2012 May 15 NCIS Critique of “Till death do us Part”
It’s finally finished. Or is it? Last night’s episode of NCIS was the last in a series of four shows involving Harper Dearing, which conclude the 9th Season. Was it tied up neatly in a package? No! Ducky is left on a beach, mortally ill, with Jimmy presumably married. How will he fit in with the rest of the unmarried team that is held together by their singleness?
The writer, Gary Glasberg, serves up lots of excitement in this “four arc” run. He started with a thread of faulty wiring that could have been caused by our enemies or by greedy contractors to weaken our fleet. In the end, Glasberg uses misdirection to cast suspicion on Dr. Ryan (Jamie Lee Curtis), and even Vance with his disappearance, to finally conclude the show with a bomb placed in Vance’s car by a vengeful father to blow up NCIS headquarters.
Wow! Ducky, played superbly by David McCallum, is a lonely figure dressed in his tuxedo, walking on the beach. The wide expanse of the ocean magnifies his aloneness. Then he receives a phone call on his cell and there is no doubt he hears of the horrific explosion at NCIS Headquarters. His reaction after learning the news happens in something like slow motion. His face contorts and he drops to the sand. This scene caps off what is so brilliant about NCIS. The characters are a family to each other and they seem like part of our family as viewers. In the midst of their exciting and dangerous jobs, they are people who miss at love, hurt when the others hurt, and annoy one another with odd quirks. Yet, they hang together.
No one wants Ducky to be gone! As we wrote last week, we understand David McCallum has signed a contract to be on the show for another two years. That being said, we will be sitting on the edge of our seats for Season 10’s opener. Another high point occurs when Jimmy tells his bride-to-be that he wants to be married immediately so that he can rejoin his NCIS family and help them in their time of need. Her response is priceless—she wants to marry him because he is the kindest man in the world. She cares nothing for a big wedding.
Besides Ducky’s survival, several questions remain to be resolved in the fall. Will Dearing be caught before he takes out more people? Are any of the other NCIS “family members” going to be off the show? And of course, Dr. Samantha Ryan beat feet when the maniac comes too close to her son. She may go into permanent hiding or she may work from an “undisclosed location”.
Either way, we are not going away with our blog. Join us all summer long for fun weekly postings about Gibbs’ rules, tidbits from the actors’ lives, and our personal views on cases happening in the news. We may feature a contest or two involving our new release, which will be out soon.
In the words of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, if you did not like this show or any of them leading up this the finale, there will be no apologies. His rule: Never apologize as it is a sign of weakness. What rule number is it and which actor first said it? Comments please by Saturday, May 19th, here at our blog: http://DianeAndDavidMunson.com/blog. Anyone who gets it right will be entered in a drawing for “The Joshua Covenant”, our thriller that released in January of this year.
Here is an interesting fact: NCIS starts filming for Season 10 in July. Now that’s not too far off, is it?
Be Blessed,
Diane and David