#17x20 arizona

[j0rdanvic]

I just watched NCIS 17x20 "The Arizona"

[myncisworld-2point0]

Don't call it a finale: as with many TV shows, NCIS had its production cut short in early March as the coronavirus pandemic became more grave and required workplaces to close. As a result, NCIS — which was mere days away from shooting a historic 400th episode — only got up to filming Episode 20 of a planned 24, and that episode, "The Arizona," airs this Tuesday.

Acclaimed actor Christopher Lloyd guest stars in the story, playing a man named Joe Smith who sends the team into a tailspin when he claims to be a World War II veteran who was aboard the U.S.S. Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Most of the people on the team, however, have some serious doubts about his story. When it's revealed that the elderly man may have some mental health and memory loss issues, it becomes easy to brush Smith's claims off as faulty recollections of a senior citizen who's struggling. Easy for everyone except Gibbs (Mark Harmon), that is.

"For Gibbs, it all connects back to his father, who was a World War II vet," said Gina Monreal, a co-executive producer on NCIS and a writer of the episode. "I think he sees his father [in Joe], and helping someone like his father is important to him; he has this initial connection, and he's able to understand." Where just about everyone else is convinced Joe Smith is mis-remembering or intentionally misleading the NCIS team, Gibbs keeps extending Joe more benefit of the doubt, even as clues against Joe mount and patience wears thin. Whether Gibbs' grace turns out to be warranted or not is a spoiler, but either way, the process opens Gibbs up emotionally in ways that aren't entirely characteristic.

"At the end of this episode," Monreal told TV Guide, "he opens up to McGee about his past. He's seeing ramifications of the sacrifice he's made for the team and his family. You're seeing an emotional side to him." That's one of the main reasons why fans shouldn't consider this episode a season-ender: the vulnerability Gibbs begins to show in "The Arizona" will become a theme that'll continue as NCIS marches ahead post-coronavirus. "One thing about the Gibbs character," Monreal said, "he's constantly evolving."

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

(Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.)

[wanna-be-bold]

Ooo The Arizona is on!!

[just-a-girl-and-her-ships]

In the scene near the end in the bullpen when Jack and McGee are sitting at McGee's desk.....they first pan from Gibbs' desk. Which is missing a chair.

Jack is sitting in Gibbs' chair.

👀👀👀

[strongsassysexysloane]

I just can't get over how brilliant this show is. How powerful this episode is and how amazing every moment was.

[theighthhorcrux]

This was an incredible episode, and a great way to end the season. It was emotional and raw and pretty much perfect

[tivajunkie]

I for real thought all of the calls McGee was getting was going to be a prank by Tony 🤷🏼‍♀️

[slibbs]

hmmm...this episode certainly looks interesting. let’s hope they all work together a little bit more tho, yeah? lmao

[pinehaas]

joseph smith made me cry tonight fellas

[indestinatus]

Proud of bae™  

NCIS 17x20 // The Arizona

[thetricktoholdingon]

Slibbs in 17x20 The Arizona before McGee interrupts

[myncisworld-2point0]

THE PERFORMER | Christopher Lloyd

THE SHOW | NCIS

THE EPISODE | “The Arizona” (April 14, 2020)

THE PERFORMANCE | When it was announced that Lloyd, so beloved for his work on Taxi and in the Back to the Futurefilms, would be guest-starring on CBS’ No. 1 drama, you had to suspect something special was on tap. But perhaps no one anticipated the range of emotions his performance would evoke.

As Joe Smith, a 95-year-old who tasked Gibbs’ team with proving that he was stationed aboard the USS Arizona at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor (and thus deserves to have his ashes interred there upon his death), Lloyd was, yes, amusing, such as when insisting that McGee and Jimmy make like CSI by comparing DNA samples. And yes, he was formidably gruff when chastising Bishop and Torres for their anemic knowledge of naval history.

But when Gibbs pressed the alleged vet to make his own case by detailing the sights, sounds and smells of Dec. 7, 1941, Lloyd let loose with one of the most vivid, anguished monologues in recent TV history. “It was me!” he bellowed, in such a way that Gibbs (Mark Harmon, with one of his own finest performances) probably needed to hear nothing else. But he would hear so much more. “It was like the Devil opened his mouth and made a noise that was all screaming!” Joe recalled, gesticulating as if trying to wave away the memory of “body parts all over the deck,” while any intact seamen were “charred to the bone.” Joe’s recollection got personal, and Lloyd broke down sobbing, as he described fishing three men out of the water, including his friend Ozzy: “We should have been tossing a football!”

Joe summed up his feelings by saying that his crew mates were brothers to him, and when he passes, “I want to be laid to rest with my family. I want to go home.” That wish would be granted very soon after as Lloyd delivered a gut punch of a death scene, when Joe suffered a sudden heart attack and faded in Gibbs’ arms.

[tulijaa]

“17x20-The Arizona” – The team tries to verify the identity of Joe Smith, who claims he served on the U.S.S. Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and wants to be buried there upon his death.

[just-a-girl-and-her-ships]

I found an article about The Arizona (so spoilers about that) but I thought it was interesting (the parts about different eps) in case you want to read the whole thing....

https://www.tvinsider.com/930630/ncis-season-18-episode-400-gibbs-ducky-ziva-return/amp/

But here is what I thought was pretty cool:

Really can't wait til they get back to filming! Even if it's just for the bts info! 😃

[strongsassysexysloane]

I'm not ready for it to be the last episode of the season. It's not only going to be an emotional one because it is the last episode for quite a few months but the story looks like a deep one. I love these emotional episode but it's been one after the other this season and I can't.

[wanna-be-bold]

Watching 2x07, "Call of Silence" now and it reminds me so much of 17x20, "The Arizona."