NCIS – What Child Is This? - Review 16.10 - "What Child Is This?”
Written by Scott Williams
Directed by Michael Zinberg
Reviewed by KathM
Just lovely.
The holiday spirit is in the air, and the NCIS family is feeling it. Once again, the episode gives us more information about our main cast of characters than we’ve had before, and I like that.
I found the main storyline disinteresting overall. Only a 17-year-old former addict would give up the chance for their child to have a good home in order to give him to her former dealer (he's called Vicious) for $10,000. Then again, that’s a lot of money for most 17-year-olds. And the lawyer guy was creepy, I wish someone had beaten him up. The addition of Jerome (a veteran volunteering at a homeless shelter), who saw Vicious buying the baby and was killed by him as a result, was a nice tie-in to bring NCIS to the scene. I was surprised that it was Kasie, among them all, who would find meaning and a measure of peace in working the case, but I love little surprises like that.
Things I saw and what we learned:
Delilah is Jewish. Always glad to see another religion represented in a Christmas-themed television episode, even if it’s only mentioned.
Torres is going to Chez Palmer for the holidays this year, and he’ll be playing Candyland with young Victoria Elizabeth. I would pay to see this. How much do you want to bet that he cheats and she calls him on it? But really, what about Torres’s sister and her family? Where are they? Grumble.
Kasie’s dad is a whole thing. He sounds like a strong and caring man, and you can see how much she misses him. I know so many people who regret the last things they said to someone they cared about and can no longer take back, and I’m glad she got some measure of resolution in working on this case. It was good to know that while her father had some trouble adjusting to life after his overseas tours, he was able to settle down into a secure job, raise two successful women with a loving wife and give back to his fellow veterans by trying to help them acclimate to coming home. I liked seeing Kasie open up to Jimmy about that part of her life, though it was hard for her, and her unexpected military connection was bittersweet. Diona Reasonover played her scenes extremely well, and it was nice to see someone other than easy-going, somewhat awkward Kasie on screen. I'm glad she has a loving family spend the holidays with. And finding the Purple Heart was as meaningful to Jerome as it was to Kasie.
Watching as Gibbs continues to change over time makes me happy. Like when he hugged Ellie and McGee and Sloane (who also got a kiss on the forehead!) for different reasons this episode, he seemed very comfortable with it. And he was much less messed up about sharing Kelly’s old things and putting up a tree than he would have been before. “Old” Gibbs would have been sitting in an empty house, but this one is opening himself up to memories.
OH MY GOD GIBBS IS BRINGING THE BASSINET DOWN FOR LITTLE LOGAN CODY NICHOLAS TO SLEEP IN AND IT WAS KELLY’S AND YOU JUST KNOW GIBBS MADE IT WITH HIS OWN HANDS AND THERE’S AN ORNAMENT ON HIS TREE THAT SAYS “TO DADDY FROM KELLY” AND I NEED TISSUES!!!
Deep breath. Better now.
Bishop reflected on her life after nearly being shot and killed as if it were a natural thing, not some big dire, “I need to move to the Bahamas and become a snorkeling instructor RIGHT NOW!!” kind of thing. The relaxed and thoughtful way she does it shows how comfortable she is as a person. It also got Torres thinking too, but he didn’t share much. They make a good team and seem very open and unguarded with one another.
Sloane dosing Tanya (the baby’s mother) with a little reality about having a child and raising it alone and why it would be better to let him grow up in a loving, stable family really filled my heart. So many shows have the messed up mom reunite with her child and decide to keep it and everyone smiles as she leaves the episode, but you can just guess what the kid’s life will really be like. But Sloane, a biological mother who’d also gave up a child for adoption, was able to get Tanya to see that she and her baby would both have better lives apart from one another. And adding that additional, unexpected dimension to Sloane was an interesting surprise, particularly as she looked at photos of her biological daughter Faith on the Facebook-hybrid.
Relationship-wise, I do think they’re moving toward a Bishop/Torres, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. What I’d really like to see is a Bishop/Torres one-time either hookup or attempt at a hookup that makes them realize they’re better as close friends and not be freaked out by it forever. Maybe they'd even laugh about it. Gibbs and Sloane…sometimes I see them as two soldiers who have both lost a lot in their personal and professional wars and who are very close because of that, or sometimes I see them as something more. I think if it is more, they’d keep it to themselves. Which is what I think they're doing. And that’s okay.
“Gotta hold on to what you can,” Leroy Jethro Gibbs
And so ends this heartwarming, thoughtful episode of NCIS. The Fall Finale, I guess we call them now. See you here back on January 8th, when the next new episodes airs.
Sending you wishes of Peace and Joy in the coming year, Kath.
