Knockout

Pretty good episode which delves into director vances interesting past

Too much Vance. He's a really annoying character in the show and one which nobody has any real interest in. So why in this episode do they force him down our throats? We see irrelevant boxing scenes which have nothing to do with anything. We see him at home with the family. We don't need to see his family. Why the hell are we seeing his family? His character is so much better in the later seasons when he has no family connections. It's got nothing to do with anything. This is a pretty bad episode. Nobody needs to see the Director in any episode. He's not a relevant character. The team is Gibbs, Tim, Tony, Abby, Ducky and Ziva.

A segment starring Rocky Carroll for a change is set in Chicago, while Gibbs and DiNozzo hold down the fort back at headquarters.

With Cote and Sean in tow, Rocky gets to play detective, making Gibbs feel left out. So Gibbs pursues a parallel investigation on his own, which points to his new boss (Rocky) hiding something. It's fun to see Rocky in the boxing ring, quite a diversion. We also get plenty of background filled in about Carroll's character.

Purists may object to the story straying far away from the series' premise of investigating navy crime cases, it's well acted, especially be beautiful guest star Rochelle Aytes as a highclass call girl assigned by Rocky to DiNozzo for protection.