Tony's Tuesday Review: 9.01 Nature of the Beast

[dragonheart]

Episode Title:9.01 Nature of the Beast
Caf-Pow Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Review Episode Review 1159 words
Spoiler Warning: Not only does this review contain spoilers for this episode, but it also contains very slight non-specific spoilers for the season.  If you aren't up to date on the season, read with caution.
Note: I have no clue why my formatting is messed up - I have tried to fix it a couple of times, but no luck.  My apologies.

 

It seems the whole Phantom 8 phenomenon will be revisited in the finale arc (making for a full circle season), so I decided to go back and rewatch the season premiere of Nature of the Beast. I have to admit when this episode first aired, I was not too enamored with it. I was hoping that getting some season perspective on it and watching it for a second time would soften my position. Sadly, it didn’t.

Before I get into why I didn’t particularly like this episode, I do want to take a minute to applaud the wonderfully talented Michael Weatherly – he was the one of the few saving graces in this episode, he at least made it bearable to watch. He has such range and depth as an actor, and it never ceases to amaze me that he doesn’t get much industry or public recognition outside the NCIS fandom – maybe it has to do with his role choices for movies, but that’s a topic for another time.

I can sum this episode up with the newly introduced Rule #36 If you feel like you are being played, you probably are

Gary Glasberg told us in one of his pre-season spoilers that a new rule would be introduced in the first episode and it would play an important part in the episode and he was right. Lots of people got played:

§ Latham played Jarvis

§ Jarvis played Tony

§ Tony played EJ

§ EJ played Tony and Gibbs

This was the episode of whose playing who. Normally, I like that kind of stuff and this had all kinds of potential, but it had some plot holes and inconsistencies that ruined my enjoyment of it. Normally a plot hole or two doesn’t bother me too much, because 1) what may appear at first glance to be a plot hole may later be revealed as a plot device to be addressed further down the storyline 2) sometimes they can’t be avoided - the writer writes himself into a corner and the only way out is to fake it (as a fanfic writer – I have been there and done that) and then you cross your fingers that the rest of your story is good enough that the readers/viewers won’t notice or if they do notice, they won’t care too very much.

 

A plot hole is different than an unanswered question – a plot hole is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline or characterization that goes against the flow of logic previously established in said storyline or character.

 

I like things to make sense – I rather enjoy a good mystery and hanging threads that will be picked up later and where you can see how it all fits together nicely. It’s the inconsistencies and the illogical stuff that gets me all up in a dander.

 

These are the plot holes that affected my enjoyment of the show:

 

·         Bloody badge  (in Tony’s jacket pocket) recovered at the scene-

 #1 - isn’t that evidence? Why isn’t it being treated as evidence? Shouldn’t Abby be analyzing it instead of it being passed around in ungloved hands in a hospital room? Chain of custody anyone?

#2 - don’t those things have serial numbers on them – couldn’t you just run the number and find out who it belongs to and the answer of whose blood that is will be answered? I am sure Abby could do that – if she had the badge!

·         EJ – seriously what is going on your mind?

o   The man who works for you comes to you and says “oh, by the way – if something happens to me, there is this super secret microchip implanted in my left wrist, take it out and give it to a guy named Wright.”

o   Do you as his boss and a NCIS agent not want to know more? I mean your agent obviously has something else going on other than being a NCIS agent – aren’t you curious? Aren’t you suspicious of where his loyalties may lay? You are just going to accept that and not ask questions? Aren't you a trained investigator?

o   Something does happen to said agent – you cut the super secret microchip out of his arm and are now heading off to parts unknown – Wright is in DC – why are you leaving town?

o   Aren’t you a little nervous you might be betraying your country by handing over a chip you know nothing about (and aren’t even curious about) to a man you know nothing about? Do you trust Levin that much, even though he obviously had a duplicitous life and he didn’t trust you enough to tell you what was going on?

·         Why did Stratton feel the need to shoot Cade dead body with Tony’s gun and plant Cade’s badge in Tony’s pocket? Doesn’t he know any Medical Examiner worth his salt is gonna know that the kill shot didn’t come from those bullets and that they were fired into the body postmortem?

·         If Stratton came to the hospital to kill Tony why did the presence of Dr Cranston stop him? He had already killed Wright and Cade; and shot Tony once. Would the idea of killing a doctor stop him?   A cold blooded killer isn’t going to let one more body stand in the way of finishing the job. He had a silencer on his gun – two quick shots are no more likely to be noticed than one.

 

I went into my second viewing of the episode hoping that some of the issues had been resolved somewhere throughout the season and also to help solidify the players and the background of the Phantom 8 arc – kind of a finale preview of sorts.

 

Some of the questions left open at the end of this episode were answered in 9.12 Housekeeping, but that episode also added a whole other slew of questions to the Phantom 8 arc which I won’t go into here, but I think I will rewatch that episode before the finale too.

 

Questions from this episode that haven’t been resolved yet and to which we might possibly get answers in the finale arc:

·         How did Mike Frank’s get his insurance policy (ie the box he left with Gibbs) and is it just a coincidence that it happens to have a file on Phantom 8 – complete with pictures of the ONI operatives? 

·         What exactly are on those microchips?

·         Who exactly are the Phantom 8?

 

 

Who knows, after the finale arc is finished – I may have to watch this episode again and perhaps I will come away with a greater appreciation of it, but I won’t be holding my breath.

 

Comments

[whiteink]

How did Mike Frank’s get his insurance policy (ie the box he left with Gibbs) and is it just a coincidence that it happens to have a file on Phantom 8 – complete with pictures of the ONI operatives?

That box was William Decker's insurance policy that Mike took after Decker and Jenny were killed. The coded pictures in the diner lead him to it.

I think Phantom 8 is something that Decker must have investigated or been involved with at one point.