False Witness

Okay, it has been a couple of days since False Witness aired and since I have watched this episode at least 10 times already, I feel that I am ready to write my review of this episode.

Let me start by praising Steven Binder, the writer of this particular episode.  Although I did not like EVERYTHING about this episode, I did feel it was one of the best so far in Season 8 of NCIS.  I have always felt that Steven Binder, along with Jesse Stern, are two of the best writers on NCIS so I was not surprised when I enjoyed this episode.  After all, Steven Binder was responsible for many of my favorite episodes and I have almost forgiven him for how he wrote Tony DiNozzo in "Borderland."  Almost.


I also want to congratulate Michael Weatherly, who plays Tony DiNozzo, on another outstanding performance.  This man will take any challenge given to him by the writers of NCIS and run with it.  While Michael's performances are always worth watching - when the writers throw a challenge at him, Michael steps up and knocks the performance out of the ball park.

"False Witness" showed us a serious Tony DiNozzo - one who was all work and no play.  This serious Tony DiNozzo really messed with his co-workers, who wondered just what had gotten into Tony.  McGee tried time after time to get Tony to tell a joke or toss out a movie reference, to no avail.  Gibbs and Ziva also noticed this new "serious" Tony and Ziva finally confronted Tony while waiting for an interrogation to begin.

Why was Tony DiNozzo so serious?  Brenda Bittner, the girl he had a one night stand with and who thought they were in a committed relationship in "Obsession" last year, wrapped her car around a tree and then entered a hospital for depression.   Seems Brenda had lots of problems and while her one night stand with Tony may not have caused this problem, Tony felt badly anyway.  No surprise there, since we NCIS fans know that Tony has a habit of blaming himself for things that are not always his fault.

As for the talk between Ziva and Tony, I do not know that what she said would have cheered me up if I were Tony.  Being told that I needed to be more respectful of others, especially when it comes to matters of the heart from a woman who followed me into a men's bathroom in order to yell at me for allowing myself to fall in love with someone I should not have (Jeanne - the scene in "Family") would not ring true.  And for a man who wears the mask of a clown in order to hide his true emotions, having Ziva tell him that he is loved by others because he is that clown would have only depressed me more.  However, Tony seemed uplifted by the talk and pulled one of his pranks at the end of the episode that topped any others he has ever done. 

Still, i do not think that Brenda Bittner is all of the problem - simply a tip of the iceberg.  Hopefully, the NCIS writers will pursue the underlying issues that Tony DiNozzo may have in later episodes. At the very least, I hope the NCIS writers are back to writing Tony as the competent, yet funny agent that we all know and love from previous seasons and not the over the top guy we have seen throughout seasons 6-now. 

I also loved Ducky and Abby in this episode.  Ducky was entering the world of Facebook with the help of his assistant, Jimmy Palmer and was very thrown by the fact that there were many women who wanted to meet him.  Ducky is too modest.  Who wouldn't want to meet such a sweet, good-looking, older gentleman like him?  And Abby's turkey trot was adorable.  Can't help but love that girl.

Jimmy Palmer was back in this NCIS episode and might I say he was a welcome addition.  I do wish that Jimmy was in every single episode of NCIS.  Ducky needs his right hand man to talk to and Jimmy always brings fun to the episode.  Loved his turkey gobbling and the reactions it garnered from Gibbs and Ducky.   I also felt sorry for poor Palmer after Jerry, the witness got through talking to him - he was crying.

Speaking of Jerry the witness, his appearance garnered mixed reviews.  Some NCIS fans felt that he was very annoying and wanted him never to return while others really liked his insight into our favorite characters (Gibbs' loneliness, McGee/Abby and Tony/Ziva relationships).  Me?  I tend to agree with the NCIS fans who found this character annoying - nothing against the actor, of course.

All in all, this a great NCIS episode and one that I have already watched over and over and plan to more in the future.  What did you think about it?