NCIS “Worst Nightmare” 

That’s two episodes in a row of complete and utter NCIS goodness. “Worst Nightmare” showcased everything I love about this show: team chemistry, suspenseful case, good guest stars, classic Dinozzo lines; and a great sense of humor.

Gibbs showed us something different; he allowed his team to be inundated by interns. And the students were a welcome bunch, my favorite being Abby’s intern of course. Through these interns we were once again able to see why these guys love their jobs and why Gibbs and company are so good at their jobs. The only one who was really off his game was poor Jimmy Palmer. I don’t blame him for being insecure; Ducky’s intern was a younger, female, him. I wish they had resolved that; I wish he and Ducky had had a moment where Ducky could allay his fears. But this wasn’t that type of episode.

The action was well balanced; Gibbs got moments with Tony, McGee, Abby, Ducky and Ziva. Tony got head-slapped; he called McGee “Probie”; and he even said: “on your six, Boss” all in the span of an hour. That’s comforting to me. Tony also got a kick out of McGee’s handling of the intern. I’m so happy McGee took charge of the intern; that kid needed to learn that the world doesn’t just revolve around money. And I think he did. He knew enough to appreciate the happy ending with the family of the secret assassin grandpa (played by William Devane).

And speaking of the secret operative of badassness known as Mason, William Devane was appropriately scary. But I wouldn’t expect anything else from the guy who played Gregory Sumner on CBS’ Knots Landing back in the day. I really appreciated the scene between Devane and Mark Harmon. These guys have been around for a long time. They each were major TV players in the 80s and 90s; and Mark did his own stint on a primetime soap in the 80s (NBC’s Flamingo Road). So I enjoyed these two facing off against the man who was Principal Dewitt on Growing Pains; Holland Manners on Angel and most recently, Bernard on Lost. Yes, Sam Anderson was the big bad of the week. Or should I say big crazy of the week? His being tagged as the guy who kidnapped the granddaughter in order to get back at her grandfather was predictable but I didn’t mind.

I did enjoy how the team + William Devane got the drop on Carmichael: Ziva shot Mason and Gibbs yelled at her for it. After they rescued the girl from the trunk; Mason snapped up as if he were 30 years-old and brushed himself off. His ex-teammate couldn’t believe it. And then Mason said something like, “Corn syrup.” And that was followed by Ziva saying: “Blanks.” Awesome.

This is the best standalone I’ve seen on this show for a long time. This is the show that I fell in love with and this is why with overall viewers, it’s the number one scripted series on television. I can’t wait to get to more of the character-driven goodness, but for now I’m totally on board with this strictly case-based hour of television.

Random Thoughts 

• One intern asked Gibbs what changed that he finally allowed interns, I think Gibbs said: “Maybe me.” I love character development like that. And I love to be surprised like that. And what brought on the sudden change?  more than they had all last season. Love this one:
• One minor issue: couldn’t the phoofs be mixed up a little bit? I know this is Mark Harmon’s show but he was in every phoof. Ziva was in one but it was with Gibbs! Not a big complaint, but a complaint nevertheless. This was a team episode so I would have appreciated more of the team being in the phoofs. I just love writing the word “phoof.””Did I miss something?” “No.” “Overstep my authority?” “No.” “Then what’s wrong?” “That’s not enough.”
•  I loved a lot of the little moments in this episode. Tony/Gibbs had some.Almost more than they had all last season. Love this one:
•  Abby and her intern – love that he was alternately scared and attracted to Abby.
•  “Sorry but I’m more scared of her than you.”
• “She’s scary but I like scary.”
•  McGee was digging his ability to order the intern to do whatever menial task he wanted him to do. Love that both Ziva and Tony noticed it: “Now you understand. It feels good, doesn’t it?”
•  “You guys would make a killing in the private sector.” “Then who would catch all the bad guys, Conrad?” Love that for Tony, money doesn’t have anything on catching the bad guys.
•  Love Ducky correcting Gibbs’ grammar: “That’s by whom…”
•  “Stop listening!”
•  Tony called Conrad “mini-Gee.”
•  “Special Agent Gibbs, who’s this?” “An angry man.” “So, why you angry, man?” (I love Gibbs!)
•  McGee speaks McGeek speak and Tony responds: “At least pretend you have a sex life!”
•  Jimmy & Tony: I know Jimmy was supposed to be out of sorts, but I would have loved it if Tony had been sympathetic. I still go back to Season 6 and “Bounce” when we were told that Tony had come to rely on Jimmy as his very own “Ducky” while Gibbs was on hiatus. I need to see more of that.
•  I like the scene between the intern and Gibbs when he spots the special agent bending the rules to get the ransom money. Very cool.
•  Mason was able to take Ziva in a fight; of course he disposed of McGee right away but I loved when Gibbs simply said, “Stop it.”
•  I love that Tony seems to know where Gibbs is or is coming from or is headed to unless he comes up behind him while he’s talking stupid about something.
•  “You know what you got? Taken down by Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Holla!”
•  Loved everybody’s portrayal in this one, except possibly Jimmy’s; I just felt bad for him. But this Tony is the Tony that I love. He’s funny, he’s take charge, competent and in love with his job. McGee taking the intern under his wing was cool. And who knew Gibbs could be so nice to interns? Abby being scary is very welcome too.