'NCIS' Season 17 Episode 3 examines how Hurricane Ziva's return and equally abrupt departure has affected the team
In between all the hilarity around the "death by garden gnome" case in 'NCIS' Season 17 Episode 3 'Going Mobile', there was the aftermath of "Hurricane Ziva" to deal with. If you are still feeling the whiplash from Ziva's surprise return and her sudden departure, so is the 'NCIS' team.
Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane (Maria Bello), on Leon Vance's orders to assess the effect Ziva has had on the team, corners Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham), Tim McGee (Sean Murray) and Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama). She tells them she can feel the "unfinished business kind of vibe" from the team and tells them her door is open in case anyone wants to talk.
And so begins the "not-me-but-them" game. McGee is the first to crack. He tells Sloane that while he is a bit put out by Ziva not saying goodbye, he is more worried about Bishop.
His theory is that Bishop, seeing "all the hell" her predecessor has been through, could start wondering about how she'll end up. When Bishop catches him talking to Sloane, she thinks it is about McGee being sore about Ziva reaching out to her instead of him -- an insinuation McGee tries to brush of.
We would find his denial a lot more convincing if he hadn't asked Ziva about this very thing during their reunion. When Sloane finally speaks to Bishop, she is quick to dismiss McGee's concerns and instead points her toward Torres.
Bishop says Torres hasn't been acting the same ever since he had his a** handed to him by Ziva in the fake fight. "He's been, like, distracted, irritated, and when we do talk, he won't look me in the eye," she tells Sloane.
Little does she know Nick's awkwardness has more to do with Ziva's "friendly advice" to stop being a wuss and confess his feelings to Bishop. Torres, the master of redirecting awkward questions, hones into Sloane and Gibbs having a "thing" when Sloane gets a little to close to the truth about his changed behavior.
Sloane promptly gets sidetracked. In case you were keeping score, Torres 1, Sloane 0. Torres also points out that rather than them, she should be more worried about Gibbs. And he is right. Gibbs has the most on his mind after Ziva's rant about him "abandoning" her.
Now that she is gone again, Gibbs is conflicted about whether he should go after her or not. Sloane's advice is to "let her go again". Daughters grow up and so has Ziva. But as we get back to business as usual on 'NCIS', we are still wondering what "Hurricane Ziva part 2" will do later in the season.
'NCIS' Season 17 airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m., only on CBS.
