{ NCIS, 1x15, Enigma; spoilers through season 4. }

[delga]

When I talk about NCIS as a show, and when I talk about Gibbs' continuing personal arc, I often talk about Enigma because it's a turning point not only as NCIS matured into the second half of its first season, but as Gibbs turned from being a man who is mostly good-natured to being a man who is haunted and driven. I love that Enigma comes one step before Bête Noire; I love the emotional state that puts Gibbs in at the beginning of the Ari arc.

The package that Col. Ryan sends Gibbs contains a flask that Gibbs gave the colonel back when he was a Gunnery Sergeant. When Ryan comes to confront Gibbs in his basement, Gibbs is comparing the flask the Colonel sent him to another flask which reads from your loving, the final words obscured by a dent of some sort - presumably bullet damage. I think it's fair to assume that it's the same flask Gibbs unearths in season 3, the one given to him by Shannon and Kelly. Two things: this means Bellisario had a game plan re: Jethro's many wives all the way back in season 1, and it means that when the Ari arc kicks off, Jethro has been actively contemplating (a) his wife and daughter, and (b) his responsibility to others in his team. That the Ari arc ends in Kate's death is significant because Jethro comes back to that idea of others dying for him (which is what Enigma brings to the surface - the Lieutenant dying in Gibbs' arms, and those words that haunt Ryan. I don't understand). Yes, Kate's death rings alongside Shannon and Kelly's death, thus starting off Gibbs' next arc - i.e. the events leading up to Hiatus and his gradual immersion in those memories of his 'former life', but in its immediacy, Kate is another soldier who dies, effectively, in Gibbs' place. Which, you know, is horrible, and not entirely true, but quite likely how Jethro sees it. Or, I'm assuming so, based on what we know of his character after four plus years.

Enigma is a stand-alone episode because it pre-dates the Ari arc (which is the first solid arc of the entire show; it comes into play in the second half of the first season by which point NCIS had passed its first ratings battle and its first opportunity to be cancelled) but the episode also sets up the mood for the second half of the season. In terms of how I view the show, Enigma signals for me the point at which NCIS starts to take itself seriously. As in any episode, the show balances humour with drama and Enigma marks the start of the third act of the season. Jethro becomes ever more difficult to work with, ever more obsessive from this juncture, and whilst that facet of his personality quite clearly emerges as a product of Ari's appearance (whose name we do not learn in Bête Noire and whose face is continually being run through a facial recognition program all through the rest of the season, simmering in the background) it initially surfaces in Enigma, in all that grief and guilt. Enigma is serious, it is dramatic; it lacks the quietude and eventual resolution which Call of Silence offers us in season 2, almost a year later. (Um. Admittedly Call of Silence is dealing more with the idea of military service than military relationships, and is one step removed from Jethro because he doesn't actually know Ernie Yost from anywhere, but I think you can draw parallels between Enigma and Call of Silence because they both deal with that experience of putting your life into someone else's hands.)

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So, it's no secret that I love Enigma and that I think it's possibly one of the best episodes of the entire show. What is a secret is that before tonight, I'd only seen it once. Yeah. But I talk about it all the time because it's a really, really important episode. It also has GIBBS and FORNELL in the ELEVATOR for what I'm certain is the first time! Their relation makes such a turn during this episode, and it's so fucking quiet and subtle. I love them a lot.

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But, also, and this was my biggest point, really - Colonel Ryan is basically Mike Franks v1.0 beta, in which Gibbs' CO/partner makes a reappearance and (a) proves that Gibbs had role models for his behaviour and work ethic, and (b) shows that Gibbs' predecessors can out-think him, but can also depend on him. Despite Mike Franks having avoided El Norte for 10-15 years, after Hiatus he comes back up North twice more and he runs Gibbs around both those times. Colonel Ryan also has Gibbs running around trying to keep up, trying to prove his loyalty. Ryan is a good test for Gibbs' behaviour, especially in light of Franks' appearance much later on. But! Ryan does not equal Franks because Ryan seems to epitomise the moral code Gibbs lives by whilst Franks was the model for Gibbs' working code. Also, Franks sympathises with Jethro, but until his son dies, he doesn't really empathise with him. But together, Ryan and Franks tell us a hell of a lot about why Gibbs is the way that he is.

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Lastly, Enigma makes me hurt, a lot, because Jethro looks so damn tired by the end of it, and that final scene from Gibbs to Ryan, from the soundtrack (of the Lieutenant dying, I don't understand) to Ryan's words - that's just brilliant narrative. The episode is wonderfully self-contained and self-referential whilst also being a great buffer for the Ari arc, and I honestly believe it to be one of the best episodes of television I've indulged in.

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edit: HAHAHA. I just spent ages trying to find a post I made about Call of Silence only to realise, um, that may hav been an email to twincy? Because I remember re-watching it! I remember talking about it! Just... not to y'all, apparently. Oops? But I swear I remember talking about it, about what a quiet episode it is, and how self-contained it is. And the sexy JAG lady! Oh... yeah, definitely an email to twincy.

Comments

[rainsquall.livejournal.com]

Well. My NCIS DVDs are exactly two metres away from my feet right now. Guess who's going on a rewatching spree?

Also, 'Call of Silence' is excellent. That scene with Kate and Ernie dancing together kills me.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

Rewatching spree = for the win. I'm indulging in season 1 and season 3 as they re-air on TV. Even though I saw them both ages ago. !

That scene with Kate and Ernie dancing together kills me.
Damn, me too! A lot of that episode, really, but mostly that dancing scene.