“Skeleton Crew” was a highly enjoyable episode, from the character
moments to the Halloween-esque murder mystery.
The episode opens with a very real injured Marine stumbling
around at a haunted house/masquerade thing while Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D
minor plays in the background, the
classic creepy Halloween music. On this same stormy night, Gibbs’ peaceful
evening is interrupted by a stranded traveler and a call from Vance. It turns
out his random visitor was not so random after all, and is actually a forensic psychologist
there to observe him (I think. They’re not too clear on that part). The search
for the Marine’s kidnapped wife leads Bishop and Torres to a ship in the middle
of the hurricane, where Bishop’s high school bully is currently the XO. While
originally one might think the intent of the kidnapping and attempted murder was
jealousy, this is not Criminal Minds
and the tag-team bad guys for the week were actually just after a whole lotta
money.
The episode crammed in so many references to modern events.
The whole premise of the power being knocked out because of a hurricane would
have been very realistic probably around the time this episode was in
production. I enjoyed the references to Game
of Thrones and Hamilton (though
the writer must be a Jorah/Dany shipper and that I really can’t abide by).
We get so many great moments with our characters just having
fun being their characters. Jimmy all excited for his first solo week by
putting on a bowtie (and apparently singing “My Shot” over and over). Abby gifting
the team zombie apocalypse emergency kits (and the beepers inside end up being
how they let Bishop and Torres know, hey, you’re trapped on this ship with
possibly the murderer). Torres getting his coffee and leaning back as Bishop
and Buckner chat.
 |
| Vance brings SA Sloane to "meet" Gibbs. |
The most interesting part of the episode is of course SA
Jack Sloane (and Gibbs being Gibbs, but that was expected). The way she is
inserted into the story, and especially with the episode ending with her, makes
me think that she will be around a lot more. Perhaps she will sort of become an
Abby-replacement once Pauley leaves at the end of the season? At any rate, her
presence is a very intriguing one and I wonder how they will use her in the
future (without the show turning into Criminal
Minds, that is).
I guess the only thing that could have made it better would
have been playing a little more on the theme of it being a masquerade and having
to detain people and somehow the whole team was trapped in the haunted house.
Though that might be a little too Scooby-Doo. The NCIS Halloween episodes rarely disappoint.
10/10
No comments:
Post a Comment