NCIS Season 2 (2004)
Season 2 of NCIS opens with an explosive episode, as the wife and daughter of a Navy Captain are held at ransom. Abigail Breslin is the stand-out for this story, giving an emotional and believable performance of a visually-impaired child who’s world is turned upside down. It’s an epic start especially as everything isn’t as it seems.
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We get to know McGee more in this season, and he’s a character that I really enjoy. Relationships are explored more too, including the bond between Abby and Dinozzo, and even some friendship between Abby and Todd towards the end of the season as they plan to go on a spa retreat.
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I enjoyed the continuity in this season - everything felt well connected with references to earlier episodes and characters throughout. The appearance of Ari in the final episode was a welcome surprise, especially as the way the plot is constructed means you don’t suspect this at all. Losing Todd this season is a massive blow, as we’re only just getting into the little details of her personality and rivalry with DiNozzo.
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Issues from the previous season prevail; we get another episode about a ‘transexual’, and this time whilst there are arguments in favor of people identifying as they wish, the transphobic jokes appear again. There’s also still a very defined and racialised idea of the ‘terrorist’ too, with much emphasis put on groups like Al-Qaeda as the show is concerned with threats to the US military-industrial complex.
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We also see the NCIS team become targets, with episodes like ’The Meat Puzzle’ and ‘SWAK’ threatening the lives of both Ducky and DiNozzo, which are some of my favourite episodes from this season. The final episode sees the death of Agent Todd, and her death is so impactful because it already appears that she survives an attempt against her life before it’s taken. It was Sasha’s choice to leave the role, but I think the characters death so early in the series is significant because it shows how dangerous their job can be.
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Season 2 offers many questions for the viewer - who is classed as ‘innocent’ and ‘guilty’? Can taking a life be a valiant choice? I really enjoyed this season of the show and it’s a shame there wasn’t any bonus content for it because I would’ve loved to see more of Sasha’s last days on set.
