(337-word review) Here we have another episode with a guest appearance by Joe Spano, which I appreciated; I like Fornell and Joe's chemistry with Mark Harmon. Except this is the first episode (I think) with him guest-starring that didn't meet a certain level of excitement and necessity.
His involvement/him showing up always seemed to be a way of expressing that the plot is "serious," not "fun and games." Up until now, every appearance of Fornell was "justified." One of the episodes had to do with terrorists; another concerned the Italian mafia. The plot this time didn't meet the unofficial "standard."
And that's not only regarding whenever Fornell's included. Even if he hadn't shown up in this episode, that wouldn't have changed much; it would've been somewhat underwhelming, regardless. This time, his appearance didn't have a sense of fulfillment and seemed unfitting compared to how every (or most) one prior was accompanied by a more solemn tone in each episode.
The perpetrator was also pretty predictable. That character kept showing up, which made me think there was a deeper purpose beyond the on-the-surface factor. I was right. I'm not saying that negatively; it's an observation. Something like that tends to stick out more with insufficient engagement in the plot, and that was the case slightly.
But it was more engaging than the previous episode's plot. That's why my rating is one star higher. Gibbs and Fornell's interactions were good, as usual. And Tony and Caitlin's occasional bickering is usually entertaining.
Despite breaking the pattern of 'Fornell appearance equals better-than-usual episode,' the predictability, and the usual level of engagement that only a few episodes exceed here and there, I liked the continuation of the previous episode's ending with Tony. Especially how that whole thing was a "thing" in this one, lasting its entirety; the back-and-forth banter/competitiveness.
Moments like that usually do most of the work with shows like this, which makes a rather odd/fascinating result every so often, specifically when the central aspect (the plot) isn't a highlight.
