NCIS Season 22, Episode 16, “Ladies’ Night” is a great idea in theory. Many other TV shows have found success playing the “boys vs. girls” card, such as the Steven Moffat sitcom Coupling and TNT’s caper drama Leverage. However, NCIS isn’t able to pull this concept off to the same extent — despite well-meaning intentions and the cast leaning as hard as they can into the comedy of it.
“Ladies’ Night” starts with the murder of a Naval officer in an antique store, but the case of the week quickly becomes secondary to the team’s shenanigans. Jessica Knight and Kasie Hines are supposed to be spending the night out with Knight’s sister (hence the title), while Nick Torres and Timothy McGee spend some time in Kasie’s lab. Naturally, the two groups eventually run into each other, but the “gotcha” of it all never quite pops.
NCIS Season 22, Episode 16 Utilizes a Familiar TV Concept
The Compare and Contrast Isn’t Effective Enough
Play Video
Props to Amy Rutberg — yes, the same Amy Rutberg who played Marci Stahl on Netflix’s Daredevil, and who also wrote almost 50 episodes of NCIS: Hawai’i before its unfortunate cancellation — for finding a fun concept and letting the episode just be fun. “Ladies’ Night” is not trying to make any kind of actual statement about gender differences or say that one “team” of investigators is better than any other. But while this story has the right tone, it struggles because it utilizes easier jokes and a few moments that just aren’t funny.
These kinds of episodes succeed when there’s an effective compare and contrast between the two sides. Leverage actually stretched the concept across two whole episodes (“The Girls’ Night Out Job” and “The Boys’ Night Out Job”), and like NCIS, got some of its momentum from bringing back someone from the show’s past. Viewers saw clear differences between each team, and they were more than just superficial; each side had their own way of doing things. In this episode, the characters aren’t behaving much differently than usual; they’re just working in two different places.
When they do come together, the jokes are predictable (such as asking how the women broke in wearing “those shoes”). There’s also one big comedy set piece that falls flat on its face. Kasie Hines uses the kiln at the ladies’ pottery class to do an impromptu forensic test, and it won’t be a surprise to anyone that the kiln is not equipped for this. But when the group is informed that they’ve destroyed the kiln and the store owner’s bowls therein, their entire response is to just run away. Kasie even has the gall to stick her head back in and ask if she can come back for the vase she was making. Even though this is supposed to be played for humor, it’s still hard not to see this as surprisingly immature and without any apparent regard for damaging someone else’s property — which isn’t like Kasie or the NCIS team in general.
NCIS Threatens to Break up Its Newest Couple
NCIS Season 22, Episode 16 features Lilan Bowden’s previously reported return as Robin Knight, and Robin gets the sole point of character development in the episode. She’s understandably annoyed to have her meticulously planned evening interrupted because Knight and Kasie can’t stop working, and that in turn leads her to admit her frustration with new boyfriend Nick Torres. Torres, too, seems to have a hard time leaving work at the door — which anyone who’s watched the rest of Season 22 (or other Torres-centric episodes) will already be aware of. This particular scene features Knight giving her sister the typical speech about how the job requires sacrifice, but that’s not the most important part.
Robin Knight (to Jessica): You pull the same crap that Nick does.
The end of the episode features an apologetic moment between Knight and Robin, which then transitions into a tough conversation between Robin and Torres. She confesses that she feels like she would just get in Torres’ way, and it sounds an awful lot like a breakup spiel. The two leave together, so there’s hope that they talk their issues out, but the scene comes across as fairly resigned on Robin’s part.
It’s possible that it sounds more final than the script intended it to be, because if NCIS is splitting Robin and Torres up already, it’s a disappointing move. Not necessarily because they’re a dream couple — so much of their relationship has played out off-screen that it’s hard to say — but because the show will have spent more time hyping up their relationship than actually letting it play out. They don’t have to be endgame, yet after asking fans to guess who Torres was dating and then deal with all of the awkwardness about it being Robin, there should be more than this.
