‘NCIS’ season 12, episode 12 review: Feeling for Fornell
Tonight’s “NCIS” episode is certainly controversial. You don’t have to look very far to see proof of that, given that it is already burning up all over Twitter in a pretty substantial way.
What we are not going to do here is spend a whole lot of time speaking about Zoe Keates and Tony, mostly because it’s pointless to do so. There are going to be strong opinions on that either way; some want to see Tony move on, whereas others feel upset that these romantic moments could not have been between Tony and Ziva. Nothing the episode did would ever change the minds of those two groups. If CBS wanted to avoid some of the drama here among their fan following, it’s probably not a good idea one day after Cote de Pablo appears at TCA promoting another show.
Since the Tony romance is so polarizing and will always be so, we wanted to spend most of the time here discussing Gibbs, Fornell, and the aftermath of Diane’s death given how big of a game-changer that was last week. We really felt for both men as they dealt with this, since we for the longest time always thought of Diane as a somewhat-comic character given her romantic activities. there was a little bit of justice at the end of this story, though it came in the form of an investigation where it was realized that Sara may not have been in nearly as much desperation as it first looked in a ransom video. The one thing that would have made this whole arc better was if it had happened a little earlier in season 12.
“NCIS” has become pretty effective at using these January episodes to tell these two-week arcs, and this was a pretty solid one when it comes to the Gibbs character. Everything else, from Tony to McGee, was relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. The show has a few weeks off until February, and we’re intrigued to see what the series does until then. Grade: B-.
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Erin
January 14, 2015 @ 11:13 pm
Although I suspected strongly from the start that the kidnapped woman was up to something this was still a solid episode. I enjoyed that every team member had a part instead of it being all about Gibbs and/or McGee again. Personally I like Zoe Keates with Tony and I’ll be quite satisfied if Ziva never returns. I had grown so tired of the overly tragic and constant Ziva focus and especially irritated with how they dumbed Tony down so that she (and Gibbs) would shine by comparison. If they bring CdP back, this is one I won’t watch. I never need to see Tony held back and diminished to shove her dramas down our throats again.
liz laughlin
January 14, 2015 @ 8:23 pm
I felt a lot of sympathy for Fornell and the predicament that he finds
himself. He still loved Diane and it sounded like they had been
reconciling their differences. Now he finds himself as a single father
and having to set his grief aside to care for his daughter, Emily.
Gibbs, as he said, “liked” Diane but he could never move beyond Shannon
to really love Diane. Gibbs, though, was the love of Diane’s life. I’m sure that Gibbs will also be deeply pained by having her die in his arms. I hope he gets consolation from knowing that she spent the last moments of her life with the man for whom she cared so deeply.
I’m a Cote de Pablo fan and I’ve been expecting this romance of Tony with Zoe Keates for a long time. They announced it quite a while back. Sorry, Matt, but this episode could be the beginning of what has been alluded to by Weatherly, Glasberg and now, Cote de Pablo as the “right circumstances” for Ziva’s return, even if only briefly. I will know that Tony is really in love when I find out that he has taken Zoe home to his apartment. So far, only Ziva has had that honor.
marysue
January 17, 2015 @ 11:52 pm
Yeah, I agree. We will have to wait and see on this one. When Cote mentioned in her Dovekeepers interview about “the right circumstances” I was thinking about this too. I’d rather see Cote come back under more dramatic circumstances like aiding the team in some way rather than to oust Zoe and try to get back with Dinozzo. That would make the show too much of a soap. Even though I’ll admit to being a TIVA fan I don’t want episodes to get top heavy on Tony’s love life. All the character’s love lives should be secondary to the main storylines unless something in the partner’s life is connected to the crime or main story event. I would really like to see GG take turns with all the characters and give each a fair share of storylines so we can see each actor’s ability and their character grow.
Sandi Brooks
January 19, 2015 @ 5:27 pm
Zoe is clearly a temporary stand in. Tony is Stepford Tony lately, not his bubbly, verbally rambling, post-elevator-us self that he was with Ziva. The chemistry is NOT there. WE all want Tony to “be happy”, but I don’t believe he’ll ultimately be happy without HIS ninja. She challenged him in a way nobody else did, yes, she is emotionally damaged and hides behind a different mask than DiNozzo does, but they are two broken sould whe needs each other.
NCIS promo’d TIVA, (see early summer WHY IS NCIS #1? promo, 2013) when they used T/Z clips and the WORD TIVA, “Ziva Sings it, Tony brings it”, had MW and CdP do frequently do appearances as a pair, etc. They used TIVA to keep a certain large fan base. It was an underlying current that ran through. Sooner or later they owe it us to deliver on what they built upon. NCIS was happy to use the teasing then growth of their bond, they owe their fans. If they wren’t going to go there, shey shouldn’t have used the pairing the way they did.
sadtonyfan
January 20, 2015 @ 3:04 am
What part of the fact that it was Cote de Pablo’s decision to quit do you not understand? Can’t really have tiva without the iva part of it. Who knows what they’d have written if de Pablo hadn’t decided to seek greener pastures but SHE did. Ms. de Pablo moved on a year and a half ago. Perhaps it’s time for you to do the same.