Gibbs' Worst Moment In NCIS Season 8
For the vast majority of the 18 seasons and counting of "NCIS" released thus far, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is the show's central character, among what is otherwise largely an ensemble cast. Season 19, notably, is the series' first to be absent Gibbs' presence for an extended period of time, following Harmon stepping down from his starring role and reducing his involvement to a production credit.
In total, Harmon portrayed Gibbs for more than 420 episodes of the mainline "NCIS" series, in addition to appearing in its progenitor "JAG," spinoff show "NCIS: New Orleans," and a parody segment on "Family Guy" (via IMDb). Naturally, over the course of such a considerable body of work, Gibbs has gone through his fair share of ups and downs.
Given that Harmon left "NCIS" midway into "NCIS" Season 19, he was still in the first half of his tenure as Gibbs during the show's eighth season. So, despite the fact that "NCIS" had aired for 150 episodes by that point, the version of Gibbs that led Season 8 was still a ways away from becoming the version of the character fans came to appreciate in the show's later seasons. In fact, in the estimation of some viewers, one episode in Season 8 marks one of Gibbs' lowest points as a character in the entire series.
The interrogation scene in Season 8, Episode 20 is Gibbs at his worst
In Season 8, Episode 20 of "NCIS," the NCIS team must track down a serial killer responsible for murdering Navy seamen. Initially, the case falls under the jurisdiction of E.J. Barrett (Sarah Jane Morris), an NCIS Special Agent stationed in Spain, where one of the killings occurred. Gibbs, therefore, teams up with Barrett in order to catch the killer. However, he begins to undermine Barrett's authority from the jump, reaching his lowest point when the two must interrogate a suspect together. Rather than focus on extracting information, Gibbs repeatedly criticizes Barrett's decisions, leaving them no better off than when they started, and outright preventing Barrett from doing her job.
One user started a thread on the "NCIS" subreddit titled "Season 8 Episode 20," sharing that they were "really getting tired of Gibbs alpha male behavior" after viewing the episode. User Illustrious-Ad-1298 then commented, "I just [watched] this episode and tbh it's really turning me off from the show. I've thought he was a d*** pretty much since the beginning, but this episode really put it over the top."
A number of other users, meanwhile, replied that Gibbs' hypermasculinity does eventually calm down. Nevertheless, in the estimation of at least a few viewers, Season 8, Episode 20 features Gibbs at his most needlessly aggressive, peaking when he openly undermines Barrett and ruins their interrogation.