Just when you thought he wouldn’t be back anytime soon, Jimmy Palmer stepped off of everyone’s favorite elevator and back into our lives last night on NCIS. In a weird way I think Palmer’s story might be the only character tale that’s really been featured this season (save for Gibbs’ slightly nauseating one, which is better left unmentioned).
I didn’t think Jimmy was naked under his trench coat, but who could have anticipated the ruffled shirt and mint green and fuchsia tuxedo hiding underneath? Wow. If that’s what all the men are wearing — with the women in complimentary dresses — then that’s one wedding that is going to be rather hard on the eyes. Be prepared.
I enjoyed Palmer’s quest for a best man, although I have to say that I’ve never really gotten the impression that he was friends with any of the team. Certainly he’s developed a relationship with Tony, and Ducky is his mentor and direct boss, but it’s a little sad to think that Palmer has no one closer to turn to than the folks who work upstairs.
That said, his longing for a chance to cast Gibbs as his best man was hilarious. We know Jimmy always tries to catch Gibbs’ attention, but to hear him say that he’d have “a field day” with Gibbs in his wedding party was an interesting insight into Palmer: he shares the same longing as everyone else on the show. I appreciated that, but at the same time it would have said something about him had he felt that way about Ducky instead.
Palmer did, of course, ask Ducky to be his best man. I get Ducky’s hesitation as Palmer’s mentor, but did he have to compare planning Palmer’s bachelor party to root canal?
That’s actually where Tony would excel, although I can’t imagine that Palmer would be looking for the same thing in a bachelor party that Tony would. And aside from that reason, I don’t see why Jimmy would have chosen Tony. McGee, on the other hand, seems like Palmer’s kind of guy, but do they have much of anything to do with one another?
So Abby kind of makes sense, in the same way that McGee does. But again, he’s saying that in a way she’s his closest friend, or at least the person he wants standing by his side when he says “I do?” No offense to Palmer, but he needs to get out more.
That was about it for me and this episode (and don’t get me wrong, the Palmer part was awesome). I enjoyed the moment that Gibbs and McGee shared after the case was over and Gibbs’ enthusiasm led him to hit McGee on the back, but for me the mystery turned from intriguing to boring, almost a facsimile of the rescue we saw a few months back of the kidnapped girls in the Middle East. Cartels and drug wars? Apparently not as exciting as one might think.
“Mentors make terrible wingmen.” – Ducky to Palmer
“What do you know about Columbia, Jimmy?” – Ziva
“Oh gosh. Ah, it’s a great school. New York City….” – Palmer
“No, not that Columbia.” – Ziva
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Apr 11, 2012 @ 09:42 EST5EDT
I waited all morning for the recap, and this is what we get?
FGS, all that went on last night and that’s all you want to talk about?
Agree, poor recap, and not only because I disagree with almost everything in it, but can’t we have a little more insight? I get it you didn’t go into the story, since you aren’t apparently able to share more about it than Palmer’s quest for best man (which was interesting, but maybe 5% of the show). Doh. Zap Cliqueclack…
I’m late again and catching up.
I found it interesting that you say that Jimmy’s has been the only character arc that’s been featured this season. I think it’s the only one that’s been done right. Abby had a brief B story about her family that seems to have been completely dropped. Ducky had nothing and I don’t think Glasberg knows what to do with Ziva any more. Her mentor spent more time on how great Gibbs and Tony were than filling us in on Ziva’s past, as did McGee’s grandmother when we met her.
But the major time on character stuff has been the seemingly endless ‘Tony grows up’ arc which started back last season when he resolved things with his father, then got serious because a woman he had dated and mocked was institutionalized, the EJ when he stars thinking that maybe he can have both family and career, the backstory of Baltimore, resolving things with EJ, reconnecting with his old fiance and then deciding not to continue the relationship, the hints in Columbia of the heavy burden of guilt that he carries, and finally in the last episode finding out that the guilt is that he could only save one child and not two.
I don’t have anything against Tony but maybe they could wrap up this arc already since it’s been the predominant storyline for two seasons. It seems like Tony, Gibbs and Vance get all the attention on the show these days to the detriment of the other characters.