User Reviews

I think this show is having a fairly decent season and the best they can in a post-Gibbs world, but this was fairly hit and miss. The undercover stuff, the ridiculous looking bad guys, there were some fun elements in this one, but overall the hour seemed to drag a little bit too much for my liking.

NCIS continues to do its thing and retain its loyal fanbase, but it needs more episodes that shake the formula up a bit, perhaps look to what SVU is doing over on NBC, for inspiration on how to be on the air 20+ years and still keep people entertained. I want great episodes from this show, and like we saw tonight, we're just getting okay.

Flat, flimsy, fruitless, flavorless, flawed. Building the episode around Torres was a waste. Neither the plot nor Wilmer Valderrama were believable. The acting never had the depth needed, even if the writing had been more than mediocre. The entire cast seemed to be just going through the motions for this entry. Tired plot, tired acting. No intensity, no tension, nothing to see here. And, for crying out loud, how many times did we have to hear the bartender call Torres "Handsome"! What happened to NCIS cases? The subplot of McGee going on a game show was only good for the ending scene. Kasie quizzing him using game show format in the middle of a murder investigation? No! Don't know where the so called writers came up with this clunker but someone at CBS needs to trade them in on some new models.

I can only assume there is no current writing staff for this series. This would the big stinking pile that was dished up for this episode.

The main plot revolved around theft of B Vitamins. The sub plot centered around one of the characters appearing on a quiz show. Neither of these plots really has anything to do with NCIS.

The biggest flaw in the episode was to center it around Vilmer Valderrama. He has far too limitied dramatic skills to carry an episode. And to suggest that he might be an undercover trucker is, well, just laughable. There are thousands of talented and entertsining Latino Actors who are enjoyable to watch. Mr. Valderrama is NOT in this group.

Zane Holz is the one bright spot in this episode. He should appear far frequently.

It is time to get competent writers - or pull the plug on this series.

Marco Schnabel, the writer of this episode, has written a number of solid episodes. "Big Rig" is unfortunately not one of them. It's not an awful episode, but falls short at the end of the day.

Let's start with the good.

. The production values of the episode are great as usual. The direction's decent, the music fits the scenery and the acting's fine. Personally did not have any problems with Wilmer Valderrama.

. It was nice to learn more about Sawyer, a character I have never been a fan of, and did like the theme of an undercover job can sometimes ruin lives. The ending scene with the whole team was heartwarming agreed.

But...

. The dialogue is not always spot on, there are very few good jokes here. Sawyer continues to be a boring character for me. Worst of all is the mystery, which never really gets going and feels bland. The culprit was extremly easy to figure out.

Overall, a mediocre episode.

4/10 HK.