NCIS: Sydney Season 3, Episode 18 ‘Rough Diamond’ is another one of those episodes of the show that’s okay, moves the plot along a little, but ultimately probably won’t make any Top 10 lists. On procedurals such as this one, you need these kinds of episodes to build up characterization, and we do get a fair bit of JD’s dating life and Mackey’s relationships with everyone on the team, but there’s very little else outside of that.
Well, except for that ending and what it sets up for the final two episodes of the season, which will air together.
It’s actually not that surprising to learn we’ll go back to Mackey and this Lee Meyers business. In fact, I was kinda surprised we got into it earlier in the season, because I was sure it was going to come to a head in the finale. Apparently, I was still right. We just got the Trey part out of the way. Now comes the team part?
MORE: Is NCIS: Sydney going there with Mackey and JD?
SETUPY SETUP
As mostly a setup episode, ‘Rough Diamond’ works pretty well, if nothing else, because we already like these characters. Of course, the problem with having a longer season for this show is that, inevitably, we end up with many more episodes that feel like filler than previous seasons had.
Of course, I’m on the record as being a fan of these kinds of episodes, in general. There’s a lot of character building that goes on in these kinds of hours, and in this case, team building. The show has the tall order of making sure we understand not just the dynamics between the partners, but the dynamics of the entire team when they’re all together. Without hours like this one, we don’t have that. And when we don’t have that, the individual episodes don’t hit nearly as hard.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not ready to get into it, particularly after a couple of “filler” episodes back to back. And though I’ve enjoyed this show having more episodes, if there’s any show I believe can actually tell a good story in 10 episodes, it’s this one. So, I’m not taking the reduced order as a bad sign. We started Season 1 with 8 episodes, and here we are! And this still plenty of story to tell.
MORE: Here’s how to watch every NCIS show in order!
Things I think I think:
- Do Mackey and JD come to work together? Where do they meet up? They’re always walking in at the same time! How do they time it?
- I’m even more lost in this emoji conversation than the characters. Maybe I’m old.
- Who breaks up via emoji? Truly, who does? Are you a monster?
- JD doesn’t actually seem that broken up about being dumped. A hit to the ego and nothing else?
- I like it when Mackey calls JD “Jim” because she doesn’t do it all the time, and she doesn’t do it to everyone.
- Blue, baby, I love you, but please stop giving advice based on your one class.
- “Your life will be so much happier with no one else in it.” OUCH.
- “Good cop or bad cop?”
- Let’s be honest, Mackey is bad at good cop.
- “D, grab E.” Again, Mackey with the nicknames.
- But JD gets to be Jim sometimes.
- “Get it out of our system?” You mean you still haven’t? What are we doing here?
- Go away, FBI lady.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Sydney Season 3, Episode 17 ‘Rough Diamond’? 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.
