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NCIS Season 9 Episode 3

The Penelope Papers

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7.1

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 10/4/11

The NCIS team has a surprise in store for them when investigating the murder of a Navy lieutenant leads them to McGee's grandmother.

Fan Episode Reviews (13)

Utterly atrocious!

1.0

By TonyGreen, Sep 17, 2012

Seriously bad and totally unbelievable. McGee was awful and Lily Tomlin needs to be given acting lessons! Storyline? Writers on LSD maybe? Not even worth an E for effort
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The Penelope Papers

8.0

By anthonyshekell, Jul 15, 2012

Not a bad episode. I just dont understand all of these awful ratings. 7.1? Really? NCIS did much better than that. I think it was nice to finally meet a family member of McGee's. We really dont know all that much about his family, other than his sister. I gave this episode an 8.0. Not too bad. It was very cheesy and the acting couldve been better. I thought this whole storyline was kind of confusing. This episode was something different. But I felt that NCIS was a little out of its element. I hope NCIS will keep going and that this episode's rating goes up.moreless
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Not that bad.

8.0

By carter3, Feb 28, 2012

There are a ton of bad reviews on this episode, and rightfully so. My average NCIS grade is a 8.5 because I love the show so much. This one was below average so I gave it an 8. The grandma just didn't fit right and the comedy wasn't great. One below average episode does not mean the end of the world though people.
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A nice change of pace.

10

By Carycomic, Feb 03, 2012

After years of family drama from Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, and even Abby, I finally got to see a little more of Tim MGee's background. All I previously knew is that he had a sister! Now, we know that his maternal grandmother is the one he takes after, in the scientific smarts department. And, that he hasn't spoken to his father in seven years.

The sci-fi angle might have been a little anachronistic, re: the microchip-controlled catepillars. But, it wasn't totally un-realistic. After all, it's a little-known historical fact that Uncle Sam almost fire-bombed World War II Tokyo using trained bats! The only thing that prevented it was the deployment of something called "the A-bomb."

All in all? A nicely Mc-centric episode (as Tony might say).moreless
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One of the worst NCIS episodes ever, in every aspect.

5.0

By chipee, Nov 25, 2011

This is one of the worst NCIS episodes, and I'm heartened to see that the voters at TV.com gave it a 7.3 score (as of now), the lowest score of all 189 NCIS episodes. In fact, no other had an average score in the 7's!I enjoyed the beginning of the ep. The murder mystery (like all NCIS eps) was intriguing at the start. And I liked the end where his grandma had McGee reach out to his estranged father -- very touching. It was also the only time in the ep that McGee was not expressionless!Everything else in the episode was a disaster:(1) McGee's expressionless face.(2) Tony acting like a silly jerk -- he loudly (for all to hear) bemoans his father insisting Tony arrange a birthday party for the dad, complete with balloons and strippers (out of character for his father, whom I admired, and who was rather sophisticated). I am also getting tired of Tony's movie references and voice imitations, especially here to gonads/brass balls of the Great Santini and Gibbs! Shudder!(3) the sassy eccentric grandmother was too much a cliche: strong family bulwark, health food nut, wife and mother of admirals ... .... and hippie protester of/at: wars, political convention, sit-ins, prisons, Gloria Steinem feminist demonstrations, Selma race riots, and military think tanks.(4) outlandish military plot of creating genetically engineered caterpillars to cause a plague over an enemy country. (5) just because an army Viet Nam era gun was used on a crime today, doesn't mean that an ex-Viet Nam US soldier was the shooter.(6) way over the top that the founder of the military think tank and the caterpillar project would be so disgruntled by the Army's dropping of the caterpillar project that he would fake his death and go into hiding for some 30 years, and then reappear now to kill a would be whistleblower when the project was being re-instituted! Wow! Jump the shark territory!(7) why didn't the grandmother run to the police with all she knew after the whistleblower was murdered?moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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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
David McCallum	Chief M.E. Ducky Mallard

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Lily Tomlin	Penelope Langston	Guest Star
Sam McMurray	John Westfal	Guest Star
David Clennon	Max Ellswood	Guest Star
Brian Dietzen	Asst. M.E. Jimmy Palmer	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Sean Murray, Lily Tomlin, and Michael We...

© 2011 CBS Corporation
Sean Murray, Lily Tomlin, and Michael We...

© 2011 CBS Corporation
Mark Harmon, Sean Murray, and Lily Tomli...

© 2011 CBS Corporation
Lily Tomlin and Sean Murray in NCIS from...

© 2011 CBS Corporation

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- GOOF: During the victim's autopsy when Gibbs comes to talk to Ducky, Ducky calls the victim Captain Booth when his rank is Lieutenant.
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QUOTES (1)
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- Penny: Oh, since when was Paul working for those imperialist nut-jobs?
  Tony: Well, that is a, uh, pretty strong opinion about a group most people don't even know exists.
  Penny: I have strong opinions about all kinds of things and I was the wife of an admiral for 40 years. Our pillow talk was enlightening.
  McGee: Please don't say pillow talk.
  Penny: Okay, how about postcoital embraces?
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NOTES (3)
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- Guest stars David Clennon and Lily Tomlin both starred in the 1993 AIDS drama And the Band Played On.
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- Rocky Carroll is credited but doesn't appear.
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- Original International Air Dates:
  Canada: October 3, 2011 on Global
  Australia: October 11, 2011 on Channel Ten
  Sweden: October 31, 2011 on TV3
  Finland: January 17, 2012 on Nelonen
  United Kingdom: January 27, 2012 on FX/FX HD
  Germany: February 5, 2012 on SAT 1
  Slovakia: August 13, 2012 on Markiza
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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