This episode opens with a stripper walking in on what she thinks is a bachelor party to find three dead men. From their shaved heads, it looks as if they were Marines, but the stripper tells NCIS one of the dead men hired her, and had hair at the time. Furthermore, the team discovers the “bachelor” at the party wasn’t actually getting married.
Tony says he’s heard of cover-ups for bachelor parties, but never a bachelor party covering for something else.
Following a lead that the third dead man thought he was being tailed, NCIS’s investigation turns up Baltimore cop Howard Shelley, who went to high school with the victims. Though she is still seeking official reinstatement with NCIS, Ziva suggests a way to track Shelley’s unregistered cell phone. Shelley calls in denying he killed the three men, but on his way to meet with Tony, he is shot.
At this point, I had no idea who the killer was. Shelley killing the three men to get back at them for bullying him in high school seemed the strongest possibility. Two other suspects were questioned before the culprit was found. You might have predicted who it was, but there was no way to know motive without watching through to the end.
Equally compelling were Ziva’s reconciliations with Gibbs, Abby, McGee, and Tony—even more momentous when you consider how unlike Ziva it is to open up about her feelings. I especially liked Abby’s scene, a combination of indignation at Ziva’s distrust of the team and sympathy with Ziva’s personal situation—brilliantly delivered by Pauley Perrette.
In Gibbs’s final scene with Ziva, he was clearly the audience’s lie detector. If he believed her, we could all trust her again. With her father leaving her in the cold, Ziva called Gibbs the closest thing she has to a father. It struck me that if she had said this anytime earlier, I would have found it hokey.
“Reunion” is another great example of what NCIS has always done well: a story that shows each regular character’s unique but essential contribution to the team’s success.
Did anyone get the impression that Ziva was maybe going for a little more than a kiss on the cheek and changed her mind when Tony did nothing? Either ways, it’ll be interesting to see how their relationship progresses and how her psychological problems affects everything. Full review of the episode.
Ziva should stick to being the cold kick-ass bitch she is. She’s not good at showing emotions, and she appeared artificial especially when she was smiling to the other cast when trying to reconcile with them.
So does that mean you didn’t find her telling Gibbs she felt he was the closest thing she had to a father at that point in time NOT hokey?
That scene made me cry.
It seems to me that Ziva has been given a second chance at life. She expected to die in the desert. Starting out a brand new person can be intimidating, especially when your shrink is probably telling you to be more open, more honest with your coworkers.
And Ziva has never been cold, really. Self contained, bluntly honest, but never cold.
I think this episode was the perfect time for Ziva to tell Gibbs he was like a father to her. If she had said so anytime in the previous four seasons, it wouldn’t have moved me as much.