NCIS season 5 thread (1 Viewer)

[Joseph DeMartino]

I can see La Grenouille offing himself. Backed into a corner, and with his enemies targeting Jeanne, he might have concluded that the only way to save her was to kill himself. (If so, it was ironic that the post-shot muscle spam or whatever carried him over the rail of the yacht, since his plan depended on people knowing he was dead.)

OTOH Jenny herself is also a good candidate. Her father? I lost track. Didn't we find out he really was dead, but that he died much later than the official record indicated?

Regards,

Joe

 

[Jim DiJoseph]

I was of the opinion that the ending made it clear. In the final discussion between Gibbs and Jenny, we saw the flashback that showed the Frog leaving the Director's gun on her desk. So, the only way it could have ended up being the murder weapon is if she took it there.

 

[DavidJ]

Of course, that still doesn't mean that she pulled the trigger. I am not sure that it was meant to be a definitive flashback. We had Jenny's memory of events and then we had Gibbs's. It is possible that Gibbs is remembering it wrong. Oh, wait...Gibbs is never wrong. I think we are meant to understand that Jenny at least had something to do with his death because of the order the flashbacks were presented (and come on-- it's Gibbs).

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Not necessarily. If the bald CIA guy is the killer he could have tracked La Grenouille to Jenny's place and stolen the gun after Gibbs left and Jenny either went to bed, for a ride to clear her head or to the yacht to continue her conversation. (Without the gun.) All the flashback really tells us is that a) La Grenouille did not take the gun from Jenny and b) that Gibbs and Jenny both lied to the CIA about it. Hell, Gibbs could have taken the gun and bumped off Benoit (I'm tired of typing "La Genouille" ) himself. And Jenny may know it.

I've been assuming that Gibbs lied to protect her, but maybe Jenny lied first to protect him and he followed her lead. Maybe she assumes Gibbs is the killer, but won't/can't ask for obvious reasons. His reminding her that Benoit never took the gun is the closest he can come to admitting it. The story and all the clues we've been shown actually work as just as well for either scenario.

And then, as David has pointed out, we don't know that whoever took the gun from Jenny's house is the one who killed Benoit. I could see either Jenny or Gibbs making another attempt to talk him into accepting protection Jeanne's sake and then at least leaving him the gun when he refuses.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Anyone catch last night's episode? One of the best for the series, IMO. Focusing on Jimmy Palmer, I think this episode showcased one of the supporting characters and how he dealt with his own fears.

This episode did show how much Leeroy Gibbs cares about everyone on his team and gave us a deeper insight into the character of Gibbs.

 

[DavidJ]

I thought it was pretty good, but I don't know that I would call it one of the best. It was fun and it was nice to see Palmer get a storyline. You are right about the Gibbs interactions. Still it felt like a filler episode before the "hammer drops."

 

[DavidJ]

Season Finale tonight and in true NCIS fashion it promises to be a doozy. I won't discuss the rumored happenings now since I don't want to post spoiler material. I don't know what is going to happen, but why do all these shows feel compelled to leave us with shocking cliffhangers? I assume it is a hold over from movie serials, but they didn't have to wait 4+ months. (I'm still pissed about how they ended season 2. I did think last years was ok. It was "reasonable.")

 

[todbnla]

Wow, in respect fo those that tivoed;
Jenny dead and the rest of the team shipped off to different assignments...wow

 

[Stephen Orr]

Amen to that. And BTW, Mike Franks is THE MAN....

 

[Mark Talmadge]

I wasn't too shocked by the season finale. I knew it would be Jenny Shephard that would be offed and the closing scene with the entire team being reassigned wasn't a surprise either. I imagine that with the first few episodes of the sixth season that the original team will be reassembled.

While it was a pretty decent episode, never was no shocking moments as one would expect with an NCIS episode. I got the feeling that either they switched writers for the last episode or that there was a different director.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Well, the behind the scenes stuff about Lauren Holly wanting out made Jenny's demise inevitable, but an off-screen Butch Cassidy style shoot-out while Gibbs is 3,000 miles away wasn't what I was expecting.

That said I find both the "kill (or appear to kill) a regular character in the season finale" (depending on whether or not a contract was renewed) and the "break up the team and eventually recombine them" (because we know they're getting back together - you pay these people big bucks to be in the opening titles) cliches worn-out and boring.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Josh Dial]

From what I recall of the credits, parts I and II were indeed written and directed by different people.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

They used this approach with the X-Files television series ... I just find it offending as a fan of this series that the producers would use such a cliched storytelling approach to this series. It's a cheap gimmick.

But, I'm wondering if anyone caught the Easter Egg that the director placed in the middle of the episode. As Tony and Ziva are driving through the beach area, off to the right there is a huge sign plastered on the side of a building that reads 'Bubba Gump Shrimp' etc, etc ... an honorific to Forest Gump. If you weren't looking for it, you would never have caught it. Since I had missed part of the season finale, I had decided to download it and as I was watching the episode, it caught the corner of my eye and I rewinded the episode back and sure enough, there it was. A tribute to Forest Gump.

My only complaint is going to be if the producers for Season 6 of NCIS take too many episodes to place the team back together. I'm also seeing a problem with Leon Vance and I'm suspecting that he'll be forced out when the NCIS team is reunited within the first multiple episode storyarc of the sixth season.

 

[Patrick_S]

Actually it wasn't an Easter Egg or a tribute at all since there is a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier.

 

[Josh Dial]

Any guesses on what Vance was shredding?

 

[Parker Clack]

I see Vance being a "bad guy" within NCIS and the team getting back together because of it. You know Gibbs isn't going to let his team get taken apart without a fight. What about Ducky, Palmer and Abby? Are they staying on with the rest of the team away?

I liked the idea of the shootout but I thought it would have played better if they would have shown some of the actual shooting. Two of the scenes that stick in my mind with this show are when Gibbs pulls the trigger point blank at the head of killer dressed up like a lady without batting an eye. And the finalle where Ari shoots Kate in the head. Those episodes had a definite edge to them. I look forward to what they come up with for season 6.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

I happened to re-watch that scene a few times and it was definitely a private file that Director Shepard had on Vance, I tried freeze framing the scene but I couldn't make it out clearly. I think Vance is going to turn out to be an inside mole and the fact that he dissolved the liason position with Mousad means that he fearful that the other members of the team would uncover the truth since he had caught individual members of the team were trying to evade answering any of his questions as it pertained to Gibbs and Shepard.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Since we've mostly been discussing the heavy duty drama of the finale and the plot implications of the conclusion, I'd like to interupt this thread to introduce a bit of levity (and lechery.) Was I the only one who really enjoyed "googling" Ziva in that bathing suit?

Regards,

Joe

 

[Josh Dial]

Joe, I too enjoyed googling her

 

[Marty M]

Firing the entire team seemed a bit lame espacially if they all come back after a few episodes. This is the same scenario as when Gibbs resigned a couple of years ago. Can't the producers come up with a more original way to have a cliff-hanger at the end of the season.