Borderland

The seeds infrequently planted throughout the season finally sprout into a main plot, also marking the beginning of the longest continuous story so far: 4 episodes, the final one being spared for the following season. Structurally, that is pretty ambitious for a mostly-episodic series where there is no pre-planned Babylon 5 style Mytharc and in which character development takes over half a decade.

For the record, NCIS is usually great entertainment, but rarely merits more than 8/10.

The Burning Question of Tony and Ziva's stories of their night in Paris is neatly brought up again. It's also nice that we are shown how neither Tony nor Ziva do not mind the other being almost cheek to cheek with them when peering at a monitor screen over their shoulder. A nice nod to long-time fans is the mention a certain event in Abby and McGee's history. McGee's jealousy over Abby is also great. The fact that the actual case of the week is one of the most gruesome in NCIS history works great with the ominous atmosphere created by the arc plot. And then there is a nice surprise, after which comes the first episode-ending cliffhanger. A wrenching cliffhanger. Great start, 8/10.