All Hands

After a horrible season 18 and a bad start to 19, writing has been better lately. You can't do so many bad things to main characters and expect happy viewers. Killing Emily Fornell is one example and it was totally unnecessary. It's only impact on the ongoing storyline was negative. It should have been obvious Gibbs was about to leave. And I will always resent the way they dumped Bishop. But things are looking up.

Parker brings a new approach to managing the team. He is actually reasonable. He doesn't have to be a hard ass with his subordinates. It's refreshing.

The childish behavior of main characters still pops up now and then but it is subdued. Likewise the flagrant insubordination. Even Vance is more reasonable.

One might argue that the showrunners have transformed this into a completely different show. In some ways that is true. Semper Fi will be more difficult to bring in. Time will tell.

This episode was well written. The stage was set with Vance questioning Parker's "the team" comment. The climax plays right off that. And for many of us who lean Trek instead of Wars, hearing the original theme song dug past our surface thoughts into our subconscious giving subtle hope for a positive outcome.

The storylines lately have been very far fetched, or just plain boring. This one was good. Yeah, there were still some "that wouldn't work" moments, but finally, I was pleasantly surprised. Good script, good storyline. About time, NCIS. Thanks for restoring my faith in you.

This episode was one of the best in a long time. Still waiting to see when Gibbs (Mark Harmon) returns which would top this episode. Really loved how they attempted to fix the paper doll 🎁.