NCIS/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions
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** Jenny Shepard. Note the flashback at the very end of "Internal Affairs": the gun he was killed with, the one that Jenny had testified she'd given to La Grenouille in her office earlier, ''never actually left her office''. While she had handed it to La Grenouille at that time, he'd ''put it back on her desk before he left'' . The only way the gun could possibly have gotten to the site of La Grenoiulle's murder is if Jenny carried it there herself.
* Speaking of 'Internal Affairs', how come Fornell was put in charge of the investigation? First off, he is a member of the FBI, not NCIS, and secondly, he is best friends with one of the top suspects, and has a pretty close relationship with the rest of the team.
** While the second point is valid (as Fornell has personal connections to Gibbs) the former makes
*** Correct. Investigations of misconduct by federal agents is, if too serious to handle as an internal disciplinary matter, by default in FBI jurisdiction. And given that this particular incident involves alleged misconduct by an ''agency director'', in practice jurisdiction would be determined by 'Whoever the Attorney General decides can handle it'.
*** And even though Fornell has strong ties to Gibbs, he has shown time and time again that he has no qualms with putting Gibbs on the spot. It was probably something like "oh, Gibbs is the prime suspect in one of Fornell's investigations... Sounds like a Wednesday."
* What was the deal with Jenny's father? Did he commit suicide? Is he still alive? What the hell here, show?
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*** I'm not sure if SFX Awareness is a valid trope, but in that scene you can see Michael Waverly (DiNozzo) flinch just before the squib on Kate's back splatters him with blood.
* What the hell is NCIS even doing investigating half the cases that they investigate? For example, Ari was probably a matter for the CIA, even if he did do all those bad things inside NCIS. It could be theorised that they weren't actually supposed to be investigating him but they did anyway because of Gibbs' vendetta, but still...
**
** In addition, Ari's first attack was conducted inside NCIS headquarters. Which, in addition to being ''NCIS' own headquarters'', puts the attack in NCIS jurisdiction because their headquarters building is on a US navy base (Washington Navy Yard).
** NCIS is, in fact, a law-enforcement agency heavily involved in anti-terrorist activities, particularly in the past decade. They are involved in any terrorist activities that can "be a threat to the Navy or Marines". As Ari was a suspected terrorist, it would fall right into their jurisdiction.
*** But if somebody attacks the Navy or Marines they are not terrorist, they are only terrorist if they target civilians. NCIS would not go after a terrorist unless they attacked a military contractor on a naval base (like Ari did).
*** Besides, Special Agents ''are'' civilians. Their civilian status is why they're 'special agents' instead of just 'agents'. So shooting Gibbs and Gerald in shoulder while taking Kate and Ducky hostage was an act of terrorism, since all of the involved were civilians.
*** For that matter, even attacking active duty military personnel is terrorism and/or criminal activity unless done in an actual war zone by legitimate combatants... which Ari is not, becaues he fails to meet the Geneva Conventions standards of 'wearing openly identifiable uniform as a hostile force' and 'obeying the Geneva Conventions'.
** Also, Gibbs was ordered to back off more than once. He didn't.
** A LOT of the cases they're involved in would really not be their jurisdiction. In reality, if it's not ON Navy property (including ships) it's not their business no matter who the victim or killer
** You are seriously underestimating their jurisdiction over crimes committed by or against Naval and Marine officers. According to their own [https://web.archive.org/web/20131206130626/http://www.ncis.navy.mil/FAQ/Pages/default.aspx web site], their criminal jurisdiction includes:
*** All crimes punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice by confinement of more than one year (note that they don't investigate purely military offenses, like desertion or consensual sexual activity.)
*** Felony crimes when Navy personnel/properties are involved, and
*** '''Any''' death of a naval service member other than natural causes.
** Having said all that, Gibb's team has been described as one of the [https://web.archive.org/web/20131206104757/http://www.ncis.navy.mil/MissionSupport/MCRT/Pages/default.aspx Major Case Response Teams]
** Additionally, although a Federal law enforcement agency, NCIS is so small and specialized that the majority of civilians they meet and question would not ever have heard of the agency before. Why does the authoritative badge flash always elicit recognition of the agency and meaningful cooperation, rather than the suspicion typically levied when someone claims to be from a police agency that (as far as you know) does not exist? (Best guess: having the main characters give a presentation on the existence and role of NCIS five times per episode would be very tiring.)
** This did come up a few times in the early episodes, but after that they dropped it. At about the same time that the show's publicity ought to mean that people in the real world would start to recognise the agency. [[Celebrity Paradox]], maybe?
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** Where did you get the idea that it killed a lot of people and leveled half the building? Not to be a dick, but just because she says it's volatile doesn't mean that it is some super powerful explosive that can do a ton of damage despite very little volume, it means it doesn't take a lot of added energy to make it blow. Also, Kate gets patched up in an ambulance afterwards.
** I assumed it killed a lot of people because there were several ambulances outside the building and I assume not all of them survived. As for leveling half the building, I admit that was a guess but considering the fact that hours later the fire was still going it definitely caused a lot of damage.
*** Not necessarily. Let's say that it was a very small explosion (enough to kill her and the guy). The concussion and "shrapnel" (body fragments) would probably hurt or even seriously injure those who were very close. A hand grenade has a kill radius of approximately
* The serial killer who wasn't a serial killer in ''Smoked''. How ''did'' the toe get into his stomach? Assuming that they weren't a serial killing/toe eating team and the husband just ended up dead because the wife got tired of him, that is. If he really was innocent, and she killed him because he found out she killed people, why force him to eat the toe? If she forced him to eat it so that they would think he was the killer, why try to incinerate him? She had no way of knowing he would get stuck and found, ergo: no need to feed him the toe. Right?
** Yeah, this bugged me too. I always had the feeling that I was missing something and I could never figure out what it could be.
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** I think what you said about them being a team is the explanation. She got mad at him over something and killed him, then kept right on killing.
* Maybe it's just me, but the ending of the season three episode ''Boxed in'' really bothered me. At the beginning of the episode, when Tony finds out that McGee and Palmer went to Ziva's for dinner, it's kind of funny and you don't really think about it that much. But then at the end, Tony finds out that he was the ''only'' one from the team not invited, and I was uncomfortably reminded of psychological bullying and ostracism from school. Is the viewer really supposed to find that funny?
** [[What the Hell, Hero?|No.]]
*** This isn't meant to condone her behavior or anything, but let's look at it from a different point of view. "Boxed In" is an early-ish Ziva episode. Tony IS rather obnoxious at times, and considering "Undercovers" and all of that he may have ended up making things awkward. Ziva was fairly new, maybe she didn't want to deal with that? Except, even that early, she didn't act that way...
*** I like to think it was kind of rectified when she took him home to dinner the night after. Just him. Sort of a non-verbal apology.
** I thought maybe she did it because asking her coworkers/friends to dinner was one thing, but asking Tony would be different. Maybe something romantic. And she did totally rectify it when she took him for dinner at the end as an apology.
* In the season four episode where some crazy stalker mimics the plot from <s>McGee's</s>Thom E. Gemcity's unfinished novel, they talk to his publisher since she's the only one who has read his script. She tells them that she may be the only one on her firm but definitely not the only one in the city, and then she says: "Obsessed fans always find a way to get material early. They dig through trash, hack computers, anything short of writing it themselves." Well, that's all fine and dandy miss Publisher, except that... they ''do'' write it themselves. Has she never heard of [[
** She probably has, but an obsessed fan can't write the actual canon unless [[Word of God]] okays it.
* Kate was almost always a bitch to Tony (and sometimes McGee) but nobody ever called her on it or punished her for it. While it is true Tony would often also tease her he was always scolded or hit for doing so and was nice to her several times. Perhaps the best example of this was SWAK when she finds out that Tony is infected with the pneumonic plague but she wasn’t she turns around and tells him that he also infected her and because of him she was going to die. Making a person believe they accidently killed someone they cared about is probably the meanest thing you can do to somebody on their death bed. While she showed concern for him when he was not around she never did to his face. Other examples of her being a bitch include when a heartbroken Tony came to her for support after the ATF agent he was interested in turned out to be a weapons smuggling traitor and she responded by reminding him he once kissed a heshe. There was also the time when she told everybody in the office his fraternity [[Embarrassing Nickname]], and after he threatened to show a legitimate picture of her in a wet t-shirt contest to get her to stop constantly insulting and humiliating him she responded by doctoring gay porn with tony’s face on it. Even her last scene has her being mean to him, after he told her that she did good and Gibbs said that “DiNozzo’s right”, she responded by saying she thought she would die before hearing that before being [[Killed Mid
** It's like you don't watch the show at all. Everyone makes fun of everyone all the time to keep their workplace's light and cheery mood. It's all friendly. You're making it sound like they're trying to hurt each other. The reason she's makes fun of Tony so much is because of the way he keeps playfully harassing her and "epitomizing sophomoric." During the plague thing, Kate said she was infected so she wouldn't have to leave. She did it because she cared and wanted to stay without regard for her safety. I'd hardly call it being a [[Jerkass]]
** I know it was always supposed to be fun and it usually was but there were times when he was hurt and tried to open up to her for support but she just responded by attacking him. She might not have been trying to hurt him but she obviously did. Even though she did obviously care about him a lot she never showed it to his face. While it is true she claimed he infected her so she could stay with him in SWAK she could have done it without making him think he killed her by pointing out that she could not get infected in that room like she did with the doctor a few minutes earlier or saying it was not his fault she got infected. Getting angry at Tony and Guilt tripping him for killing her was a [[Jerkass]] move no matter how you look at it.
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*** While the dog ''did'' viciously attack McGee, I thought they determined it was from the cocaine its owner had and the dog was otherwise very docile. They never outright explain it that way, though.
* I know that it "helps the show" but why are civilians that don't work for the Navy shown deferring to NCIS or even bothering to answer their questions? Yes...they ARE Federal law enforcement, but they have extremely limited powers when dealing w/ civilians and even people who don't know much about the military would have to at least suspect that is the case.
** Why wouldn't they at least answer their questions? Maybe it's this troper's small-town upbringing talking, but in my experience, most people will cooperate with the authorities when they're investigating major crimes (maybe not things like drug dealing, but murder? sure). Even the perps have incentive to at least appear to be
** In at least one case, Gibbs ordered a civilian hotel clerk to give up the key to a room. The clerk (a law student) correctly pointed out that the military equivalent of a warrant was needed, even if the room was charged to a service member's card. The exchange portrayed the clerk in a very poor light for being obstructionist, and he was eventually bullied into giving up the key without a warrant. Result? {{spoiler|An innocent and very troubled young man was confronted by armed agents, leading to his death.}}
* The"slapping the back of the head" scenes always bother this troper. The very last thing that I would stand for in any workplace would be my boss putting his or her hands on me. It seems childishly abusive and demeaning and would probably result in Gibbs either fighting w/ his subordinate or finding a new line of work.
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* McGee's subplot in "Freedom." Ok, so ''once again'' the Probie is the target of fraud and identity theft, totalling about $10,000, and it turns out that the culprit this time is some kid from his apartment complex. Tony tracks down the kid and brings him to the headquarters, and the kid smugly tells McGee that he did it [[Disproportionate Retribution|because McGee has a set daily routine, and is "too young to act so old."]] And Tony not only befriends the kid, but as a reward he takes him to GameStop to buy a video game ''and gets McGee to tag along''. Everyone goes along with this. Am I missing something here?
** If I recall the kid gave [[Hand Wave|an explanation that]] McGee would get most of his money back after the proper paper work had been filed. But that subplot was ridiculous and the episode would've been better with out.
* In "Double Identity" a man is shot and ends up in the hospital in critical condition. The team finds out he was not only a man missing in Afghanistan 6 years ago, but he was living a double marriage. When he's awake, the doctors repeatedly tell the NCIS team not to interview him because he's not stable. Tony, of course, sneaks into his room, and not only questions him about his double identity, but [[What an Idiot!|that his two wives know about it.]] [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|The man has a heart attack and dies.]] The nurse caught Tony at the last minute and kicks him out. The kicker? [[
** Because unless Tony actually physically did something to him, it would be pretty difficult to prove that he incited a heart attack just by talking to a guy.
* Is it just me or is NCIS sexist? The only major characters that get killed off are women! Namely Jenny and Kate. Now, I wouldn't want Tony or McGee to die but seriously? It's quite annoying to me. Maybe Leon can die next, that would be good.
** Male NCIS agents have died exactly twice, Brent Langer and Chris Pacci. FEMALE NCIS employee deaths include Kate, Paula Cassidy, Jenny, Michelle Lee, and Lara Macy. This issue has been noted several times.
*** Make that three times - {{spoiler|RIP Mike Franks.}}
*** Also, one of EJ's team members, who is male, is killed trying to arrest the
*** And now the gender ratio is 1:1. {{spoiler|Simon Cade, EJ's other team member, is killed for his computer chip.}}
*** Except even if the numbers are equal, look at the differences in the ''type'' of men and women to get killed. The women are all recurring characters we've grown to like and feel sympathy for. Except for {{spoiler|Franks}}, the men are either [[Affably Evil]] villains or one-off characters.
** Kate and Jenny were killed because their actresses wanted to leave the show. I admit they could've been [[Put
** From a dramatic point of view, female deaths tend to inspire more sympathy than male deaths, hence they are more common.
*** Yeeeah... [[Unfortunate Implications|That's]] [[Stuffed Into the Fridge|kind of]] [[Disposable Women|the problem.]]
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** Probably, but think about WHY those characters died. Kate was killed because Ari was trying to hurt Gibbs (and Gibbs IS a bit sexist). Paula Cassidy was actually the leader of a team and got to go out saving everyone. Jenny was director of NCIS when she was offed. Lee was a mole (and, going back to Gibbs being sexist, he would be less likely to suspect her). And nobody liked Macy. As for the men: Everyone but Franks was a random guest star. So, if anything, one might argue for a bit of sexism in the other direction: Lots of powerful women characters, but men (and Macy) get shoved in refrigerators. Or, more likely, the core cast is very penis-heavy, so most of the guest stars tend to be women.
* In the episode Freedom the victim’s widow was a violent and abusive drill sergeant/ martial arts instructor and boxer who was known for her short temper and loved of fighting, she was found to have several bruises on her body and everyone assumes her husband was beating her and she was a weak submissive woman despite the fact that was the opposite of her personality. They never suggested that he hit her in self defense, or it might have been a mutually abusive relationship, or even that she was telling the truth about how she got them and that somebody who likes fighting might be covered in bruises from sparing. When Gibbs suggested she was to proud to talk about abuse Ducky said she was to week and that her abusive behavior on the job was because she was powerless at home. I am not saying that the above situation never happens but they should have investigated other possibilities. This was a very tough and mean woman; if a man was in the same situation there would be no question in peoples minds he was abusing his wife. After giving her this situation she said that he was also psychologically abused because he threatened to take away their son because of her violent behavior. This is bad because NCIS had previously learned not to jump to conclusion with domestic abuse cases.
* Am I the only one bothered by the horrible portrayal of video games in the show? MMO's having leaderboards, Abby, being able to play [[
** You're not the only one. This troper, who has parents who believe video games to be the big cause of familial breakdowns(despite the fact that his younger sister is far more prodigal than he is, who is actually quite loyal and loving toward his parents, and outside of DDR and a brief attempt to get into Final Fantasy VII, she's never played video games in her life), has always loathed how a lot of media pundits and television shows have treated video games like [[The New Rock and Roll]].
** Well, the video game thing is kind of true of all media, if only because it is hard to show the games in live action (lots of takes, and you don't want the screen to be too distracting). But seriously, NCIS is HORRIBLE with technology to the point that I am starting to strongly suspect the crew are doing it on purpose because it is funny. Anyone with a basic knowledge of programming or network security is going to either burst into laughter or tears during any random episode.
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* Was nobody but me ever bothered by the fact that Tony seems to suffer from a case of Idiot Decay? In the first season he was shown to have been working with Gibbs as a two-man team for a while, something that takes both endurance and skill (and a tolerance for head slaps). Similarly, Gibbs must see / have seen something in him for keeping him on his team for so long, as the second in command no less. Additionally, Tony was shown to be capable before, especially when he was team-leader during Gibbs'... holiday of sorts and when he was offered his own team in Rota. So why is he portrayed more and more as an idiot with his only focus on women and so on? Jeanne was a nice break from that, as much as I despised her original setup, I loved her with Tony. Also, his role seems focused a whole damn lot on romance these days, serious romance as opposed to before, and not much more, he goes as far as breaking one of Gibbs' rules for that - which I, personally, never thought possible after the display of their relationship in earlier seasons. I mean, what the hell?!
** Glad I'm not the only one who's noticed this. While Tony still has his moments that demonstrate he's a great agent, his immaturity has grown to the point it's almost like a caricature of Tony from earlier seasons. The numbers of Gibbs Slaps dolled out to individuals other than Tony can be counted practically on one hand in Season 8. Heck the fact Season 8 had an episode in which Tony worried everyone by acting like a responsible adult instead of his usual juvenile self is probably a case of lampshade hanging.
* In the first episode about the
** Actually, Ari was her ''half'' brother. Apparently that's enough to spare Tony. Also, you must remember that she killed him to save Gibbs.
* So in "Playing with Fire", the team finds a letter that is written in Korean letters. Yet, when they get someone to translate it, she says it's in gibberish. If I remember correctly, McGee figured out the code by finding a program that turned English letters into Korean letters. So it was just English words written with Korean letters, right? If that is true, then why couldn't the translator understand it if she spoke both English and Korean? It would be no different than writing Japanese or Chinese words in the English Alphabet, would it?
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