Tonight’s season premiere of NCIS was … well, the season premiere of NCIS was … okay, let’s put it this way: I was surprised at how disappointing the season nine premiere of NCIS was, especially considering how disappointing the season eight finale was, which itself was the conclusion to a disappointing season.
That said, here’s the positive: it is absolutely possible that the premiere was bad because it was occupied with tying up all sorts of loose ends from the previous season; once handled, I believe the show has every chance of returning to the awesome form it once regularly took.
I guess I blocked out the fact that EJ (Sarah Jane Morris) didn’t die last season … oh well. Might we have finally seen the last of her? I doubt it, because the mystery of Phantom Eight has just begun, and because Tony’s a sucker who’s unlikely to let her slip off into the night like she did.
Speaking of, what about the whole temporary amnesia thing? Offhand I don’t recall if it’s something we’ve seen on the show before or not, but it resulted in a premiere that severely wanted for action. Too much time was spent establishing the story, thereby sacrificing the excitement that I expected after all these months away.
Did anyone else find it funny to see Scott Wolf appear as the fake FBI agent? After Kerr Smith popped up at the end of last season as the bad guy, it feels a bit like the writers’ room is reveling in some 90s nostalgia. Is Wolf really not doing anything else these days?
I don’t know how well Secretary of the Navy Clay Jarvis (Matt Craven) works as a foil for Gibbs. I do think Gibbs needs someone above Vance to butt heads with — the handful of times he came up against Secretary Davenport (Jude Ciccolella) were great — but Jarvis feels too … dirty? Slimy? Skeevy? I’m not sure of the adjective, but he’s too much of it. He’ll get annoying fast (as in he already has).
I’m surprised that everyone, including him, was making such a big deal out of the fact that Tony was assigned a secret mission. What is this, his third? Fourth? I understand Gibbs being offended that one of his team was being utilized without his knowledge, but the writers would have had us believe that it’d never happened before … not so. And considering that, maybe it’s time to stop going to the same well over and over again?…
Cate’s sister Rachel Cranston (Wendy Makkena) is someone I thought we’d never have to see again. She herself is fine, but all I could think of was how ridiculous I found that whole “longing for Cate” nonsense in the middle of last season. Instead of randomly inserting her into his team’s life, maybe we could see how (and why) Gibbs seems to have built a relationship with her. Give her the dimension that she’s currently lacking.
Okay, so Tony’s solved the secret mission, and Scott Wolf will randomly return another time or two this season before Gibbs takes him down … now can we get back to NCIS?
![Can NCIS move on to something interesting now? [51eRnHz2DHL. SL160 ] (IMAGE)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eRnHz2DHL._SL160_.jpg "Can NCIS move on to something interesting now? [51eRnHz2DHL. SL160 ] (IMAGE)")
![Can NCIS move on to something interesting now? [517viGC516L. SL160 ] (IMAGE)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517viGC516L._SL160_.jpg "Can NCIS move on to something interesting now? [517viGC516L. SL160 ] (IMAGE)")
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Sep 20, 2011 @ 22:37 EST5EDT
I don’t want to be, but I am upset with this premiere. I was hoping for a few things it didn’t have in my speculation, and then I was wanting for more than the episode provided.
I wanted the microchip to be a separate, mid-season storyline. Something to leave us hanging on, and something not tied into the obvious lead-in of Tony’s mission. Moving on from that, I wanted Tony’s mission to be the main focus. I wanted him to just go do it. I was fine with how they structured the story, except it didn’t provide any character development for anyone, especially Tony. The story did drag a bit, as he shouldn’t have been hanging around the NCIS offices, it was a bit slow and awkward.
The ending was very unsatisfactory, as I wanted more of Gibbs and Tony being one step ahead. No fake microchip? No operating on their own if they don’t trust Jarvis that much? Jarvis himself was characterized a bit odd. I loved his brief time in the finale, but here he came off as some kind of mastermind, only to be shown as a chump by the end. Kind of like building up a wrestler, only to have him lose a big match fast before the title match.
Also, as Tony begins to remember… there weren’t any big revelations. Nothing he remembered just in time. He just kind of remembered. I was also expecting Scott Wolf to have something on his hand when he shook Tony’s, or maybe some kind of confrontation with Kate’s sister defending Tony with more than a “I’m calling Gibbs.” line. ALSO, Tony was the one who played Eli David in the interrogation room, and I know he is woozy and all… but he just got played by Kate’s sister? So am I to assume that Kate’s sister is the best interrogator on the show?
I was a bit disappointed that the Season 8 premiere tied up ALL the loose ends, but I am more disappointed with the cliffhangers in Season 9’s premiere. I was also hoping for Franks to appear in Gibbs mind/as a ghost in the final scene of the episode. Would be an interesting storyline for this season, or half of it, if Gibbs has to live with Franks telling him what to do until he can make peace with it. I mean, they did completely and unnecessarily kill him off. They should have some kind of character development come from it as a result.
*sigh* I love NCIS though.
They did the amnesia story line a few years back except it was Gibbs who did not remember. They handled it much better that time around. The premier did drag. Why the need for all of the season long bad guys?