GENERAL
KNOWLEDGE: WHY NCIS RULES| CAPTAIN: | You JAG or NCIS? |
| GIBBS: | Do I look like a lawyer? |
| -- “Hung Out to Dry” (01.02) |
When I first joined the Geek Speak team, I offered to review NCIS, (which stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service, for those of you who aren’t in the know), and was sadly turned down because it wasn’t considered in-genre enough, primarily being a crime based show (despite the really cool geeks and occasional dabble into international espionage). But finally (finally!) I get my chance to present my love letter to NCIS.
I’ve always been a big fan of shows that have a team of people who are like family to one another exchanging witty banter while dealing with the adventure of the day. My other two favorite shows, Stargate SG-1 and Airwolf, both have this in common. But with NCIS it’s very much like my two favorite shows got together and had an adorable baby (only without the aliens or the awesome helicopter).
NCIS actually began life as a spin-off of Donald Bellisario’s long-lived and successful JAG series (Bellisario also produced Airwolf and Magnum P. I.). It’s now been going for so long it has its own spin-off (NCIS: LA), and a few years ago became America’s most watched TV show. Personally, I think America was a bit slow on the uptake... and here’s why:
Leroy
Jethro Gibbs| TONY: | Our team leader is the fearless special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Former Gunnery Sergeant, Marine sniper, coffee afficionado, and functional mute. |
| -- “Truth or Consequences” (07.01) |
Of course, it couldn’t be a show that I love if it wasn’t a show with a tortured, grumpy, and gorgeous hero heading up the team. Silver-haired Mark Harmon’s Gibbs definitely fits the bill. Gibbs, an ex-Marine, has a tragic past (his first wife and daughter were killed by a drug dealer), and is a law unto himself (he went off and killed said drug dealer way back). He’s a maverick, dedicated to his job, drinks far too much coffee, builds boats in his basement, and shows love for his team by Gibbs-slapping the backs of their heads when they need it.
And, his Daddy is Papa Walton! OK, so Gibbs’ Dad is just played by Ralph Waite who played Papa Walton (who also confusingly played Booth’s Granddad in Bones the same Fall season he appeared as Gibbs’ father causing a surge of NCIS/Bones fanfic where Papa Gibbs was leading a double life and Booth was really Gibbs’ nephew -- or maybe that was just in my head) but still cool.
 Abby |
From the original female lead, the late Kate Todd (Sasha Alexander), through her replacements Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) and the late Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) to series’ mainstay Forensic Specialist Extraordinaire Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), the women of NCIS kick a LOT of ass and don’t take any prisoners. (Well, except for when they send people to prison, that is.)
Kate was ex-Secret Service, Ziva is ex-Mossad, Jenny was a veteran NCIS field agent and Abby… Abby is a Goth-styled geek who bowls with nuns and sleeps in a coffin while working scientific wonders in her lab.
| TONY: | Abby Sciuto. NCIS resident forensic scientist. A paradox wrapped in an oxymoron surrounded by a contradiction in terms. Sleeps in a coffin. Really, the happiest Goth you'll ever meet. |
| -- “Truth or Consequences” (07.01) |
All of them are smart, fierce but vulnerable, and surprisingly for mainstream American TV, unconventionally beautiful. While it is a little bemusing that it’s the women who keep getting bumped off, NCIS is one of the few shows who’ve survived major changes in the cast of their female characters (Kate left at the beginning of Season 3, Jenny at the end of Season 6) and survived the subsequent mutterings in fandom.
 Tony and Gibbs |
At this point, I’m sure you’re thinking that I’m just going to go through the entire cast of characters (and you’d be right) but that’s because they are simply brilliant. Michael Weatherly’s DiNozzo does deserve a mention of his own though – and not just because Weatherly is a very hot guy and has genre cred (Dark Angel, Charmed).
As Gibbs’ right hand man, DiNozzo has been there from the very beginning, making the journey from movie-loving wise-cracking sidekick to undercover spy who falls in love with the girl and back to movie-loving wise-cracking sidekick without missing a beat.
| TONY: | I'm the wild card. You know, the guy who looks at the reality in front of him and refuses to accept it. |
| -- “Truth or Consequences” (07.01) |
 Ducky and Palmer |
OK, so I couldn’t write a love letter about NCIS in Geek Speak Magazine without highlighting The Geeks.
From Abby, ruling the evidence lab to Ducky (David McCallum) and Palmer (Brian Dietzen) holding court in autopsy to Agent Tim McGee (Sean Murray) with the world of technology at his fingertips -- more often than not, it’s the Geeks who set out the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that enables the team to solve the crime and get the bad guy.
More than that, NCIS celebrates geekiness and intelligence. It makes being smart seem like the in-thing. Even when DiNozzo is razzing McGee, it’s done with an underlying note of affection and that it’s OK.
| TIM: | I built an application for my phone. |
| TONY: | Why is that important to what we're doing here? |
| TIM: | With a vehicle's VIN number you can access all the vehicle's pertinent information, including key and remote codes. Hack into a database, download all the codes, and there it is. |
| TONY: | Wow. I'm glad that MIT education paid off for something, McGeek. |
| -- ““Double Identity” (07.17) |
 Ziva and Tony |
But what really makes NCIS work is the relationships between the characters. There’s Gibbs playing Dad to all four of his chicks (Tony, Ziva, Tim and Abby). There’s Ducky, who gets to be everybody’s favorite old Uncle with a story for every occasion. There’s Step-Dad Vance (Rocky Carroll), the boss, who is slowly being trusted after "Mom" Jenny died in a bloody shoot-out.
There’s Ducky’s friendship with Gibbs; there’s Gibbs’ friendships with his old trainer Mike (Muse Watson) and his FBI sometimes-ally Fornell (Joe Spano), who also just happens to be divorced from one of Gibbs’ ex-wives.
There’s DiNozzo’s bromance with Tim; his big brother love for Abby... and of course there’s the phenomenon of “Tiva” -- the will-they-have-they-did-they-sometimes-on-sometimes-off maybe-possibly-might-be-a-thing Tony has with Ziva.
| ZIVA: | Why are you here? |
| TONY: | Couldn't live without you, I guess. |
| -- “Truth or Consequences” (07.01) |
But Tiva isn’t the first ship to tease at the NCIS audience; Gibbs had an affair with Jenny back when they were agents and there was always the possibility of more; there was the kind-of flirtation of Gibbs had with Kate in the first season that soon got replaced by Kate with Tony. There was Ziva with Michael; Tony with Jeanne. There’s been Abby and Tim in her coffin; there’s been Tim with the polygraph lady. Even Ducky’s had his moments with Doctor Jordon Hampton (Stargate Atlantis alumna Torri Higginson).
NCIS isn’t a show to shy away from shipping controversy that gets fans in a dither -- and more importantly keeps fans watching.
 Shannon and Gibbs, in happier times |
Throughout the show, Gibbs’s rules are often referenced: rules like "Never date your co-workers" and "Always work as a team." Rules to live by! Heartbreakingly, it’s shown in one episode that Gibbs got the idea of the rules from his late wife, Shannon (the really fantastic episode that introduced Papa Walton).
| SHANNON: | Well I have a rule. It’s either rule number one or number three: never date a lumberjack. |
| GIBBS: | You’ve got a rule for everything? |
| SHANNON: | Working on it. Everyone needs a code they can live by. |
| -- “Heartland” (06.04) |
Personally, despite the occasional banal episode of the week, occasional stretch of believability (McGee as a secret best-selling novelist comes to mind), and the occasional misstep (Jenny’s obsession with an arms dealer called the Frog comes to mind), I think there should be another Gibbs’ rule: watch NCIS!!
And if you don’t yet do so, get someone to ever-so gently Gibbs-slap the back of your head until you do. And then thank them for it.
--
Rachel Day
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