Hooray! Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) is back! Sorry, I don’t know why, but I like the character. He’s a brief relief from the same-ol-same-ol. Anywho, on with the show! This week’s NCIS introduces us to a dead Marine, his nearly emotionless high school sweetheart wife, his girls-gone-wild girlfriend, and a potentially sleezy bar owner. Who dunnit?

The plot thickens when we find out that the wife was abused and the girlfriend is pregnant. Ziva gets to pull from her past experiences as a tough chick who’s been through hell and back to relate to the wife. Unfortunately, this chick is immune to any emotional connections. In the end, it takes Gibbs to break through. Because, Gibbs always breaks through… I don’t quite get that, but hey, he’s Gibbs.

Also throughout tonights episode, we’re led through the turmoil of McGee’s identity theft. It starts with a blow up hula dancer and ends with osteoporosis. Or something like that… After an impressive list of new McNicknames, DiNozzo tracks down McSpiracy’s identity thief and all is again right with the world.

Only a couple episode side-notes this week:

McGee may yet have a career in politics. The skill with which he crammed that blow up doll under his desk certainly shows potential.
It’s been a while since I recalled hearing a good Ziva-ism and tonight I finally caught one. After explaining that he was a rather good billiards player, Ziva calls DiNozzo a pool dolphin rather than a pool shark. Not the best, but after a while, you do start to run out of witty misused cliches and quotes.