NCIS - "Twenty Klicks" (12x01) CBS, Tuesdays, 8 p.m.
Venerable crime procedural and ratings behemoth "NCIS" returns for its 12th season and for only the second time during its long run, its premiere doesn't serve as a continuation of a spring-fed cliffhanger. Instead, last season ended with a heartfelt send-off of Jackson Gibbs as well as actor Ralph Waite.
With the ability to start afresh this season, the premiere gives us an action-packed episode with shot-down helicopters, gun fights and wilderness survival. It also begins what appears to be the new ongoing storyline, but more about that in the spoiler section.
This was a solid episode, with much of it devoted to Gibbs and McGee as they travel to Russia to pick up "IT Kevin" (Ethan Rains), who seems sure he's being followed. Of course, he's not paranoid if people are really willing to shoot them out of the sky over the wooded frontier on the Russian/Finland border, now is he?
What I really liked about this episode is that it lets McGee show his capabilities. Too many times last season he seemed to serve as the butt of the joke, but here we get to seem him act very cool under extreme pressure, but also serve a bit of a teacher for the clearly-out-of-his-depth Kevin. I hope this is a trend that continues.
The rest of the cast gets their shakes as well, but this episode was mostly about Gibbs and McGee. "NCIS" has been really hit or miss episode-wise for the past several seasons, although it hasn't seemed to hurt its ratings so far.
BEYOND HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
"NCIS" has been particularly bad at telling extended stories lately, so I'm not sure how to feel about this latest one, with yet another man out for revenge against Gibbs. I know Mark Harmon is the star of this ensemble show, but we've long since run the "Gibbs is the target" story line into the ground.
I also find it an odd choice to have the catalyst for this latest vengeance trip be the death of Ari Haswari, way back in the first episode of the third season. Not only does it seem odd for an alleged business associate to hold such a grudge, but to begin the salvo through such a convoluted manner stretches credibility.
But most of all, Ari is irrevocably tied to Ziva, who left the show at the start of last season with the very public exit of nine-season veteran Cote de Pablo. You would think the writers would want us to forget about her. Fans are still very much up in arms over the departure and many have yet to really welcome former NSA analyst Ellie Bishop into the fold. So why set up a story line that will do nothing but remind us of who's not there? Especially considering it was Ziva, not Gibbs, who killed her brother, a fact I'm pretty sure is still only known by those two. Despite my reservations of the concept, I'm quite curious where they're going with this.
Bringing things back to this episode, I do have to give credit to actress Alison Haislip, who played doomed Lt. Commander Hannah Banks. For a one-off character, her death scene was quite poignant.
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