NCIS: Sydney Season 3, Episode 8 ‘Turkey Shoot’ is once again a solid episode of this show. It’s entertaining, it has good character moments, and the case works pretty well. It’s just that, at this point in the season—and the show—it feels like we kinda need NCIS: Sydney to start taking some bigger swings, particularly when it comes to character dynamics.
Sure, we enjoyed learning that everyone has picked up on the unsolved sexual tension between Mackey and JD to the point that they sent those questions to the podcast, but it doesn’t exactly move the plot along if Mackey and JD themselves aren’t forced to confront it. And the competition between Evie and DeShawn was very in character, and pretty fun, but it does very little to advance their respective characters or their dynamic.
We enjoy NCIS: Sydney a lot, but it often feels like the show is cruising at this point. It knows what works, and it will continue doing it. But the things that work will only work in the same way for a while. For a story to be really good, to make a mark on people, there’s gotta be evolution. And we’re hoping the evolution comes to this show sooner rather than later.
MORE: Here’s how to watch every NCIS show in order!
MACKEY AND JD
At this point, Mackey and JD have a lot more setup for… whatever it is this episode gives us. In some ways, it’s an acknowledgment that we’re not the only ones seeing whatever’s going on between them. But even so, it feels a little like crossing the line for the team in the way they exteriorize it.
Of course, part of the reason they do is that it can’t be traced to them. It’s for us. So we know that they see it too. But the thing about Mackey and JD is that, as much as they have a lot of chemistry, their connection has always manifested more as an emotional one. We feel the tension, don’t get me wrong. It was there from their first meeting. But the thing that makes them compelling isn’t the tension, because now there’s more. A lot more.
So, as fun as it is, it’s not really necessary for the show to establish the attraction part of it. We know it’s there. We’ve gone way past that. What we need is for NCIS: Sydney to give us a hint that one of them realizes that the connection goes way deeper than they are willing to accept it goes.
MORE: Is NCIS: Sydney going there with Mackey and JD?
EVIE AND DESHAWN
For Evie and DeShawn, on the other hand, what we get from Mackey and JD in this episode would be a step in the right direction. Because these two might go to their grave without admitting they’re attracted to each other. Sometimes they don’t even want to admit they like each other. It’s all a house of cards they’re standing on top of. And if one falls, the entire thing collapses.
Part of it is that Mackey and JD know much more about each other, so they’ve been able to connect on a deeper level. Evie and DeShawn have a relationship that’s based on natural chemistry and opposite personalities that are very much complementary (opposites attract, and all that), but as much as they trust each other and as much as both of them wish that they could be open with the other, they just haven’t been.
I’ve said this before, but we really need this for them. Together, and separately. Who is DeShawn? What makes him tick? What is Evie’s past hiding? Why is she the way she is? We don’t know, and it feels like it’s way past time we find out.
MORE: We talked to Olivia Swann before Season 2. What did she say about Mackey and JD then?
Things I think I think:
- Could you really make that, Evie?
- “The real mystery is why they’re celebrating Thanksgiving.” Yes!
- So, did Evie and DeShawn listen to the podcast together?
- What I did like was Doc Roy kinda dealing with his grief by relating to the brother.
- Namechecked a 40-year-old show. I meeeeeean, it’s a classic.
- “For the record, this is one of your stupider ideas.” And yet you’re still doing it.
- Transcontinental crime-fighting duo.
- “modulate” lol
- Mackey, you’re so awkward, I love you.
- The chat messages!
- Recreating the crime scene, gotcha.
- This podcast ended up doing way more harm than good.
- Doc is making me emotional.
- But who won?
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Sydney Season 3, Episode 8 ‘Turkey Shoot’? Share with us in the comments below! And if you have your own opinion on the show, leave a review/rating on our NCIS: Sydney hub!
NCIS: Sydney airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on CBS.
The podcast interview scene was so awkward I nearly skipped past it.
I think it was meant to establish everyone “sees it” but it just gave me secondhand embarrasment!