Written by: Dominicus at 11:41 pm
TV Show Info:
Writer: Various
Director: Various
Cast: David McCallum, Pauley Perrette, Lauren Holly, Cote de Pablo, Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Sean Murray
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: CBS/Paramount
Release Info:
Original Air Dates: September 23, 2003 – Present
DVD Box Set Release Date: August 26, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon
Episodes: All episodes from the fifth season
If you are a fan of crime dramas you have to be in hog heaven these days. NCIS, CSI, CSI:Miami, CSI:NY, Criminal Minds, Numbers, and the list goes on. These aren’t even half of the crime shows on these days. They are just a few that came to the top of my head. Naturally, some of these shows are better than others, with writing and acting coming down to the main differences in style and popularity. Still, if you have a love for any of them you can probably learn to like most of them.
My biggest problem with the bulk of these shows is that they are all capitalizing off of one. CSI was a blockbuster hit, so they made the same show in different locations and kept things rolling with three times the popularity. I get the point, but find it mildly annoying nonetheless. The thing, albeit a small thing, that sets NCIS apart would have to be the military angle. The writing is engaging and the actors are able to handle their roles, but in the end this would be no different than the other CSI-style dramas.
The military angle and the character dynamic is enough to keep me interested and on task when it comes to NCIS. While I cannot say this with all of the crime shows I have watched, I have noticed that the episodes either continue along the same path or get better. Even though the show is entering its sixth season, things are still looking good for this show.
The NCIS: The Fifth Season Plot
Chances are if you’re reading this then you have already seen the show. NCIS is set to start its sixth season on September 23, which makes this the perfect release time for obvious reasons. It gives fans a chance to pick up on what they either missed or forgot about in season five. A list of the episodes and brief details of each are listed below.
Disc One:
“Bury Your Dead”: Tony is continuing his undercover work as Anthony DiNardo. During the process, he meets up with Jeanne’s dad, Le Grenouille, who knows who Tony really is. Gibbs and the team learn that Tony was undercover to form a relationship with Jeanne that could lead to the capture of Le Grenouille and that this was at the request of Shepard. Meanwhile, La Grenouille approaches Shepard about a matter of his own.
“Family”: A Petty Officer is found dead after injuries were sustained in what appears to be a car accident. However, it doesn’t take long to learn that the officer was murdered and was not driving the car she was placed in. To make matters worse, it is determined that the officer had given birth prior to the attack and it is assumed that the killer has the baby.
“Ex-File”: A Marine Captain is found dead on an Army base by the captain’s wife and one of the ex-wives of Gibbs. Gibbs and Mann are brought in to handle a joint investigation with the Army concerning the murder. This leads to an intense confrontation between Gibbs, his ex-wife, Mann, and Shepard.
“Identity Crisis”: Ducky becomes furious when a research cadaver that was discovered to have been a murder victim was tagged wrong and donated to Science. It is learned that the man was a felon working with the FBI to find a man that gives people new identities.
Disc Two:
“Leap Of Faith”: The team is called to a rooftop where a Navy Lieutenant is threatening suicide. Gibbs manages to talk the officer down off the ledge, though once down from the ledge the officer is shot and dies. The team all give their own thoughts as to why this happened.
“Chimera”: A death occurs aboard a top secret naval research ship, the USNS Chimera, which is located in the middle of the ocean. When the team arrives they find the ship empty save for the dead Scientist, though the team is sure they are not alone.
“Requiem”: Gibbs is approached by the childhood friend of his deceased daughter. She needs his help about a stalker though the case ends up being much more complex than simple stalking. Things lead to conspiracy, stolen US supply money in Iraq, and it leads to the near death of Gibbs and the girl.
“Designated Target”: An assassination of a Navy Admiral is investigated. Along the way the team meets up with a woman looking for her husband who is a political refugee from Africa and finds that he is related to the case.
Disc Three:
“Lost & Found”: A Boy Scout troop visits the NCIS and while they are there, Abby learns that one of the boys has been reported as missing since 1998. This leads the team on a search for the boy’s father who was accused of murder around the same time.
“Corporal Punishment”: Things go south for the team during a search for a Marine that has some serious problems. The Marine believes that he is still in Iraq and a violent confrontation ensues when he is found. It is learned that the Marine served as part of a secret experiment and this is why he is affected the way he is.
“Tribes”: A Muslim Marine is found dead near a mosque. This is significant because the FBI believes the mosque is a center for terrorist recruitment. Due to the religious beliefs of the family, Ducky refuses to perform an autopsy, which severely slows things down.
“Stakeout”: A high-tech naval radar gets lost and found early on. The team uses the radar to catch the thief, but as things go wrong and the radar is again stolen the team ends up having to connect two crimes, as a nearby man ends up getting murdered in the process of all of this.
Disc Four:
“Dog Tags”: A dog mauling is investigated. A suspected drug smuggler is looked at. Abby doesn’t believe the dog is guilty and tries to save him. This proves to be a hard case with the team struggling to find the answers and the director threatening to close the case, so they can move on.
“Internal Affairs”: La Grenouille is found dead and the FBI looks to the Washington office of the NCIS and Jenny for his murder. The team does a quiet investigation for themselves and is happy to see that Jenny is exonerated. However, things get sticky when Jeanne arrives to blame Tony.
“In The Zone”: A Marine Captain is murdered during a Mortar attack. Tony, along with an Intel Analyst named Nikki, are sent to Baghdad to learn what happened. The team learns that a man the Marine was working with had a civilian contractor murder him to hide the fact that a soil sample was faked. Nikki deals with her Marine demons while in Baghdad.
“Recoil”: Ziva is placed undercover to find out who murdered and cut off the fingers of five women. She finds the killer and everyone is thrilled when she manages to kill him before he can kill her. However, some questions remain about his accomplices and copycat killers.
Disc Five:
“About Face”: Palmer is investigating the death of a man found at a building site when he is shot at by a suspicious unknown man that is snooping around the site. Palmer spends the bulk of the episode trying to remember the man’s appearance in order to identify him.
“Judgment Day (Part 1 & 2)”: NCIS Special Agent William Decker is discovered dead. Initial reports state that the death was caused by a heart attack but Jenny uncovers reason to believe it was something more than that. It is believed that the murder had something to do with a mission that occurred nearly 10 years prior. As Jenny investigates she is attacked and murdered at gunpoint.
Tony and Ziva deal with the fact that they failed their assignment while trying to find who was responsible for the murders. It looks as if the gunman was the hit man that Jenny did not kill in Paris back then, as planned. Jenny’s house is burned down to cover up her death and as Vance takes charge, things change drastically for the team with the majority being reassigned or in the case of Ziva, losing liaison status and returning home to Israel.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting: 
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
NCIS is presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The show looks just as good as it has in previous seasons. The colors are bright and manageable. The picture quality is sharp. There are slight amounts of graininess, but nothing overly noticeable that would annoy someone enough to stop them from watching the show. Overall, the picture quality and presentation is above average and definitely acceptable.
The audio quality is provided through two Dolby Digital tracks in 5.1 audio and another in surround sound. In either case, the sound is not magnificent, but it’s definitely passable. The dialogue comes through without a hitch and the few sound effects sound realistic enough. I did not notice the presence of subtitles though closed captioning is available.
Visual:
Audio:
Bonus Features:
NCIS presents a good selection of special features on this season five box set. Naturally, a few full episode commentaries are included that utilize members of both cast and crew. “Recoil” includes commentary by Cote de Pablo and James Whitmore Jr., the director. “Dog Tags” brings together actors David McCallum and Brian Dietzen. “Bury the Dead” brings together the mother and son duo, Michael Weatherly and Patricia O’Hara. Finally, Mark Harmon gets in a commentary with the writer Shane Brennan on “Requiem.”
Four featurettes finish things up for the special features and all of them are on the longer side. The shortest is still over ten minutes long and the longest tops out at just over seventeen minutes in length. Things get rolling with “NCIS Season 5: Stem to Stern,” which looks at the cast and crew in an interview style to discover their thoughts on the fifth season. Fans should love this because the cast really attempts to make it as interesting as possible. Next up is “NCIS: On Location.” This featurette is the smallest in the bunch. It looks at the location options the show has outside of the studio.
The last featurettes are more behind-the-scenes in nature, including “The Dressing Room: The Costumes and Wardrobe of NCIS” and “From Pauley to Abby: Hairspray, Lipstick, and Tattoos.” The first featurette looks at the wardrobe department and how decisions are made and the second looks at how Pauley’s hairstyle is changed and tattoos are added to turn her into Abby.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
Fans of NCIS will want to pick up this set prior to the new season beginning. Otherwise, they might want to add it to their Christmas list, so Santa can drop it off. This set is on par with the other seasons of NCIS so if you like the show you won’t want to miss purchasing this Box Set. If you are new to the show, I highly recommend starting with season one and working your way to the new seasons.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Crime Drama, NCIS, The Fifth Season, Mark Harmon, Naval NCIS, Crime Scene, Military, CBS, Paramount, DVD, DVD Review
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Written by Dominicus - Visit Website
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At 23 years old, I feel that I've lived enough life to share my opinion with the world. That's what I'm doing here, as a writer, for Literary Illusions. I was born in Florida, raised in California, and currently living in Colorado, where I go to a small school in the middle of nowhere. Majoring in Business Administration, I have the goal of one day ruling the world. Interests in life include dating, movies, sports, hanging out with friends, drinking, bar hopping, and writing in both an inebriated and sober state.
