SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for NCIS Season 24, Episode 2.
NCIS Season 24, Episode 2 is one of those stories where fans can’t help but wonder how the writers came up with it. Nobody watching the CBS show is likely to have had “secret drug for baldness” on their plot bingo card. What’s equally surprising is how “Clean Slate” continues to deal with Tony DiNozzo becoming the director of NCIS—and how it drops a hint about Timothy McGee’s future.
The case of the week evolves in so many odd directions. What starts as a weird enough scenario—a dinner party being gassed—winds up including the CIA, a storage unit full of pig eyeballs, the aforementioned baldness drug and surveillance footage from a robot vacuum. It gets convoluted at points, and it does end in a predictable place (anyone who watched FX’s The Americans will guess the last twist before the team sees the video), but it’s certainly not boring. It’s as if the writers were having a lot of fun, and kept thinking of new things to add on.
It’s no surprise that the subplot in “Clean Slate” is the team reacting to Tony DiNozzo being appointed NCIS Director. That’s not only the logical thread to follow, but it’s what fans want to see, because they’re also trying to figure out how this is going to work. A large portion of the episode involves Tony meddling in every conceivable place, which becomes as annoying to the audience watching at home as it does to the characters. This might work for half an episode (after all, every NCIS fan knows Tony doesn’t have the typical management personality), but it just keeps going. And it’s slightly concerning because all of this is dismissed at the end of the episode by Tony saying that he’s going to continue to involve himself in cases, because it’s how he plans to cope with the stress of his new job.
From a production perspective, this is likely the creative team trying to get as much use out of actor Michael Weatherly as possible. They know how popular Tony is, and having him continue to insert himself into the team makes him easier to write for. While Jenny Shepard and Leon Vance (both of whom get mentions here) were involved in cases, they weren’t consistently on the ground. Tony’s “bust bad guys” philosophy enables them to use him in more ways than his predecessors. But in-universe, this has the potential to get old quick. If Tony is popping up and cracking jokes as often as he does in Episode 2, he could be as much a distraction as he is a help. One also wonders how often NCIS can mention Ziva before fans expect a guest appearance from Cote de Pablo.
NCIS Season 24, Episode 2 also addresses why Tony was named director over McGee, since as McGee points out, he was qualified—having served as acting director more than once. Tony claims that the Secretary of the Navy actually wants McGee to take over her job. It’s a head-scratcher, and not because McGee doesn’t deserve it. It’s whether or not the show is going to follow through on the idea, because it’s kind of painted itself into a corner with that explanation. McGee’s already had promotions dangled in front of him before; if he gets shot down again, it’s really going to feel unfair.
But at the same time, if he gets the job, is that Sean Murray being written out of NCIS? (At least as a series regular; he could conceivably make guest spots now and then.) Murray is one of the last original cast members left on the series, so this isn’t small potatoes. Hopefully this isn’t the writers trying to shake things up again and writing out McGee like they did with Vance. But if Murray has decided he wants to leave for whatever reason, his character being rewarded with the top job in the NCIS hierarchy is a pretty solid way to go out. Or it’s possible neither of these things is true, and there’ll have to be a very good reason for McGee’s hopes to get dashed again.
“Clean Slate” is another one of those NCIS episodes that thinks outside the box, plot-wise. And it answers some of the questions viewers had after the Season 24 premiere. But the writers still need to work on finding exactly how to fit Tony back into the series, and now they’ve started a whole other conundrum with McGee. Season 24 might be changing things on NCIS in more ways than one.
NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.
