The Penelope Papers

Season 9, Episode 3, Aired

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7.1
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The NCIS team has a surprise in store for them when investigating the murder of a Navy lieutenant leads them to McGee's grandmother.

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Fan Episode Reviews (11)

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  • Not that bad.

    8.0
    "Great"
    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.

  • A nice change of pace.

    10
    "Perfect"
    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

  • One of the worst NCIS episodes ever, in every aspect.

    5.0
    "Mediocre"
    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

  • An episode far below NCIS standards.

    4.0
    "Poor"
    By jvluigi, Nov 25, 2011
    This episode was sub-par in every possible way.
    The script was confusing and at some points absurd. It think one major flaw was the way McGee's grandmother was written into the story. Her personality ranges from every from loving to cold to passionate to apathetic to rebellious to docile, for no apparent reason. You could tell Lily Tomlin wasn't able to figure the part out at all, because she just seemed bland throughout the episode.
    It all just seemed to snowball from there. McGee's parts, especially in dialogues with his grandmother, seemed lackluster. Even Gibbs, whose character isn't exactly excitable, seemed even more subdued than usual.
    I think part of the reason this show was so lackluster was that, as has been mentioned, we've gone through this before. I seem to remember another case in which a male agent has had a female matriarch mixed up in a murder, been afraid to push her, but was forced to by his superior (If this doesn't ring a bell, check the Mothers Day synopsis).
    And speaking of repetition, McGee is going to get in touch and work things out with his estranged father. Almost like the Gibbs made up with his father after a decade, or Tony with his dad, or Ziva with hers. Great, the team is 4/4 with estranged dads. And whats even weirder is that all of their mothers are gone.
    It's just getting old, there seems to be no creative spark. I know it sounds a bit harsh, but maybe they could use a shake-up in their writing staff.moreless

  • 903

    7.5
    "Good"
    By thefanof, Nov 24, 2011
    I was not a fan of Lily Tomlin's work on Damages a few years back, but she did a good job here tonight in "The Penelope Papers" as McGee's relative, and a key part in an investigation. She was thrust into an intriguing case where information was key and NCIS, while predictably saving the day, had to respond to the call in an unusual way, using her as bait.
    Definitely suggest that you watch this episode if you have been on the fence about doing so.moreless
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