User Reviews

NCIS is overall a well-written, well-acted, and well-executed series. But sometimes the details of the plot just seem too incredibly unbelievable. For instance, why would any thinking person choose a safe house in which the door is always left unlocked? I'm referring of course to Gibbs house which has been used as a safe house repeatedly throughout the series. Not only is it unlocked, but it is a house Gibbs has lived in for many years, so not exactly a secret location!

Also, having Gibbs sleep on the couch for a couple decades after he lost his wife & daughter and after he's been married THREE MORE TIMES because the memories are too special in that bedroom also just kind of insults the audience's intelligence.

This episode's plot where a middle-school aged kid is out walking alone after dark and witnesses a drug-related murder also strains incredulity. The family wasn't living in the middle of a ghetto.

Worth watching for the humour provided by the fake UK trip

This episode sees Vance and Fornell go to London - hilarious

When we first see them in 'London' Fornell is sitting in a stationary black cab and Vance is outside the cab, a few feet from a red telephone box. In the background is Big Ben and we hear it too. A man walks up to Vance and speaks in code and Fornell asks if he's from MI6. The man is wearing a trench coat so he must be MI6. He repeats the code phrase to Vance who provides the correct answer and a package is passed to Vance and trench coat man walks away.

In the background we see white vans, black cabs and red buses

Our next glimpse of London is a pub called the Whip & Carriage and, in case we're in any doubt, the hanging sign outside has London on it, at the top where the brewery's name usually is. As they go into the pub an Old English sheepdog runs out the door (a German Shepherd may have confused American viewers). Fornell describes it as a traditional pub with charming locals

Inside is filled with 'locals'. Are any of them playing dominoes? if not, they missed a trick there. An accordion can be heard - why?

Vance & Fornell tell the landlord they need to speak to his niece and he drives them to the cottage where she is staying. The cottage is "off the grid" and in case you're in any doubt as to it being in the UK there are sheep grazing in the garden. Yes, sheep in the garden. Beyond the garden there are green and British looking fields

Later the sheep prove to be useful guard dogs. We have clever sheep in the UK

The episode is worth watching for the humour provided by the tongue-in-cheek fake UK trip. The humour has to be intentional doesn't it?

A standard enough episode from plot point of view, with a routine case to solve, while the team is distracted with previous events and a previous baddie to hunt down. Sold on the basis of Michelle Obama's guest stint - she did a nice job in her brief scene, and the show furthered her humanitarian cause nicely.

But I have to hand it to the clever scriptwriters and director Dennis Smith for a superb execution of the art of misdirection. The episode is winding up, and we've seen the awaited First Lady guest appearance, so the audience is off-guard. Suddenly out of the blue a major character is shot and we're thrown into a tizzy at the last minute (for another cliffhanger "To Be Continued..." finish). So the injection of Michelle's superstar power into the episode wasn't just for the fun of it but an extremely effective distraction that takes the viewer's eye off the ball just long enough to be surprised.

I missed having Tony written out of this particular episode in the waning days of Weatherly's stint on the series, but the teaser for next week delightfully had Harmon namedropping Ziva to get our hopes up for one last reunion.

This is one of the worst episodes that I have ever seen of NCIS, and it was extremely condescending to the United Kingdom ..... a pathetic script, totally taking the mickey out of the United Kingdom, ridiculous filmed backdrops .... seriously, sheep in the garden, 'I'll just go and put the kettle on' ... awful and the directors should be ashamed. If they want to make significant reference to the UK in the episode then they should at least go to the UK and film, and if they can't do that then please avoid the disingenuous impersonation of both the British countryside or the British accent - or better still, rewrite the episode avoiding involving the British altogether

I can't believe they had the first lady talk about how they cared about veterans and their families. Their administration demonstrated anything but. This episode could have been a lot better if they had stuck to professional actors. Her sad lack of acting experience, and her thirst for the limelight, destroyed the essence of this episode.