I just watched this episode - or rather half of it. I have been a fan of this show since it first aired but recently I have begun drifting away from it. The plots have become very soapy and this episode was like Lethal Weapon 4 in it's silliness. Please - stop with the grinning and the touchy feely personal stories. We've dealt with dementia once with Ducky's mother - do we really have to go through it all again? Get back to what this show is about - investigating crimes concerning navy personnel. Leave the soap to Fairy Liquid.

@strangebedfellows said:

I just watched this episode - or rather half of it. I have been a fan of this show since it first aired but recently I have begun drifting away from it. The plots have become very soapy and this episode was like Lethal Weapon 4 in it's silliness. Please - stop with the grinning and the touchy feely personal stories. We've dealt with dementia once with Ducky's mother - do we really have to go through it all again? Get back to what this show is about - investigating crimes concerning navy personnel. Leave the soap to Fairy Liquid.

Yeah I originally lost interest when Ziva left the show. It went through a period after that when I stopped watching regularly. I thought it got better later on.
I always thought they over did the bit with Mcgee acting like such a total wimpy nerd. He seemed scared to use his weapon, scared to engage bad guys, etc. I doubt someone could come through NCIS agent training and act that way. He could have been believable as a civilian employee, but not an agent. I realize they wanted to differentiate the characters but they went overboard and were unbelievable. They over did the bit with Jimmy in the morgue as well. I like that both of them no longer quiver and quake and stutter when talking to Gibbs, and they now act mature. But when McGee failed to shoot that cop killer, and then surrendered his weapon, I shook my head.

I felt the same when Ziva left - she had a strong personality and held your attention whereas Bishop and the other woman (Jennifer Esposito - I can't remember her character name - which is quite telling really) don't have the same charisma. I also think that the two new males are not quite up to scratch personality wise. I think that now there are too many characters in it with too little to do. Also - dare I say it - but Gibbs is really looking too old now to be believable as an active agent - he simply would not pass the physical - but as he is an executive producer I suppose he will be around for a while yet!!

I think Gibbs still looks in pretty good shape. Obviously he isn't going to run as fast or as far as a young man. But guys like him are kept around for their experience and the intuition they have developed, and other skills. He has developed interrogation skills through the years (pretending this is all real) that younger agents probably don't have. Some people have a knack for things like that. But even they can learn from the older guys. That may be the greatest value in having someone like Gibbs around. The younger agents can learn from him. But yeah, he is starting to show his years now. How long has this show been running? About 14 or 15 years? A long time now. He could qualify for a Navy retirement before too much longer. lol I think the Nick Torres character is pretty good. He is kind of the DiNozzo replacement I guess. Thankfully they didn't try to make him exactly the same. At least he isn't another wimpy character.

I agree with your thoughts about Gibbs - I just think that maybe he should be behind a desk now (much as he hates it!) Nick Torres is OK - he is the most aggressive one of the group. I think it's the women that let the show down - they are just so colourless compared to Cait and Ziva.

I agree. I understand why they made Bishop so different from Ziva. They knew that if she was anything at all like Ziva she would look like a "Ziva-lite" and people would reject her on that basis. So they made her a nerdy analytical genius type, more similar to Abby in some ways. But she had no personality, she was in her own world, almost autistic at times, then someone would snap her out of it. I can image the actress must have been nervous trying to replace Ziva. Ziva was irreplaceable. Cote decided she wanted a break from it all, she had enough money I guess and didn't want a career of NCIS. Maybe she wanted kids or whatever. I don't know what she is doing now. I saw one show she did where she played a lady back in biblical times. But nothing since. So they were in a tough spot trying to fill the hole she left in the show.

Caitlin and Ziva both had significant interaction with Tony. He used to razz Cait and he didn't trust Ziva, then fell in love with her eventually. That aspect died when Ziva left. The people who like relationships probably didn't like that. But as you say, the new girls don't offer as much in personality, especially Bishop. She is married, so there is nothing going on there. She is nerdy and introverted, less so now but still, not as outgoing as what we had.