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Thursday, January 5, 2012

NCIS 9.12: DiNozzo and ...

NCIS was back on Tuesday with its first episode of the new year - 9.12 - which got me thinking about the new form of story telling NCIS has quietly adopted:  End the previous season with a series of cliff-hangers or at least questions.  But then, rather than resolving all of them in the first episode, or even the first few episodes, of the new season, resolve only some of them, and leave the rest for later in the season.  This has the good result of making the later episodes seem both fresh and weighty, an attractive combination.

We last saw EJ at the end of season 8 - not killed - but she hasn't been on hand since then, either.  In fact, she's been missing all season.   This left not only where she was and what she was doing up in the air, but her relationship with DiNozzo, which played a pretty significant role last year, inviting a lecture from Gibbs to DiNozzo to steer clear of such involvements.   She was back in 9.12, in a story which wrapped at least one loose end from last season and also the Stratton thread (featuring Scott Wolf of V) from the premier episode of the current season.

But what about EJ and DiNozzo?  They exchange a weak kiss and longing looks, and that's about it.   EJ's off on another job.

Which would be unfortunate - especially given the flack that Gibbs gave DiNozzo over EJ last year  - had we not been thrown another old/new curve.  Is there something brewing, again, between DiNozzo and Ziva?

They throw each other, if not meaningful, some kind of different-than-usual looks at the end of the episode.  Ziva of course still is in some sort of relationship with CIRay, which is clearly frayed due to Ray's absence.  But he'll be back next week, and here's hoping Ziva cuts him loose and goes for another round with DiNozzo.   What would Gibbs say about that?

See also NCIS 9.1: Unpacking Partial Amnesia ... NCIS 9.2: Lying to Yourself ... NCIS 9.3: McGee's Grandmother ... NCIS 9.4: Turkey Vulture as Explained by DiNozzo ... NCIS 9.5: Behrooz's Mother ... NCIS 9.6: Too Good to be True ... NCIS 9.7: "You Were My Shannon, Leroy" ... NCIS 9.8: Intersections with Reality ... NCIS 9.9: Twists and History ... NCIS 9.10: Almost One Agent Short

And see also NCIS Back in Season 8 Action ... NCIS 8.2: Interns! ... NCIS 8.3: Tiff! ... NCIS 8.4: Gary Cooper not John Wayne ... NCIS 8.5: Dead DJ, DiNozzo Hoarse, and Baseball ... NCIS 8.6: The Written Woman ... NCIS 8.7: "James Bond Movie Directed by Fellini" ... NCIS 8.8: Ziva's Father ... NCIS 8.9: Leon's Story ... NCIS 8.10: DiNozzo In and Out ... NCIS 8.11: "The Sister Went Viral" ... Bob Newhart on NCIS 8.12 ... NCIS 8.13: The Wife or the Girlfriend ... NCIS 8.14: Kate ... NCIS 8.15: McGee and DiNozzo's Badges ... NCIS 8.16: Computer Games ... NCIS 8.17: Budget Cuts ... NCIS 8.18: Gibbs vs. the Kid ... NCIS 8.19: The Deadly Book ... NCIS 8.20: CIRay ... NCIS 8.21: Mask and Eye ... NCIS 8.22: "I'd Rather Have a Lead" ... NCIS 8.23: Answers and Questions ... NCIS Season 8 Finale

And see also NCIS  ... NCIS 7.16: Gibbs' Mother-in-Law Dilemma ... NCIS 7.17: Ducky's Ties ... NCIS 7.18: Bogus Treasure and Real Locker ... NCIS 7.21: NCIS Meets Laura ... NCIS Season 7 Finale: Retribution



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4 comments:

Kate said...

actually she was in season nine's season opener

Paul Levinson said...

Thanks, Kate. Was she? I remember seeing her in the season premiere, but I thought that was in flashbacks.

Kate said...

Yep..they were memories within the story...(which I guess can be "flashback" but not reuse the same clips from previous episodes.

Paul Levinson said...

Ah, ok, so we're both right :)

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