The San Dominick

I suspected this episode was a reference to Herman Melville's short story Benito Cereno as soon as I saw the title. That, paired with the fact that it takes place on water was a dead giveaway. It was a pleasant surprise. This show never stops providing awesome entertainment value in smart, sophisticated ways. The crew are not what they seem at first glance, which means Team Gibbs, along with our favorite CGIS agent have to work their magic to uncover the mystery and solve the case. In their usual way, our heroes come out on top and all ends up right with the world... that is, until our next case.

The NCIS writing team is just absolutely brilliant. After 12 seasons and so many episodes it really makes you wonder if they are always going to be able to come up with something new and of really high quality. I think this episode really explored some avenues we wouldn't usually associate with NCIS. The reference to Star Trek was brilliant. Just thinking of a no win situation really makes a viewer critically think. Putting McGee in Gibbs place was brilliant. Bringing in the Coast Guard Investigative Services was brilliant. Every time I think NCIS is getting repetitive, expected, in no way intending mundane by the way, the writers and creative team throws a change up such as this episode which totally maintains respect of the shows ability to always stay high concept. In this case it was just an episode of being great versus the really good we come to know and expect.