NCIS - 16 Years - Review: "Ridiculous or hilarious?"

The latest NCIS episode saw our team working with a secret society that looks into cold cases. One of the team members actually turned out to be a member of that society.

As always, the episode starts with a body being found. That body turns out to be retired Lieutenant Commander Runyan Hayes, and when Ducky hears the victim's name he asks to be recused from the case. It turns out that Ducky needed some social life and turned to a society called the Sherlock Consortium for Investigation. The Sherlocks investigate cold cases and Hayes reached out to them about his son's case. Navy Seaman Michael Hayes is in prison for killing his superior on a shipboard 16 years ago. The original suspect was Todd Bennett, who is now a fireman. The team heads out to see him, but it turns out he already knows about Hayes' murder from the Sherlocks. Despite Ducky's resistance, he takes Gibbs and Bishop to the secret society. Its members are: former cop Walter Osorio, Judith McKnight and Lyle. They are asked to hand over all their files to NCIS, but that doesn't go easily and they are taken to the office. Meanwhile, Gibbs talks to Michael's daughter who is going to live with Jason Tupperman, who served with Michael, and his wife Natalie now that her grandfather is dead. Jason is convinced Michael is innocent. That outcome becomes even more likely when the Sherlocks learn that the forensic test that was used to convict him has since been deemed unreliable. That test was actually performed by our very own Abby Sciuto.

Even though the FBI is going through all the cases that used the test, Abby can't wait for that and decides to look into old cases herself. She also sends Tony and McGee back in the woods, who had earlier found a bullet in a tree. So they found a second bullet that was dug out using car keys. Tony gets a splinter both times in the woods. Elsewhere, Bishop accompanies Jason to Michael's prison, but he isn't very happy to see NCIS since they locked him up for 16 years. Also, Walter, Judith and Lyle come to Gibbs' house to ask Gibbs to reopen the investigation into Michael Hayes and to offer him their help, which Gibbs declines. The team decides to do a DNA test using Micahel's DNA. Once at the prison, they discover that Michael's parents were there, which is weird since they're both dead. Posing as his parents were Walter and Judith, and they get a big lecture from Ducky. It is actually Lyle that causes a breakthrough in the case when he makes a remark about getting tree sap off with peanut butter. Jason had the same tree sap on his shoes and his car keys are a match to the one used to dig out the bullet. It was actually Jason who murdered his superior 16 years ago and now he also killed Runyan Hayes. Michael is let out of prison and hugs his daughter. Also, he sees Abby as the woman who got him out of prison instead of the one who put him there. Lastly, Ducky retires from the Sherlocks but offers them a new member: Jimmy. Judith announces she will be writing a book based on Gibbs.

Elsewhere, Bishop had earlier hoped for a quiet day, but as Tony and McGee taught her, they will get the exact opposite if she asks for that. And indeed, that turns out to be true. So Bishop later has to ask the entire office for a really hectic day, which gives her a round of applause from everyone at the office.

I suppose there are two ways you could see this episode. It was either ridiculous or hilarious or a combination of both. I personally see it as a combination of both. This episode made for some hilarious moments with a lot of Judith's one-liners along with the constant "Shut up, Lyle" (some of these one-liners will be in SpoilerTV's Quote of the Week article). I liked how Judith took an interest in Gibbs and it was hilarious to see her attempts at getting his attention. The ridiculous moments in this episode were Tony's tree-whispering on behalf of Abby and Bishop's speech to the entire squad room. I found both moments to be quite silly and a bit unnecessary. The case was otherwise a good one, although from the moment we saw him I suspected Jason was the true killer. I enjoyed the Sherlocks and hopefully we get to see them again down the road. I think the episode could have focused a bit more on Abby's feelings about performing a faulty test and that Michael's reaction was too easy. After all, he still lost 16 years of his life that can never be taken back. Then again, NCIS did make sure he got out of prison so he could be thankful to them as well.

What did you think of "16 Years"? Do you agree that it was either ridiculous or hilarious? What did you think of the case of the week? Did you guess the killer right? How do you feel about the Sherlocks? And lastly, should Gibbs return Judith's flirtations? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

The next episode airs this Tuesday and it will feature the return of Tony's ex-girlfriend Jeanne Benoit. I, for one, am really excited about this episode. Watch a promo for it below.

About the Author - Daniel van der Veer

Daniel van der Veer is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100, Madam Secretary and Quantico. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder.

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