And one of them was played by Robert Wagner! If that isn’t a 150th episode treat, I don’t know what is.
I spent a lot of time during the noise of last night’s case trying to arrive at some conclusions regarding the recent appearances of both Tony’s and Gibbs’ fathers. If you recall, Gibbs senior is played by Ralph Waite, another great acting get that NCIS landed in a fatherly role.
My first thought? Waite is 81 to Mark Harmon’s 58 (makes sense), while Wagner turns 80 in February and Michael Weatherly is 41 (I guess it works, if you factor in that he’s a male bimbo). Ignoring the fact that neither Wagner nor Weatherly look their ages, the generational divide between DiNozzo Senior and Junior (and we’ll get to that, too!) suggests that maybe Gibbs is more in-tune as a father-figure for Tony. And boy did last night prove it.
All the Saudi Prince shenanigans may have distracted you from the father/son story that was going on during the episode. And I actually don’t only mean that between the DiNozzos OR that between Gibbs and Tony. Rather, I think Prince Sayif Ibn Alwaan’s (Amir Arison) tale with his father Al (Alon Abutbul) was meant to be an allegory for Tony’s life. Tony is who he is because his father allowed him to run amuck throughout much of his childhood, never providing him with the strong male role model, or even fatherly love, that he clearly needed.
The fact that we knew all of that already doesn’t detract from the real purpose of the story: Gibbs finally got tangible proof of that fact. And, beginning with the fireplace steaks that they enjoyed in Gibbs’ living room, I believe we’re about to see an incredibly close, and unique, relationship form between the senior and junior agents. Gibbs spent the first 150 episodes building a team … now he’s going to build a man. And it’s going to be awesome.
There wasn’t much else going on last night, but there were, as always, some things of note:
And now Gibbs finally gets the chance to raise a kid.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 13, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
That episode right there is one of the five best in the series along with Call of Silence, Kill Ari, Aliyah and Truth or Consequences.
I sure hope we get to see some more of Dinozzo Sr. The scenes between him and Gibbs as well as the ones with Junior are pure gold. This shows continues to do laps all around the other procedurals.
It is also nice that they haven’t forgotten about the Ziva citizenship test.
*POST AUTHOR*
Agreed. I didn’t want to get into all the different levels between Senior and Gibbs because I wanted to focus on Junior and Gibbs, but the same way that I saw Gibbs as more appropriate a father to Tony (age-wise), I saw him a peer to Senior (because Wagner looks so young compared to Ralph Waite). Their interactions were wonderful, and I too would love to see more of it.
I’ve been trying to excommunicate Ziva, but I do appreciate when NCIS keeps the continuity alive.
Dear God, Aryeh, you actually paid money for Crystal Skull? Are you sure it wasn’t some sort of passive-aggressive attack on your wife? Did you realize that was the “film” that gave us the term, “nuking the fridge?”
Vance had been spending time on NCIS: LA.
I thought Abby was still exclusively fixated on Tony, and was just tickled by DiNozzo, Sr.’s presence as it related to Tony. There was more of a chance with Ziva, who seemed genuinely charmed at every turn.
My favorite unspoken revelation was that that was obviously not the first fireside steak dinner Gibbs and Tony had shared. They even had the same style of folding knives and brought them out at the same time.
On an unrelated note, this week’s rerun of Modern Family featured the gray-haired patriarch Jay (Ed O’Neill) disciplining his grandson and stepson by speaking a few words, then cuffing them both upside their heads. Who else could that remind one of but Gibbs?
*POST AUTHOR*
Well that’s a ringing endorsement! Husbands get the situation. Plus, I like Shia LaBeouf.
Did they tire of paying Vance double for the same role? ;)
Interesting observation about the steaks. Thinking back I believe you’re right. I hope we get to see a lot more of it, because it was really nice.
Watched the Modern Family rerun last night; good call!
Ziva might feed everyone from Palmer to the lab monkeys at her house, but i don’t think she has an invite to the steak dinners at Gibbs’s.
*POST AUTHOR*
No chance, especially not now.