NCIS, gayness levels, and The Gay Spike

[cimorene]

Damn, the new NCIS was good. And not only good, either - I mean, it was partly good acting, and it was partly better writing than usual, because it was really sparkling, and Michael whassname is really good at - you know, impressions, and being a bit of a goof, and comic timing - so I'm sure they wrote the ep for him, just to let him shine, as it were. But anyway, my point is that it wasn't just better written than usual, it was more gay than usual. Like, okay. In graph form,



NCIS is usually about as gay as Highlander, which is to say, amusingly gay, but not necessarily anything that your typical non-gay, non-slash-goggles-wearer would even pick up on; the realm of repeated humourous subtext, but without the intense focus on interpersonal relations, in a bromance way, that you find in Star Trek and the other higher-up shows on the graph (there are plenty of other shows, too, obviously, I just picked big fandoms that spring immediately to mind as benchmarks). It spikes occasionally, especially in s6, with Agent Afloat and Tony's return to the job WITH BONUS EYEFUCKING AND HANDSHAKES, not to mention the Meet The Parents ep where Gibbs's dad is all over Tony and then inexplicably (or rather, unexplainedly) gives him a sweater., but those spikes have heretofore, due to characterisation and camerawork (ie no lovingly lingering shots of the eyefucking, more like you have to notice it happening is a comic aside when the plot is focussed elsewhere), been still mostly at sub-Star Trek levels. Last night's episode was firmly up above Star Trek gayness levels, although still under Due South (it's hard to get as gay as riding off into the sunset together) - more like The Sentinel (other shows at TS's level of gayness: Merlin, Starsky & Hutch from what I have observed).

I keep refreshing my delicious subscriptions looking for episode tags because I'm too lazy to try to write one myself, but you could totally put a really awesome Gibbs/Dinozzo FT fic either directly after the events of the ep, or shortly after like a few days or weeks. Even though my personal canon places that earlier this season.

ETA: If you haven't seen it, go participate in thefourthvine's Scientific Poll on the subject!http://thefourthvine.livejournal.com/98874.html#cutid1 & http://thefourthvine.livejournal.com/99145.html#cutid1

Comments

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

You're nuts. The Sentinel is *much* gayer than that, it's soooper-gay. Merlin and S/H are Pretty Damn Gay too, of course, but I sometimes think TS is Gayest Ever.

Ha! I shall do a poll.

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

now i want more things on this graph!!

[cimness.livejournal.com]

TS is near the top of my graph. Only DS is above it. You're just objecting because I said Merlin and SH are about equal? I was guessing about them (which is why they aren't on the graph) - I haven't watched the canon (well, I've watched about ½ an episode apiece).

[cimness.livejournal.com]

Feel free to make your own!

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

i don't know enough to do that! i would put supernatural somewhere near the sentinel though.

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

ahahaha i love that graph.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about a 'humour/crack' scale too but I'm not really up to 3D graphs yet. :D

[cimness.livejournal.com]

Hahahha, so would I! Except I don't find it very gay. I mean, it's an intense bromance but it's clearly a BROmance. All homoerotica completely unintentional (and I generally find, unnecessary: it goes away for me if I blink and remember they're brothers...)

[copracat]

I think Merlin has the potential to be Even Gayer Than The Sentinel and possibly Even Gayer Than Due South. I mean, we already know that, eventually, Arthur is going to die and Merlin is going to take to his big gay couch of pining for a thousand years or until Arthur returns, whichever comes later*.

I love your graph. It makes me want to watch NCIS.


*All over the world Arthurian scholars are groaning in unexplained pain.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

No, I'm objecting because TS is The Gayest Ever!! Gayer than a gay gay thing.

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

it's gayer in my mind than in the actual show...

[cobweb-diamond.livejournal.com]

the gay present in "bounce" was awesome and epic. i love NCIS but this was not only a good ep but was more or less Gibbs and DiNozzo eyefucking and then Dinozzo having multiple tiny overoyed fits whenever Gibbs uncharacteristicaly complemented him. it was getting to the point where i was thinking, "shit, Gibbs is being so nice to DiNozzo they must be going to kill one of them off!"

p.s. if there is fic for this ep, recc it! i don't think i've ever read good Gibbs/DiNozzo fic...

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I am with Mary Ellen, despite agreeing that riding off into the sunset together is EXTREMELY gay.

The reason I am agreeing with ME is "Jim dreams about Blair naked and impaled."

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

The "merging of their spirit animals" thing, too, which goes beyond gay and into "15-year-old girl's fanfic".

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

The spirit animal thing is one of the factors that makes me agree with the quality of writing cimness has assigned. Because. Damn.

Back on the gayness, there's also the entire structure of the show as a metaphor for the closet.

[ratcreature]

I feel the quality of TS writing is maligned here. The show wasn't *that* bad.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

"Crack" should be about how much of the characters' naked butts you got to see. *nodnod*

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Icon!

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

dkfasd;flsadfkljasdf;lasdk HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

I think this calls for a poll! May I do it?

[cimness.livejournal.com]

Knock yourself out!

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I didn't take a poll, but I definitely find The Sentinel that bad in comparison to the other shows represented on the graph.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I can't agree that it's gayer than Due South. They were both really gay in subtext and day-to-day... occurrences, but DS ended with riding off into the sunset explicitly, and 'explicitly' is worth extra points, in my book, even if they read about the same most of the time.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

That's definitely true. If you could count on the show using that part of canon, at least, it would get plenty of Riding into the Sunset points.

[melannen.livejournal.com]

I saw this and couldn't resist making my own (http://melannen.katycat.net/slashgraph.png)! I hope you don't mind. This is genius!