"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

NCIS 9.8: Intersections with Reality

A powerful, sensitive NCIS 9.8 last night, which begins with Gibbs dreaming about Shannon, awoken with news about a plane bringing fallen Marines back to the United States, which crashes.  It turns out that Marine First Lieutenant Gabriela Flores, thought to be among the fallen, was apparently not on the plane - none of her DNA was there - and the story shifts to an attempt to find out what happened to her.  This is the first of a two-part story, so we'll find out more next week.


The story is very much Gibbs', with his much younger self played by Mark Harmon's son Sean.  Any episode that tells us more about Gibbs is always welcome and prime.


But what I was thinking about most, this morning, as I set out to write this little review, was the synchrony between last night's episode and what's happening in the real world.  The news broke yesterday about the mishandling of Marines' remains at Dover Air Force base.   I couldn't help envisioning what Gibbs would have thought and done about this.


And I've been thinking for two weeks about former Marine Scott Olsen, who was critically injured by a point-blank shot to the head with a rubber bullet, fired by a cop in Oakland, California when Olsen was peaceably demonstrating as per his First Amendment rights.  I've called upon President Obama to send in the National Guard to protect our American citizens from out of control cops - just as Eisenhower sent in the Guard to protect the civil rights of Americans in the South in the 1950s - but I don't expect that to happen any time soon.


But how would Gibbs react to what happened in Oakland?  What about the NCIS-LA team?   They no doubt would have already gone in, and brought the criminal police to justice.  Sure, they would have run into resistance from the local authorities, but that never stopped them before.


If only our real world could be as just and satisfying as NCIS on television.


See also NCIS 9.1: Unpacking Partial Amnesia ... NCIS 9.2: Lying to Yourself ... NCIS 9.3: McGee's Grandmother ... NCIS 9.4: Turkey Vulture as Explained by DiNozzo ... NCIS 9.5: Behrooz's Mother ... NCIS 9.6: Too Good to be True ... NCIS 9.7: "You Were My Shannon, Leroy"

And see also NCIS Back in Season 8 Action ... NCIS 8.2: Interns! ... NCIS 8.3: Tiff! ... NCIS 8.4: Gary Cooper not John Wayne ... NCIS 8.5: Dead DJ, DiNozzo Hoarse, and Baseball ... NCIS 8.6: The Written Woman ... NCIS 8.7: "James Bond Movie Directed by Fellini" ... NCIS 8.8: Ziva's Father ... NCIS 8.9: Leon's Story ... NCIS 8.10: DiNozzo In and Out ... NCIS 8.11: "The Sister Went Viral" ... Bob Newhart on NCIS 8.12 ... NCIS 8.13: The Wife or the Girlfriend ... NCIS 8.14: Kate ... NCIS 8.15: McGee and DiNozzo's Badges ... NCIS 8.16: Computer Games ... NCIS 8.17: Budget Cuts ... NCIS 8.18: Gibbs vs. the Kid ... NCIS 8.19: The Deadly Book ... NCIS 8.20: CIRay ... NCIS 8.21: Mask and Eye ... NCIS 8.22: "I'd Rather Have a Lead" ... NCIS 8.23: Answers and Questions ... NCIS Season 8 Finale

And see also NCIS  ... NCIS 7.16: Gibbs' Mother-in-Law Dilemma ... NCIS 7.17: Ducky's Ties ... NCIS 7.18: Bogus Treasure and Real Locker ... NCIS 7.21: NCIS Meets Laura ... NCIS Season 7 Finale: Retribution

2 comments:

sffan12 said...

That's because the real world is more complicated and different from TV Land. Or so they say..

Paul Levinson said...

Yep, for better or worse ...

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