets. That's why she was crying at the end of the episode, and that's the whole reason she had [=McGee=] take Jethro instead. And given that we've later seen a picture of Jethro with [=McGee=] on his computer, it presumably worked out well enough. |
| 127 | *** Abby having that much power honestly makes it worse. I'd hate to be the IA guy who has to investigate Team Gibbs, especially since the neurotic forensic specialist seems to be the real leader of the unit, AND has boasted on several occasions that she can commit a perfect murder. |
| 128 | *** While the dog ''did'' viciously attack [=McGee=], I thought they determined it was from the cocaine its owner had and the dog was otherwise very docile. They never outright explain it that way, though. |
| 129 | *** Regardless of circumstances, the dog attacked [=McGee=] and drew blood. Realistically, it should have been put down, and forcing [=McGee=] to adopt it was rather cruel and insensitive. |
| 130 | * I know that it "helps the show" but why are civilians that don't work for the Navy shown deferring to NCIS or even bothering to answer their questions? Yes...they ARE Federal law enforcement, but they have extremely limited powers when dealing w/ civilians and even people who don't know much about the military would have to at least suspect that is the case. |
| 131 | ** Why wouldn't they at least answer their questions? Maybe it's this troper's small-town upbringing talking, but in my experience, most people will cooperate with the authorities when they're investigating major crimes (maybe not things like drug dealing, but murder? sure). Even the perps have incentive to at least appear to be cooperative--why bring suspicion on yourself by not cooperating? |
| 132 | ** In at least one case, Gibbs ordered a civilian hotel clerk to give up the key to a room. The clerk (a law student) correctly pointed out that the military equivalent of a warrant was needed, even if the room was charged to a service member's card. The exchange portrayed the clerk in a very poor light for being obstructionist, and he was eventually bullied into giving up the key without a warrant. Result? An innocent and very troubled young man was confronted by armed agents, leading to his death. |
| 133 | * The"slapping the back of the head" scenes always bother this troper. The very last thing that I would stand for in any workplace would be my boss putting his or her hands on me. It seems childishly abusive and demeaning and would probably result in Gibbs either fighting w/ his subordinate or finding a new line of work. |
| 134 | ** Except a slap to the back of the head isn't demeaning or insulting. As Gibbs once said "A slap to the face is an insult. A slap to the back of the head is a wake-up call." |
| 135 | ** Also, it's shown that Gibbs' methods are not NCIS' methods. The sexual harassment lecturer seemed horrified to hear it could possibly be happening, but everyone backpedals and she moves on to other difficulties. Team Gibbs gets a pass likely because the various Directors know that he and his team get results, even with their [[BunnyEarsLawyer bunny ears on,]] and turn a blind eye to it. And Team Gibbs has accepted it more as a gesture of affection - they all consider him a father figure, and it's clear he views them with fatherly pride. They don't see the Gibb Slap as abuse but a message of 'stop being an idiot.' |
| 136 | *** Plus, it helps Gibbs get back his lost memory after he lost it in an accident. |
| 137 | ** Sorry, but this troper would never have stood for the kind of abuse - both physical and emotional - that Gibbs dishes out, especially in the early seasons. I'd have had him up on charges and a demand for a transfer in the works so fast it'd make his head spin. There's a line between razzing your co-workers and abuse. Gibbs did indeed cross it. |
| 138 | *** Once again, it's a term of endearment as opposed to a form of abuse, which is what you're viewing it as. |
| 139 | *** This mischaracterizes what abuse and harassment actually are. They are ''unwanted'' advances, and completely independent of what the giver 'intended'. If I were to slap an employee, it would matter fuck all what my 'intentions'. Telling the victim to take it as a compliment, is highly demeaning, because you're telling them they have no say in how they are treated. In several episodes the characters tell [=DiNozzo=] and Gibbs that they do not appreciate that, yet its still portrayed as some loving gesture. |
| 140 | *** It's also shown not to be that hard of a hit. It's a light tap no harder than someone slapping a shoulder. Hard enough to be felt, but weak enough not to hurt. Most don't even really move from the slap. They flinch when they are expecting one that doesn't come. |
| 141 | ** Think about the characters, though. All of them come from some form of military/police background, except Abby, who never gets Gibbs-slapped. Tony was a cop, Kate was Secret Service, [=McGee=] was raised by Navy, Ziva was Moussad. These people aren't bothered by physical contact; they're not that high maintenance. |
| 142 | ** Maybe all the agents who were bothered by the head-slapping ''were'' transferred to other units? They've been pretty consistent in showing that Gibbs doesn't like working with new people. And this wouldn't be the first workplace to transfer the complainer instead of doing something about the overall situation. |
| 143 | ** Pretty much. Gibbs is given the freedom to be "eccentric" so long as it doesn't interfere with job performance (which is one of the reason's Vance was on him when the lawyer love-interest was around). And, as shown when they were replacing Ziva, they have a pretty heavy screening process for new hires. While [=DiNozzo=]'s sexual harassment of interviewees was played up for laughs, Gibbs (and [=McGee=]) allowed it because they were more interested in if the applicant would be a good teammate: Their files already showed they would be great investigators. And, you are right: this is the military. And, in the military, the special forces community still has traditions and pseudo-hazing rituals that would probably get them brought up on charges. But those are the elite groups who are given a bit of freedom, so long as it doesn't become something anyone has to act on (and, when it has, it was cracked down on HARD). So, to summarize: You would never have been let on the team. They would have seen you were the kind of person who would press charges (that are totally valid) or take it the wrong way and would have rejected you during the interviewing process. And they would have had a very good excuse (even something as simple as "If she cried when Gibbs interviewed her, how is she going to handle a terrorist like Ari?"). Is it right, legal, or even ethical? Probably not. But it isn't inconceivable either. And, at least in TV land, it provides results ([=DiNozzo=]'s insanely offensive and borderline stalker-ish behavior has helped solve cases on multiple occasions). |
| 144 | * Why does NCIS need a liaison from Mossad? |
| 145 | ** Jenny Shepard. If you watch the resulting conversations between Leon Vance and Eli David regarding Shepard, she enlisted Ziva as "Liason" for superficial purposes while using Ziva's contacts and connections through Mossad and other sources for the explicit purpose of tracking down and getting revenge against La Grenouille. Almost every conversation Vance has ever had about her has mentioned the fact that she was highly abusive of her powers as the director of NCIS. |
| 146 | ** It was also heavily implied that Shepard was (ab)using her position as head of NCIS to further her own career goals, leading to an increased emphasis on counter terrorism over law enforcement. Having a direct line to mossad HQ would be a big help in that regard. |
| 147 | *** RuleOfCool. |
| 148 | *** Actually, Jenny was only abusive starting in season four when La Grenouille got going. Before that she was pretty good at her job, just completely ineffectual when Gibbs was involved. And she does pretty well in some post-Grenouille season five episodes too, like "Chimera." |
| 149 | *** This troper always had the impression that Jenny got Ziva at NCIS because they were old friends and Ziva wanted away from Mossad after the Ari debacle. Even if what we later hear is true about Ziva being a double agent at first, she probably ''did'' want to be away after being forced (maybe ordered) to murder the brother she clearly loved. |
| 150 | * In "Power Down" Emma Paxton was supposedly working for TheGovernment without her husband's knowledge. Ducky during the forensics finds that she has old battle scars. How come her ''husband'' didn't notice that a long time before? |
| 151 | ** She probably handwaved them as something in a mountain accident or some other dangerous activity. |
| 152 | ** Except it also specifically says that he knew her [[HighSchoolSweethearts since high school]]. He would not know whether or not she liked dangerous sports? |
| 153 | ** Accidents from working with electronics. Depending on what the scars actually look like, he might have believed it. She was going into some dangerous areas to put on shows after all. |
| 154 | ** Ducky never actually said she had scars, just evidence of a bunch of healed injuries -- the kind of injuries not visible on the surface. |
| 155 | * In "Silver War," Abby is forced to (gasp) adhere to a dress code, I think the reason had something to do with the new director. Anyway, she is seen wearing a white business suit. Why the heck would a SCIENTIST working in a LAB wear that? It seems to me she'd be forced to wear practical clothes that actually cover her skin and her usual lab coat... |
| 156 | ** It seems that Abby has a very limited wardrobe. It's split into "everyday Abby", and "Abby appears in court", with no middle-ground. |
| 157 | ** The shoes were even more ridiculous. Abby could have gotten out of the whole mess by simply pointing out that high-heeled shoes in a lab environment are dangerous (you don't want someone handling chemicals to have poor balance) and a direct violation of OHSA regulations. |
| 158 | ** On that same line, this troper wonders why {{Perky Goth}} girl Abby doesn't know what "corpgoth" style is? (For those who also don't, it's simply appropriate dress code wear modified to suit a gothic style, often simply in darker colors.) Really, in one episode (it might have been "Silver War") she whines that she looks like Career Girl Barbie in a lavender skirt suit. Her court clothes in another episode are brown. Why can't she wear, say, a black suit with a white blouse, or something more fitting to her personal style? All I can think of is {{Rule of Funny}}. |
| 159 | *** I think she keeps her court clothes as close to the "norm" as possible, so as to avoid inciting bias in court personnel and in the jury. Even if you believe in tolerance, you can't expect everyone to do so, and you can't risk a murderer going free because a juror doesnt like goths. |
| 160 | * In “My Other Left Foot” apparently nobody on Team Gibbs did any research into the sister’s background despite her being the prime suspect for most of the episode. They seemed to have no idea that the seemingly sweet old lady coroner she supposedly doped was actually her mother. Even if she was raised by her father like she said she was you would think a simple profile of her would list who her mother was, and even if it did not they would look for some connection between her and the doctor. |
| 161 | * It bugs me that the children of Pedro Hernandez turned out to be criminals and could thus be safely dehumanised and written off (killed and arrested, respectively) without Gibbs ever having to face the consequences of...y'know...committing murder all those years ago. I love the show, I do, but the ongoing ode to vigilantism (o hai thar Franks) sets my teeth on edge. Vigilante justice is perfectly okay if it's one of "us" (usually represented by white Americans, natch) doing it to "them". If brown people (in this case represented by Paloma and her brother) do it, it's criminal and/or terrorism. |
| 162 | ** Well, it's either Gibbs, an American law enforcement agent, or them, drug dealer and corrupt government agent. Also, the main page specifically says that the Reynosas are the one of the more affable bad guys in the show. Gibbs himself is ready to face the consequences, shown by he telling Abby who just discovers the evidence of his vigilante murder to do what she has to do. |
| 163 | ** Really, their father was a drug lord and a murderer, the chances of them being upstanding citizens weren't exactly high. And the way in which they tried to exact revenge was different. They attacked other people to cause Gibbs pain. Gibbs just killed Hernandez, his children seem to be collateral damage he didn't think about during his revenge-crazed spree. |
| 164 | ** I'll admit it is a bit grating they never had the two at least find out why Gibbs did it (at least from what I recall). I mean, sure, they probably wouldn't have cared if they knew he was simply acting out of grief and vengeance, but it would have at least helped their characters in some way by allowing them to show a personal reaction of whether they were truly just revenge driven as well or simply misguided from their own grief. |
| 165 | *** From Alejandro Reynosa's reappearance in the season 11 finale, he explicitly says that he knew that his father killed Gibbs's family, but he still blamed Gibbs for killing his father. If he knew, then it's likely that Paloma was also aware. |
| 166 | * In Season's 3's ''Hiatus Part 2'', Ducky and Director Shepard discuss Kelly and Shannon's murder. When Ducky learns that the case, which has been unsolved due to no one finding Pedro Hernandez, he says that the case can be closed because "Jethro got his revenge" knowing full well Gibbs would not let Hernandez live. Yet in Season 7's ''Boarderlands'', he is digging through Hernandez's skull under the theory he was shot by a sniper. He does this without batting an eye, '''''even with Gibbs in the room'''''. Ducky knows his friend too well to not connect the dots. And then there's the Mexican police failing to report to the US government that a wanted fugitive has been found dead. What is with that? |
| 167 | * [=McGee=]'s subplot in "Freedom." Ok, so ''once again'' the Probie is the target of fraud and identity theft, totalling about $10,000, and it turns out that the culprit this time is some kid from his apartment complex. Tony tracks down the kid and brings him to the headquarters, and the kid smugly tells [=McGee=] that he did it [[DisproportionateRetribution because [=McGee=] has a set daily routine, and is "too young to act so old."]] And Tony not only befriends the kid, but as a reward he takes him to [=GameStop=] to buy a video game ''and gets [=McGee=] to tag along''. Everyone goes along with this. Am I missing something here? |
| 168 | ** If I recall the kid gave [[HandWave an explanation that]] [=McGee=] would get most of his money back after the proper paper work had been filed. But that subplot was ridiculous and the episode would've been better with out. |
| 169 | * In "Double Identity" a man is shot and ends up in the hospital in critical condition. The team finds out he was not only a man missing in Afghanistan 6 years ago, but he was living a double marriage. When he's awake, the doctors repeatedly tell the NCIS team not to interview him because he's not stable. Tony, of course, sneaks into his room, and not only questions him about his double identity, but that his two wives know about it. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero The man has a heart attack and dies.]] The nurse caught Tony at the last minute and kicks him out. The kicker? [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment No one even MENTIONS Tony's role in his death.]] Are we supposed to believe that no one was aware that Tony ended up getting him killed? The nurse saw him talking to the guy. |
| 170 | ** Because unless Tony actually physically did something to him, it would be pretty difficult to prove that he incited a heart attack just by talking to a guy. |
| 171 | ** Tony's unsanctioned interview and the guy's fatal heart attack did not happen in the same scene or, apparently, within a very close time frame. There's no indication in the episode that Tony questioning him and the man's death were connected. |
| 172 | * Is it just me or is NCIS sexist? The only major characters that get killed off are women! Namely Jenny and Kate. Now, I wouldn't want Tony or [=McGee=] to die but seriously? It's quite annoying to me. Maybe Leon can die next, that would be good. |
| 173 | ** Male NCIS agents have died exactly twice, Brent Langer and Chris Pacci. FEMALE NCIS employee deaths include Kate, Paula Cassidy, Jenny, Michelle Lee, and Lara Macy. This issue has been noted several times. |
| 174 | *** Make that three times - RIP Mike Franks. |
| 175 | *** Also, one of EJ's team members, who is male, is killed trying to arrest the [=P2P=] Killer. |
| 176 | *** And now the gender ratio is 1:1. Simon Cade, EJ's other team member, is killed for his computer chip. |
| 177 | *** Except even if the numbers are equal, look at the differences in the ''type'' of men and women to get killed. The women are all recurring characters we've grown to like and feel sympathy for. Except for Franks, the men are either AffablyEvil villains or one-off characters. |
| 178 | ** Kate and Jenny were killed because their actresses wanted to leave the show. I admit they could've been PutOnABus, in fact I would've preferred that, but those characters would likely still be alive had their actresses not left the show. |
| 179 | ** From a dramatic point of view, female deaths tend to inspire more sympathy than male deaths, hence they are more common. |
| 180 | *** Yeeeah... That's kind of [[DisposableWomen the problem.]] |
| 181 | ** NCIS: LA chews through male NCIS Agents fast enough that by the end of next season the numbers will be equal. |
| 182 | ** There's also the tendency of there being something fishy about female characters. There are ''very'' few females who manages to not be main characters whithout having some sort of agenda (and sometimes even when they are main characters), especially if they are someone's LoveInterest. |
| 183 | ** Not just you. I definitely get the impression that the show's writers think sexism/sexual equality is a numbers game, and that they don't particularly question the tropes they implement for female characters. |
| 184 | ** Probably, but think about WHY those characters died. Kate was killed because Ari was trying to hurt Gibbs (and Gibbs IS a bit sexist). Paula Cassidy was actually the leader of a team and got to go out saving everyone. Jenny was director of NCIS when she was offed (and went out in a blaze of glory). Lee was a mole (and, going back to Gibbs being sexist, he would be less likely to suspect her). And nobody liked Macy. As for the men: Everyone but Franks was a random guest star. So, if anything, one might argue for a bit of sexism in the other direction: Lots of powerful women characters, but men (and Macy) get shoved in refrigerators. Or, more likely, the core cast is very penis-heavy, so most of the guest stars tend to be women. |
| 185 | * In the episode Freedom the victim’s widow was a violent and abusive drill sergeant/ martial arts instructor and boxer who was known for her short temper and loved of fighting, she was found to have several bruises on her body and everyone assumes her husband was beating her and she was a weak submissive woman despite the fact that was the opposite of her personality. They never suggested that he hit her in self defense, or it might have been a mutually abusive relationship, or even that she was telling the truth about how she got them and that somebody who likes fighting might be covered in bruises from sparing. When Gibbs suggested she was to proud to talk about abuse Ducky said she was too weak and that her abusive behavior on the job was because she was powerless at home. I am not saying that the above situation never happens but they should have investigated other possibilities. This was a very tough and mean woman; if a man was in the same situation there would be no question in peoples minds he was abusing his wife. After giving her this situation she said that he was also psychologically abused because he threatened to take away their son because of her violent behavior. This is bad because NCIS had previously learned not to jump to conclusion with domestic abuse cases. |
| 186 | * Am I the only one bothered by the horrible portrayal of video games in the show? MMO's having leaderboards, Abby, being able to play [[Film/TheGodfather The Godfather]] on the PC without a mouse, which is required for nearly every PC game to be played? The only two accurate representations of games on the show so far are when the kid is playing [[VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany Battlefield: Bad Company]] (I forget which episode) and when they go to the bowling alley(?) with the side room of game consoles with various games being played on them (Again, I forget what epsiode). |
| 187 | ** You're not the only one. This troper, who has parents who believe video games to be the big cause of familial breakdowns(despite the fact that his younger sister is far more prodigal than he is, who is actually quite loyal and loving toward his parents, and outside of DDR and a brief attempt to get into Final Fantasy VII, she's never played video games in her life), has always loathed how a lot of media pundits and television shows have treated video games like TheNewRockAndRoll. |
| 188 | ** Well, the video game thing is kind of true of all media, if only because it is hard to show the games in live action (lots of takes, and you don't want the screen to be too distracting). But seriously, NCIS is HORRIBLE with technology to the point that I am starting to strongly suspect the crew are doing it on purpose because it is funny. Anyone with a basic knowledge of programming or network security is going to either burst into laughter or tears during any random episode. |
| 189 | ** There's a trope for this, PacManFever. NCIS is a regular offender. But this sort of misrepresentation is extremely common in Hollywood as it is bore out of the lack of understanding and general disrespect Hollywood has for gaming. Hence the trope. |
| 190 | * One thing that constantly bugs me is the team's trips to Norfolk. It is consistently shown to be an easy drive that will get you there in time for whatever is going on. Reality Check: The Navy Yard (where NCIS headquarters is) is nearly ''200 miles'' away from Norfolk. |
| 191 | ** That depends, 200 miles over highway is a pretty easy drive. Even if they obey the speed limit it's 3 hours or so tops. |
| 192 | *** And with Gibbs [[DrivesLikeCrazy driving,]] they could easily cut that in half at the least. |
| 193 | *** Driving in or around D.C. or the Beltway is in no way easy. With all the road construction going on it's nearly impossible to get anywhere quickly, plus very confusing. Also, never trust your GPS, the ramp it's telling you to take is no longer there. |
| 194 | * After watching the season finale of season 6, it bugs me how Vance would give Tony to mossad for killing Rivkin. I know that Vance put Tony in there to piss Eli off and spill something, but come on. Tony did everything by the book here. It's known that Rivkin killed a couple of civilians and an agent, so he pretty much deserved to get arrested. He attacks Tony, with intent to kill, Tony defends himself and kills Rivkin. Like Tony says, kill or be killed. Vance should have told Tony to pull off his usual act, because he wanted to get Eli to spill something, it would have worked just as well. |
| 195 | ** OP here to follow up: It also bugs me that the mossad operatives allowed to practically do anything, without getting any consequences from any Americans in charge. The only two mossad operatives who actually had to pay for their crimes (in both cases, killing an American agent - Ari killed Kate, Rivkin killed a RedShirt). Both paid with their lives, but anyone standing higher in the food chain that Gibbs were very much against it. How were they allowed to just walk around the streets with guns in the Enemies Domestic/Enemies Foreign double episodes? Why didn't ANYONE wring the terrorist charges up against Ben-Gidon? |
| 196 | ** Given that Eli David's actions essentially consist of performing espionage against the USA, Israel's most important ally, and the US ''knows'' this, it makes no sense that he would still be in any position of authority. The actions his agents took in the last two episodes of Season 6 should have resulted in a ''major'' international incident, seriously straining US-Israeli relations. But after sending Mossad agents to perform covert operations on US soil (prohibited by Israel's treaties with the US), and having Mossad agents murder a number of US citizens on US soil (the terrorists Rivkin killed were all US citizens, he had no legal authority to operate on US soil), spy on high US officials including Cabinet members (killing a US federal agent in the process), and blow up an apartment? If anyone should have been handed over to the other government for prosecution at the end of season six, it would be Eli David. At the least it should not have ended with the director of NCIS placating Eli over the phone, but with the Prime Minister of Israel apologizing and making concessions to the President of the US for flagrantly violating their treaties. |
| 197 | * [=McGee=] and Abby's typing and doing EVERYTHING via keyboard. For one, I haven't heard that typing sound effect from any keyboard newer than the mid-90s, let alone that skinny, foldable, glowing blue one Abby uses. Plus, wouldn't you need to use a mouse in this day and age to do at least half of what they do on the show? I can understand typing commands into a console, but I never see one on the screens they use. |
| 198 | ** Yes some times they would need a mouse, but most applications these days have support for Keyboard shortcuts. If you work with a computer as much as Abby or [=McGee=] the mouse becomes very secondary and its usually faster to use a keyboard for a lot of things. |
| 199 | * It's cliched, but how, in the name of all that is holy, does Gibbs get the boat out? |
| 200 | ** It's a secret, but I'll give you a hint. It involves lots and lots of bourbon. |
| 201 | ** For a long time (I don't watch [=NCIS=] "live", I watch on USA), I always figured he didn't. He cut it up (i.e. destroyed it) and then built a new one. I was really disappointed when they established that he does get it out. I preferred the characterization of Gibbs when I thought he destroyed them. |
| 202 | * Was nobody but me ever bothered by the fact that Tony seems to suffer from a case of Idiot Decay? In the first season he was shown to have been working with Gibbs as a two-man team for a while, something that takes both endurance and skill (and a tolerance for head slaps). Similarly, Gibbs must see / have seen something in him for keeping him on his team for so long, as the second in command no less. Additionally, Tony was shown to be capable before, especially when he was team-leader during Gibbs'... holiday of sorts and when he was offered his own team in Rota. So why is he portrayed more and more as an idiot with his only focus on women and so on? Jeanne was a nice break from that, as much as I despised her original setup, I loved her with Tony. Also, his role seems focused a whole damn lot on romance these days, serious romance as opposed to before, and not much more, he goes as far as breaking one of Gibbs' rules for that - which I, personally, never thought possible after the display of their relationship in earlier seasons. I mean, what the hell?! |
| 203 | ** Glad I'm not the only one who's noticed this. While Tony still has his moments that demonstrate he's a great agent, his immaturity has grown to the point it's almost like a caricature of Tony from earlier seasons. The numbers of Gibbs Slaps dolled out to individuals other than Tony can be counted practically on one hand in Season 8. Heck the fact Season 8 had an episode in which Tony worried everyone by acting like a responsible adult instead of his usual juvenile self is probably a case of lampshade hanging. |
| 204 | * In the first episode about the [=P2P=] killer, Ziva tells her boyfriend Ray that Tony is like a brother to her. Excuse me, but didn't Ziva ''kill'' her brother? Should we be worried? |
| 205 | ** Actually, Ari was her ''half'' brother. Apparently that's enough to spare Tony. Also, you must remember that she killed him to save Gibbs. |
| 206 | ** Also, there's a difference between someone being your actual brother and describing someone you're not related to as "he's like a brother to me". The former just means that you have at least one parent in common but says nothing about your relationship beyond that, while the latter implies that you share a strong bond with this person; that you know them well and/or have known them for a very long time, that you're very good friends and also that you may or may not have supported each other through hardships. Personally, I have friends I consider family, and people I am actually related to that I don't give a crap about. |
| 207 | * So in "Playing with Fire", the team finds a letter that is written in Korean letters. Yet, when they get someone to translate it, she says it's in gibberish. If I remember correctly, [=McGee=] figured out the code by finding a program that turned English letters into Korean letters. So it was just English words written with Korean letters, right? If that is true, then why couldn't the translator understand it if she spoke both English and Korean? It would be no different than writing Japanese or Chinese words in the English Alphabet, would it? |
| 208 | ** From what I understood, the Korean was translated as it was written in English. Thus making it gibberish. Hangul is written in blocks that make up words or sentences. |
| 209 | ** It still makes no sense. There are plenty of words in Korean that are just an English word, written in Korean characters and anyone who speaks Korean is used to it. The translator should have seen what had happened in seconds. |
| 210 | ** It was like if you were typing with a keyboard that had its letters all mixed up. If you ever set your keyboard language to Korean, you'll find that each key corresponds to a Korean letter. That's what they did, just typed in English with the input set to Korean, so it wouldn't actually make up any Korean words. |
| 211 | * How did Ziva become a US Citizen so quickly? Don't you have to wait five years? |
| 212 | ** If my memory isn't off, Ziva set foot in US in the beginning of season 3 (Kill Ari episodes), where she joins the team in the 4th episode. I've no idea how long time goes in-universe from Kill Ari to Silver War, but if we assume that it doesn't take that long (it's stated in Mind Games that Cassidy is only staying for a week), we may just have reached the five years by the end of S7. |
| 213 | ** This issue is {{lampshaded}} in season 7 episode "Jackknife" by Damon Werth saying he thought one had to be an American citizen to join a federal agency. Ziva says she's in the process of doing so, when Werth points out you have to be a legal resident to do that. Ziva reveals that there are a ''lot'' of strings being pulled in order to expedite things. |
| 214 | * In "Murder 2.0", why didn't the team ''immediately'' start looking into the secundus-victor webpage as a logical follow-up to primatus-victor? Did neither Abby nor Gibbs know enough Latin to guess the next site's name? |
| 215 | ** They probably did and ended up on a "404 page" or an empty one (at least for now). |
| 216 | *** IIRC, the secundus-victor page was not live until right before the murder. |
| 217 | * Is it me or sometimes NCIS staff fails bad at their job :In "witch hunt" Running a search on the kidnapped girl's mother would have pointed out that she had no sister or if she did have one getting a photo of her .And in "South by Southwest" doing a quick search on the "Agent whose card got stuck in the NCIS agent hand" would have revealed that he didn't looked like the one pretending to be him. |
| 218 | ** In the first case, why should they have checked? They were working with a ticking clock, and the mother, obviously, didn't contradict her faux sister's story, so why would it occur to them? |
| 219 | * This has always bothered me and I have never seen this pointed out anywhere but it creates huge holes in a major plot line. When Gibbs gives Director Shepard his magazine or clip and later discovers that it was used to kill Rene' Benoit, this is completely impossible. Gibbs carries a Sig Sauer P229 which is a .40 calibre gun. Jenny's gun was a 9MM Glock 19 or 17. Forget the fact that the Sig Sauer magazine would not have fit into the Glock 19/17, but you also cannot fire .40 calibre ammunition out of a 9MM gun. They also state that it was a 9MM round that killed him. Also if she was facing him as she pulled the trigger or if he committed suicide, the casing would not have ended up where did because the ejector would be facing the other direction. Sorry, always bothered me and I have never seen it pointed out. |
| 220 | ** I believe Gibbs took the magazine from Jenny's gun and gave it back to her. That's the only logical explanation I can think of. |
| 221 | *** That's exactly what happened. Gibbs unloaded her gun before she got home, so she wouldn't put a bullet in La Grenouille. He gave her back the magazine, having replaced it with an empty one. |
| 222 | *** Gibbs has a P228, not a P229. The P228 used by NCS is 9mm, only NCIS: LA uses the P229. P229 is available in both 9mm (used on the show) and .40 S&W (used by NCIS IRL) |
| 223 | * Why is there such a theme of "forgive your parents whatever they do"? Especially with Tony and Ziva. Tony's father neglected him completely when he was a child, doing things like forgetting him at a hotel. Now he sponges off him. When he comes to visit he criticizes Tony constantly and actually sleeps with someone in [[{{Squick}} his son's bed]], but somehow at the end of the episode Tony's the one at fault and he should be okay with all of it. Ziva's father left her to be ''tortured to death'' even though he had more than enough resources to do something about it, ordered her to kill her own brother and spy on her friends, and tried to frame her for murder. Yet somehow, Ziva should remember he's the only father she's got and forgive him for everything! It feels like the show is saying that children should be fine with being manipulated and abused by their parents, simply because they're blood-related. It's especially odd that Abby - whose biggest father figure is not blood-related to her at all - can't stop singing the praises of biological fathers. Why can't she just let Tony and Ziva be happy with Gibbs as their father-figure as well, instead of constantly pushing them to forgive the jerks who ruined their childhoods and are doing their best to ruin their adult lives as well? |
| 224 | ** Ziva, at least, doesn't seem to have forgiven Eli before he got killed. She was going to turn him in for the murder he committed, after all, and her last real words to him were very angry ones. She seems regretful now, but any chance she had to reconcile with him is now gone for good. Yeah, that's reason to regret, right there. |
| 225 | ** This is more like Abby is BlackHoleSue. The writers would sooner cut their arms than have anyone says no to Abby. |
| 226 | ** WriterOnBoard. That's the only real answer to this. |
| 227 | * In "Royals and Loyals" they're unsure of a British character. A few taps on the computer later they've found out he's [=MI6=] and flash his ID card up on the big screen. What the heck is the "secret service" (not officially acknowledged to even exist until the 90s) doing issuing laminated ID cards and why are details of Britain's most secret agents accessible to any old US department like NCIS? Can Abby pull up info on what James Bond is doing when she's feeling bored? |
| 228 | ** Feasibly? It's probably something tied into high-level government databases of NATO countries. Kind of a 'if you have this guy locked up, DO NOT screw up what is probably an anti-terrorist sting' slash 'if you have this guy in your corpse fridge, CALL US, we have terrorists we need to put in the ground' alert dealie. |
| 229 | ** A bigger issue in that episode was that they ask the British suspect (before discovering his true identity) if he owns a Webley revolver (one was the murder weapon in the case) and he says it's in his London town house. Private ownership of handguns is illegal in Britain, even for an [=MI6=] agent. And the Webley revolver in an antique. Even if he had a license to own one it would make no sense for him to have it with him on active duty. |
| 230 | * Why are Gibbs and Abby are always considered a father / daughter set? If anything, their relationship in the show seems more like a close friendship with occasional flirtation (Marilyn Monroe costume? Threatening spanking? Guessing Gibbs' underwear style?). But the father / daughter dynamic is practically considered canon...which seems odd when the above incidents are taken into account. |
| 231 | ** True, but Abby is flirtatious with everybody at some point. It's obviously not a romantic relationship, yet Gibbs is extremely protective of Abby, and Abby in turn trusts absolutely in Gibbs. For specific examples, look a s3e21 "Bloodbath", in which we find out that Abby is being stalked by one of her ex-boyfriends. Gibbs' reaction is that of a BoyfriendBlockingDad. Or s10e2 "Recovery", in which Abby is suffering recurring nightmares and has been calling Gibbs in the middle of the night. The dialogue plays out like a child who has heard ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight and wants their dad to make them go away. |
| 232 | * Why does Kort have access to MTAC? |
| 233 | ** Because he's a CIA Operative with Top Secret clearance. It is heavily implied that an MTAC station is in every federal law enforcement agency. |
| 234 | * Some episodes (Such as Season 11's "Bulletproof") mention a defense contractor named Dearing. Is this the same company that Harper Dearing ran? Wouldn't having your CEO bomb a Navy yard significantly impact whether or not the DOD would trust your company on a defense contract? |
| 235 | ** Harper Dearing's company is called Dorado Hills. |
| 236 | * How does the division of labor while examining the fingerprints work in "Power Down"? Abby dumps all the local fingerprint cards into a pile, then hands out empty, labeled bins to everyone: "[=DiNozzo=], you're whorls. David, arches. [=McGee=], loops. I'll take the composites. We use the bins to narrow down the suspects and hopefully find a match to the print from the park." But if the prints from the park consisted of, say, whorls, they wouldn't need to compare it to prints made of arches and/or loops. What exactly did Abby have each of them looking for? |
| 237 | ** Two possibilities: |
| 238 | *** 1: Each of the agents grabs a pile of cards. Ziva hands Abby any whose arches match (and without matching arches they can be discarded out of hand), Tim gives Abby the ones with matching loops (again discarding any non matching loops), and Tony gives her any with matching whorls. This should theoretically give Abby a small pile from each agent which she can can match against all three points. |
| 239 | *** 2: Tony checks for whorls, passes to Tim who then checks to see if there are any who match loops too, passes to Ziva who then checks for arches, then passes to Abby who checks the ones that now (theoretically) have no obviously non-matching qualities for finer detail. The idea is to exclude obvious non-matches at each step. |
| 240 | ** #1 seems to be what the writers had in mind... except fingerprints don't work like that. Whorls, arches, and loops aren't the components of a single print; they're the 3 major different types of prints. Before the Computer Age, prints were classified as consisting of whorls, arches, or loops to narrow down the pool of possible matches you would need to compare a print to. Naturally, there were more specific levels below those 3 major categories and a numbering system depending on which finger of the hand consisted of what type of print. Abby's wording makes no sense, especially for a forensic scientist -- since they start with one big pile, it ''does'' sound like she's telling them to look at specific components common to all the prints, not look at different prints based on their type. If they knew from the beginning what types of prints they were looking at, even with the computers down, they would have ''started'' with 3 piles, and Abby would have assigned them each a pile of whorls, arches, or loops to look at, not an empty bin. If, with the computers down, they had no way of knowing that from the start, then they would have used the bins to divide them up as they determined whether the prints were whorls, arches, or loops... but that's a job you can't divide by person at that stage. Was Abby saying, "[=DiNozzo=], as you examine prints, it you find one that consists of whorls, throw it in the bin for whorls; if not, don't throw it in its designated bin, just leave it on the pile for someone else to examine again. David, if you find one that consists of arches, throw it in the bin; if not, leave it for someone else to examine again..."? No, you'd just say, "Whorls go in this bin, arches in this one, loops in this one." Anybody with a deeper knowledge of forensic technology know what "[=DiNozzo=], you're whorls. David, arches. [=McGee=], loops" could have meant that makes sense given the one big general pile and 3 empty bins they start with? |
| 241 | * The last couple of seasons have introduced rules in the sixties. Given that the creation of Rule Fifty-One was the subject of the season seven finale, when did all of these rules get written? (And yes, I'm aware it's more likely writer screw ups, but I always do prefer an in-universe explanation.) |
| 242 | ** Presumably over the years as Gibbs noted that things seem to work (or work better) a certain way. He just finally got around to writing them down. |
| 243 | ** It is possible that there are Categories of rules. Essentially each ten of them are aimed at some particular issue. Tony once mentioned Rule 40 and Ziva said that she have never heard about it to which Tony explained that the rules in the forties are for emergency situations and so are rarely used. |
| 244 | * Why did they introduce Bishop as a quirky girl and then almost immediately neuter her quirkiness? In her introductory episodes, she was sitting on the floor and associating absolutely everything with food, which she nearly almost always had on hand. Then suddenly she's all "oh, no, IJustWantToBeNormal" and she's sitting in chairs and rarely even speaks of food. Why give her quirks only to take them away? At least be consistent in your characterization, writers. |
| 245 | ** Viewers didn't respond positively to Bishop's quirkiness and the writers had to rein it in. This is given an InUniverse handwave by Gibbs claiming that he wasn't being strict with Bishop because he felt that the pressure to please him led to Kate's death and Ziva's breakdown. Bishop tells him that she wants to be pushed harder and Gibbs then promptly seats her at her desk rather than continuing to let her work on the floor. |
| 246 | * I can't be the only one who hates the whole "Never apologize, it's a sign of weakness" thing. I would say someone who is really strong, brave etc [[HumbleHero will admit when they're wrong and try to do better]], whereas a weak and fearful person will insist they can do no wrong and [[NeverMyFault nothing is ever their fault]]. Now, to be fair, Gibbs has never tried to blame his mistakes on his subordinates but my point still stands. |
| 247 | ** It seems like this was initially a sign of how much of a hardass Gibbs is on the job, pushing his people to get it right, but, as the show has gone on, it has evolved into the more HumbleHero style, where the phrase comes out more on occasions where the apology isn't one that is believed or accepted. |
| 248 | * It's gonna sound stupid but how the hell how did Gibbs' cell phone still have service especially in 2021? His phone is like over a decade old! I know it's a TV show but still. |
| 249 | ** [[TechnoWizard McGee]] probably did something to make his phone 4G compatible or something |
| 250 | * When Bishop and Palmer accidentally break the mass spectrometer near the end of season 15 why are they so terrified that Abby will find out? She's a very nice person in general, and it's not like she's gonna shoot them or something. At worst she might yell at them. |
| 251 | ** There's something called BewareTheNiceOnes. I mean, have you seen Abby in her final episode and also one of the episodes where she tied up Chip, her assistant? |
| 252 | ** But those were both evil criminals. She presumably wouldn't get violent towards a friend. |
| 253 | ** Violent, no. Extremely creative about finding some other means of payback, yes. Abby has a ''lot'' of imagination. |
| 254 | * So, the show acknowledges that COVID is a thing, but why do they not actually showcase proper protocols? Yea, they have every other seat at the diner blocked off, but I feel like I can count on one hand the number of times we see the characters wear masks. It's especially laughable when they go to a hospital and not only are none of the main cast wearing masks, but the hospital staff isn't either! Is this to make the show syndication-friendly? |
| 255 | * I get that Gibbs is supposed to be a good fit for Lucy, the abused pit bull, but the show doesn't really show him taking care of the dog outside of giving her a warm home. We never see Gibbs feed her actual dog food, we never see him take her for a walk, and we don't actually see any dog-specific items in his house like a bed or chew toys. Given that Mark Harmon is a dog-owner himself, you'd think he'd have something to say about that. Though I guess it's a moot point now that she's with Phin. |
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