NCIS, Season Five (2007)

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Rated: TV14

reviewed by Rissi C.
 

Note: due to the former season ending on a cliffhanger, this review will be revealing spoilers that relate to it, as well as for the explosive fifth season.

Having been dealt a tempestuous blow and finding himself in a situation he doesn’t quite know how to handle has caused Tony (Michael Weatherly) to pause and take a hard look at how his latest mission ultimately ended. Something he isn’t used to has happened -- he’s fallen in love with his undercover assignment, Jeanne (Scottie Thompson), the daughter of a prominent arms dealer that Director Shepherd (Lauren Holly) holds a personal vendetta against. Certain his mission has been compromised when Jeanne surprises him by introducing her father, Tony immediately sends the signal to NCIS headquarters, alerting his team members to something they didn’t even know was happening. Panicking over not being able to contact him, together they work to figure out what went wrong. Acting quickly, McGee (Sean Murray) manages to access street video coverage, only to provide the footage for Jenny and Gibbs (Mark Harmon) to watch his car blown to smithereens, prompting them to begin one of their more emotional investigations yet: solving the murder of one of their own agents.

Immediately upon arrival, Ziva (Cote De Pablo) and McGee are shattered when faced with the destruction and by seeing Tony’s body, the realization hits “home,” most especially when his gun and I.D. are discovered among the wreckage. While Ducky (David McCallum) neither confirms nor denies the body being Tony’s, what he does verify is the body structure being nearly right. Despite all forensic evidence suggesting it was Tony, Abby (Pauley Perette) refuses to believe it and instead sets about proving it wasn’t their beloved friend.

Many of the characters have undergone and will continue to experience things of a more personal nature. Last season, we saw Tony really come into his own not only through the benefit of a relationship (which we didn’t know was bogus in certain regards) but through his steadfast manner and respect toward his boss. His being thrown back under Gibbs could have caused many problems but offered him a window of opportunity in earning his own team. Instead he chose something more honorable. Gibbs’ past is sort of a continuous underlying plot; it is brought to the forefront in a touching episode (“Requiem”), but is barely present in others until the finale. Building this season is Ziva’s constant concern for Tony and the possibility that she holds affections of the personal kind for him instead of the platonic feelings of a partner. Even nearer the end, we sense Tony may reciprocate them. Each only want what’s best for their co-workers and while some may annoy viewers (I’ll admit, Tony may be the main offender of that feat), generally there is a reason behind their goading or insensitive manners. Ziva’s most difficult case comes in “Recoil” and while you may not have expected it, Gibbs is the one who breaks the barriers of her troubled mind.

What makes this series work so well with these characters are the actors; the making-of features revealed each have a little bit of their fictional counterpart in them. Pauley has really studied forensics, is a bit of a Goth and fell into acting quite by mistake. David has attended Medical conventions (and been a featured guest speaker!) and Sean is a “computer geek,” who builds his own computers. These qualities make their job “effortless” when knowing all this information, or at the very least why everything seems to click so well for them to embody their characters. No wonder they seem so realistically comfortable in these roles. Since first beginning, this show has undergone numerous changes, mainly in becoming more sophisticated and in polishing their image, something that’s been not all together unpleasant to experience. Even in the fifth season small things switch things up a bit; whether it’s something different about Ziva’s hairstyle or giving McGee a dog, things remain colorful. The technology stays much the same but has quickly become even more of a forerunner since McGee too has matured and come into his own as a valuable team member. The trivial manners are what so create an enjoyable atmosphere among the comrades -- whether it’s the team’s term for Gibbs of “Boss,” Gibbs ability to seemingly appear out of thin air and know exactly what was or is going on, or team loyalty, everything is top-notch. Dialogue is whip-smart, too. Should creators attempt change, or even minor “tweaking,” nothing would ever be the same.

Unlike before, this season most of the sexuality has been eliminated instead leaving us with the standardized occasional violence and nude bodies in need of an autopsy from Ducky; “Family,” “Identity Crisis” and “Chimera,” remain the most troubling in those respects. Bodies are blown up, and shown in the aftermath, stabbed, shot or mauled. Suicide is dealt with in “Leap of Faith,” ending tragically. “Ex-Files” finds the victim with a spear through his chest. Some will be bothered that a dog is the sole suspect (the victim is pretty mauled) in “Dog Tags,” he’s also shot when attacking a man. “Recoil” tells about a sick serial killer stabbing women and removing their fingers (we see his collection kept neatly in a case). Depending on individual’s own opinion, you may or may not mourn the death of a lead character in the finale in an implied violet showdown. That same episode has Ziva uncharacteristically letting an invitation lure her into a one-night-stand with a patron she had formerly met at a bar (they are shown lying together; before the camera cuts away, some foreplay is present beneath the covers). Characters drink on occasion. Profanity is heard in different forms (mainly s**t, ba*****d, etc.).

Despite a shorter season due to the writer’s strike, most plots are just as intriguing. The continuous intertwining dimensions between Jenny and “the frog” are finally cleared up in a manner that will leave you nothing less than shocked! All these events build in small, detailed clues that one member of my family cannot stand, making it possible that if you like things spelled out neatly without having to look beneath the surface or recall to mind previous occurrences, chances are you’ll find these impossible to enjoy. But I personally love the intrigue. This show requires that their viewers search along with the characters for the subtle clues in order to actually “solve” these cases and ultimately to make obvious just what did happen in the case or what exactly the person is confessing too. A brilliant instance of that is found in “Internal Affairs.” In many respects, season five is one of the best yet, not only for a severe toning down of content, but in various closures and new openings -- including another tragedy for the team to endure. No matter how you will look at it (“improvement” or “mistake”), it’s an emotional roller coaster that affected me a great deal more than I’d expected.

From a brief reuniting of former lovers to the prospect of new love to seeing Palmer become involved in more than just an autopsy to deep and melancholy regrets, it may just be the best yet, albeit a season that will leave you begging for a quick resolution to a very colossal obstacle…