Reviewing last week's NCIS, I said that it's rare for anepisode to feature an extraordinary case, yet superb character development. Well, maybe that's not true.
The CBS smash did it again on "Gone." Moreover, there was a good splash of humor, making for a nice, well-rounded episode.
Normally, the cases on NCIS involve a dead Marine, Naval officer or some other member of the military and that's it. But here we got a little more. Navy Captain David Wade ends up shot to death, but that's not the immediate concern.
The big problem is he died trying to prevent his daughter, Lydia and her best friend, Rose Martin from being kidnapped.
The man is most definitely a hero, but unfortunately, the kidnappers manage to get Rose. So, the top priority for all of NCIS is to find this missing girl, with time more critical than ever. They have 48 hours at the most.
After realizing that the kidnapping is focused on human-trafficking, Gibbs turns to an old foe, Miranda Pennebaker, a woman with questionable morals but major connections.
Gibbs makes the right decision because she leads the team to the kidnappers who were planning on selling Rose and shipping her to God knows where. Miranda is an interesting character. She's a woman with a very shady past, but one who I think is truly trying to change and become a straight arrow. With the smile on Gibbs's face at the end (and as we know, Gibbs rarely smiles), I think he sees this in Miranda as well. I have a feeling we'll be seeing this character again before too long.
Last week, we were treated some exceptional character development from Gibbs and this week it's Ziva and Abby's turn.
Poor Lydia, with her father dead and her mother deployed halfway around the world, really has no one to turn to. So, Ziva and Abby offer to stay with her, basically be not only her guardian but her friend until her mother returns home. I'm sure you've noticed before, but most of the characters on NCIS don't really have much of a life.
The only real exception is Jimmy Palmer ever since he got married, and perhaps Abby with her new-found brother. However, even though these characters may have no real family, they are the ones who truly know the meaning of friendship. Ziva does an exceptional job relating with Lydia, connecting with her about how she lost her siblings, Ari and Tali. And Abby is just hilarious trying to cheer Lydia up by talking about how awkward she was in her high-school days. Within just hours after her father is murdered, Lydia is able to laugh and comment to Abby that they probably would have been friends in high school.
Those were just some really cool scenes, and we get to see sides of Ziva and Abby that we hadn't before.
Of course, the icing on the cake took place at the end with the big mystery "date" of Ziva's with this Schmeil, who we are told is a well-respected Hebrew man. Tony is all up-in-arms and obviously jealous, and then... Schmeil Pinkhas walks through the door!
He's not some hot dude that Tony expected, but an old, wise man that has known Ziva since she was a child and was just there for a visit. Of course, we fans knew something like that was coming, but it was still funny as hell to watch Tony sweat it out. But the best part was yet to come, as this Schmeil knows DiNozzo Sr. Was I the only viewer who yelled "Holy sh*t" at the TV when he said that?!?
And, oh, yeah, the old man wants DiNozzo Jr. to come along with him and Ziva, because as he said, "DiNozzo, let's party!" Oh, yes, like father, like son!
There is one big upside of this: Ziva and Tony did get a date, right? Even if this weird Schmeil was in the middle of it? We'll take it.