The Positively Positive

Michael Weatherly, Cote DePablo and Sean Murray in NCIS season 7, episode 4 “Good Cop, Bad Cop”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

After a few weeks of skirting around the issue, in this episode we finally got to see exactly what happened before Ziva was captured in Somalia. It all starts, as most cases do on the show, with a dead Marine. Turns out said Marine was on the ship with Ziva and there begins a dance as everyone on the team tries to get to the bottom of the story. I really enjoyed watching the team work together to help Ziva and especially got a kick out of Gibbs and Vance doing their version of “good cop, bad cop” routine.

Highlights….

Tony referencing my favorite Edgar Allen Poe stories, The Telltale Heart.

McGee and Ziva completely ignoring Tony’s shenanigans in the background as they negotiated with each

Ziva very nearly putting her foot in her mouth by telling Tony that he was nearly as inept with computers as Gibbs.

Great line: “Yeah, boys and I gotta a pool going – whoever grows it the thickest. Looks like a damn Teen Wolf convention.”

Pauley’s commercial for the Warriors in Pink t-shirt. Really cool since I have a close family member who is a breast cancer survivor. Way to go, Pauley!

Gibbs hanging out in the Director’s office to watch him question Ziva. Very interesting how those two decided to proceed.

Tony telling McGee to “take a breath, have a keyboard.” – hilarious.

The rest of the team working on the case without Gibbs and doing a bang up job at it.

Tony nearly walking out of autopsy with a skull in his hand. I can so see that happening.

Ducky pointing out to Gibbs that there are other types of love than the “tough” kind. It is the one Gibbs is best at though.

Vance interrogating Ziva while Gibbs once again watched silently and invisibly from the other side of the glass.

Finally seeing Ziva do the job she always trained to do. Not that I haven’t always seen her as a tough chick, but I did enjoy seeing her hold her own in a group of men on that ship.

Ziva saying that a snake trying to crawl back into its shedded skin was unnatural. Very interesting as I guess that means she knows she’s not the same person she used to be before she joined Gibbs’ team.

Once again seeing the way Tony can turn off the silly on a dime. The moment he hears that Malachi arrived, he instantly flips into serious agent mode.

Gibbs and Vance continuing to run their little show from behind the scenes.

Tony’s little chat with Malachi, showing his barely contained anger at the man for not only the way Tony was treated in Israel but also the fact that he and his team were the ones that found Ziva when Mossad had written her off.

Abby’s philosophy to not look for anything in particular, so as to find more answers. Pretty brilliant.

Tony opening his mouth to speak to Ziva in the elevator, but ending up not saying anything.

Ducky cleverly locking Tony out of autopsy so he could talk to Ziva alone. Was it just me or did it look like Tony wasn’t surprised, nor upset by that? Perhaps it was planned?

The way they flipped back and forth between Ziva telling her side of the story and Malachi telling his and how they used the images from the past to do it. Very effective and it worked really well to build up the tension.

Finding out that Vance had been playing “good cop” the whole time. Gotta admit, that surprised me. I actually thought he might have been doing “bad cop”.

Tony figuring out that the shooter had to be Malachi because he missed and Tony knew he had an injury when he shook his hand. Genius!!

The way Tony tossed the specimen jar to Gibbs and he caught it, not only passing evidence but the entire story in that one maneuver. The fact that Gibbs and Tony can say so much without speaking a word is just amazing.

Gibbs going all “bad cop” on Malachi. Once I saw that, I had no doubt that Vance had been playing the opposite role. Let’s just say I’d never want to be on the other side of that table with him in that kind of mood.

The way Gibbs showed his protection of Ziva, telling Malachi she was off limits, etc and Ziva proving her loyalty (and dare I say, love?) to him by quoting one of the very first things he ever taught her.

Finally understanding why Ziva kept saying she never expected to live when they found her. She followed orders and went in alone on what should have been a suicide mission. Wow!

Gibbs telling Ziva that a part of her died out there. The part that was loyal to her father – the man who sent her to certain death.

Gibbs leaning over to whisper into Ziva’s ear and watching her immediately start to cry before he kissed her gently on the head. I must have rewound that part at least 4 times but still couldn’t figure out what he said. I still cried though, I’ll admit that right now. What an absolutely beautiful and touching moment.

Vance continuing the charade with Director David to keep an ally. Very clever.

Tony and McGee arguing over who won the bet, deciding that neither of them were going to do all the paperwork and McGee putting it on Ziva’s desk. The moment he did that I clapped because I knew it meant that Ziva was a “probie” now. Gibbs then calling her that was just icing on the cake.

Overall I thought this was a fantastic episode, bringing us up to date on everything that happened to Ziva and clearing up the past so that she could move forward with NCIS in her future.

More NCIS….

NCIS, Season 7, episode 1 “Truth or Consequences”

NCIS, Season 7, episode 2 “Reunion”

NCIS, Season 7, episode 3 “The Inside Man”

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