NCIS, catching up and such...

[lyssie]

Spoilers for stuff that's been shown recently.

1. I... I don't know how to say this, but I think a lot of the writing for this season has been pretty shitty. Sure, it's the same team, sure there's stuff that will always resonate and be amusing with me, but--

I don't know. There's just something about the quality that has really felt... lacking. Like the writers are in their little niche and not pushing themselves anymore.

2. The last two episodes had OMG TWISTS to them which felt really lame. The setup was lame, the execution was meh. I think the writers are trying too hard to be different and NEW and just ending up being boring.

3. Abby's new whiny "OMG YOU GUYS ARE IN DANGER AND IT'S TEARING ME APART" rants are really fucking obnoxious. STOP IT. I'm just waiting for them to use this as an excuse to maim/rape or kill her so they can bring in new blood.

4. I didn't think I'd say this, given how much I didn't like him last season, but... I miss the new director. I mean. I miss Jenny, too, but she's gone. And the new director is now about as hands-on as the first director was, which was sort of boring.

5. Ziva. This is something I've been noticing, just from having watched earlier episodes, but... They're turning Ziva from her own unique person into a stereotypical "ballsy chick" thing, like Kate was (which is NOT AN INDICTMENT OF KATE. I like Kate, but Ziva shouldn't be Kate 2.0, fuck it all). Used to be, Ziva got the upper hand with Tony nine times out of ten, because she wasn't trying to be some American Girl. Now, she loses to him most of the time, and she's trying to conform and be Cute.

6. Martha Hackett did a fabulous job in the prison episode. I just. Man. She's a fairly gifted actress, it's a pity she's not around more often. (also, I'm pretty sure it was McGee's little girlfriend who killed the bad guy, because that makes way more sense)

7. Torri Higginson was also smashing. And she called Ducky 'Donnie'. *cackles*

8. Can we have a tv series with Torri and Martha and half a dozen others? That might be awesome.

9. That said, there was... still a lot of questionable hinkiness in the prison episode. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but--

Meh. That is sort of my reaction to new NCIS these days. Older episodes, I giggle and curl up and cheer. Newer ones, I'm sort of watching to see what questionable content will annoy me this time.

Comments

[waterdaughter.livejournal.com]

That makes me sad. I don't think I've seen almost any of the new NCIS, and I love the old ones so much it's stupid. (Well, it was especially welcome coming shortly after watching a shitload of Law & Order and realizing how much I hated those shows.)

Mostly unrelatedly, I'm still in Hawaii (coming home on Monday Tuesday, fucking redeye flights) and there is BSG sitting on the DVR waiting for me. So you may get random comments on your entries when I finally do get to see it. ;)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

It's not even like it's a massive reduction in quality. It's more like... they're just lazy and relying on old tropes and memes to get them through.

The Ziva thing is... maybe subtle, but, I can't help but hating it.

And BSG and NCIS are never unrelated. ;]

[rihansu.livejournal.com]

I've only seen the last two episodes of this season. I'm mainly catching up via Sleuth and USA so I don't really know what's going on now.

3. Oh god, just the though of them doing something to Abby makes me shake with rage. I heart her so much.

5. That's because she has realized her True Feelings for Tony and a lady never shows up the man she loves. *gag* I haven't seen JAG in a zillion years but I have vague recollections that the same thing happened to Mac once they really started going down romance road with Harm and Mac.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

3. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE ABBY. Every time I find one, the world is a little less awesome.

5. ARGH. That is so annoying. I really hope they stop it, and soon.

[rihansu.livejournal.com]

I feel sad for those people, they are missing out on epic awesomeness.

Me too. I heart Ziva too, especially they way she'll say something and then sort of silently crack up because she finds herself hilarious. I love her and Tony le Super Doucher is just not awesome enough for her.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

I doubt they'll do anything to Abby, just because it would be astoundingly stupid from a marketing standpoint. Unless they're tired of her getting all the media attention. I don't think I've ever seen a solo interview with anyone else from the show, but I've read at least half a dozen with Pauley, most of them before I watched a single ep.

But yeah, the flipping out needs to get dialed back. I sorta liked the one at Ziva, where she was like "Can I just get this out?" because I took it as "Let me deal with this my way, and then I'll be done, 'kay?", and that makes sense to me for Abby. Only it didn't really turn out quite that way, and I was confused. And then just a couple days later, I saw an older one (I think it was an older one...three eps a day on USA with little rhyme or reason, everything starts to blur) where everyone was looking at her expectantly, and she was like "What? I can't flip out every time you guys almost get killed. I'd have no energy for anything else." And I CACKLED MY HEAD OFF.

Mostly it's that they need to keep her unpredictable. That's tough to do with any character over the long run, but they can do better.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I think that's because Pauley is a very good interview subject (and I've read a few solo interviews with Harmon and Cote de Pablo here and there). She's bubbly and personable and really REALLY loves her job.

But I think they are setting something up, and it's far too heavy-handed not to annoy me.

You know the funny thing is, the Abby freaking out at Ziva thing happened in a season four episode, and neither came out happy, but it worked. But yes to Abby not flipping out EVERY time.

*waits for it to improve*

[ladyniko.livejournal.com]

To give Abby some due, she kept it together when she was questioning Jimmy on Ducky's attack.

And, Torri again rocked the house on NCIS. They should totally bring her back more, or as the rumors abound, set her up as the ME on the spin-off. :)

[brookiki.livejournal.com]

*sighs* Agreed on pretty much everything. I like the series, but Season 6 has been a disappointment. A friend theorized that it was the writers saying "Look! We can write great episodes, too."