NCIS - Internal Affairs (Season 5)

After Babylon 5, most science fiction television shows realised that the "story arc" was something that could be done, either by - in the case of The X-Files - having the
occasional episode that progressed the arc, or - as in the case of the current Doctor Who - dropping little hints that build up to an episode that reveals the true situation.
NCIS has decided to follow a little bit of both over the last few years; the first two seasons of NCIS essentially having episodes adding to the arc of tracking down and locating the terrorist Ari (losing Kate in the process), while the third dropped the hints during the season of Gibbs having a past that no one knew about. The fourth season was a little bit more circumspect, apparently being all about DiNozzo's romance with Jeanne leading to the revelation that she was the daughter of known gun runner, and Director Shepard's personal Moby Dick, La Grenouille. The fifth season seemed to lose its way just a little, initially seeming to be about someone killing off gun runners (including La Grenouille) but despite that being suggested, nothing further to that arc has been mentioned.

So, it's a little nice to see that, after a considerable amount of time, the FBI have finally found the body of La Grenouille and are convinced that the killer is one of the NCIS team - and, of course, an eyewitness accurately points the finger at Tony. Which does rather leave open the question as to why Fornell (a welcome return from the FBI agent) seems to be trying to lay the blame at the door of Shepard. Perhaps it may be that Fornell doesn't believe it to be Tony, or perhaps the shadowy NCIS Assistant Director Leon Vance was pushing to get Shepard removed. It's never clearly explained why they are keen to get Shepard, but Vance has obviously been set up to return to the series, so perhaps this is all leading to something that will be explained later in the season. Maybe...

The episode itself is indeed one of the better ones this season, not least because of the ending in which we discover that, in spite of Gibbs bringing CIA double agent Trent Korte in to clear La Grenouille's murder, Jenny Shepard did indeed murder La Grenouille. The return of Jeanne Benoit was nice, and to see that it was her that claimed that DiNozzo was the killer was interesting, but the final departure between DiNozzo and Jeanne was a little confusing; I can only assume that Tony told her he didn't love her to spare her from clinging to hope that they might reunite, but seeing as it was fairly obvious that that wasn't going to happen, it's a little cold to destroy any chance that their relationship might have meant something, seeing as it so clearly did to Tony.

Obviously the other highlights were the tense confrontations between Shepard and Vance (OK, it's got to be leading somewhere) and Gibbs leading an investigation from his basement, forcing McGee to struggle to create some form of internet investigation using antiquated equipment.

A good episode, but let's hope that someone remembers where this story arc is going.

"B+"