NCIS: Check or Checkmate

By T.L. HEADLEY

Well, I watched the latest episode of NCIS tonight. Have to give the devil his due. It was a fast-paced, tightly scripted episode in my book., with very little Bishop, which is always a plus. I took away several things from the episode, some of which are obvious and some may have been missed by casual viewers.

First, clearly the terrorist Sergei is, as they noted, recreating the deaths of people Gibbs’ loved. The death of Diane tonight in the same manner as Kate was a jolt, but I actually expected it as soon as I saw them on an exposed rooftop.

Now, the only death left for Sergei to recreate is that of Shannon and Kelly. But who would play those roles? Abby? Bishop? Ziva?

Now, speaking of Ziva …. this whole story arc is like a huge arrow pointing straight at her.  Sergei, it was revealed, sees Ari as “family.” He told Gibbs “mess with my family and I mess with yours.” It was also disclosed that Sergei’s mother was Palestinian. Funny, I recall that Ari’s mother was Palestinian as well. It is my belief that Sergei is Ari’s half-brother and was the reason – the influence – that turned Ari to Al Qaeda. Sergei, then, would be not be related to Ziva and would consider her his ultimate target since it was she and not Gibbs who killed his brother.

I also noted that in the banter early in the episode, after it was exposed that Gibbs had slept with his ex-wife, Tony told him he “knew how he felt … forbidden fruit is always the most enticing.” It was a clear reference to Ziva.

Also, in the episode’s small-talk was a conversation about the rule of coincidences. Combined with the restatement of Gibb’s rules in the last episode, once again we have a reminder that these events are not random. There is a reason for them – -a method to the madness.

It is also interesting that Sergei let Gibb’s live though he was unconscious. Clearly, he, like Ari, wants Gibbs to live and suffer. This is the reason for killing those he loved or staging deaths as a reminder of the deaths of those he loved. Again, we come back to Ziva as the ultimate target of this story arc.

Check is the penultimate move in chess. The winning move is “checkmate.” Tonight’s episode may be the penultimate episode of this arc. It reveals the overall strategy of both sides of the board. It is also often the moment of the apparent likely winner’s greatest weakness, because in order to get a check you more often than not have to expose your own king.

The bottom line is this…. I don’t think there are any coincidences in the NCIS universe. It is clear to me that Sergei is Ari’s brother and his ultimate target is Ari’s killer. He holds Gibb’s responsible because he was the man calling the shots, but Ziva would be his next target, as Ziva was also Gibb’s surrogate daughter.

I truly want to believe this is the endgame for this story arc – to bring Ziva back into the show. NCIS was such a powerhouse for so long in large part due to the brilliant acting of Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly.  Since Cote left the show, it has been going downhill fast. There may still be time to turn it around, but it will take bringing both Cote and her Ziva character back. Hopefully, this is a lesson that the producers and writers of NCIS have learned over the past 15 months. If not – if this is just a pathetic effort to stoke ratings by making the audience believe there is hope, it will lay bare the arrogance of the producers and kill this show – as it should.

Checkmate…..