2/8 Episode Review - "Man Walks Into A Bar..."

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2/8 Episode Review - "Man Walks Into A Bar..."

In the crime show genre, the “everybody has to talk to a shrink” episode is an old favorite, and usually is a device that promises big deep psychological reveals about all the characters. The February 8th episode of NCIS, “A Man Walks Into A Bar…” doesn't waste any time in indicating that it is going to be one of those episodes. I was disappointed about the shallowness of these reveals for most of the show, but I believe the last ten minutes made it all up. This isn't one of the rake-you-over-the-coals heartbreakers for which NCIS is so famous, but it is awfully sweet, and I enjoyed watching it.

The cold-open sequence was decent; it didn't really stand out from the hundreds of others they've used over the course of the series, but it did the job with the usual punch. Of course, it was quickly obvious that this wasn't one of “monster of the week” episodes where the case itself would be front burner at all; the point was much more character-driven and concerned with the long-term storyline. Actually, in this case it was more of a flash-back storyline. It comes as no surprise Director Vance is trying to keep his team out from under a pysch evaluation; as lovable and hot-shot as these folks are, they are four big walking messes. “Who has the most to talk about?” she asks. How would you even choose?

I don't know if it's the switch between writers or directors or what, but different types of NCIS episodes have different looks and “feels” to them, and this one had the light/funny/sweet look. In fact, it had exactly the feel that used to be in those episodes that… wait, no big spoilers here. So anyway, we're really not afraid from the get-go that our team is in any great peril. The flashback scenes in the interviews are carried out in a sort of corny fashion, with echoing voices and zooming sounds at their open and close, but it works. All I have to say about the ending is I should have seen it coming; as it is I only caught it about 45 seconds before the big reveal, when the director is practically whacking you over the head with it. I'm not talking about the case ending, of course – the anticlimax there only serves to enforce that that part of the storyline is absolutely unimportant to the episode.

This kind of episode, with all of the flashbacks and a psychiatrist candidly telling the characters –and, of course, their viewers–what's really going on deep inside them is a device; it's a chance for the writers to break the fourth wall and tell you directly what they want you know about the show, the stuff that they didn't feel like dancing around via an actual storyline. There's plenty to keep us busy here in that vein – for my money, the revelations about Ducky are the most compelling – cute mind trick, too. Ziva's is decent, Tony's are a little heavy-handed, and I found Abby's and McGee's nearly meaningless – just an excuse to insert the clips they wanted to insert. Gibbs, of course… well you can guess they way they do him is going to be different from everyone else. The intimacy in the third to last scene is hands down the sweetest part of the episode, even though it's understated; Mark Harmon sure can fire up that chemistry on command.

The last few minutes are really very sweet, and that direct letter is the absolute bluntest way the writers have of telling you what they want you to hear. “Their selfless dysfunction is ultimately why it works,” though? Folks, if we've been watching more than two or three episode of this show, we're already going to have picked that up. For those of us who have been hanging around a long time, however, this is a touching and gratifying little ditty, and all I have to close with is to say man, they really found an actress for the shrink who looked the way they needed her to look. Freaky.

Cat Racker
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 05:33:38 +0000

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