NCIS Season 22, Episode 13 ‘Bad Blood’ is a very quiet episode that, though it doesn’t advance any of the underlying plots of the season, gives Sean Murray’s Timothy McGee a chance to be hailed as the hero we all know he is. The hour also brings back a fun character from the past, Fletcher Voss, and turns him into the kind of antagonist turned perhaps friend that we’re sure we’ll be seeing again.
It’s nothing to write home about, but perhaps in its twenty-second season, the best thing we can say about NCIS is that the show doesn’t really have horrible episodes. It has episodes that are meant to be about deeper issues, and it has episodes that are meant to be pure fun, while also sometimes having episodes that are meant to highlight a character in a lighter way. This hour is the latter kind. And though it might not end up high on our re-watch list, that doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy watching it all the same.
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TIMOTHY MCGEE
NCIS Season 22, Episode 13 ‘Bad Blood’ lets McGee be the best version of McGee, a funny, nerdy, sometimes quirky guy who is nevertheless a great agent, an amazing father, a good friend, and above all a pretty outstanding human being. Considering McGee is all that’s left of the old guard of NCIS, a relic of the past of this show in a way, it’s good to have an hour that feels designed to remind us of how good of a guy McGee is.
If, at the same time, the show also manages to highlight how far the character has gone, well, that’s even better. Shows like NCIS sometimes do character development slowly, but it’s impossible to look at two decades of Sean Murray playing Timothy McGee and not see how much this character has evolved. It’s not just the facial hair, either! McGee has grown into a confident agent, who is still very good behind a computer, but who is also quick on his feet on the field and whose instincts are rarely wrong.
And, well… if he’s still the same guy who would obsess about a school charity drive for the twins, we truly wouldn’t have him any other way.
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THE TEAM
The way the entire team orbits around McGee and around the story NCIS Season 22, Episode 13 ‘Bad Blood’ is trying to tell is pretty great, a testament to over twenty years of making a procedural like this balanced. Because this episode has a little bit of everyone—with McGee and often even by themselves, while still letting the character they want to showcase shine.
Balance is so effortless for NCIS that, at times, it can be easy to take it for granted. But what this show does on a weekly basis isn’t actually that easy. Procedurals struggle and often get canceled because they cannot find a way to showcase all their characters effectively. Meanwhile, on NCIS, we can have jokes about Nick’s ego, learn new things about Jimmy, and showcase Vance’s reaction to his shooting earlier in the season, all while letting McGee shine and actually taking on the plot of the hour. Once again, it seems easy, but it’s not. And that’s why NCIS is still here, going into Season 23.
Things I think I think:
- At least everyone came to save you, McGee!
- You’re still not gonna be the cool dad, Tim. Sorry to be the one to tell you.
- “You can’t imagine the things I know about you?”
- The middle name!!!
- Jimmy can draw?!
- Someone cut Kasie off, please.
- ACID?!
- Michelle Mackey from NCIS: Sydney talking to our Kasie Hines? The crossover I didn’t know I needed!
- LA office too?
- “I’m gonna go with rule 29.”
- Oh, it’s you Fletcher Voss.
- “You should get mad more often”? Is that supposed to be a compliment, Nick?
- It is Mackey! And Kensi and Callen from the LA office!
- And Jane and Ernie from Hawaii!
- And Pride from NOLA.
- The crossover we deserved. Over coffee.
- I’m glad Vance showed up this episode considering they brought back Voss.
- But Voss always seemed too obvious. I’m glad it wasn’t the obvious secondary suspect, though.
- Why do they always run indeed? Nick and Deeks, always asking the same question.
- How did this guy beat McGee?!
- Why is Timothy McGee so good?
- “Blood brothers”? LOL
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS Season 22, Episode 13 ‘Bad Blood’? Please share with us in the comments below! And if you have any thoughts about the show, leave a review/rating of your own in our NCIS hub!
NCIS airs Mondays at 9/8c on CBS.
Here are our last 5 NCIS reviews:
So happy to see the teams referenced for the first time in a year. (in all seriousness, we really need to know what happened to Hetty.)