‘NCIS’ season 11, episode 7 review: Gibbs, his father, and Abby’s new ally
There were a few moments during Tuesday night’s “NCIS” episode that were somewhat emotional. This was a story that did go far back into the past of Jackson Gibbs, and some of the best scenes for Mark Harmon on this show are when he gets to interact with his father.
But while we could sit here and discuss the individual case, or some of the layers that came into the mystery, what this episode was really emblematic of is what happens in a certain part of a man’s life. Gibbs’ father is at a point now in his life where he started to realize that his dad was not completely capable of doing everything anymore. It was thanks to this that we saw Leroy Gibbs offer his father a chance to come stay with him … which was declined for the time being. The fact that Jackson still thinks of himself as a spry young gentleman is probably one of the reasons why he is so endearing in the first place.
While the funniest moment of the episode was seeing McGee learn that Abby’s “source” at the Department of Defense was none other than Delilah, the moment that really moved us more even than Jackson being offered a chance to stay with his son was seeing the end of the story of Walter, a man that Jackson was so desperate for his son to meet. Why was that? As we had an opportunity to come to learn, this was a man who needed some sort of reassurance after a tough and painful life that his actions in the military were not in vein. While he may have taken lives, it was thanks to him that Leroy was born, and Leroy does his part to help people. This was quite a patriotic story, and one that we are sure that many out there are going to love leading into Veteran’s Day.
While we don’t love every “NCIS” episode to be so Gibbs-centric, for this particular week to kick off the November sweeps, it totally worked. Grade: B+.
What did you think about this “NCIS” episode? Be sure to share your thoughts below, and click here if you are interested in checking out some more news about this episode.
Photo: CBS
wendy foran
November 6, 2013 @ 3:18 pm
Oh Lorraine how I love you and the fact that you are so much better at putting your finger to the keyboard and getting it all out there than myself!! I totally agree with everything you’ve stated here.
Lorraine64
November 6, 2013 @ 11:59 am
Contd:
Finally and probably a Brit thing – but I didn’t buy the whole German flyer helping out Jack. Not so much because he was German, but from a logistics point of view. One or other would surely have been shot at by other aircraft – strange there were no other planes in the sky – US, British or German. Sweet idea but bit of a stretch…. Oh and you can’t see the white cliffs of Dover from France – it’s 30 miles away, but I guess you could put that down to Jack’s dodgy memory……. :-)
Lorraine64
November 6, 2013 @ 11:55 am
Contd:
We sat down and watched Beaches, so we’re fine now boss. Really?! Okay might have worked for some – didn’t work for me. I’d like to have seen Tony & McGee protecting each other in the field and therefore realising that their silly bickering was ridiculous. Having said that they’ve been working together for more than 9 years (McGee joined proper in S2) so I’d have thought literally dealing with life and death situations and protecting each others six on a regular basis they’d have worked out “what was important in life” already! But no, they finally got it by watching a movie. Yeah, right!
And probably just me, but I miss the old relationship between Gibbs and Tony. Despite Episode 5’s great scene between Gibbs and Tony in the head, these days Gibbs seems much closer to McGee than he does Tony, accentuated this week by the fact that Gibbs initially asked McGee’s help in finding his dad’s friend and the fact that he called him Tim on several occasions. Gibbs hasn’t properly called DiNozzo “Tony” since seasons 7’s “Flesh & Blood” incidentally the last time we saw them have a steak & beer night.
Lorraine64
November 6, 2013 @ 11:48 am
Let me start by saying I love Ralph Waite and he and Mark Harmon gave some terrific performances in tonight’s episode. Gibbs can be minimalist to a fault with the result you can forget how good an actor Mark Harmon is.
However, that being said I have a host of problems with this episode:
Enough with the flashbacks. I don’t mind the odd flashback but can we be done for a few episodes now.
Can Tony please have some character continuity. Two weeks ago Gibbs was telling him he’d trust him any time, but this week he gives point to McGee, who’s junior to Tony. Tony is the SFA – or did he get demoted and no one told me! I loved Tony in “Once A Crook”, last week he was okay too, but this week he was insufferable and childish and were it not for the whole SFA thing I would have given McGee point too. Not only has Tony been dumbed down but sadly since the start of Season 10 it’s become “which Tony will we get this week”. After the first few episodes of Season 11 I thought we were over that, maybe now Tony and McGee have ironed out some of their differences we might see some consistency in Tony’s personality.
geo
November 6, 2013 @ 2:26 am
I thought the Jackson war story was contrived and stretched believability too far, especially that he told Leroy about being saved but left out that it was a German pilot who saved him! as Leroy said, “that’s the most important part!” this story line was central to the episode and seemed designed solely to elicit sympathetic emotion.