Ray Bradbury's 1951 The Illustrated Man told the stories in tattoos all over a vagrant's body - it was a Canterbury Tales for the science fiction age. Last night's NCIS 8.6 tells the story of a naval officer with all kinds of self-inscribed writing all over her body. She's drugged and runs into the street and is killed by a car. The team has to understand what she was trying to convey in her writing if they are to understand why she died. The result is a cerebral, compelling episode of NCIS which resonates with Memento and Fringe.
My first thought that was that the ink in the self-inscriptions contained some kind of poison, quietly infused by the killer, which is what got Clea Thorson drugged (like Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, I suppose). I wasn't that far off. The poison came cumulatively from Clea's showers. Meanwhile, Abby does a great job of cracking the code and Clea. It was good to see her snap at Gibbs in the heat of the investigation - realistic.My favorite line came from McGee this week. When DiNozzo reveals the name of his new flame - Ethel - and waxes on about what the name means to him, McGee offers: "I've fallen, and I can't get up." Point McGee! The only name with an "E" that I can think of that's even more great-grandmotherly than Ethel would be Edna.
But DiNozzo polishes off the episode with a banging impersonation of John Travolta, in Saturday Night Fever garb. Michael Weatherly could have a good career doing impersonations, if this NCIS gig ever gives him some time.
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
And see ee 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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The Plot to Save Socrates
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
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