10 harsh realities of rewatching the NCIS pilot 21 years later

The NCIS Pilot episode “Yankee White” is turning 21 years old, and there are some harsh realities when watching it today. While the official NCIS Pilot happened in season 8 of Jag, The 1990s legal procedural, NCIS Season 1, Episode 1, “Yankee White” was a fitting opening for the Navy-focused cop show. Although some parts of it have not aged well, the NCIS Pilot is still one of the best episodes of NCIS. It encapsulates Mark Harmon’s brand of justice as Leroy Jethro Gibbs while introducing the Major Case Response Team (MCRT) and how they work.

Still, much about American culture has changed in the two decades since NCIS Pilot air. Social norms and customs have shifted, calling into question some of the characters’ workplace behavior and comments to one another. moreover, The episode established a story that the show later contradicted Over the 21 seasons of NCIS. That said, the NCIS Pilot is a fascinating time capsule, looking back to the year 2003 and the stories CBS was crafting for its audience at the time, and it holds up as a fantastic episode of television.

10

Kate and Gibbs have untapped chemistry

Alexander and Harmon’s characters worked

One harsh element of the NCIS Pilot episode in retrospect is the fact that The chemistry between Sasha Alexander’s Kate and Mark Harmon’s Gibbs was so good So it looked like they might have a place. After Kate officially joined the team, NCIS Just put her in flirty situations with Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo. The harsh reality is that Kate and Gibbs have fireworks as a TV couple. A will they/won’t they dynamic between Kate and the agent-in-charge could have been more compelling than what happened between Kate and Tony.

Kate and Tony’s will they/won’t they romance looked more like a sibling relationship than a love story. Still, Gibbs had a vision in the episode “Life Before His Eyes,” where the show revealed Kate and Tony would have gotten married and had a baby if NCIS Antagonist Ari Haswari didn’t kill Kate Todd in season 2. It would have been a completely different series if Gibbs and Kate hit it off, and the “Yankee White” pilot proves they have the chemistry to pull it off.

9

The agencies suspect al-Qaeda with no evidence

The “Yankee White” villain was an unrelated terrorist

In “Yankee White,” the only speculation about the man who tried to assassinate the president on Air Force One was that he might be part of an al-Qaeda sleeper cell. Gibbs discussed the possibility at MTAC and repeated it to Kate Todd in the Air Force One bathroom. Despite repeating it throughout the episode, the team has no evidence for the claim. rather, NCIS Reversed the claim back in season 21.

In the era of Bush-era politics of the series’ 2003 pilot, the assumption is not out of place. However, it was completely unfounded. The pilot never uncovered who the man was or what his motivation was, which would otherwise be standard for the procedural series. Instead, the episode ended on the slight assumption that al-Qaeda was behind the attack. This unfounded assumption did not contribute positively to rising tensions worldwide.

8

NCIS doesn’t have its own jet

The NCIS agents don’t travel in style

The NCIS Pilot pointed out an aspect of NCIS Which sets it apart from some other procedural series with more extravagant options for its investigators. Unlike the team at criminal thoughts, who commutes from work to work in a private jet and can recover before and after investigations, NCIS Does not have a dedicated aircraft To travel in style. Tony showed his disdain for the inconvenience when they traveled to Kansas to investigate the crime.

The lack of a private jet sets the tone for the seriesand gave the titular organization a unique perspective compared to other agencies. NCIS Highlights his namesake agency as an underrated, underappreciated champion that doesn’t get the money or credit it deserves. This episode showed this in more ways than one, with the lack of more comfortable accommodations underlining NCIS‘ Humble positioning.

7

Kate is Gibbs’ equal

“Yankee White” uniquely positioned chain

A harsh reality of rewatching “Yankee White” 21 years later is that it was the only time Kate was Gibbs’ equal. While Kate earned more respect from Gibbs than most of her NCIS colleagues and many team members after that, she was on his level in the pilot. Too bad she lost her sense of authority so quickly. Conversation between the Directors of the NCIS, FBI, and Secret Service agencies considered Gibbs, Fornell, and Todd to be equals When discussing the investigation.

The strongest evidence that Kate was on another level was that when Gibbs wanted to come with her on Air Force One, he kindly asked her using the word “please” And a nice smile. The kindness was unusual for GibbsAnd Abby called it out to the rest of the group. So, while Kate’s destiny was to join Gibbs’ NCIS team, watching the pilot back is a reminder that Kate was once Gibbs’ equal but became his subordinate after she reported her misconduct to her boss, who fired her from the Secret Service .

6

Harrison Ford’s Air Force One drives Gibbs’ investigation

“Yankee White” drew inspiration from Air Force One

Although Gibbs has many original ideas throughout the episode, his most significant breakthroughs come from the plot of a book and movie. The “Yankee White” plot followed the story of the movie Air Force OneWith the villain in the episode blatantly copying the crime in the story. Although it was funny that Gibbs recognized this and it made a big twist, it was unfortunate that the NCIS Pilot relied so heavily on another story to start the series versus crafting something original.

It’s disappointing because “Yankee White” was one of the best cases of the entire series. As a result, it’s too bad that NCIS Can’t claim this idea as completely original. It made a good twist that the villain adapted a movie plot, and it had excellent action sequences for Harmon. Still, the NCIS Pilot promised a different investigative and narrative style than the procedural series offered from then on.

5

There is inconsistency in Gibbs’ rules

Gibbs is not consistent about his code

unfortunately, The NCIS The pilot revealed a lot of inconsistencies with Gibbs’ famous set of rules In future episodes. If a viewer ignores these NCIS Pilot, Gibbs’ rules make sense, but when scrutinized, the NCIS Pilot confused the whole premise of the code by the special agent lived. First, Gibbs appeared to share his first three rules with Kate Todd. However, when revisited later, the series offered a different principle for Rules #1 and #3.

Gibbs also covered two of his rules in the episode with Kate, which were later identified as part of his healthy code of ethics but not noted by Gibbs as such in “Yankee White.” When Kate told Gibbs that she was secretly romantically involved with a colleague and asked him if he would talk her out, he didn’t. Gibbs later reveals rule #12: “Never a date with an associate.” Gibbs also tells Kate to never say she’s sorry in the pilotBut he failed to mention that this is rule #6.

4

Kate breaks up with someone she has great chemistry with

Kate was dating Major Tim Curry

It was unfortunate in the series opener that Kate had to break up with someone she seemed to adore, especially since she struggled with dating throughout seasons 1 and 2. She then deals with loneliness throughout the series. While Kate dated during her stint with the series, she never hit it off with anyone like she did with lead Timothy Curry. Kate was dating Tim in the pilot episode Before she broke up with him since she felt bad about dating a co-worker.

Kate finally reported the relationship to her boss and resigned. When accepted, Gibbs hired her to be a part of NCIS. It’s too bad Kate had to cut her romance shortEspecially since she lost her job over it. That being said, Major Carey suffered an accidental murder, meaning he didn’t live past the end of his and Kate’s relationship anyway.

3

Fornell did not recognize Gibbs

Fornell and Gibbs were good friends

funny, NCIS‘ Special Agent Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano) didn’t recognize Gibbs When he and Ducky pulled a stunt on Air Force One, despite their rich history of working closely in Washington. The gimmick that Gibbs and Ducky pulled off relied entirely on no one knowing who Gibbs and Ducky were, which was unlikely for Tobias. NCIS He later revealed he was so close to Gibbs that he married his ex-wife. While it was fun that the series developed Gibbs and Tobias as friends, it ruined the magic of the show NCIS Pilot who relied on Gibbs flying under the radar.

Building on some of the oldest stories in the series, like Tobias Fornell or Gibbs’ code of rules, made sense. however, NCIS Betrayed his own stories by expanding the stories in a way that didn’t agree with the pilot. Tobias appeared in the 1000th episode of NCIS, which reviews the case. This would have been an excellent time to clarify the narrative. Tobias could tell he was mad at Gibbs over some other event and didn’t want to acknowledge his existence or that he didn’t see him there in the first place.

2

Kate is great as a Secret Service agent

Kate was good at protecting the President

Although it was Kate’s destiny to join the NCIS Major Case Response Team (MCRT) when the show introduced her, it was evident that Kate was a skilled Secret Service agent who took pride in her work. In some ways, it’s too bad Kate Todd couldn’t stay with the agency. She was trained to protect the president and had to learn a new skill when she joined NCIS. While her existing skills helped her NCIS job, the story made Kate’s transition a step down for the character in several ways.

Kate more readily challenged Gibbs as a Secret Service agent, something that stopped when she joined his team. Although it makes sense that Kate respects Gibbs as her boss, she was full of action in the “Yankee White” pilot, uniquely challenging Gibbs and subverting his character by bringing out different sides of Harmon’s personality than Gibbs. Kate was good on Gibbs’ team but was great at protecting the president. He might even still live if she continued this work.

1

The NCIS pilot is the best episode of NCIS

The NCIS pilot set a high bar

Perhaps the most complicated fact of rewatching the NCIS Pilot 21 years after he was arranged is that it is undoubtedly one of the best episodes of NCIS. It’s a hard pill to swallow because “Yankee White” set a high bar for the series. Of course, the series moved further and further away from the appeal of “Yankee White”, which explored Gibbs’ ideals and how he operated. While the series is still a treasure today, it doesn’t have the tight feel of the impressive pilot.

“Yankee White” contains the perfect thin slice of all the main characters – Gibbs, Ducky, Tony, Abby and Kate – introduced them with strong presences. The NCIS Pilot is a microcosm of the series, and it’s about as good as it gets. That makes it a shame that it was so early. That said, the pilot set up characters that would love audiences for years to come and set stories in motion that are still playing out in the shared NCIS Universe.