There’s a new Thom. E. Gemcity Deep Six book on the shelves, so it’s the perfect time for McGee’s worlds to collide.
They do that and then some on NCIS Season 23 Episode 6, as McGee meets his number one fan, suffers the torture of bad reviews, and gets embroiled in a mystery that isn’t of his creation.
Thankfully, he’s used the embodiment of some of the best agents he knows to infuse his characters with life, and those characters (and the agents they’re based on) didn’t let him down.
I know that some of you don’t appreciate the lighter episodes, but I hope that since this one featured a decent mystery, McGee’s kidnapping, and his Deep Six characters coming to life, you can agree that this was well worth the effort.
In fact, the audience isn’t too keen on his work anymore, either. It’s become what you listen to when you fold your laundry.
I had to wonder if this was a play on the status of broadcast TV because that’s been the complaint about it for a long time.
Doesn’t everyone double-task when listening to an audiobook? That’s the whole purpose of listening rather than reading.
When McGee gave an interview to the grouchy and unimpressed critic, he answered a question the guy didn’t ask.
“Yes, I do talk to my characters. Sometimes, I can’t get them out of my head.” That paved the way for how McGee handled his kidnapping.
Does he always think like that? If so, I’m going to have to demand we see Professor Parkman, Rick Soares, KC 3000, and Agent Nightshade more often.
By the way, the press photos this week call Jessica Knightingale, but she’s clearly Nightshade in the show.
And since McGee plays with spellings, I’m guessing Nightshade doesn’t have a k. And that she was channeling her best Nyssa al Ghul from Arrow? Perfection!
I need more Pimmy Jalmer in my life, too, and the director’s more fiery personality? Yes, please! There is just so much to love here.
When I do imagine writing a novel, real people I know are always at the center of it (including about 300 versions of myself). Who wouldn’t have trouble separating fact from fiction?
While the opening set up McGee’s number one fan, Frances Bates, to go all Misery on his arse, that’s not how the mystery went at all. No hobbling, you guys!
In a surprising turn of events, Frances wasn’t involved in the kidnapping, although she unwittingly facilitated the setup.
The woman was connected, though, having worked with a defense contractor, knowing her way around a computer, and being a Deep Sixie; however, that was too easy.
Instead, the kidnapper was connected to Captain Meyers, the Navy man who was found mutilated. Her son, Matthew, was also missing, and she had gone to the police and was given the cold shoulder.
Matthew looked up to McGee, even joining the Navy because of him. His mom, Kathy Sheldon, was as far in over her head as McGee, but she wasn’t even locked to the floor.
And as if one kidnapping wasn’t enough, a crazy defense contractor named Mark Daniels, who holds meetings in VR, was selling retrofitted old planes to Russia to infiltrate the Ukrainian front. Or something.
It was a very convoluted story, and something tells me that’s pretty much how the average Deep Six novels unfold, too.
There were some absolute gems of quotes in this one, from Kasie saying, “Whoever this guy is, he’s down two ears,” to Parker’s droll, “I’ll go get more swag,” just moments before Frances appeared wearing official NCIS gear from head to toe.
I even laughed out loud when, at the crime scene, McGee was taking selfies with Frances, and Parker said, “Is that something we do now? ‘Cause that’s a new one.” Yes, Parker, we want all agents to start taking selfies at crime scenes.
Daniels desiccated Matthew’s corpse with the hopes of concealing his identity. Well, he left teeth, some fingers, and DNA, so how did he think he would accomplish that?
If all Russians are like Daniels, or Daniels is indicative of the average person doing work with them, then we don’t have too much to worry about.
However, the story with Matthew’s mother had an even more tragic ending, but it also revealed something that gave her solace. She was living a delusion, which makes sense since she took to kidnapping McGee.
She was in the midst of grief psychosis. She had already been hit hard by the death of her son, but in the wake of his death, Captain Meyers began visiting her. Then he went missing, and she spiraled.
She received the closure she needed when McGee told her that although her son died in one of the poorly designed retrofitted planes, he died a hero.
He had the chance to eject, but he went down with the plane, guiding it away from a school filled with kids.
It was just what she needed to hear. Herself a decorated military intelligence officer, knowing her son followed in her footsteps will help her recover from his loss.
But if this hour was light and a page turner in every sense of the word, Jimmy’s investigation into Parker’s mom’s autopsy and what he and Kasie are doing regarding the Parker family is going to drag them back into darkness.
Sean Murray confirmed it during our interview.
The upcoming episodes will have some weight to them. Now that we know his mother didn’t die in that car accident, we also know his family saga is far from over.
