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I have been really enjoying this season of NCIS so far and Tuesday's episode was no exception. The season feels fresh and the cases are interesting. But what's even more, we see our characters dealing with things they haven't dealt with before. Wait, this is called character development! And we also saw that in "The Searchers".
But as always, first a brief recap of the case of this week. Retired Marine Master Sergeant George Hawkins is found dead in his house, and the team discovers he was holding dog tags in his hand while dying. These dog tags belong to a dead Marine Sergeant Kent, whom Hawikins served with in the Viernam war. Sadly, Kent died but his body was never recovered and Hawkins has been searching for it ever since. However, Abby discovers the dog tags are fake and that Hawkins must have known this so it was meant as a message. The team deduces that the dog tags came from a travel agency and they arrest one of the employees. It turns out that he had help from the agency's boss, Todd Price, who got the fake dog tags from Vietnam. Since he traveled to Vietnam because he also has a girlfriend there, Tony and Gibbs take a plane as well and arrest him. They also learn that Kent's body was buried by a boy during the war, and they dig up his body and take it back to his daughter.
Elsewhere, Bishop gets the results of her probie evaluation and it turns out she is a high score of 82 out of 100. She thinks she has done so good because both Tony and McGee only have scores of about 50 to 60. However, she learns from Ducky that Gibbs always gives low scores in order to push his agents and that a high score basically means he doesn't think you're up to it. During the case, she also lets a suspect get away but Gibbs says it's fine. She later confronts Gibbs and he tells her the truth: he lost two people who sat at Bishop's desk and he doesn't want to lose a third one. Therefore, he has been going easy on Bishop since day 1. However, Bishop says she wants to be like the rest of the team so Gibbs assures her that he will go harder on her from now on. That starts with sitting at her desk instead of on the floor.
This was a solid episode. The case fit well with Veterans Day and it was an emotional one to see. What's more, I think this episode showed true character development. It also deals with some of the fans' criticisms from season 11, which is that Gibbs has gotten soft and that he has been going easy on Bishop. I didn't consider the possibility that it had anything to do with Kate and Ziva, but to me it does make sense. The only thing is he can't blame himself for a crazy terrorist shooting Kate and a personal decision made by Ziva. However, the fact that they addressed the issue also indicates that the writers are reading fans' reactions and actively try to do make things right. This was also evident on episode 6 when Ziva's departure was addressed, something that the fans have been complaining about. So I'd like to think that the writers take fan feedback into account and are really doing the best they can to make season 12 satisfying season. Some might call it fan service, but I think more of it as taking fan feedback into consideration.
One thing about the episode that I didn't even mention yet is that Tony was considering adopting a cat that just walked into his life. However, the cat walked out just as easily. It was one of my issues with this episode because the story had no real purpose. It gave us a few nice McNozzo moments and another reference to Kate and Ziva (a.k.a. Tony's goldfish), but there was nothing more to it.
What did you think about this episode? Did you find the case of the week fitting with Veterans Day? How do you feel about Gibbs' and Bishop's interaction and character development? Are you liking it that Gibbs is going hard on Bishop now? Sound off in the comments below!
Here is a LQ promo for the next episode:
About the Author - Daniel
Daniel is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100, Stalker, Madam Secretary and the upcoming shows Battle Creek and Odyssey. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder.
