Vance

(S07E17) The most important aspect of this 'NCIS' episode was the mystery. No, not the one about the Marine who may or may not have been MIA in Afghanistan, but the one involving Dr. Mallard and the ties. The clues had been laid out throughout the season, and tonight we learned that everything with Ducky was not as plucky as he was leading his friends to believe. More on that, the rain in D.C., and a handsome devil named Mortimer after the jump.

(S07E07) People who don't watch NCIS usually think the show is all about the military, all about forensics, all about criminal procedures, etc. Well, an episode like this is a perfect example of how character-driven the show actually is. Leon Vance has not been as interesting as the director of NCIS as Jenny Shepherd was, but the look into his back-story we saw with this episode may be a game changer. For one thing, he has some wife.

But as much as the Vance story and his weird connection to Kai drove the show, it may be the sad sack McGee subplot that resonates. Poor probie. Tough luck, McGeek ... or McDigit, as Tony dubbed him. The redhead was a looker. Tony and Ziva were impressed. Oh well ... more after the jump.

(S07E06) Any time Muse Watson returns to NCIS as Gibbs' mentor Mike Franks, there's usually something special in the works. Tonight's episode was no different.

With Franks involved in what looked like a heinous act of double murder, Jethro was thrust into the middle of what appeared to be an open-and-shut case.

Not so fast, Probie. The Kelly adrift with two dead bodies -- two ex-military men with ties to a private military operation -- was the first and biggest clue to the mystery.

Over the summer, spoilers were leaked that the NCIS season premiere would begin with a bang. They weren't kidding. Last night's show was a spine-tingling puzzle of an episode that unraveled scene by scene, building suspense to the ultimate -- satisfying -- conclusion. If you were thinking that, like last year, the team was going to be torn asunder after the way things ended with Ziva being returned to Israel, you were pleasantly surprised. More after the jump.

However, there's another story to report. The overnight ratings are in and the viewers have spoken. Twenty million of them! The return of NCIS zoomed to the top of the ratings with 20 million viewers tuning in. That helped CBS launch NCIS: Los Angeles, opening with 18 million, and also bolstered The Good Wife with nearly 14 million. Any way you slice it, those are stellar numbers. The folk at the Black Rock must be dancing in the hallways.

(S04E10) Hey Pam will you... wait for me one second while I tie my shoe?

For everything that happened this week -- a return to form for those of you who were upset that the previous two episodes strayed from the confines of Dunder-Mifflin -- I believe it's that question (and Pam's reaction to it) that will set up the conflict over the remaining episodes of the season. I'm about as good at reading female facial signals as Rain Man, but even I could tell that Pam's face during the "proposal" wasn't exactly filled with the kind of joy you'd expect it would be. Maybe the producers are just giving us a red herring and Pam's reaction tonight will be the equivalent of Lost's four-toed statue (interesting for a blip, then forgotten about) or maybe things are not all that well in JAM-land.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about the rest of the episode first...