TV Review: NCIS - "Blow Back" - Page 3

Enter NCIS Medical Examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum), who is tapped to conduct the exchange with La Grenouille. The team is assembles replete with the sniper team (Archangel) of DiNozzo and Ziva (Ziva as marksman). Ducky meets the operatives and turns over the software. He is then approached by La Grenouille with whom he converses in French about Italian opera. They seal the deal in Ducky’s car, drinking 200-year old cognac. Ducky finds the poisonously urbane La Grenouille, who reveals his name to be Rene, charming. To help Ducky cover, he wears an earwig and is directed by McGee over the technical points. Before La Grenouille departs, Ducky presses him for payment (which is in diamonds). As La Grenouille boards the plane, Shepard is asked by Ziva to give the kill order. Shepard receives a 911 call on her phone. She calls down Ziva and reveals that the CIA is in deep cover on the plane with La Grenouille, ostensibly in the guise of Trent Kort.

By ten lengths is “Blow Back” the best episode of the season. Finally NCIS writers have quit farting around and begun a story line with meat. What propels episodic shows are questions. What was Shepard’s relationship with La Grenouille? What is Shepard’s relationship with DiNozzo? What are Shepard’s feelings toward Gibbs? Where is DiNozzo going with his relationship with Benoit? Where does Ziva, who is now a third wheel, fit in? When will McGee and Abby re-consummate their relationship? “Blow Back” shows NCIS getting its traction and accelerating toward the season’s end.

Article Author: C. Michael Bailey

Arkansas son C. Michael Bailey has been in hiding since he revealed his family's abolitionist position prior to the War Between the States. He is a Senior Reviewer for All About Jazz and publisher of the webblogs (About) 100 Words On…, 100 Degrees At Midnight and The Pot Calling The Kettle Black. …

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