'NCIS' Season 17 Episode 16 brings out an alternate universe that fans feel is a 'Dick Wolf levels of f**kery'
Spoiler alert for Season 17 Episode 16 'Ephemera'
There's no such thing as too far fetched or bizarre a concept to be a reality on the CBS procedural 'NCIS' except probably giving Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David their long overdue happily ever after. So naturally, to zhush things up in Episode 6, the makers decided to give fans an alternate universe that for some reason saw Agent Jethro Gibbs and Jack Sloane as siblings instead of the romantic liaison it's supposed to be, and much to our relief showed a clear cut picture of what it would be like if Elli and Nick actually pursued their romance. And according to fans, while it left them teary-eyed, this is as classic Dick Wolf (Richard Anthony Wolf) as things are going to get on a crime procedural.
Wolf is a television producer known for his illustrious work as the creator and executive producer of the 'Law & Order','Chicago' and the 'FBI' franchises. Noting how the alternate universe dynamics are twisted just the right amount to be featured on one of Wolf's franchise, a fan expressed on Twitter: "Making Gibbs and Jack siblings in this weird AU is some Dick Wolf levels of f**kery. It’s a weird like AU where they're inserting the NCIS characters into this love letter story. Ellie and Nick are playing the couple. Jack and Gibbs are.....siblings. Classic me shipping the parents and getting clowned again."
According to the official synopsis of the episode titled 'Ephemera', "While investigating the suicide of a retired Navy officer who left a rare, valuable, and possibly stolen coin to the National Museum of the Navy, the team imagines themselves in his life story in order to piece together how the coin ended up in his possession.” But all fans could care about was our favorite team of crime-solving NCIS Agents appearing as characters from past, who underwent the coins' chronicles and are tied as crucial elements of the plot.
The episode overall seemed to touch fans and make them emotional purely because of the elements of loneliness attached to an elderly character's arc and for some, "I thought it was a fun episode because it was different and felt like an old school murder mystery to me," a fan wrote on Twitter.
For others, watching Ellie and Nick appear as lovers in the alternate universe was too much of a tease, and summing it up, a fan tweeted: "Please for the love of all that is holy, just give us Ellick already!! The longer they are drawn out, the less they are them and the more they are Tiva 2.0. I want #Ellick and to get to see them together with the remainder of the series."
But the unanimous opinion over the episode remained more or less the same throughout the fandom, with sentimental tweets pouring in from fans. "Oh my goodness, what this was a great episode. Almost cried at the end. It was the picture that he loved to go to see!" said a fan.
Another tweeted: "Over and over you guys amaze me with fresh and excellent episodes of NCIS! The best show ever!"
'NCIS' Season 17 airs on Tuesdays at 8 pm only on CBS.