Week 6 (Oct. 18th-24th)

CBS's NCIS
Code of Conduct
Aired Oct. 20th

It was Halloween night and the team investigates what appears to be a suicide but it is discovered by the body’s frozen organs that it wasn’t a suicide. Lance Corporal James Korby consumed liquid nitrogen and autopsy also found he was poisoned and beaten by his unit while on mission. His unit was trying to teach him lessons for his pranks not kill him. Tony felt that Korby’s wife Sara, a third-time widower was guilty. Sara was a cheater but Gibbs knew she wasn’t a murder; Instead Sara and Korby’s stepdaughter killed Korby to inherit a trust fund and inheritance.

FOX's Bones
No new episode was aired.

NBC's Law & Order
Dignity
Aired Oct. 23rd

Dr. Walter Benning is shot in the head while attending church. Benning was a late term abortionist doctor with comes with many enemies. Many pro-life advocates threatened Dr. Benning and Wayne Grogan being one of these advocates. Grogan admits to killing Benning and justifies his actions by explaining he did it because Benning kills babies. Despite tearful and distracting testimonies, on whether getting or not getting an abortion is right, the jury found Grogan guilty of murder.

Summary

Both episodes we're extremely entertaining and I hate to have to pick the best of the two. However; I feel the best episode this week was Law & Order. This episode really brought to reality how the difference of opinions can really determine how you act and feel towards others.
The plot entailed twist: Rubirosa went against orders and told the other team why a nurse quit working at Benning's clinic. Unexpected events happened to characters: Rubirosa at the conclusion of the episode might end up quiting. A sense of suspense: Why exactly did the nurse quit? Horrible to find out Benning was really a murder when he killed a live baby he accidentally delivered.

Week 5 (Oct. 11th-17th)

CBS's NCIS

Good Cop, Bad Cop

Aired Oct. 13^th

The body of a marine, Daniel Cryer, was found by a fisherman. Cryer was working with Ziva and Mossad to get Saleem Ulman. Ziva said that the ship had sunk in a storm but the location of Cryer’s body falsified her story. Cryer was killed by gunshot and after locating the sunken ship the team discovered the whole crew was shot to death. Ben-Gidon, Ziva’s former team leader showed up and demanded Ziva’s return to Mossad and in exchange he would tell director Vance what happened on the ship. Ben-Gidon said that Ziva killed Cryer because he gave up their cover, however; NCIS team proves that Ben-Gidon was the real shooter. Also, throughout the episode Ziva attempts to get a permanent position on the team and at the conclusion of the show is accepted as a NCIS agent.

FOX's Bones

A Night at the Bones Museum

Aired Oct. 15th

A security guard finds an Egyptian mummy on an electrical fence while checking the perimeter of a power plant. B&B find blood splatter on the mummy whom is later determined to be Prince Anok. The curator of the Smithsonian was found murdered inside of Anok's coffin. After seeing a cat scan of Anok's chest, Dr. Turnbull fights the curator for the ruby in his chest and kills her because she won't allow him to take it.

Also in this episode: Bones goes on a date with Booth's boss's boss and Booth's jealousy starts to prevail. Sweets stays close to Daisy incase she gets out of hand which cause them to fight and ultimately make up.

NBC's Law & Order

Reality Bites

Aired Oct. 16^th

After picking up his 10 physically disabled children from school, Larry Johnson finds his wife’s dead body on the floor in their house. Larry and his wife Joy were deciding on whether or not they wanted to do a reality show. Larry in debt wanted to do the show but Joy did not and neither did a rivalry family who also wanted to do the show. Larry, the cheating husband, decided to do the show after his wife passed making him look rather suspicious. Larry was charged with murdering his but the jury declared a mistrial.

Summary:

All of the episodes this week were quite entertaining but the most entertaining for me was NCIS because:

· The plot entailed twist: One of the team members, Ziva, looked rather guilty for most of the episode mostly because of her lie about why the boat sank.

· Unexpected events happened to characters: While nothing physically happened it seemed as if Ziva might not get a permanent position on the team meaning no longer on the show.

· A sense of suspense: This lasted throughout the show with the question being did Ziva kill a marine.

Week 4 (Oct 4th-10th)

CBS's: NCIS- The Inside Man

A crispy dead body is found while lifting a pig at the yearly suburban Luau. B&B fight through the fake lifestyle of the neighborhood and find multiple sex scandals with the victim and women of the neighborhood. The team finds that a group of three neighbors outraged by the victim's actions finally had enough and killed him. In this episode we are also exposed to the real Arastoo and his fake accent.

FOX's: Bones- The beautiful day in the neighborhood:

Burns, a blogger, who recently blogged about NCIS covering up a case was found dead. The team now has to find Burns's killer and they have to prove their recent ruling of Arnett's death an accident to be correct. The team found that Burns was killed when Arnett's partner, in a $2 mil scam, heard Arnett's death might not have been an accident. However, Arnett's death was an accident and his partner, Sutton, scared to lose his money killed Burns.

NBC's: Law & Order- Great Satan

A man in attempt to save his "kidnapped" daughter shot a man, Caruso, while searching in a trashcan. The trashcan contained the ransom money for his daughter's kidnapper. Caruso lived through the shooting. The phone of the daughter's fake kidnapper was tapped and from it planned terrorist events were overheard. The kidnapper, Sameer, was in conspiracy with other bombers to blow up a synagogue. However, the cops managed to prevent the synagogue from being bombed but accidentally aided in another bombing.

Summary:

The episode that I felt was the best this week was Bones. The episode included twists such as the victim, Kurt, was having sexual relations with multiple people two of which were mother and daughter. An unexpected event happened in the end of the episode when the murder turned out to be murders (a group of angry neighbors). Also, a sense of suspense was created with the large amount of possible suspects. This episode made it difficult to guess who was guilty which is good for any mystery.

Each week in my post I argue which episode is the best and in doing so I consider what makes a good mystery and which episode to me was most entertaining. However, let's take a look at what a fellow blogger thinks makes a good mystery.

In early 2008, blogger Peggy Ehrhart depicts her experience at a program run by the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America. The purpose of this event and the point that Ehrhart is explaining in her blog is the components of a good mystery. She says this is one of the things that a successful mystery needs:
No matter what the subgenre, mentors cautioned that police work must be handled believably.

Several pointed out that even if a project is an amateur-sleuth cozy, police will show up when there is a murder. A scene in which a dead body is discovered but police never appear will strike the reader as unbelievable. And when police come, they have to do things that police would realistically do, such as establish a crime scene and summon detectives and CSI people, even if, because of the nature of the project, the technical details of these tasks aren’t dwelled on.

Erhart is stating that when criminal events such as murder occur and a dead body is found police need to be present in a story and they need to act in a manor that police do. I agree with this in order for a mystery to be well written the events that occur should not only occur to benefit the plot but also be true to nature.

Week 3 (Sept. 27- Oct. 3)

NCIS: Reunion

Recap:
The show opens with a stripper busting into a hotel room, dressed as a cop and finds three dead bodies. The camera then moves to Gibbs's basement where Ziva tells Gibbs that she wants back in. Moving back to the hotel room the three dead men are scattered throughout. The first lying on the ground as soon as you enter, the second found dead with his head in the toilet, and the third tied to the bed with a backpack on his head. The first man (the one found in the toilet) ran an auction house and he told a coworker, Elena, that he felt as if he was being followed. McGee and Tony discovered the three were being followed by officer Shelley, a man the three use to bully in high school. The team thought that he was the guy until he too was murdered.His computer contained a suicide note that was traced back to Elena. Upon arriving at the auction house, a fellow worker was taking the antique gun, the murder weapon, out of the back of Elena's car; They arrested her. Tony and McGee arrive back at the office to find Ziva sitting back at her desk.

I found this episode particularly interesting because of Gibbs's and Ziva's confrontation. It was nice to truly see how Ziva felt about killing her brother and why she did it. Also, I liked Tony's scene in the bathroom.

Bones: The Plain in the Prodigy

Recap:
B&B are investigating the skeleton of a young man found on train tracks. The boy was killed before the train had scattered his bones. The body looks as if it lived several centuries ago and from this Bones discovered the teen was Amish. It was the boys Rumspringa, a time when adolescents "sow their oats," during this time Levi called weekly which stopped about two months ago. Sweets discovers that Levi plays the piano so Booth went to see the local piano teacher. The teacher gave Booth a video of Levi and tells him that Levi planned to try out for the National conservatory. Levi was planning to return, to the church, he crushed his own hand so he wouldn't change his mind. A thief in the building that Levi was staying in robbed Levi and took a fake gold trinket. The medal had sentimental value to Levi so he fought for it and fell over the railing of the apartment. Bones shows Levi's parents the video of him playing the piano and tells them he was going to return to the church.

This episode had a great story line but it was kind of boring. The only entertaining part of this episode was when Michelle stormed out away from Camille when she was questioned about having sex.

Law & Order: Just a Girl in the World

Recap:
A crime scene investigator, Daisy Chao, was found dead in her home. Her unfaithful fiance looks guilty until a similar attack on another Asian woman, Emma Kim. Kim claims she was attacked by a cab driver. Detective Lupo gets quite personal with Kim; Lupo sees a Victoria Secret piece of lingerie in her closet and suspects she was involved with Daisy's fiance, Jim. Jim tells detectives that he was using Daisy's money to help pay for Emma's kidney disease. DNA from a feminine wipe matched both Emma and Jim and it also falsified Emma's kidney disease. Emma is charged with Daisy's death and during the trial she uses every lie possible to get a mistrial.

This was truly the best episode of Law & Order that I have seen in a long time. The use of detective's personal life is refreshing compared to the boring, cut and dry cases that have been airing. The one thing that this episode did wrong that many television shows do, is automatically jump from cheater to murder. Just because he is wrong to sleep around doesn't mean he has the ability to commit murder. I find that shows do this often, jump to conclusion the cheater is the murderer and it bugs me.

Summary:

Out of these three episodes the best show this week, in my opinion, was Law & Order. This week's episode was quite intriguing for many reasons. One of the reasons this episode was so intriguing was the personal lives of detectives was illustrated greatly. My four factors for episodes being the best for the week are limited this week. The plot did include twists one being the other girlfriend was the killer which was by me expected. No unexpected events happening to characters, no sense of suspense, and no return of a familiar character.

Week 2 (Sept. 20th-26th)

NCIS: Truth or Consequence

Recap: The episode opens with a torturer, Saleem Ulman, saying "you will talk soon" then mixes a truth serum. Camera then moves to a bruised and beaten Tony. Tony is narrating throughout the show by using flashbacks. He brings the audience back to June and then tells his story up to present date, in Somalia. In June, the team works to "fill the empty chair" because of Ziva's departure. Tony and McGee find an agent they think is eligible and present her file to Gibbs, he disapproves. Back to current date Tony tells Saleem why he is there to kill him and also how he found him, through a shipment Saleem ordered. Saleem at this point very angry leaves the room and returns with a hooded prisoner. Saleem says "the first to talk will live, the other will die" and removes the hood. It's Ziva! Tony knocks Saleem to the ground and Saleem pulls out a gun. Tony explains to Saleem that there is a "wild card" and he will die. Saleem calls him a liar and is shot by a sniper, Gibbs, through the window.

Bones: The Bond in the Boot

Recap: A man with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist is shot to death in a parking lot. The killer cuts of the dead mans hand steals the briefcase then runs over his body. B&B arrive at the scene about two days later and find cats chowing away at the corps. The dead man entered the country, from Russia, with a diplomatic clearance. No one knew how he received a diplomatic clearance and because his suitcase was missing the case was to be treated as a national security threat. Paint samples on the dead body led the lab to James Bond's car. Upon arrival at the car B&B found a dead liquefying CIA member in the trunk and on him Bond's gun. Investigation led them to find the CIA analyst knew about the diamonds killed the Russian and stole and hide the briefcase. Later the Analyst was killed by the diamond cutter in order to find the briefcase which she never did. The team located the briefcase and inside was a USB drive.

Law & Order: Memo from the Darkside

Recap:Greg Tanner, a war veteran, was found dead in a university parking garage. On the body was a parking pass belonging to a student that Greg was staying with. Detectives searched where he was staying and found a military bag. Law Professor Kevin Franklin has ties to Tanner and is the prime suspect. Tanner felt that it was because of Franklin that he had to torture during interrogation while on duty. The torturing caused Tanner mental anguish and he felt that Franklin should pay for his mental illness. Tanner asked for Franklin to pay for his damage; however, Franklin disagreed and then killed him. During the prosecution Franklin claimed self defense and explained he only set in law what was allowed to be done during interrogations; He claimed the Bush Administration allowed it to be done not him.

Summary

All episodes this week were good, however; there was one that was better than the rest. In my opinion, NCIS was the best this week. As for the 4 arguments why this was the best episode:
1. The plot entailed twists: First, was a minor twist I was surprised to see McGee was the man lying on the ground. Another plot twist near the end of the episode Gibbs snipped Saleem.
2. Unexpected events happening to characters: In this episode the bruised and beaten Ziva, lived; Also Tony and McGee also captured and tortured.
3. A sense of suspense: Tony's flashbacks created a sense of suspense. where was he going with it? How did they locate Saleem?
4. The return of a familiar character: This is something that is not going to occur often because it would lose its affect if it did.
Favorite line:(NCIS) Tony said "Well, how was your summer?" I know not a creative line but the amusing part was how he said it, in the middle of being tortured.

An added note:
Growing up my mother didn't let me watch very much television. She always had me playing outside for some unknown reason and she use to tell me television was bad for me. Well, television isn't bad for you and it doesn't rot your brain. A relatively recent study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research states that there is no evidence of negative affect of television exposure of which I completely agree.

Week 1

FOX's Bones: Season Premiere "Harbingers in The Fountain"

Recap:

After 6 weeks of healing from brain surgery Booth finally sees Brennan, after her return from a dig in Guatemala. The first case this duo is to solve is revealed by Angela's psychic, Avalon Harmonia. Avalon leads B&B to a site of multiple bodies beneath a fountain in DC. One of the bodies recovered is discovered to be Avalon's sister's. Brennan and a slightly altered Booth prove Avalon's innocence. Meanwhile, the true culprit attacks Brennan when Booth sweeps in to save her.

I felt that this episode began without really explain what happened to Booth in recovery. I feel the episode would have been better if they showed at least part of his recovery so that we as viewers could comprehend his level of Amnesia better. I also did not like that this episode incorporated a psychic. Bones is usually founded on science not the supernatural. Don't get me wrong I did like this episode it just was not the best. I recently viewed ratings that showed this episode was in top 20 on the premieres list. Of course, many will probably disagree with my assertion that this episode was not as good as the previous season's episodes as proven by the ratings.

Summary:

This is usually the section I tell which episode was my favorite amongst NCIS, Bones, and Law & Order. However, the previews of NCIS and Law & Order have not aired yet. In this comparison section I would usually state what episode I felt was the best based on 4 factors: plot entailing twists and turns, unexpected events happening to characters, looking for a sense of suspense, and the return of a familiar character. For example, if I were to pick this episode as the best I would argue that it was the best for reasons such as:
1. Plot entailing twists-like when Avalon's sister was discovered as one of the victims.
2. Unexpected events happening to characters- When Brennan was attacked by the doctor.
3. A sense of suspense- When Booth says "I love you" to Brennan before he retaliates.
4. Return of a familiar character- This episode didn't show the return of a familiar character.

Stats mentioned above can be found at the ObsessedwithBones website.

Last Season's Finales

CBS’s NCIS:
Recap: “Aliyah”, NCIS’s season 6’s finale opens with Ziva driving to her apartment. She then finds Rivkin and Tony Fighting and Tony has killed Rivkin (a member of the Mossad).The team must now go to Israel. After Director Vance and Director David (of Israel) settle the dilemma the team gets ready for their return home; however, Ziva will not be returning with them. Ziva’s father, director David, feels that she is no longer loyal to him and her country. To prove to him she is loyal she must finish Rivkin’s mission. At the ending of the show we see a bruised and beaten Ziva in a chair being tortured and questioned about NCIS.

What a cliff hanger leaving Ziva all tore up who knows what will come out of next season. Will Ziva come back? I personally hope so because she adds a lot to the show. I’m not sure that this episode was very crime related Tony did kill someone but there really wasn’t much focus on the crime itself. Not saying it wasn’t entertaining because it definitely was.


FOX’s Bones:
Recap: Season’s finale “The end in the beginning” takes place while Booth is in surgery to remove his brain tumor and after the surgery while he is in Acoma for 4 days he dreams that he and Brennan are married club owners. In this dream a man is shot in the restroom of their club and anyone could be the victim. At the end of the episode Booth awakens and appears to be confused and asks Brennan “who are you”. I agree with Searching Bones blog when they state “given that it was an alternate reality episode, I think Hart did a great job of writing it” because my experience watching it confirms it. I thought that the episode was a very good episode leaving good possibilities for the next season. There wasn’t anything I would add or take away from this episode it was all around a good episode.


NBC’s Law and Order:
Recap: Law and Order season 19 concluded with “The drowned and the saved”. Charles Whitley director of Boland Initiative, a large charity, was stabbed with a knife in the back. After a somewhat confusing investigation Rita, the governor’s wife, was found to be the one behind Whitley’s murder. Cutter leads the governor to believe he has proof of his “dark world” and convinces the governor into resigning.

Okay, so who really liked the governor? If I could have changed anything about the episode it probably would have been more than a resignation. This episode was hard to follow but I liked how it was all tied to the governor’s wife.


Summary:
The best crime drama this week would definitely have to go to Law and Order because the other episodes focused on having a good finale instead of solving a crime. What made Law and Order’s crime solving better was it solved a murder and put the guilty person away so did Bones but it was in alternate reality. Although Law and Order in my opinion was the crime drama based on crime being solved the show itself wasn’t the most entertaining. The most entertaining episode I believe was NCIS because it left a character in danger and the viewers such as me want to know what comes next.