Any other show would use a funeral to bring all the cast back together. Not NCIS. We're supposed to believe Gibbs and Abbey wouldn't be there in person and only sent flowers. They don't even acknowledge in show they'd love to be there by message or a video link for five seconds.
But the chemical transformation has taken place. Examine it closely. This is your tablespoon measuring system? You already have the chemical composition. Don't you?
The problem is there's no way to do two different things at once. If you do one to make a different cup without doing it the other way, you are completely different.
When I finish either my Gaskell rewatch, my early Henrik rewatch, or both, I’m tempted to watch S18E15 “Sins of Our Fathers” again tbh.
It’s like, the one centric episode Henrik got in his second stint until S19 lol, but I just LOVE how it deconstructs the “uwu perfect Henrik respects everyone and can do no wrong, and if he does do wrong we’ll just pretend he didn’t” stuff that much of his second stint played into. Henrik is a classist jerk in that episode and the show actually lets him own up to it.
I haven’t seen it in years but his one line about the homeless patient still sticks with me - “When I first saw him this morning, I didn’t see him as a human being. I saw him as an inconvenience.” Goddamn.
They should’ve done more with Henrik having to face his biases like that instead of repeatedly showing him being bigoted and then brushing it under the rug without him ever having to own up to it (*glances at him getting away with like 99% of his misogyny, to the point the show retconned Sahira’s entire backstory to avoid acknowledging that Henrik was sexist to her*).
Let me preface this by saying, I can only imagine how hard it must've been to write and film this episode. It's one reason why I don't write DeathFics, and those are only fictional people. Writing the passing of a real person, a friend and a colleague? Must be one of the hardest things to do as a writer.
So maybe that's why this felt so incredibly flat. Maybe trying to find that balance between dealing with the death and moving on dulled the emotional punch of it all? Because beyond the opening and closing, this was barely more than a clip episode shows throw in the middle of a season to save money. And of those flashbacks, we could only get ones with 3 characters who are still on the show, because Knight, Parker and even Torres didn't really know him. (I'll mention the Gibbs flashback in a second.) So you had this random assortment of clips that were supposed to engender emotions, but did the opposite in a way- because they weren't immediate reactions (they were memories), it actually lessened the emotional impact. You know what flashback would've been a kick to the gut? How about someone mention Cate, and then show us the clip of Ducky and Cate together? Then you would've gotten the one-two punch of 2 beloved characters now gone. Because if you're going to show a scene between Gibbs and Ducky that no one was present to see (using Ducky's journals as your 'out'), you could've shown Cate or Jenny or Ziva.
By not showing the funeral, fans missed out on a proper send off and a true tie-in with the past. I know Brian Dietzen said they didn't want it to be crammed full of guest stars, but the only guest star we got was a 3 minute cameo by Michael Weatherly?? If they'd had a funeral, they could've filled the church with faces we remembered and given characters/actors a chance to pay their respects. Imagine the nostalgia in seeing Hollis Mann, Jordan Hampton, Gerald Jackson, Ziva David (would've made sense since they brought Tony back), Abby Sciuto (I know, there are off-screen problems w/PP), Rachel Cranston, etc. I know Jessica Walter has also passed away, but what about the rest of Ducky's detective group? What about Jack Sloane? Yes, I know these may have added more storytelling time (particularly Abby and Jack) but did we need McGee's poison ivy flashback?
Other issues:
What happens to Nicholas Mallard? You know, Ducky's half-brother.
What happens to Gibbs' house?
What was the actual proof that the senator was dirty? I mean, real forensic proof? I didn't seem to hear anything other than Parker reading off the autopsy report and the Marine. Or I guess we're just meant to think that ruined his career? Because they didn't charge him with murder or anything.
The entire story hinged on McGee remembering one of the pictures hid a safe? Like Ducky's only clue to an important case was a cryptic line in his journal? smh
This was... this was just not good. One of, if not THE most beloved character on this show and we got a clip episode.
Which brings me back to the Gibbs flashback: As soon as they showed the picture of Gibbs and Ducky on the bookshelf, I knew we weren't going to see Mark. And that disappoints me more than it should, really. After tonight, we should never, ever see Gibbs on this show again, because there will be no bigger reason for him to return than Ducky's death, and he didn't show. Any reason after tonight will be bullshit and a slap in the face to the fans who supported and fell in love with the Gibbs/Ducky friendship. I'm so bitterly disappointed.
i dont say insightful shit on this blog i just gesture to emmy-nominated South Park episode s21e02 “Put It Down” (2017) andsay man can you believe that shit? that was fucking crazy. hi im sydney