Shabbat Shalom

It's Yom Kippur, 2023, and USA Network has programmed this episode of "NCIS" in its syndication schedule. The show's production team and CBS were far more tasteful, broadcasting it 10 years ago in January, unrelated to any Jewish holiday, but now there's always an excuse or a hook to exploit some piece of entertainment.

There's a routine main story (or it would seem until another story leapfrogs over it midway) of the team hunting for the killer of an unscrupulous (and much hated) reporter who specializes in writing exposes about the military. Just as I was getting interested, Cote de Pablo finds her dad, the hed of Mossad, waiting for her in the parking lot at her health club. He's in America secetly on a mission.

Needless to say, NCIS wanting to tail daddy and find out what he's up to takes precedence over all else. The next subplot centers on Rocky and his wife, their relationship and Rocky ending up hosting Ziva's dad for dinner. Everything gets connected before the "To be continued" card is flashed at the end, but the writing is horribly contrived and punctuated by shock effects (and audience manipulation).