NCIS Season 22, Episode 2 ‘Foreign Bodies’ is a very funny episode that also manages to get poignant when it comes to a character that doesn’t always get as much of a chance to shine, Leon Vance. It’s also an episode about the team, and how well they work together — even if what they’re doing is questionable at best, illegal at worst.
Season 21 being a shortened season meant we ended up with fewer episodes like this one, hours that are more about cementing team dynamics — that absolutely need to be revisited considering Jessica was gone for 6 months — than anything else. And sure, Season 22, Episode 2 ‘Foreign Bodies’ is also about Vance, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s mostly about reminding us why this team works so well together, now that they’re finally back together.
WE GOT THE BAND BACK TOGETHER
Even though we skip over Jessica’s return and the awkward reunions or non-reunions, this episode is about teamwork. And it’s also about how this Major Case Response Team is truly Vance’s team. I remember we used to get a little Vance at the beginning of NCIS: Los Angeles, and that he is actually *the* director, so he should be present in every spinoff this show has had. But these are Vance’s “kids,” in a way. And that’s why he goes to them when he needs help.
As Vance’s team, they don’t disappoint. Even if they continue to be …well, themselves, as they go around the business of figuring out the murder and basically covering Vance. Jimmy points out how bad things are more times than is necessary. Jessica is very goal-oriented. Nick seems to thrive on chaos — and really, really has no issues with rule-breaking. And McGee is somehow the voice of calm, even while going along with everything.
Then there’s Parker, who is in many ways the perfect leader for this group. Just as Gibbs was the perfect one when the agents under him were another team, with other dynamics. To each its own. And NCIS isn’t any better or worse because this team is different, it’s just that …different. And both versions of this show, the one in the past and the one we’re getting now are very much enjoyable.
HONESTY
We’ve seen Leon Vance go through a great deal of tragedy in his time on NCIS. He lost his wife, Jackie. His relationship with his kids hasn’t always been the best. In many ways, Vance has made his work team his family, and that’s important. They all care for him, enough to go out of their way to help in this hour. But Vance needs — deserves — more than just the found family of his team. He deserves a chance at the personal happiness he lost the day his wife Jackie died.
And that is, of course, scary. A loss like the one he suffered isn’t something you just snap your fingers and get over. And it has been over a decade. But some wounds don’t heal. Some wounds, which had scabbed over, can be reopened when a situation that feels like it hits too close to home occurs. That’s why Vance loses it (as much as Vance can) when Lena is taken. Because he’s been there before. He remembers a similar loss.
This time, though, it all works out for the best. His team saves Lena, Parker gives him the push he needs and Vance, well …he lets himself try something new, something that makes him happy outside of the job. Sure, there’s a risk involved. But living life without daring to take a risk is almost not living.
Things I think I think:
- Venezuelan Navy? A joint task force? This might be the most fictional thing to ever happen in fiction.
- Ok, but Torres does look good. Not really like security detail, but good.
- The way Vance is so done with everything in this episode is hilarious.
- But I do like the fact that no one even blinks when he asks if they want to leave.
- “Casual girlfriend,” yeah right.
- “No story. We’re friends, I think. We’re good” is not convincing. But I like that Torres and McGee asked.
- Let Wilmer be the one to speak in Spanish, please.
- But everyone’s face at the second body!
- What do you mean more careful, Parker? You haven’t been careful AT ALL.
- Come on Leon, you didn’t tell your casual girlfriend you got shot? I’m judging you.
- I can’t believe Jimmy’s one line of Spanish helped.
- “You done, bro?”
- Parker and Vance bonding was kinda nice.
- When are we going back to who was the little girl Parker saw in the NCIS Season 21 finale?
- But Parker is horrible at the stalling! He’s talking about baseball now!
- “The things we do for diplomacy…” kinda hurts.
- But well, the girlfriend thing worked out.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS Season 22, Episode 2 ‘Foreign Bodies’? Share with us in the comments below!
NCIS airs Mondays at 9/8c on CBS.
