Enough Good

I watched NCIS last night, as I do most Tuesday nights. Last night's episode took a turn from just the normal crime procedural to focus on perhaps the show's most lovable and quirky characters, Abby.

A car accident involving the death of a young Marine and a young woman suddenly takes Abby back to her very first case, when she was a little girl in pigtails. (Not that her hairstyle has changed any.) Remembrance of this case drives the normally upbeat and sunny Abby into a dark place more befitting her gothic appearance. This is cause for much concern and conversation amongst the members of her team. The ever-brilliant forensic scientist makes mistakes and displays a surliness we have never seen in her, even when stalked or kidnapped.

The mini-Abby's case begins in a junk yard, with a wrecked truck. She finds a teddy bear in the floorboard and is determined to return the bear to its young owner. What she finds is a family divided by prejudice and misunderstanding. It proves to be a divide that cannot be closed, even by a young girl with all the optimism and love that is our Abby.

Of course, the team solves the case, but the story line isn't really the point of this post. I want address the inner conflict that took Abby to that dark place. At the end of the episode, Abby sits on the floor and pours out her heart to Gibbs. "I'm afraid I'm not enough," she says. "Not enough what?" Gibbs replies. "Not enough good to push back all the evil." Gibbs says, "You are forgetting the ripple effect" Abby is confused and Gibbs asks her to remember the first day they met. In Abby-fashion she remembers every detail including the fact that she shared her fortune cookie with him. He pulls from his wallet the fortune, it reads, "Today's new friend is tomorrow's family." As a viewer, I loved the moment between them and was relieved to see a little of the old Abby shine through as the scene faded to black. I do however wish I could have written that ending, because it was a perfect place to address Abby's real need.

I, like Abby, ache over all the evil in the world. I, like Abby, try my best to be light and hope to those around me. I wonder if I am am enough, could do enough to keep it at bay. But, unlike Abby, I understand that evil will exist until the time that Christ comes back and brings that new heaven and earth. And, unlike Abby, I know I can't rely on myself or even my friends or family to be the source of my hope. Jesus is my only hope. The Psalms say it over and over again, our hope is in The Lord. Corinthians tells us that three remain, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest is love. I John tells us that God is love and that we love because he first loved us and Romans says that God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were sinners Christ died for us. That is where the "enough" comes from. I can't muster it from somewhere inside. I can't draw it from those around me. I can, however, seek it from the fountain of hope, love, and faith that never runs dry. It is there that "enough good" is found. Like a favorite song of mine says, "All of you is more than enough for all of me."

Lincoln-The Gentle Giant

I think it's easy for Americans to forget that Presidents are just everyday people in extraordinary circumstances. Spielberg's "Lincoln" gives us a vision of both the everyday man and the grand statesman.

The story sits in front of the backdrop of the days leading up to the vote in the House of Representatives on the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery in the US with all its political wrangling. We meet all sorts of interesting characters. William Seward (David Strathairn), Lincoln's Secretary of State and closest adviser. Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field) Lincoln's wife, trying her best to appear cosmopolitan and hide her insanity and grief. The abolitionist Congressman Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) and his sparing partner the Democrat Fernando Wood (Lee Pace). The political operatives asked by Lincoln and Seward to procure the votes for the amendment are perhaps my favorite, even though they are the most profane, William N. Bilbo (James Spader) and Colonel Robert Latham (John Hawkes).

And of course, there's Lincoln.  Daniel Day-Lewis is completely transformed into the Lincoln that I had in my head from grade school.  Tall, thin, bearded, and stooped, with his stove-pipe hat and black suit.  The first we see him, he is sitting out in the rain as Negro soldiers tell him of their valiantly fought battle and argue for Negro Army officers. Two young soldiers approach him and begin to quote the Gettysburg address to him. His self-effacing humor and concern for these young man is our first glimpse at the depth of this man's character. Day-Lewis plays Lincoln as a gentle man, who indulged his youngest son Thad (Gulliver McGrath) while he held his eldest son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) fought to be noticed by his father. He portrays Lincoln as the last person to speak in the room and when he did speak he spoke in stories and parables to the chagrin of his friends and cabinet. This Lincoln was on a trajectory toward greatness despite himself because of his belief that all men are created equal.

Spielberg's masterful casting and storytelling makes this movie so much more than a history lesson. I connected with the characters and even found myself rooting for the amendment to pass, even though Civics class taught me long ago that it was so.

The Brilliance of a Silver Lining

I saw "Silver Linings Playbook" last night. I really loved this movie. I laughed out loud a lot, sometimes because it was just uncomfortable to think two people like this are actually in a family somewhere.

Bradley Cooper was dreamy, even when he is playing person who is really pretty unbalanced. He deals with bipolar disorder by muscling his way through his episodes with positivity and self discipline with mixed results. The scene where Pat looks for his wedding video is part of what got Cooper his best actor nod. Jennifer Lawrence was great as Tiffany, the young widow on the edge of self-destruction, but not great enough to beat Naomi Watts for "The Impossible" or Quvenzhané Wallis for "Beasts of the Southern Wild" for the Oscar. Her nomination, however, is well deserved.

I loved that we never saw their dance in full until the competition. I loved how important the Philadelphia Eagles were to this family. Since I grew up in a family where the Pittsburgh Steelers were a Sunday ritual, I get this family.  DeNiro as the father and Jackie Weaver as the mother were delightful and painful as they try to help their youngest son find his way out of the mess that bipolar disorder has made of his life. The "R" rating is for the salty language and frank discussions.

While the story, the acting, and directing are great, the production was definitely "small". I saw several continuity flubs, and I'm not generally the person who catches those things. There's even a spot where you see a piece of the camera equipment, again, not something I normally catch. I have to say I am a little surprised by the best picture nod for this film in that respect. To me, a best picture movie should be a movie that is as flawless as can be in all the aspects of film, not just the story elements, the acting elements, or the direction.

But, I definitely got caught up in this movie. I held my breath, and then cheered or sighed in the appropriate spots. The brilliant performances of all the actors is what makes this film more than just another romantic comedy.

For the Love of NCIS

I had a Facebook friend post the other day, "Why is NCIS the most popular show on television?" It was evident that he didn't like the show.  I am not surprised that some have disdain for the show. It's not cinema d'arte, or black comedy, or particularly intellectually challenging. My friend's husband who is an NCIS agent says that it's not even close to what they really do.  But, I would like to submit that there's lots to like and even love about this show.  I am not a person who watched the show from the outset.  In fact, I am a USA marathon convert, watching on rainy Saturday afternoons or to occupy myself during football season, I soon turned to its prime time version. Here's a few reasons why.

I love the characters. Donald Bellisario and Don McGill, the creators of NCIS, gave us a group of characters that while remaining true to their original design, have grown and developed.

• Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is a Marine to the core, has vulnerabilities and flaws and occasionally a sense of humor. He is a compassionate boss, a loner, an old fashioned guy with a strict code, and a patriot. 
• Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) has taken longer to give us what we really want, a glimpse of how he really feels for his co-worker Ziva David (Cote De Pablo) He remains the movie-loving,  goofy yet dashing guy we want to ask us out for a drink.  
• The trained assassin, Ziva, still struggles with her demons as she does with American idioms, but we see a longing to be something more. 
• The resident geeks Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) provide stability and a sense of wonder at the same time. Both quirky in their own way, they love what they do and the team they do it with. 
• Director Vance (Rocky Carroll) has been a character that has been hard to like, butting heads with Gibbs and balancing the politics of working for a federal agency. The glimpses at how hard a demanding job can be on the only family man of the group, have been at times heart wrenching. 
• Then there's the autopsy suite, Dr. Donald Mallard, or "Ducky" (David McCallum) provides wisdom, professionalism, and class while Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) imbibes us with some humor and innocence. 

There have been other characters of note, Kate Todd (Sasha Alexander) and Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) who met untimely demises and of course Gibb's father played by the great Ralph Waite.

I love Mark Harmon. He's more than just a nice-looking man. He's a nice man. He's been married to Pam Dawber for 25 years. He's a dad. He's a team player. Always has been, dating all the way back to when he was the quarterback for UCLA.  I love that he's always quick to point the spotlight away from himself and to some other member of his team.  I love that he has built a team that seems to genuinely love working together and keeps each others ego in check. I loved him way back in 70's when he was in the mini-series "Centennial" and the adventure "240-Robert." Then came the role that proved he was more than a pretty face, Dr Bobby Caldwell on "St. Elsewhere." Caldwell was the first person to contract and die of AIDS on a network television program. That was followed by a stint on one of my favorite shows of the 80's "Moonlighting" which lead up to People Magazine naming him as the "Sexiest Man Alive." He continued to work over the next ten years or so until he took the role of Jack McNeil on "Chicago Hope." A couple years later he took one of my favorite roles, the Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan on "The West Wing." I have to say, I was pretty upset when they killed him. Then came Gibbs, and like I said before, it took a while for the show to grow on me.  But, goodness the man whacks his team on the back of the head when they mess up.  Haven't YOU always wanted to do that to the people you work with.

I love that after 10 seasons they still find ways to keep me on the edge of my seat. I'm a seasoned enough TV-watcher that I know probably most major characters aren't going to leave. This is not the Walking Dead, after all.  However, at the end of last season when Ducky had his heart attack, I was truly concerned that this wonderful character would be gone forever. (That is until I surfed the internet and found that David McCallum had renewed his contract.) This season the twists and turns that have occurred are making me excited about what might be next.  I was heartbroken as Cote De Pablo gave the performance of her life the past couple weeks. I wonder where this new tragedy will take her.  Like many others, I hope it will take her to the arms of Tony, but, I too, wonder what that would do to the show.

I love that they try to portray our military in a respectful, yet honest way. The military is full of fine people, but just like any organization, there's plenty of bad to go around. I love the respect they have for veterans of all ages.  One of my favorite episodes featured the late great Charles Durning as a WWII vet haunted by the death of a fellow Marine, a death he thought he caused. The sensitivity and respect the script brought to this older vet was something that all involved in the show should be proud of.

I could continue on, but I won't. I figure, if you don't already like NCIS, you're probably not going to like if after my few words. Maybe if I were able to give you a good Gibbs-slap-upside-the-head, you might. I hope however, that the folks who make the show might understand why people such as me do like it.  Congratulations on ten seasons NCIS. Congratulations to Mark Harmon on getting a star on the Walk of Fame. Even though I've never actually met you, seems to me that it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Here's to as many more episodes as you'll give me, regardless of what other people say.