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NCIS Season 9 Episode 9

Engaged, Part II

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AIRED: Nov 15, 2011

8.0

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Episode Summary

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The search into the disappearance of a Marine Lieutenant continues as the NCIS team tracks them down to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Tony's deepest fear resurfaces and Gibbs has to go through memories of his past again.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (10)

Painfully nationalistic.

5.0

By CarlosR628891, Feb 17, 2012

I can't help it, but my gut reaction was: Glorification of the military and propagandistic defense of the war; Hero worship; American values uber alles; a one-sided negative depiction of Afghans. It reminded me of propaganda films of other nations of another time. Sorry, but that's how I felt.
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A big step up from Par t One! But sitill, why can't we get great episodes like those we had back in Season 3, 5 or 6, or even 7! They can do better...moreless

9.5

By amazing_race, Feb 14, 2012

This was a huge step up from Part One! It was action packed, with great scenes in Afghanistan (although I have no idea where they actually filmed) and it was so much fun to watch.

I particularly loved the first half of the episode, with finding the missing First Lieutentant Flores and the children. That was superb!

The second half was WAY too rushed. The whole finding out about the bomb threat and the bomb actually being stopped lasted less than 10 mintutes. They should've either kept that part of the episode and turned it into a separate episode of its own, or they should've got rid of it completely, and spent fmore time in Afghanistan.

I appreciate the improvement, but this won't cut it for me. NCIS needs a big step up - especially before it is too late. Hopefully DiNozzo Senior will provide that next week...moreless
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Engaged 2

6.0

By thefanof, Feb 14, 2012

The second half of this two parter was a huge dropoff from the first and really resulted in a mediocre NCIS. I did not buy how invested the crew got in this case and how easily Gibbs snapped during the interrogation and with the punch at the end. Not like him at all.

There was some good, intense yelling tonight, but just not what it could have been with the first part.moreless
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Better than "Engaged,Part I," but suffers from the same sugary preachiness.
8.0

By chipee, Dec 01, 2011

Sorry, but I didn't care for this episode due to the excess of preachy patriotic and religious propaganda, and the lack of good NCIS detective work.I had expected a longer and more elaborate rescue of Flores. I also expected more screen time role for her, what with all the emphasis on her in Part I. And then the uncovering and preventing of the terror plot in the U.S., tacked on in the last 10 minutes of the episode, seemed rushed and unconvincing. In interrogations, the younger brother merely blurted out that the older brother was (1) alive in the U.S., and (2) would be using a bomb. From this meager information (and the fact that the older brother was an auto mechanic!!!) Gibbs extraordinarily deduces that the older brother will bomb a particular bus of kids that day! And miraculously, they apprehend the older brother at the very second he is about to press the bomb trigger. Also, there was no reason at all for the younger brother to run from NCIS in the first place and readily confess to being a radical Islamicist. There were a few good scenes, but also these bad ones: Tony's lone speech to God in church; the Chaplain's pushiness and meddling; and Tony's sudden fear of little children and facing that fear. And I resented the way they shabbily manipulated the audience into thinking that Flores was dead in the opening "flash forward:" Tony somberly, grimly walks into the church where Fores' dad is and hesitates. Then the scene moves to the lone coffin on a plane. Then the scene shifts to "48 hours earlier." Any normal person delivering the news would rush in and exclaim,"Good News. She's alive and well!" Tony merely slowly says she's "alive."Some have mentioned these minor points that don't really bother me: (1) when they rescued Flores, only Gibbs was wearing a cloth hat, not a helmet, and (2) when Flores held hands with her father at the end, you could see her perfect nails.moreless
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In the second half of "Engaged," both the story of rescuing a missing Marine and the deeper back stories of several NCIS personalities are further developed.

9.5

By shcashdan, Nov 29, 2011

In Season 9, the writers/producers/editors of NCIS appear to be concentrating, successfully, on further developing the personalities of several team members, as has been done on occasion during prior seasons. At the end of Season 8, for example, Ziva's sensitivities and vulnerabilities were revealed in further depth during the search for and apprehension of the P2P Killer; the former Mossad assassin has become considerably less monolithic, and her interaction with the rescued children in this episodes resonates with warmth. Episode 9/3 offered more of McGee's back story: the viewer had learned that McGee has a sister in Season 4, but nothing else about McGee's family had been revealed until a sensitive case involved his grandmother. McGee's interactions with his grandmother both revealed an alienation from his father which had gone unmentioned previously and clarified Gibbs' place as a father figure for McGee – viewers already know that Gibbs has been, for years, a father figure for Tony. In 9/4, Abby discovers, to her great shock, that she was actually adopted; viewers get a more intimate portrait of this primarily happy-go-lucky, fey genius as Abby meets the brother who does not know that she is his sibling. When a shaken Abby then turns to Gibbs as she works through the knowledge that her late parents had concealed the fact of her adoption, yet another facet of Gibbs is definitively confirmed: while comforting the grieving Abby, Gibbs assures her that she does not have to face her confusion alone, specifically referring to the NCIS team as "family."

Fast-moving and intricate as the paired episodes may be, they serve more as a vehicle for character development than as a plot-driven story. [One notes that similar phenomenon has begun to occur frequently in the series spin-off "NCIS – Los Angeles," as the often tense, often comical story lines offer not only a shifting focus from character to character but also considerable deepening and broadening of those characters and of their interrelationships.] Gibbs' steely determination to ease the agony of Gabriele Flores' father, first at her assumed death and then at the possibility of her survival, resonates with subtlety, as does his interaction with the two orphaned girls who had been kidnapped and tortured by Islamic extremists in Afghanistan: viewers remember that Gibbs' own beloved daughter was murdered many years ago, but rather than shutting out fatherly emotion, Gibbs instead harnesses the impact of his own pain and loss into his driving energy as team leader, especially when someone stands in need of rescue. Gabriele's strength [and, to a certain extent, her physical appearance] in crisis reminds Gibbs of another strong and independent woman Marine from his past, one whose lingering imprint has probably contributed to Gibbs' appreciation of, and respect for, genuinely strong and independent women. The viewer already knows that Gibbs "cares" about individuals as well as about cases, but until Gibbs' MTAC interchange with Clayton Jarvis, new Secretary of the Navy, there has been little reason to believe that Jarvis feels the same way – another small deepening of character.

The developing portrait of Tony DiNozzo's character has undergone considerable clarification in the last couple of seasons, as the viewer sees him actually admit to the fears and insecurities which so often underlie his comedian's mask. Tony's interactions with Chaplain Burke set the scene for an unexpected glimpse into his spiritual side, as he carries on what he declares to be an extremely one-sided conversation with God, part of which Chaplain Burke inadvertently overhears; that conversation allows her to note, without preaching, that God is not necessarily declining to answer Tony. Instead of a "there, there" approach to spiritual counseling, Burke offers to face his fears with him when he feels ready to face them. One of those fears? Children. Tony's childhood featured abandonment of many sorts, even when his father was present, and he obviously worries about his own abilities as a father – the topic was introduced in Season 3 on his first undercover assignment with Ziva, as Tony bantered with one of his captors about there being "no little DiNozzos" in his future.

In addition to offering considerable more insight into the personalities of various team members, this two-part episode provides a provocative commentary by the use of comparison/contrast when illustrating the nature of patriotism: the Afghans who kill and torture even Afghani children to keep "the West" from exposing them to non-Islamic teachings manifest a deadly patriotism mutated into fanaticism. American Marines and NCIS members evince equally intense patriotism, but theirs focuses on freeing people rather than on forcing them along preordained paths. A related contrast is that between religions: things turn violent when Islam braids together theocracy and patriotism. In contrast, the episode demonstrates the quietly liberating approach to religion possible in a democracy, as Chaplain Burke ministers to the grieving, the bereft, and the fearful of every denomination, without condemnation.

Neither this episode nor the series as a whole offers quick solutions to, or resolution of, serious problems: Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, and McGee have been dealing with their damages for decades. Evil survives, and sometimes it wins – but episodes such as this show that good also survives, and it does often win, even when the battle stretches over half a lifetime and when those victories are hard-won. What gives this episode its power, even more than its direct illustration of, and commentary on, the tragedies of war for everyone involved, is its honesty about pain, loss, healing, damage, and the wounds with which real people must learn to live. No rose-colored glasses mar this episode – but neither does it succumb to darkness.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Mark Harmon	Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Michael Weatherly	Special Agent Tony DiNozzo
Cote de Pablo	Special Agent Ziva David
Pauley Perrette	Forensics Specialist Abby Sciuto
Sean Murray (I)	Special Agent Tim McGee
Rocky Carroll	Director Leon Vance

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

EDIT

John Finn	Marine Commandant Charles T. Ellison	Guest Star
Jaime Ray Newman	Navy Lieutenant Commander Melanie Burke	Guest Star
Alex Fernandez	Joseph Flores	Guest Star
Matt Craven	Secretary of the Navy Clayton Jarvis	Recurring Role
Sean Harmon	Young Leroy Jethro Gibbs	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Mark Harmon and Cote de Pablo in NCIS fr...

© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Mark Harmon in NCIS from the episode "En...

© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Mark Harmon in NCIS from the episode "En...

© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Mark Harmon and Cote de Pablo in NCIS fr...

© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- TRIVIA: In Italian version of this episode, during one of young Gibbs' flashback, we can hear an excerpt of Sgt. Hartman's training/running song "Physically" taken from the original Italian version of Full Metal Jacket movie by Kubrick.
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QUOTES (4)
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- Tony: Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo doesn't get scared – I've jumped out of airplanes, deaddropped onto aircraft carriers, and I've killed people, sweetheart – lots of them. I've gotten the plague, I've kissed a transvestite, and been tortured by the best the Middle East has to offer.
  Burke: And still – you're shaking!
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- Osman: You could have killed me.
  Gibbs: Coulda, shoulda... didn't.
  Osman: You are weak.
  Gibbs: (punches him) No. Just better.
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- Gibbs: People died because of that teacher, marines. What do you think should happen to her?
  Flores: Sir, that's not my decision.
  Gibbs: Yeah, but you've thought about it, right?
  Flores: She should be held accountable for her crimes.
  Gibbs: Oh.
  Flores: She should watch those girls change the world in positive ways she never imagined.
  Gibbs: That a punishment?
  Flores: That's a gift, sir. Punishment is knowing she could have done the same.
  Gibbs: You're rare, Flores.
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- Tony: What?
  Burke: Nothing.
  Tony: Oh, no. Definitely something. What?
  Burke: You intrigue me.
  Tony: Uh-oh. Why?
  Burke: When something's broken, I want to fix it.
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NOTES (1)
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- Original International Air Dates:
  Canada: November 14, 2011 on Global
  Sweden: January 16, 2012 on TV3
  United Kingdom: March 9, 2012 on FX/FX HD
  Finland: March 13, 2012 on Nelonen
  Germany: March 18, 2012 on SAT 1
  Slovakia: August 21, 2012 on Markiza
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- Tony: (trying to deflect Burke's interest) Telling you would be like Superman telling Lex Luthor about his vulnerability to kryptonite: It ain't gonna happen.
  
  Allusion to comic book, TV and movie hero Superman, who's only known weakness is to kryptonite, a piece of his home world that blocks his superpowers and weakens him. Lex Luthor is one of Superman's all-time arch enemies.
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- Tony: (talking to God in the chapel) What we have here is a failure to communicate.
  
  A popular quote from the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke. The line is said twice, once by Strother Martin as a prison captain after striking a chain gang prisoner played by Paul Newman. Paul Newman later says the same line, after escaping and finding refuge in a church as he talks to his "Maker" much like Tony is doing here. He delivers the line just as he appears in a church window and is instantly shot to death.
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