It’s almost here, it’s almost here! Yes, my fellow recap couchmates, next week is the season 14 premiere! Which means this is our final Classic NCIS rendezvous for the summer. Thank you all for joining me! I hope this isn’t just a what-I-did-on-my-summer-vacation fling and you’ll hang out with me as we head into what is sure to be a wild ride of a season. New agents! New storylines! Where will they all sit? We have so many questions.

But for now, let’s relax and skip back in time and spend the end of our summer with our Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo in the season six episode Bounce.

Michael Weatherly as Tony on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We open with a young man tugging a heavy piece of luggage out of a hotel elevator. A maid asks him if he found his friend as he struggles with the heavy bag down the hallway, passing another guest as he enters his own room. He tells the maid he was successful, then we see him enter a utility room and manhandle the heavy bag up and into the trash chute. When it lands in the trash bin far down below, out pops a dead body. Moments later our suave young dead body dumper heads into the hotel lobby and informs the desk clerk that he will be checking out. She asks for his name. He smiles and says, “Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.” Only, that ain’t Tony. Ruh roh.

Aaaand, cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

We shift to the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness as Tony is putting together his famous hangover elixir. McGee and Ziva enter, with McGee taking a little glee in his teammate’s rough morning-after shape. Apparently, Vance had Tony take their visiting counterpart agents from Japan around town the previous night. “Sake bombs,” Tony says, adding that he barely made it out of there alive. Ziva talks and Tony begs McGee to “say words” as he is somewhat incapable. Heh. McGee tells Ziva that Tony’s elixir is called the “defibrillator” and has been passed down through generations. Ziva says her family has a remedy, too. Jasmine tea and lime. Tony makes a face, says that’s disgusting (as he readies himself to drink some kind of Tabasco concoction. Gah.).

Enter Gibbs, who ascertains Tony was out the night before drinking. “Alone?” he wants to know. Tony says no, then qualifies that with, “Not that there’s anything wrong with drinking bourbon alone in your basement with your boat.” Oh, Tony. Our still-drunk Tony wants to know what they are talking about, and Gibbs responds, “Your alibi.” Suddenly, everyone sits up and takes notice.

Michael Weatherly as Tony, Sean Murray as McGee, Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Cote de Pablo as Ziva in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We shift to the crime scene as our team processes the dumpster and the dead body within. McGee wants to know who would want to impersonate Tony. They run through a list that includes both Jeanne Benoit and Kort, so we know where this falls in that timeline. (See my Blowback recap from Aug. 31.) Mostly, McGee is bummed that the seams tore on the tote bag the body was stuffed into, seeing as he just bought the same one. At Ziva’s shocked expression, he opines that maybe he’s been doing this for too long. Ya think?

At the hotel, Gibbs and Tony are questioning the clerks. He reviews his signature, agrees it is his name, but not his signature, then quips how it’s been almost a year without being accused of murder. The female clerk looks over the clearly hungover Tony and adds that the guy looked a lot like Tony, only he was fitter. Heh. The manager provides Gibbs with a DVD of the security footage and the key card to the room the guy stayed in, hurrying them along in hopes of not damaging his hotel’s reputation. Tony says that only that morning those last four sake bombs seemed like a bad idea. Now they’re his alibi.

Back at the dumpster, Ducky and Palmer have arrived and drag the body tote from the bin to the ground. Ducky regales us with a story involving Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas, his mother and her infatuation with one of the performers, who, it turns out, Palmer knows more than a little about. Oh, Ducky. Oh, Palmer. Gibbs, and I, advise them to stop while they’re behind. McGee informs us that Dumpster Guy worked for the Department of Defense. Tony thinks his name sounds familiar and McGee thinks maybe he looks familiar, too. He was, essentially, an international mailman for the DoD, which helps them not at all at this point. Ducky says it appears he was strangled with a wire or cord. He was also stabbed in the heart. There is no other evidence around the dumpster or in the hotel room. Ziva says there were two witnesses, the maid and the man checking in to his room. The latter was inebriated, but, she announces with glee, both witnesses described a man who looks a lot like Tony. Tony is done with the whole lookalike thing and heads back to the car, where a man strolls up to him and says, “Remember me?” Tony turns and we all see our body dumper. Hunh! Fade to black and white.

Back at HQ, Body Dumper is in interrogation as Gibbs and Tony talk from the other side of the two-way window. He explains to Gibbs that BD was a civilian working for the Pentagon and also Tony’s his first collar as the team boss when Gibbs went on his little Mexican sabbatical three years prior. Gibbs merely gives him “the look” at Tony’s mention of that time. Turns out BD embezzled money from a Navy Credit Union, open-and-shut case. Except for the part where they never found the money. BD got five years but was released early. The co-worker who testified against BD is none other than our Dumpster Guy.

In the interrogation room, BD is more than a little cocky, maybe meant to sound a bit like Tony, only he comes off a lot more … well, rhymes with pickish. He says he didn’t kill anybody, causing Gibbs to comment that he guesses that body just stuffed itself into that duffel bag. BD wants to talk to Tony alone. He says he came to Tony, that he didn’t have to, and Gibbs packs up and gives them the room. BD tells Tony he’s innocent of the murder and the embezzlement charges. He says he just wanted to talk to Dumpster Guy. They were friends and he wanted to know why DG would have testified against him. DG wouldn’t agree to see BD, but BD knew he’d agree to meet with DiNozzo, so he set the meet up using Tony’s name. He got to the hotel early, checked in, went out to dinner, then came back and found DG dead in his room. He panicked, got rid of the body, then knew he screwed up and came to Tony. He takes off a lanyard with a USB drive hanging from it and hands it to Tony, telling him it has the complete paper trail from the embezzlement proving his innocence. It took him three years to dig it up, but the appeals court wouldn’t look at it. He thought Tony could help him. Tony tells him he’ll try, but, you know, he’s in the middle of a murder investigation.

Out in the hallway, Tony tells Gibbs not to believe DG … except that part where he turned himself in is suspicious. Gibbs tells him it was his case back then and it’s his case now, and makes him the lead on the investigation. “Your case, your lead.” He thinks it might even be a rule. Heh. Ziva and McGee are reviewing the security footage and spy BD coming into the hotel but no sign of Dumpster Guy. Tony goes Full Gibbs and orders McGee to check BD’s background, credit cards, then hands the USB drive to Gibbs and orders him to review it and get up to speed on the embezzlement case, then work with McGee. McGee freezes, then Gibbs says, “On it, boss” and takes the USB drive, much to the utter shock of McGee and Ziva, who wants to know if Gibbs is going back to Mexico. HA. McGee is all, “Rule No. 38.” And yes, so it is. Abby calls Gibbs, who tosses his phone to Tony. He tells Abby he’s on his way, then tosses the (flip!) phone back to Gibbs. Nifty. Gibbs clears his throat, and Tony turns right back around to get Abby a Caff-Pow first. Heh.

Down in Abby Lab, Tony enters, hands Abby the beverage and says, “Talk to me.” She says, “Thank you, Gibbs,” and stubbornly continues to give her report to “Gibbs.” Finally, Tony tells her it’s Rule No. 38 and then she’s fine. She confirms the struggle in the hotel room, but also confirms that someone washed their hands in the sink after the murder and she pulled a partial print off the soap dispenser. She’s running that. After Tony leaves she opines that she hopes she doesn’t have to train him all over again. Heh.

Michael Weatherly as Tony on NCIS and Cote de Pablo as Ziva on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Up in the bull pen, McGee asks Ziva how she feels about Tony being in charge again. Ziva says he is a good investigator and a good leader. McGee says Tony is annoying enough when they work together, but when he’s the boss, he walks about with that “peacock strut, that smirk” … aaaand we all know where this is going. McGee pauses and says, “He’s behind me, isn’t he?” He turns, finds Tony there, who says, “Smirking.” HA. Ziva brings Tony up to speed, saying they found Dumpster Guy on the security footage entering the hotel through a service entrance two hours before the murder. The maid has admitted letting him into BD’s room. Tony asks McGee to “stroke his plumage.” Heh. McGee tells him there was nothing unusual in DG’s financials but there was a sealed file. Tony explains that some of his testimony in the embezzlement case involved classified information and McGee tells him he’s petitioned the judge for access. Gibbs enters and Tony calls him boss, then corrects himself and calls him Jethro, which just sounds weird. He asks him if he went over the USB drive and Gibbs reports he did, and he went over the appeals. Tony says it probably confirmed that BD just wasted three years of his life compiling all of it. Gibbs tosses the lanyard back and says nope, it proves BD’s innocence. Ruh roh! Fade to black and white.

We come back to The Screen of All Knowing and learn that new forensic software can prove that the files showing BD took the money from the credit union were falsified. As it turns out, when the monies were being transferred, BD wasn’t even in the country. He was in Iraq. Tony struggles with the idea that he put an innocent man in prison, then calls for a campfire. He, McGee and Ziva roll their chairs together and wait for Gibbs to join them. He is less than enthused with this concept but he does. Aw, Gibbs. Tony takes the hit for the false imprisonment, but says that doesn’t exonerate him from the murder. After all, it was DG’s testimony that put him away. And why would DG testify against him if BD was really innocent, anyway? Maybe DG was the real embezzler and used BD as the fall guy. Gibbs phone rings, he looks at it, hands it to Tony. It’s Ducky, who asks Gibbs to come down, then is all, “Tony?” Heh. He goes to hand the phone back, but Gibbs tells him to keep it. Tony assimilates this and his confidence smooths out, becomes more professional as he hands out assignments to McGee and Ziva. Then he turns to Gibbs, who smiles at him. All he says is, “Good campfire.” Oh, you two.

You know, watching this now, with DiNozzo having departed the show, makes it that much more bittersweet that the solution wasn’t giving him his own team. I know Tony was offered that multiple times and had his reasons for not wanting to play the lead. And I know Weatherly wanted off the show and his exit, as written, provides fodder for the upcoming season. Still…I would have liked knowing DiNozzo had become a boss. Somewhere. Instead, he’s a Bull. Ah well.

Down in Ducky’s Dig, we learn DG has some “suspicious anomalies” including a rash on his lower extremities that had traveled up his torso and become actual lesions. Turns out he had Valley Fever, which is native to the southwest, meaning he must have spent some time there recently. This means he likely had a fever at the time of his death, which alters time of death by two hours. That changes the whole time line. And the suspect list. Because BD was having dinner in front of a bunch of witnesses at that time, so he’s no longer on the hook. Innocent all the way around. Tony takes the time to apologize to BD, who wants to know what the apology is for, the false imprisonment or accusing him of murder. Tony takes the hit on the prison sentence, but says they’re even on the murder accusation. BD did drop a dead body down a trash chute, after all. And innocent or not, he’s not any more likeable now that he was before. Tony tells him hopefully the tampering with a crime scene charge will be considered as time served and promises to write him a letter to help him get his case appealed. Tony asks him who set him up. Was it DG? BD just smirks, says he was just exonerated and now he’s supposed to figure out who really did it? No thanks. I know we should feel sorry for him, but … not so much.

We shift to the conference room where Tony meets with BD’s former supervisor at the Pentagon, who is quite happy to tell Tony, “I told you so.” This guy is likable, however. He says he knew BD didn’t have the computer skills to pull off that embezzlement. Tony gives him his appeal info and says he has them now. Then Supervisor asks a surprised Tony how Ziva is doing. Tony asks why and he says he hadn’t seen her in a while. Tony says, “Three years, since the trial.” Supervisor corrects him, says it’s been closer to two, since she added him as a friend on Facebook. HA. Tony’s all, “Ziva’s on Facebook?” Supervisor smiles and says, “Have you ever seen her knife collection? Ooh rah.” HA squared! After looking over the appeal file he tells Tony that it would have taken two people to falsify the log on and withdrawal information. Given BD was in Iraq, he couldn’t have been DG’s cohort in crime. He says that department employs over 2,000 people, but Tony puts him on winnowing down that list and giving him the most credible possibilities. As Tony heads out, Supervisor tells Tony to tell Ziva he’ll poke her. At Tony’s look of confusion, he smiles, says, “You know. Facebook?” Ha.

Down in Abby Lab, she chastises Tony for arriving a full four minutes after she discovered something. Gibbs would have never done that. He hands her the Caff-Pow in apology. She smacks a Trainee sticker on his lapel. Heh. We learn that she has enough of the partial fingerprint to make a match if she has the suspect’s fingerprint. Tony tells her she has the info on 2,000 of DG’s coworkers she can run it against. Then he hands her an ankle support brace for Sister Rosita (who she told him in their first scene had sprained her ankle bowling.) Aw, Tony. He said he got it from the NCIS gym, a side trip that took him about … four minutes. Heh. Just then the screen lights up with a match. Abby smiles and peels the Trainee sticker off his lapel. Go team!

Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Back up in the bull pen, McGee is all, “We have two embezzlers and one of them gets trashed. Literally.” HA. Why would one have killed the other? Ziva opines one got greedy, wanted all the money. But why wait three years? Gibbs pipes in that maybe he got scared when he learned that his partner was going to meet with the agent from the original case. Neither embezzler knew DG was really meeting with BD. Gibbs tells them that if he was afraid his partner was going to rat him out to a federal agent, then that gives them motive for murder. Tony comes in and says they might have the embezzling cohort. The fingerprint from the hotel room matches one of DG’s coworkers. Gibbs tells them to gear up but when they sit there he asks them what is wrong. Ziva and McGee say that Gibbs just said more right then than he’s ever said in a week. Gibbs says it wasn’t his job before. Ha. NCIS camaraderie at its best. Gear is grabbed and off they go.

They arrive at the co-worker’s house and Tony stops Gibbs before they go in. He says for appearances sake, maybe he should be the one to drive on the way back. At the look from Gibbs, Tony says to never mind that idea, then Gibbs tosses him his keys. Tony takes lead, and a woman answers the door. She seems slightly out of breath, tells them the person they’re looking for isn’t there and goes to close the door in their face. Ziva blocks that, they show the warrant and they’re in before she can stop them. McGee heads around to the back entrance. Over her increasing vocal protestations, they continue their search, they hear muffled voice coming from a back room and barge into a bedroom, and find their quarry bound, gagged and tied to a bed in his boxers and T-shirt. Fade to black and white.

We come back to find the team processing the scene and questioning to the woman who answered the door, who we learn is the bound man’s wife. She says they got it all wrong, he liked being tied up. Ziva questions the broken nose. He slipped. How about the lighter fluid? She breaks, says after what he did, it was that or her garden shears. Ouch! She’s cuffed and taken out as Tony looks at the bed, recalls The Burning Bed movie. Gibbs recites the movie premise about a woman who burned her husband in bed while he was sleeping, prompting a surprised look from Tony. “My second wife’s favorite movie.” Ha. Also, ouch again! McGee enters with a manila envelope containing photos saying that hell hath no fury — “Like a woman scorned,” Gibbs finishes for him. “Third wife’s favorite quote.” HA and yikes! The photos are of the embezzling cohort cavorting on a beach in Hawaii with another woman. Turns out the other woman’s husband had her followed and decided the other man’s wife might like to see what he found out. “Misery loves company,” Gibbs says, prompting Tony to ask if that came from his fourth wife. In response, Gibbs lifts the camera he’s been using and flashes a full bulb shot right in their faces. Oh, fellas.

Outside, our busted nose, wife-cheating embezzler and possible murderer is sitting on the back of an emergency vehicle with an ice bag to his swollen face. He tells Gibbs and Tony he’s thankful they arrived when they did. Tony is all, yeah, it would have been a shame to get there and find their chief suspect dead. At the man’s confusion, they lay it out for him. Which is all fine, except the guy was in Hawaii — of which they have photographic evidence — so there was no way he could have been in that hotel room.

Which brings us back to Abby Lab as she apologizes for getting it wrong. Sort of. It turns out that the soap dispenser was not hotel issue, but was taken from Busted Nose Wife Cheating Embezzler’s bathroom, part of a matching set, and planted at the murder scene to frame him. Ingenious, really. Up in the bull pen, McGee confirms that there was a third embezzler. Yes, wife-cheating guy was the embezzling cohort, just not the murderer. McGee traced his accounts and found that he helped DG do the transfer, but a third person moved the money from the internal account he created to an external one. Tim traced the account to the Cayman’s but that is as far as he could get. He suggests asking BD if he has any ideas who it might be, but Tony says he’d be more likely to thrown them an anchor rather than a life vest and he’d rather find the answer himself. Ziva and Gibbs have been interrogating Wife Cheater Embezzler for over an hour, but haven’t gotten anywhere.

Tony doesn’t head to the interrogation room, he heads to the elevator. We see him having a secret meeting in the garage with Palmer, who had to wait until Ducky went to his Pilates class to sneak out. There’s a visual! He and Tony muddle over the clues they have thus far but other than confirming that after sitting on the money for a few years while the heat died down, now they might have been ready to make a withdrawal, only one of them didn’t want to share with the other two. So, murder one, frame the other and voila. Palmer wants to know what BD’s take is, then realizes Tony hasn’t talked to him yet. Tony repeats the anchor-life vest analogy and Palmer is all, yeah, well if I put an innocent guy in prison, I can see why asking him for help would be difficult. He looks at Tony and adds, “But I’d do it anyway.” Tony sighs, then thanks him and heads out.

We shift to Tony sitting in his car outside BD’s place, then reluctantly heading up the walk and banging on the door. He notices smoke coming out of the place and busts his way in, calling out BD’s name. After searching, he finds … nothing. Fade to black and white.

Michael Weatherly as Tony on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We come back to our team processing the scene. Turns out it was meat burning in the oven that set off all the smoke. But no sign of BD. The window was jimmied and the place has been thoroughly tossed. Ziva finds a knife with blood on it. Gibbs says that the third embezzler knows BD can likely ID him, so he’s tying up loose ends. Tony is stumped.

Back at HQ, Tony is barking orders, clearly so frustrated he’s losing his temper and good judgment. Gibbs calls for a two-man campfire. Heh. Tony vents that first he put an innocent guy in prison and now he might be topping that by getting him killed. Gibbs calmly says Tony screwed up three years ago, yes, but now he’s making it right. And he’s making Gibbs proud. Gibbs tells him he’s been doing a hell of a job, calls him Anthony. He admonishes him to get his head right and trust his gut. Tony says he’d rather trust Gibbs’ gut, which is when Gibbs gets right up in his face and says, “Then give me my damn phone back!” Tony pulls back as Abby enters, but the two keep their gazes locked … and Tony gets his head back in the game. He asks what Abby’s got as Gibbs smiles and heads off to help with the road blocks Tony had them set up to try to keep the third embezzler from fleeing.

Abby tells him she tested the knife Ziva found. It has DG’s blood on it, so it’s the murder weapon from the hotel. It does not have BD’s blood on it, so that’s good. Even better, he left his DNA on the knife handle. Tony wonders why the killer didn’t clean the knife between one event and the next and Abby says he can ask the guy himself. Then she hands him a photo of … Supervisor!

In interrogation, Tony takes great pleasure in questioning the guy. Tony lays out the photos of the three embezzlers and says, “Larry, Moe and Curly.” We see Supervisor’s smug look fade. HA. The team watches from behind the glass, with Ziva saying how much Tony enjoys this part. Gibbs says he’s earned it. Tony continues his questioning as the team takes bets on which method he’ll employ. Tossing a chair? Strong and silent? Gibbs goes with “picture tears.” Tony tears up the first photo and Gibbs puts his hand out to get paid. HA. Supervisor breaks when Tony shows him the knife, says he went to the hotel but only to encourage DG not to meet with Tony (who they didn’t know was really BD.) He claims DG attacked him and it was self-defense. Tony smacks the table, demanding to know where BD is, but Supervisor insists he doesn’t know where BD even lives. Tony says they found the knife in BD’s house. Supervisor says he left the knife at the hotel. He was in court the full day they are claiming he abducted BD. And remember, BD was knifed, but he was also strangled.

Back in the bull pen, they confirm Supervisor’s story. Turns out he was busted for drug possession and his arraignment was the day before. McGee says DG’s secret file just got unsealed and he had legal troubles, too. If he wasn’t dead, he’d be under indictment for mail fraud. A real lovely group, Larry, Moe and Curly. Tony asks McGee if BD was busted for fraud after an anonymous tip and he says yes, asks how Tony knew. Tony reveals that Supervisor was also busted for drugs after an anonymous tip. Ziva comes in and says the postmark on the envelope sent to the wife of Wife Cheater Embezzler was fake, so someone was making sure he got nailed, too. So it turns out BD has been busy framing the three men who framed him for murder. McGee asks if BD had all the info, why not just turn them all in for framing him. Tony and Gibbs smile and Tony says he was buying himself some time. Time to find the money?

We shift to the airport where BD is checking departures. Tony comes up behind him. BD sighs, asks Tony if he found Supervisor’s knife. Tony says they did and Supervisor is looking at a long prison sentence. BD says he’s not sorry, they got what they deserved. Tony asks him what he thinks he deserves. He says he wants that three years of his life back. BD asks him if he’s still looking for the money. Tony smiles and says he thought with all the research BD did, he might know. BD agrees that would be a hell of a consolation prize. He sees Tony eyeing his bag and opens it. Just clothes. Tony eyes his plane ticket, asks him if he’s headed south. BD says, “I don’t know. Am I?”

Michael Weatherly as Tony on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We shift to the parking lot and Gibbs leaning on their car. Tony comes out and tells Gibbs he guessed he missed him and Gibbs doesn’t seem surprised. Meaning Tony let BD take off, avoid prosecution, his way of making up for the three years. “Boat. Bourbon. Basement,” Tony says. “I get it.” Then he goes to get in the car. Gibbs just smiles, calls him back. Tony turns, tosses him the car keys, then hands him his phone. “There you go. Boss.” He looks skyward, watches as the plane takes off. Fade to black and white. Boom.

Ah, Tony, we will miss you!! (But we can feel like we’re visiting you by watching your new series, Bull, which airs oh-so-conveniently right after NCIS, same bat channel, same bat station. It will be like you never left. Kinda.)

So, about this new season. We’ve got not one, not two, but three new agents coming in to join our merry band of investigators. I know! (Hello, Jennifer Esposito! I have missed you!) The Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness is going to be a mite crowded. I’m not sure how they’ll squeeze in all this deliciousness and still give us face time with our current favorites, but I’m game to find out!

In the meantime, let’s announce the winner of the last giveaway and put some new swag up for grabs! Thanks for the enthusiastic entries and curiosity about my “other job.” I appreciate all of you who have given my books a try, and if you’re still on the fence, well, that’s what libraries are for! Check me out. Literally!

OK, so our big winner of a signed copy of my current release Starfish Moon is Debbie Henderson! Debbie, drop me your address to donna@donnakauffman.com and I’ll get your signed copy in the mail.

New swag giveaway? How about a signed copy of Pelican Point, the first book in my Maine series, and a cool Blueberry Cove canvas tote bag to go with? Because we can’t have too many books or too much totage. Want in? Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Books & totage? I’m in!” in the subject line and you’re officially in the running. I’ll announce the winner right here in the season 14 premiere recap which goes live one week from today!

In the meantime, drop by my Facebook page to keep up on all the latest NCIS news and for the occasional additional chances to win free stuff!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 50 titles. Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by wildlife that thankfully no longer has anything to do with the kind going on in our nation’s capital. You can bounce over and check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!) Yes, even you.

MORE ON HEA: Check out more of Donna’s NCIS recaps

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Our long summer of discontent is finally over! Yes, season 14 of NCIS has finally arrived and I couldn’t be happier to welcome my favorite very special agents back into my living room. And this season we get three new team players. I know I’ll miss Tony (though we all get to see Michael Weatherly in Bull right after this premiere, so it’s like he’s still with us — win-win!), but I’m excited to see how this new team dynamic plays out.

Duane Henry, Jennifer Esposito and Wilmer Valderrama join NCIS in season 14. (Photos: CBS)

In case you’ve been vacationing somewhere with no Wi-Fi or cell service all summer (and lucky you, if so!), or you’ve been on a self-imposed NCIS news blackout, we have not one, not two, but THREE new agents joining us this season. Apparently, CBS got the same kind of mail I did after my recaps last spring, so I can announce that FBI Agent Tess Monroe will not be one of them. However, MI6 cutie patootie Agent Clayton Reeves (played by British actor Duane Henry) did make the cut, and joining him will be Agent Alex Quinn played by Jennifer Esposito, who I have missed terribly since her departure from Blue Bloods, so YAY! Finally, as the titular character in tonight’s episode, Rogue, we also welcome Wilmer Valderrama as Agent Nick Torres. I’m excited to see how this all plays out. How will they fit in? What will their roles be like? And, most important, where in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness will they all sit?

Let’s find out, shall we?

We open this delicious new season in a smoky bar in Buenos Aires, with a good-looking man, a beautiful woman, snuggling close … and subtitles. He’s happy to be with her, has missed her. She’s understanding. He’s been busy. But they have this night. They kiss. Then he sees someone he knows at the bar and … needle screeeeech. She’s no longer happy. He promised no work. He swears it will just take a moment. It’s a co-worker, he has to say hello. She’s his angel, he says. She smiles, anger subsides. More kissing. Then he’s off to the bar, where he greets his “co-worker” with an offer to buy him a drink. The man says no, that he’s there on business. Our good-looking man looks immediately concerned. Co-worker says he was sent to give his condolences on Good-looking’s sister, back in the States. Concern shifts to fear and fury, then a very lethal-looking knife makes an appearance. And it doesn’t belong to Good-looking. Co-worker makes it clear that Good-looking’s cover has been busted and his sister will die that night. The man they both work for knows GL is an agent. CW tries to sink the knife in, but GL gains the upper hand in this very close-quarters combat, and it’s CW who ends up on the wrong end of the blade. GL brings him in close as he sinks in the blade, pretends the two are hugging, then laughs as if the two share some little joke … and CW slowly sinks to the stool. He leaves him slumped on the bar, calls for some water, then looks warily back at his Angel, back in their booth, busily looking at her phone. What to do, what to do. Apparently, the answer to that question is cut and run.

We shift to a family in a car, Dad in black tie behind the wheel, young teen in the back, lamenting that her dad won’t let her see the boy band of the moment. I mean, all her friends are going, so Daaa-aaaaad! But he’s calmly having none of it. Not sure who is in the front passenger seat. Wife? Babysitter? Ah, she’s Mom, but distracted, not paying attention to the father-daughter issues. Teen has plugged in her headphones. Dad wants to know what’s got Mom so distracted. She brushes off his concern with a smile, says it’s work. Then suddenly buzzers start to go off as all the warning lights go on on the dashboard. Sparks leap from under the dash in the foot well and quickly burst into flame. We see the car swerve as the flames grow, then roll down an embankment as flames engulf the interior. Landing on its roof, Mom manages to crawl out, then quickly drags Teen out. She turns to see her husband still in the car, but before she’s run two steps, the car blows up, sending her flying backward.

Aaaaaand, cue awesome theme song and opening credits. We’re officially BACK!

Oooh, we get all-new clips and an all-new opener! GL is in the opening credits. Of course, if you’re familiar with Wilmer Valderrama, then you’ve already figured out GL is one of our soon-to-be new NCIS agents. Jennifer Esposito also features in the opener, as does all of our regulars. Except Tony, of course. Sob. And MI6 agent Clayton Reeves didn’t make it in there, either. Hmm … There’s also an awkward extra few bars of music crammed in to make the longer credits work, but all in all, HELLO!

What happens next already!?!

Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Sean Murray as McGee and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Adam Taylor, CBS)

We find out that answer immediately. And I LOVE it! Looks like Gibbs has a new roomie. Fornell is apparently recuperating, and none-too-neatly, at Casa de Gibbs. HA! He’s taken over the couch as Gibbs has finally moved back into his bedroom. (And it only took 13 seasons!) To make matters worse, Fornell is wearing Gibbs’ robe. He’s also loving on the new couch. Gibbs, with his natty new high-and-tight ’do says he wouldn’t know given he’s never had the chance to sit on it yet. Gibbs gives him grief for skipping PT and we learn it’s been 12 weeks since last we saw our team, but Fornell is all about taking some me time now that it’s fall and his daughter is back in school. Gibbs allows him one day, then turns to go. Fornell stops him and shares a pearl of wisdom he gleaned from the most recent issue of Cosmo. Compromise is key to any good relationship. Gibbs merely shakes his head and exits. Felix and Oscar, redux!

Explosions and bromance. Best. Opener. Ever.

We shift to the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness as Bishop enters with a hearty hello to painfully lean McGee. Seems she’s been in Scotland on vacay and mentions meeting up with our favorite MI6 agent for a bit, commenting how Reeves’ stamina was a bit of a test, then assures McGee she was talking about hiking. Then we learn that McGee has been promoted to Tony’s old desk, and to his role as team leader, I presume. McGee, however, hasn’t been able to make the physical transition, claiming the opposite layout doesn’t work for him. Not only is he painfully thin, his voice is a bit rough. (A quick Google dive shows I’m not alone in my concern. Apparently, though, it’s the result of a diet and exercise regime and not a sign of illness. Good to hear, but hopefully he’s done with the dieting part. There won’t be anything left soon otherwise! Except a very long neck. Just me?) Enter and exit the probie agent who has taken over Tim’s old desk. Since Gibbs just fired him for his self-proclaimed need to nap three times a day, no point in remembering his name. According to McGee, he lasted four days. Which means there’s been a few months of others coming through before him.

Enter Gibbs, all, “Grab your gear,” and we leave the probie-hunt discussion for another time. Gibbs is in his usual hurry, and welcomes Bishop back in passing. She’s all, “Good to be back,” and I find myself wishing I’d missed her more than it turns out I have. Ah, well. Some things will be staying the same, anyway! We shift to the scene of the burned-out car. Still upside down, and still containing the remains of Dad. (I’m glad he’s not all gruesome looking, but you’d think he’d be in a lot worse shape given the fire and explosion.) Enter Ducky and Palmer and we learn Ducky has been revisiting all of his old haunts in an attempt to chronicle his life’s work before he forgets them. (Happy birthday week, David McCallum!) He doesn’t look so good, either, though in his case it might be his age showing. He’s moving a bit slow, a bit more stooped, thinner than before, like he aged a bit over the summer. This makes me sad. I want Ducky to be immortal. K? Thanks!

Moving to the car, McGee fills in Gibbs on what we know already, that the family was on the way home from a party. It was at the base officer’s club, as it turns out. It also turns out that Mom is military, too. She and Teen have been transported to a local hospital. They have determined that the fire started inside the car and McGee notes it’s a hybrid, but before he can hypothesize the cause of the crash, up pops Abby in her bright red jumpsuit to tell us that it wasn’t the battery exploding that caused the crash. At least not because it was faulty. Turns out the battery compartment was tampered with. Someone at the party turned the car into “a ticking time bomb.” Fade to a particularly rugged-looking Gibbs black and white. More of that, please!

Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Sean Murray as McGee, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Adam Taylor, CBS)

We return to the bull pen and McGee obsessively air-compressor cleaning his keyboard. Gibbs diverts him to the Screen of All Knowing for an update. Turns out Dad has nothing but glowing praise for his service, but Mom works as a JAG, and her lengthy list of convictions makes her a better target. She suffered a concussion in the explosion and hasn’t regained consciousness. Teen suffered only minor injuries, but is still being held for observation. Enter Jennifer Esposito! Now THIS is what I was talking about all last season. This is exactly the female-lead dynamic this team needs. Welcome aboard, Agent Alex Quinn! She’s come to give Gibbs a little good-natured grief. Apparently, he’s fired eight probies in the three months since last we met. Also apparently, this is a record. Turns out Quinn is responsible for training new agents and recommending them for various posts. So it’s her recommendations Gibbs has been summarily firing. On seeing Quinn, Gibbs lights up just like I did. (We have good taste, what can I say?) He sends Bishop and McGee out to dig up more info on their current case and asks Quinn to accompany him on a little stroll.

They end up in the break room area and she tells him that life at FLETC hasn’t changed. “Eat, train probies, sleep.” He says they’re lucky to have her as an instructor. She’s not so sure, given he’s rejected every agent she’s sent him. They are either too timid, too physical, too smart, too slow. She calls him the Goldilocks of NCIS. HA! What is he looking for, she wants to know. He says he’ll know it when he sees it. She wants a little more than that. So he invites her to shadow the team, learn first-hand what they need, what will be the right fit. Pretty sure Gibbs has already figured that out. Quinn is going to take a little longer. Should be fun!

Over at the hospital, things aren’t so much fun. Teen is by Mom’s bedside, talking to Bishop. She remembers listening to music, then the fire, then waking up at the hospital. She tells Bishop that ever since her Mom got back from her most recent trip, she’s been quiet, and she’s typically not a quiet person. It was a work-related trip, a lead on a case, but Teen doesn’t know anything more than that. What she really wants is to go back to the day before, when she had two parents. Bishop, oddly, continues to frown in the face of the Teen’s grief-stricken tears.

We shift to the McGee who was sent to find out more about Mom’s JAG work. He enters the HQ conference room and hey! Check it out! It’s Lt. Bud Roberts — now Captain Roberts — from JAG! As in the television show JAG. The very one that spawned NCIS, lo those many, many years ago. (And still played by a now white-haired but always adorable Patrick Labyorteaux!) Ah, the good old (old, old, old) days! Love it! (Except for McGee. I can’t stop staring. He just doesn’t look like McGee. It’s not only the super-thin thing. It’s like his eyes are super blue, and teeth super white, his skin is super smooth, his hair super perfect. Is he trying to be hunkier or something, a la Michael Weatherly? Because that’s not his forte, nor why we love him. It’s creeping me out a little. OK, more than a little.) McGee asks after Harm and Mac, mercifully diverting my morbid fascination, and just as Roberts is ready to give us an actual update (pant, pant!) in walks Quinn, saying they shouldn’t mind her. She’s just observing. McGee makes a quick introduction and Quinn takes a seat at the other end of the table, notepad at the ready. McGee and Roberts take a seat, but rather than feed our prurient Harm-Mac fantasies, Roberts fills us in on Mom’s JAG record. Oh, OK. Be like that!

Turns out she’s been a JAG for four years and is very good at her job. McGee surmises she’s ruffled some feathers and Roberts jokes that as lawyers, that’s kind of what they do. This prompts a snort-laugh from Quinn, who liked the joke, likes Roberts. This gets her a confused stare from Roberts, as if he doesn’t quite know what to make of her, sitting all the way down there, watching them. McGee redirects Roberts to the case at hand. Turns out the work trip was actual personal leave time, taken to attend to some personal matter. Roberts doesn’t know more than that.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop, Sean Murray as McGee and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

Down in Ducky’s Digs, we discover it’s filled with box upon box of old autopsy records which Palmer is busily transferring to digital files. Ducky wants his digs back the way they were, but it’s a time-consuming task. Palmer says the upside is he’s gaining encyclopedic knowledge of NCIS’ past. Ducky tests him on that, quizzing him on a past case, and it’s Palmer for the win! In strolls Gibbs for an update. Nothing unusual with Dad’s autopsy. The explosion was the cause of death, as expected. However, the blood draw taken from Mom at the hospital revealed she had a neurotoxin in her bloodstream, sourced to a recent black widow spider bite. Those spiders are found only in Argentina. Ah! Finally, a connection to our little stabbing down in South America. Gibbs takes a call and heads out.

Up in the bull pen, McGee is at Tony’s desk, commenting to Quinn that she was actually one of his instructors at FLETC. She remembers him, recalls he always had a mystery novel on him. He smiles, shows her the book he’s currently reading (John Connolly) and she says she never forgets a student. Bishop asks what Quinn remembers about her. Quinn has to ask what her name is. (HA!) Bishop says she was the one sitting on the floor by the vending machines (I miss that Bishop!), but, yeah, no. Quinn is drawing a blank. (Hey, I don’t write the show, I just blog it. But HA! I feel vindicated.)

Enter Gibbs and we get another Screen of All Knowing update. And there is more than a little connection between our JAG Mom and the Argentina stabbing. Turns out GL (aka NCIS Agent Nick Torres) is Mom’s brother! (Making her the sister that Co-worker claimed they were going to kill, and looks like they sure tried!) Gibbs is not familiar with Torres, and Bishop explains it’s because he’s a deep-cover agent and their records remained sealed. They only know he’s an NCIS agent because Quinn recognized him. She trained him eight years prior. She explains how she never forgets a student. “Most of the time,” she adds, in an aside to a clearly annoyed Bishop. She says how he was a good candidate for undercover work, he was unattached, persuasive, clever, a bit unstable. Bishop comments that Quinn just described a sociopath. Quinn smiles and agrees, but stipulates, “the good kind.” Bishop comments on how that’s not a thing that is real, but we move along. Turns out Torres vanished from his assignment six months ago. He was presumed dead, so Mom hired a private investigator, wanting answers. PI tracked him to Buenos Aires and sent Mom a surveillance photo of Torres, taken on a crowded street, proving he was still alive. The photo is recent, meaning Agent Torres is still alive. Fade to another rugged Gibbs black and white. (That’s how it’s done, McGee. No emaciation diet or teeth-bleaching necessary. You either got it, or you don’t. Just sayin’. And we love Sidekick McGee! Bring him back!)

We return to Gibbs in Vance’s office as he looks at a photo of Muhammad Ali, reflecting on the time he met the famous boxer. Gibbs asks about Torres, and Vance is all, “It’s need to know,” and Gibbs is all, uh, well … So, without further ado, Vance tells him Torres is one of their best. Turns out he was sent to infiltrate their global training units, where our agents train local agents in the finer art of global agentry, only it turns out that at some of the training sites, their best agents-in-training were being scouted by the country’s undesirables as possible mercenaries. So Torres was sent in to their training facility in Buenos Aires as a “local agent” being trained by the U.S. agents, with the idea that he’d get himself recruited as a mercenary to go undercover there and get intel from the inside on who is operating what, and where. He did so, and was sending regular reports, then six months back, he went silent. His apartment in Buenos Aires had been scrubbed, and there was no sign, no trace. State Department told NCIS to assume the worst, and if he’s still alive, Vance wants to know why he didn’t reach out. (I want to know how the private detective found him when the State Department couldn’t.)

Gibbs surmises that he went so deep he had to go rogue (hello, episode title reference!), and Vance says it could be worse, he could have switched sides. Mom heads to Buenos Aires to hunt for her brother, and then she gets a bomb in her car. Coincidence? We know what Gibbs thinks about those. Back in the bull pen, Quinn is still trying to place Bishop. She asks which class Bishop was in and she gives her the code number. Quinn reels off several other names from that class, and Bishop perks up. She remembers! Only Quinn still doesn’t remember Bishop. Heh. Bishop regales her with the story about how she knocked the teeth out of an assailant during a training exercise earning her the nickname “Incisornator,” and Quinn is smiling and nodding … only, yeah, nope. She’s got nothin’. A disgruntled Bishop heads off to raid the vending machine. McGee observes all this, then sees Quinn snicker after Bishop stalks off and realizes that Quinn totally recognizes her. He wants to know why Quinn is messing with her, and she’s all, “She’s so tightly wound, she needs to loosen up a little bit.” Plus, she enjoys it. Gibbs enters, wonders if Quinn is still messing with Bishop, smiles as she says it’s too easy not to, then we get an update. Again, Quinn for the win! Turns out McGee tracked Torres via his passport and discovers he just landed in D.C. at Dulles. Coming back to save his sister, no doubt.

We shift to a seriously moody Torres getting off a bus, then being immediately assaulted by two men who aren’t so happy to see him back in the States. He is holding his own in the hand-to-hand combat that ensues, but just as one of his assailants gets a gun drawn on him, Bishop and Gibbs round the corner, guns drawn. Assailant turns his gun toward them and gets a handful of GSWs to the chest. With both assailants now down, Torres turns to face his savior fellow agents. Said agents keep their guns drawn on a still very agitated Torres. (Who knew Fez could be such a testosterone-fueled hottie?) Bishop calls him by name and Torres says they’re on the same side. “Are we?” Gibbs wants to know, gun still drawn.

Wilmer Valderrama as Nick and guest star Joshua Elijah Reese in NCIS. (Photo: Adam Taylor, CBS)

We move to HQ conference room where Vance is giving Quinn what-for for going dark for six months. Torres tells his story. One of his classmates, a crack shot with an affinity for explosives, also happened to be the son of a rich South American oil baron. Gibbs knows of the man from his time with Agent Mike Franks and knows that’s not where he started. He was investigated by NIS (before they got the C) for crooked deals with military venders. These days Daddy Oil Baron is scouting out mercenaries for his personal payroll, using his son as a recruiter. He uses them for everything from extortion to hired hits, whatever it takes to keep his name clean. Nothing new, according to Gibbs, who adds that Franks never could get any charge to stick. Torres tells them that’s because Daddy OB keeps his entire operation in-house, which was why Torres had to go rogue to get to his inner circle. His way in? That angel of his at the nightclub? Also happens to be Daddy OB’s daughter. Ooh, that is playing with fire. Daddy OB grew to trust him and told Torres there was something big on the horizon, but then Torres’ sister showed up in Buenos Aires and blew his cover. He came back to the States to warn his sister, but it was too late. Gibbs tells him the mission isn’t over and heads out.

Down in the bull pen, Bishop wonders why Torres spent eight years exclusively doing undercover work. Quinn says Torres would view a desk job as a fate worse than death. Bishop wonders what sorts of things Torres had to do to maintain his deep cover, then has to carry those actions with him after the case is over. Quinn tells Bishop that holds true for every agent, no matter how or where they are deployed. Enter Gibbs, McGee and Torres, with the news that Daddy OB happens to be in D.C. that very day, attending a fossil fuel and energy conference that will draw all the bigwigs in the field to one place. McGee says if Daddy OB has been in town for two days, that was plenty of time to put the hit on Torres’ sister and get out of town. Torres says he won’t leave until they’re all dead. A very intense Torres asks Gibbs to let him go face-to-face with Daddy OB. Gibbs says that’s not how they operate. Torres says he knows the man better than anyone, so who better to do it?

We get Gibbs’ answer as we switch to the hotel as Daddy OB climbs out of his car, only to be confronted by Torres, who notes that Daddy OB has no body guard. Daddy OB is all, “Good to see you, we were worried when you weren’t around … whatever your name is,” or words to that effect, and Torres is all, Oh yeah, those guys you sent to kill me looked all broken up about it. Heh. Daddy claims to not know what he’s talking about, Torres is all done playing games. Daddy OB wants to know if it was all a game, and maybe he’d like to go inside the hotel and explain that to his daughter. Ruh roh. Torres is clearly upset about that part, but says he’s not there for her, he’s here for Daddy. He’s all, “Well, here I am,” and wonders if Torres plans to just up and shoot him right there in broad daylight on the hotel steps. Torres waves a little flash drive at him, saying he has all the evidence in the world on Daddy OB, but if he agrees to leave Torres and his family alone, he’ll make sure NCIS never finds out he has it. Daddy OB looks a little uncomfortable, but we switch to another car pulling up, carrying Daddy OB’s son, aka Torres’ classmate back in Buenos Aires. He’s not remotely amused to see Torres with his father. Torres jokes that his old friend needs to be better at separating business from pleasure, and waves the flash drive stick at him. Son wants to take care of Torres and asks his father for permission to do just that. Daddy is all, “We’re in the middle of discussing a truce,” so no, thanks. Son isn’t happy to hear about that deal. Daddy takes the flash drive, says he’ll consider the offer as Torres and Son stare each other down with daggers of testosterone. Fade to black and white.

We come back to Felix and Oscar bickering over the need for a new TV. Fornell is for it, Gibbs, not so much. Enter Torres, and it’s clear that Gibbs and Fornell both were in on his little meet with Daddy and Son. Fornell wants to know why, with all that evidence, they didn’t just arrest him. Turns out the evidence is for crimes in South America, and once extradited there, he’d have the power to evade prosecution. Fornell thinks they should have taken the chance to get the guy into an interrogation room and find out what “big thing” he’s planning, but Torres says he wouldn’t have cracked and his being held wouldn’t have stopped it from happening. Whatever it is. Gibbs abruptly calls it a night, tells Torres he can have the guest bed upstairs on the right as he exits the room. Torres says he doesn’t sleep. Fornell says he can just pace around upstairs then, as he has dibs on the couch. Ha!

Guest star Joshua Elijah Reese and Wilmer Valderrama as Nick on NCIS. (Photo: Adam Taylor, CBS)

Back at the bull pen, Quinn is standing behind Bishop, silently considering, much to Bishop’s discontent. Quinn explains that’s what shadowing is all about. Heh. She gives Bishop her shadowing observations, which is that Gibbs selects his agents with care, not just on face value, because he sees something more in them, like with Bishop, for instance. Bishop wants to know what Quinn thinks Gibbs saw in her, and Quinn comes clean, saying it’s the same thing she saw in Bishop back in FLETC. Potential. Bishop wants to know what Quinn remembers about her. She says that while Bishop wasn’t the most naturally skilled agent, she was persistent and always got right back up, went back at it and never made the same mistake twice. Bishop asks Quinn if she’s known Gibbs a long time, and she says yes. Bishop says, “Well, then you know everything he does is for a reason.” Quinn ponders that, and maybe starts to see a piece of the big Gibbs picture.

The next morning, Gibbs enters Abby Lab, wants to know if Daddy OB has accessed the flash drive they gave him, but not yet. Abby, however, has some news. Something is hinky in Hinkytown! She discovered the way the car battery was manipulated into detonating, and not only was the method very advanced, it could have been done up to days in advance. At the same time, McGee figures out that Daddy’s little Angel has the kind of advanced education in fields that would make her specifically knowledgeable about that little advanced detonating system. Looks like Torres doesn’t need to be all that broken up about breaking his Angel’s heart after all. Gibbs calls home and calls Torres in.

We’re on a sidewalk, midday, with Torres taking a seat at an outdoor café, across from Angel, saying the coffee in South America is better. She’s not amused by his small talk. She asks for his real name, he gives it to her. We shift to the car parked down the block as Gibbs and Quinn do surveillance on the meet. Gibbs owes Quinn five bucks because Angel didn’t slug Torres. Gibbs is stymied by the understanding ex. HA. Quinn ponders that Gibbs has left behind a string of scorned women. Gibbs says he has no comment. HA. Back with Torres and Angel, he apologizes to her, they both appear sincere, her in her hurt, him in his regret. Then he asks her if she was the one who came after his family with the car bomb. She looks sincerely shocked, wonders if that’s what he really thinks of her. He says that is the kind of person her brother and her father are, hence his investigation. She doesn’t want to hear any of it and goes to leave. He tells her she’s afraid of the truth. She says he’s wrong about all of it, stalks off.

Gibbs takes her seat. Amused, he says, “That went well.” Torres, not amused, says it’s about to get worse. He says Daddy must have bugged Angel’s phone. He knew they were going to meet there. Gibbs wants to know how. Torres explains he’s sitting on a pressure bomb. He felt the click when he sat down. Well, dang. Cool customer, our Torres. Gibbs takes a look, and sure enough. He laughs, says, “You’re waiting until now to tell me that?” Torres finally smiles, says, “Well, I was in the middle of something.” And that right there is The Moment it became real. Welcome to the team, Agent Nick Torres. Torres wants to know how it looks, and a still-chuckling Gibbs says, “Oh, like it might hurt for a second.” Torres is all, “You’re enjoying this,” and the smiling Gibbs we love to see is all, “Yeah, a little,” as he pulls out his phone to call, I’m guessing, the bomb squad. Fade to a delicious black and white.

We’re in the fourth quarter as we return to Torres storming angrily into Vance’s office, claiming the meet with Angel was a setup by Daddy, who willingly put his own daughter in very immediate danger. He says it ends now. Vance reminds him to keep his focus on the big picture. The big picture to Torres is that Daddy OB killed is bro-in-law, almost killed his sister and just tried to blow him up. Gibbs schools Torres to take a breath, but he assures Gibbs he’s breathing, but he’s all done going the official route. Vance corrects him on that score. Torres has a bit of an alpha breakdown, regaling them with his service record, the number of names he’s had, addresses, the service he’s given and the utter lack of life he has as a result of it and for what? He doesn’t know what he wants or who he can trust. He takes out his badge and says he’ll go after Daddy OB and his son on his own then, that he works better that way.

He turns to leave, but Gibbs calmly steps in his way. Torres wants to know if he has something to say, and Gibbs says he’s disappointed in him. He says he failed the mission and gives him a little shove. That he failed to protect his sister and shoves him again, clearly trying to provoke him. Then he gives him a good hard shove and says he disrespected the badge. Torres gets right up in his face, but old laser-blue eyes holds that hot-tempered gaze very easily. He tells Torres that getting revenge on Daddy OB won’t change anything, that he knows all about that on a personal level. He tells Torres if he wants the last two years of his undercover life to mean something, then see it through the right way. Bishop interrupts that they have a lead on the “thing” Daddy OB is planning. Gibbs exits, leaving Vance staring at a simmering but thoughtful Torres.

In the bull pen, we learn that the flash drive was opened, allowing them into his computer. Nothing incriminating there, but there was something in his search history that gave them a clue. Daddy was searching on a Latino event and Torres is all, a Latino going to a Latino event is not all that suspicious. McGee continues to try to explain, causing Quinn to jump into instructor mode and command him to get to the point. She apologizes, then takes the clicker and gets to the point herself. Heh. The target is a Latino judge on the short list to make the Supreme Court and whose background indicates she’ll push the court more toward greener fuel and away from international imports, which would specifically impact Daddy’s export business. Torres thinks Son will be the one scheduled to take her out, given he’s best in his class and all. Gibbs accepts the premise, and it’s grab-your-gear time!

We’re at the Latino event and there’s music, and skin, and dancing, and skin, and our team navigating through the festival looking for the judge or for Son. Gibbs calls for a sitrep as the team has fanned out. Bishop says the judge isn’t answering her phone, McGee says he can’t track her phone because there are too many people, and Quinn says she’s looped in the local security and police. Torres is blending in with the crowd, no visual on either the judge or any of Daddy OB’s progeny. Gibbs is getting impatient with their inability to track the judge, and Quinn mentions that if she came by car, she’d have to go through security, which is when Gibbs realizes they probably went after her car as the way to get to her. Everyone takes off for the traffic line coming into the festival.

Wilmer Valderrama as Nick and Rocky Carroll as Vance in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

We shift to the judge, who is indeed in her car, in the line of traffic approaching the entrance to the festival. A motorcycle drives the opposite direction through the rows of traffic, pauses to place a bomb right on the hood of Judge’s car, then heads off just as Gibbs spots him and pulls his gun, calling out NCIS, don’t move! But of course he moves, and off he goes. Gibbs races toward the judge, calls to Torres to intercept the motorcycle and instructs his team to get everyone else out of the area. Chaos begins to ensue, and we see Torres step into the middle of the street as he hears the whine of the street bike. As it comes around the corner, he unloads his gun into the driver, who eventually wrecks the bike and goes skidding across the pavement.

The bomb has jammed the judge’s car locks, and she can’t get out. Bishop and McGee hurry to clear the street. Torres approaches the downed biker, who we assume is Son. Gibbs breaks the car window. Torres lifts up the visor. Hello, Son. Gibbs pulls the judge out through the car window. The team, including Quinn, continues to clear the street. The bomb goes off, but everyone is safely clear.

We move to interrogation as McGee and Bishop question Daddy OB, saying they have irrefutable evidence against him for crimes committed on U.S. soil. Daddy claims he is shocked about his son’s actions, but he is not responsible for having a bad kid. Bishop says Torres knows Daddy pulls Son’s strings, prompting Daddy to look past them at the two-way and ask why Torres doesn’t question him personally, taunting that maybe he’s afraid of the truth. Torres and Gibbs are on the other side of the glass but don’t rise to the bait. Bishop says it’s cold, a father turning on his son. “Almost as cold as a daughter turning on her father.” Suddenly, Daddy OB doesn’t look so smug. Apparently, Daddy being so willing to almost blow his little Angel to smithereens didn’t sit too well, and she recorded their conversation earlier that day when he told her everything. McGee shows him the tape and wonders if maybe he wants to revise his statement. Just a wee bit. In the end, Daddy chuckles, says he congratulates Agent Torres for getting his man. Of course, he ruined two families while doing it, so he hopes Torres thinks it was worth it. Shift to behind the glass, with Gibbs and Torres, but they say nothing.

Shift to that evening, in the bull pen, case over. Tim comes in, stares at his new desk, saying it isn’t feeling any more natural. Bishop is the first one all hour long to actually mention Tony, saying if anyone was going to sit there, Tony would want it to be McGee. Truth. He thanks her, she says, “Anytime. Senior Field Agent McGee.” Making it officially official. Enter Torres, who tells them his sister has regained consciousness but will be in the hospital a few weeks longer, so he’s going to stick around, help out with his niece. Bishop offers to help if he needs anything. Torres is looking for Gibbs, but turns out he just missed him. Bishop says he left something for Torres, though, in the top drawer of his desk. It’s an NCIS badge. McGee says he can’t be on Gibbs’ team without it. Torres tells them he’s never been on a team. “First time for everything,” Bishop tells him. He’s not sure he’s the right fit, but McGee says there’s only one way to find out. Torres just smiles.

And we end back where we began, with Felix and Oscar. Oscar is playing poker with Quinn as Felix enters. He’s hoping Gibbs will spot him a 20, seeing as Quinn just cleaned him out. Quinn says it was Fornell’s idea, and for his part, he thought she’d take it easy on him given his weakened condition and all. Heh. Quinn says she thinks the two men are trying to one-up each other with bullet wounds. Fornell claims he’s winning. Ha. Quinn has two words for them, “Tactical. Vests.” HA. Quinn says she was just telling Fornell how Torres was the perfect choice for Gibbs’ team, that she finally understood what he wanted. She said it wasn’t finding an agent his team needed, but finding an agent who needed his team. Gibbs pops open a beer and tells her that he actually found two agents. He gives Quinn a look and says, “I’m hoping they both stick around.” Fornell picks up the deck and asks, “New game? Who’s in?” Gibbs picks up a chip, tosses it, then asks Quinn if she’s in. She picks up two chips … and sets them in the middle of the table. Gibbs gets that light in his eyes. Game on. Fade to final badass black and white.

And we’re officially off and running!

What did you think? Who do you love? Are you still on the fence about the new probies? Tell me all about it at donna@donnakauffman.com. And while you’re at it, go ahead and enter the season opener giveaway! Up for grabs is a signed copy of my latest release, Starfish Moon (in case you’re new, my day job is writing fun, sexy, small-town romance, because I’m lucky like that!) and to go along with it, a beautiful Starfish Moon pendant designed exclusively for my Blueberry Cove series by The Cotton Thistle designer, Joyce Taber. You can take a gander at this week’s prize and see the full collection here. To enter, drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with “New season, new prizes! I want in!” in the subject line, and you’re officially in the running. I’ll be announcing the winner in my recap for next week’s episode, Being Bad. (Oooh, I wonder who that’s about?) Don’t forget to tune in to see if you won.

And speaking of winners, the winner for my last Classic NCIS recap giveaway of the summer is Maggie Dargatz! (What? You didn’t know I recapped some of our favorite past episodes of NCIS this past summer? Well, check them out here!) Maggie, drop me a note with your address to donna@donnakauffman.com and your prize of a signed copy of Pelican Point, the first in my Blueberry Cove series, and the canvas book tote to go with, will go out in the mail to you!

Can’t wait to hang out with you all on the recap couch again this week. If you don’t want to wait that long, drop by my Facebook page and keep the conversation going!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can go rogue (heh) and check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). Yes, even you.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Hello, Week Two! We’re heading full steam into the brand new season, with brand new agents and brand new Dead Guys of the Week. If my mail last week was any indication, we’re pretty much all on board with season 14 and eager to find out where it will take us.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

So, let’s get right on to finding out what’s in store this week!

We open at a 15^th high school reunion with the class geeks scoping out the Heathers (aka the cool girls. If you haven’t seen the movie, look it up. Classic.). Geek One and Geek Two are still dreaming of catching their expertly mascara’d eye, praying that the current geek chic trend will give them a leg up. Or at least an elbow in. Their progress is thwarted by the class bully, sitting alone, tossing shrimp at them, his journey toward maturation apparently having stalled out senior year. Geek One calls Bully Boy on his behavior while Geek Two more or less freaks out when BB gets up and gets in their personal space. Geek Two flakes, leaving Geek One to fend for himself. Turns out this isn’t a problem as he puts BB on the floor with one quick maneuver. Turns out G1 spent his post-high-school years joining Special Forces. He’s also gotten the attention of one of the Heathers and sends her a wink. BB threatens to kick G1’s ass, but G1 isn’t particularly concerned, and with apparent good reason. But before BB can even attempt to make good on that threat, he suddenly staggers, loses his balance, crashing into one of the tables before collapsing on the floor. Alarmed, G1 kneels, checks his pulse, then starts shouting for someone to call 911.

Aaaand Bully Boy is officially our Dead Guy of the Week.

Cue awesome opening credits and theme song.

We’re in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness late on Friday night with McGee and Bishop. I’m only going to mention this once, but McGee? Still freaking me out with the weight loss. And did he have work done of some kind? I miss Old McGee. OK, onward. Torres enters, we find out that he and Quinn don’t start till Monday, but given he’s not used to having a desk and all, he’s there to set up early. Looks like we’re going to get the answer to the where-will-they-all-sit question here sooner rather than later. Before that happens, and before Bishop and McGee can cut and run, enter Gibbs with “Grab your gear!” He tosses an NCIS jacket at Torres, who claims he’s not really a “varsity letter jacket kinda guy.” Gibbs doesn’t much care, just smiles and motions him onward. I’m liking this smiling Gibbs this season. More of that, please!

David McCallum as Ducky, Brian Dietzen as Palmer and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

At the crime scene, we learn BB barely graduated high school and his dad drove motor pool on base. Palmer meets Torres, and enter Agent Quinn, also looking to get started early. Torres would like it better if Quinn also had to wear the NCIS black jacket, but you get what you get. Torres guesses involuntary manslaughter, Gibbs isn’t sure. Quinn jokes that’s why Gibbs has found the perfect job where he can be noncommittal. Heh. I’m very much liking that they’ve made Quinn a contemporary of Gibbs, someone who plays poker at his place and isn’t so much a subordinate and definitely not a probie. Nice way to mix things up.

Over to Geek1, who goes over what happened, hasn’t seen BB since high school. Enter Ducky who agrees with me on BB’s stunted frontal lobe growth. He also believes poison was involved in BB’s death. McGee cuts in, says they have bigger issues. Like the bomb BB put into one of the school lockers. Ruh roh. Fade to black and white.

Back in the bull pen, Bishop gives Torres a quick Screen of All Knowing remote control run-through, including the “oops button” set up with photos to distract Gibbs when he asks them for the impossible. HA! Torres is skeptical that Gibbs isn’t on to that ploy, but enter Gibbs and Torres up to bat at his first SoAK update. We learn more about BB’s past criminal conviction, then get an oops photo of Palmer making turducken. “Wrong button,” says Gibbs. “Oops,” says Torres, with a quick see-I-told-you-so look at Bishop. We learn BB was poisoned, had no current home address and that there is surveillance video showing him assembling the bomb in his car. Abby says there was enough explosives to level the gym and wipe out his entire senior class. What a guy.

Gibbs assigns tasks, and desks. Torres is at McGee’s old desk, which puts Torres behind the screen at the probie desk. She’s not enthused. Gibbs is OK with that. She mentions to McGee that they’re going to have to do some rearranging. Aw, the gang will be all together. I like.

Back in the high school gym, Torres and Bishop talk to the principal. A real prize, that guy. We learn that he might have been renting a room on base from a substitute teacher and that the suspect list will be long as everyone had problems with BB. Over at Abby Lab, Gibbs enters for an update, but finds Abby looking through her own high school yearbook and having not-so-fond memories, all of which she shares with an unprepared and not all that willing Gibbs. Oh, Abs. We learn more about the bomb, that it had a long-range trigger, so BB wasn’t trying to off himself. Also turns out the poison was applied to his nicotine patch, which he already had on when he arrived, so that cuts down the suspect list dramatically. To zero, Gibbs reminds her. So, not all good, then.

Bishop and McGee are interviewing substitute teachers and bingo! One is hard of hearing and blind as a bat, so it’s not a smooth interview, but she shows them to his room in a little shed out back, said they had to be mistaken, that he was a nice guy, always paid on time. (Hey, is the Sub Teach none other than the always fabulous Vernee Watson? I’m having Welcome Back, Kotter flashbacks. Hello, Vernajean Williams! Yes, I’m that old. Careful now.) Fabulous Vernee Watson tells them BB turned his life around senior year, dated a popular girl who was a big part of the transformation, and everyone ended up liking the guy. He sure didn’t seem too likable at the reunion there, Fab VW. As McGee unlocks the shed, I’m thinking, uh, hello, he’s a bombmaker! But turns out the shed is chock full of stolen goods. So much for him being a bad boy gone good. Fade to black and white. (It’s McGee’s turn on the fade in/outs this week. I much preferred the rugged Gibbs from last week, Show. Just sayin’.)

Back in the garage with Abs and team as they sort out all the stolen goods, we learn that there has been a theft ring under investigation for five years with no leads. Clearly the work of more than just BB. No other fingerprints in the shed, but there were a ton of dandruff flakes that didn’t come from BB. Like, the dandruff looked like snow on the furniture. Gah. Fab VW says she saw someone visit BB, but given her vision impairment, not much more info to go on there. Abs thinks Dandruff will be back to get the stash, so Gibbs puts Torres and McGee on stakeout. The two have a bit of “how long has it been” banter, given Quinn’s long time in the classroom and out of the field, but she assures him she’s good to go. Speaking of go, McGee has his and her pee cups, so EW, but I digress. They see Fab VW come out to water the … birdfeeders? Well, she’s old and lonely, Quinn says, then remembers she heard McGee is about to propose and prods a little, then a lot, on when he’s going to pop the question. McGee gets off the hook when they spy a woman pedaling a bike with bags on the back. She spots them and turns around in a hurry. And the chase is on!

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

And over quickly, as we move directly to interrogation where Bike Lady who also looks a little like Homeless Street Lady sits alone as Gibbs, McGee and Torres look on from the other side of the glass. We learn that it’s definitely her dandruff. (What is this, icky week?) Bike Lady won’t give her name and no hits on her prints, no ID on her. Her purse turned up nothing, as in, it was basically empty. Gibbs takes the purse, and Torres, into the interrogation room. Torres takes the chair, then realizes he’s in Gibbs’ seat and gets up. Heh. Gibbs asks questions as Dandruff gnaws her nails (because we’re not skeeved out enough yet) but gets nothing. Torres asks if she’s hungry. She nods and he slides her a chocolate bar, which she immediately digs into. Gibbs gives Torres a considering look.

On the other side of the glass, Bishop joins McGee and he says Gibbs is “slow-walking” the interrogation to see if Torres would pick up the pace, reveals Torres interrupted Gibbs straight-off, something McGee took four years to work up to doing. He adds that it worked, and she’s talking. Dandruff thanks Torres, who says not to be so hasty, as they’re going to charge her with murder. She slows down on her chocolate bar gnawing at that, then shuts up entirely when they show her BB’s photo. She claims he’s a friend, would never hurt him. So they show her the bomb he was going to use to kill 50 people. Torres dumps out her purse, says she looked like she was on the run. She denies that and says BB is a thief but not a killer, so they have it wrong, fingerprints or no. She says if he built that bomb, someone put him up to it, and just maybe they’re wasting time with her while the real killer is out there setting something else in motion.

Down in Ducky’s Digs, Ducky’s talking with BB and Palmer as he stitches BB up, regaling them with his short-lived life as a daring cat burglar. It all came to a crashing end when he fell off the neighbor’s roof. He was 9 at the time. Palmer starts and aborts his own story about the time he spent a night in jail when he realizes that maybe that’s not the story to tell your boss. Gibbs enters, saving him any further awkward story shifting, and we learn that Dandruff has an alibi, so she’s not the killer. Gibbs would like a lead, and Ducky aims to please. Ducky has discovered BB had a rough childhood, cigar burn marks on his arms, courtesy of dear old dad. He also was in a fight the week that he died, with body-blow marks still showing on his torso. Oddly, he showed no defensive wounds, so he didn’t fight back. Then there’s the diamond stud he had in his ear, not all that unusual except he’d forced it through an old pierced hole that had mostly grown closed. Lots more questions, not so much with the answers. There is a second set of DNA on the earring, however, so that should provide a lead. Ducky is happy with himself, and Gibbs gives him a smile, apparently in agreement.

Up in Abby Lab, enter Agent Quinn, who is meeting the very much taller Abby (given her penchant for platform boots) for the first time. Quinn is all, “There goes the ‘I thought you would be taller’ thing,” and Abby reveals how she knew exactly how tall Quinn would be given she used camera footage of the new team member so she could make an avatar of her. She punches up the avatar on the computer screen, and Quinn is all, “And the hair slowly went up on Agent Quinn’s neck.” HA. Abby says not to worry, that she did it only so she could approximate Quinn’s size for the “welcome to NCIS” sweater she’s knitting for her. Touched and maybe still a little worried, Quinn smiles and accepts a hug. She’ll need to get used to those. Smile. Quinn asks about the earring DNA, but Abby only knows it’s female, so far. Quinn asks if she knows how long BB had it in his ear, earning Abby’s respect, as she’d been dying to share that tidbit. By her calculations, he’d forced it through his ear just before entering the gym to kill 50 people and get poisoned to death. Rough night all around, really. While waiting on a DNA match, Abby skimmed photos on a camera found in BB’s coat pocket, but they’re all of homes he was casing for robberies, and a few with some other people, but all guys, no possible earring owners. As Abby flashes through the photos, Quinn catches one and has her go back. Well, lookee there. It’s a photo of BB and Geek1. And they’re looking kind of chummy. Odd, given Geek1 said he hadn’t seen BB since high school. Fade to Abby black and white. I like it.

We come back to the bull pen and Gibbs issuing assignments to gather more info on Geek1, who it turns out left town right after the reunion. Enter Bishop with the news that Abby got a hit on the earring DNA. Turns out it belonged to one of the Heathers. No recent connection between Heather and Geek1. In fact, the only connection they can find, even digging as far back as high school, is a lone high school detention shared by them both. Off they go to talk to Heather.

Cut to Bishop and Torres crashing a football party with Heather and her happy hubby, who isn’t surprised they’re there to see “the most popular girl in town” all happy he’s the one who snagged her. Torres helps himself to some game-time goodies, enjoying that they’re shaped like little footballs, and he and Bishop head to the courtyard where Heather is holding court with the other Lesser Heathers. After all, only one Heather can be Most Popular. Torres is all smiles and hey, how are you’s, then singles out Heather and shows his creds, asks if he and Bishop can have a moment of her time. Heather barely misses a beat, smiles, laughs, all, “Let’s not disturb the party fun,” and steers them away from her Heathers-in-Waiting.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

Heather is all helpful smiles, claiming she has no idea who the guy is in the photo they show her. Then grows a lot more “what’s your damage” when they remind her she went to high school with the guy, and oh, yeah, by the way, he’s the one who died in front of you at the reunion two days ago and happened to be wearing your earring when he croaked. Smile grows all steely as she says her earring was stolen. Torres says she didn’t report it, and she says she’s reporting it now, thanks. Bishop thinks she and Heather had something in common in high school, earning her a once-over and “I don’t think so” but, undaunted, goes on to explain how she always fell for the bad boys, too. Only she grew out of it. Heather, maybe not so much. Torres wants to know if Happy Hubby knew she was sleeping with BB, getting affronted denials in response, but also undaunted, he goes on to how BB was guilty of a string of robberies in the area, and Bishop adds that maybe she didn’t know just how bad BB was. Heather has had enough of this and dismisses them, not wanting to hear Bishop’s last question, which she inadvertently gives away in her dismissal, namely the whereabouts of Geek1. A shot rings out before she can answer, and Torres yells for them all to get down, then he and Bishop go in search of the shooter. They find Geek1 inside, dead of a self-inflicted flare gunshot.

Back in Abby Lab with Torres and Bishop, we get to see what was on the tablet that fell to the floor after Geek1 killed himself. It’s his goodbye video, saying how it’s a relief that it’s finally over, that he’s happy to set the record straight, but he’s not going to prison, he can’t do that to his family. Then he does something far worse to his family and kills himself. There was no record-straightening in the video, so they want to know if maybe it was on the laptop, which was also with Geek1 at the scene.

While Abby is digging on the laptop, Torres tells Bishop he had her pegged wrong if she was into bad boys. He had her as a goody-two-shoes prom queen. She says she was, in fact, the prom queen, and he laughs, thinking she played him and Heather. But Bishop reveals she was voted in as a joke. “Kind of like Carrie, only without the blood.” She goes on to say she had no friends. She was just too “me,” she supposed. Aw. Group hug! Leave it to the new guy (who has all kinds of on-screen charisma by the way. Rowr, Fez. Rowr!) to finally make me soften a bit toward Bishop. But then, I think he’ll make anyone lucky enough to share screen time with him look good. Abby finds a letter on the laptop. Looks like a confession.

Up in the bull pen, we learn that it is a confession and names all kinds of names. Starting with Happy Hubby, who ran a sports-betting deal, which got him the names of high rollers. Heather would work her way into the homes as a guest to scope them out. BB did the actual thieving, and Dandruff, who was also a former classmate, did the fencing. Which begs the question, what did Geek1 do? He did the accounting, laundering the money. Seems the group all came up with the idea while serving group detention in high school as a way to get back at their parents. Wow, that’s some pretty deep plotting by a very diverse bunch of teenagers over a few hours stuck in a classroom after school. I’m having a hard time buying that. Someone had to be the ring leader, and my guess is it wasn’t a teenager.

Ruh roh. Five guesses who that is, and if you’re not hard of hearing or blind as a bat, the first four don’t count. My guess is Fab VW isn’t as aged and failing as she puts on, either. Who’s with me?

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

So, Bishop, McGee and company have solved Metro Police’s theft-ring case, but Gibbs is not happy that they don’t have any idea who killed BB. Enter Torres, who says that while Heather’s not talking, Dandruff is, and she thinks she knows who did it. Cut to interrogation where Gibbs hands Happy Hubby the evidence bag with his wife’s earring, that happened to be stuck in BB’s ear. Also, there’s that part where HH wasn’t at the reunion, meaning he could be the one who poisoned BB’s nicotine patch. Gibbs is ready to file charges unless the not-so-Happy Hubby has anything he’d like to add. Hubby sighs wearily, then gives a half laugh, saying this was not where he expected to be after high school. Gibbs tells him to join the club. HH says he thought he’d be playing pro football, then asks Gibbs what he thought he’d be doing. Gibbs pauses a long time, then sort of coughs out, “Painter.” Earning a surprised look from HH and McGee, who is also in the room, who says, “Really?” Gibbs barks, “Really!” Then he looks reflective, then quietly shares that it was watercolors, mostly. HA! Is he playing them? I love this! He seems very sincere as he says he took every art class his school had. HH makes the mistake of laughing, earning “the look,” and he quickly sobers and asks what happened. “Life,” says Gibbs, then adds that he paints with wood. And that’s close enough.

So, there’s tonight’s rare gem. And it’s such a good one!

We move on. HH says it wasn’t so much good for him and he suspected his wife and BB. With the earring evidence, he says it’s “game over” for his marriage. He says it was his wife who said they should take out their teammates after BB scored a million-dollar painting. Bomb the reunion, make it look like a terrorist attack. HH thought she was joking. Looks like the joke was on him and Heather was going through with her plan, only not with Happy Hubby at her side. He also reveals that having Geek1 beat BB up at the reunion was a stunt they’d set up ahead of time to make Geek1 look good to the Heathers. He says BB was bad on the outside, but good on the inside. His wife? The opposite. He cops to the burglary ring, but proclaims his innocence on the murder. So … did Heather poison BB, too? Keep all the spoils for herself?

Up in the bull pen, Torres wants to know, hypothetically, how Gibbs would feel if they had a betting pool on whether Happy Hubby’s alibi checks out. Gibbs takes the bet, says innocent, and asks how Torres would be. He laughs, says he’s not a betting man, and has no idea. Ha. He brings up all the players on the SoAK and wonders who they really are. He says how he pretended to be someone else, but he was undercover. Gibbs says maybe, but he did create all of his undercover personas, so maybe not entirely pretending. Torres starts to disagree, then is all, “Well …” Heh. Enter the squabbling marrieds, with Dandruff tagging along behind, all on their way to Metro to be booked for the robberies. Quinn says Heather denied the whole bombing thing, despite the fact that they found the detonator in her car. Hubby’s alibi did hold up. Which means none of the team killed BB. So … who did? (Aaand, we’re back to looking at you, Fab VW! It’s always the one you least suspect. Hey, 24 years as a fiction writer should cop me some plot-twist-detection skillz. Let’s see if I’m right.) Fade to black and white.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop, Sean Murray as McGee, Wilmer Valderrama as Torres and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

Back in the bull pen, they’re mulling over where the next lead will come from. One is to find the million-dollar painting, which didn’t come up in any of the team’s houses during a thorough search. Quinn says she’d instruct her forensics class to reconstruct the timeline, see if there might be another witness to who BB was in a fight with earlier that week. Gibbs tells her to go to it, and she bemoans the loss of her evening plans. A cooking class, she tells Abby. Abby tells her not to cancel yet and pulls Gibbs to Abby Lab. Turns out BB tampered with the detonator so it wouldn’t have worked anyway. Good on the inside. The model car they used to house the detonator is part of a kit sold in only two places, one of which is across the street from a new bank with shiny, high-end security cams, which come with high-def footage. We see BB go in, get the car kit, come out … and get into a fight. With? No, no Fab VW. But a somewhat more expected but simply forgotten jerk school principal! Dang it. I wanted Fab VW to secretly be a badass bad guy. Ah well.

They pull the principal in, and he goes off about how he devoted eight straight Saturdays to detentions with BB and how he worked to turn that kid around, but no matter what he did, it didn’t stick. He says BB made his life miserable and he promised one day he’d find him and kick his ass, and that’s what he did. He claims he doesn’t have a clue what they’re talking about with the painting. And he didn’t poison him. He went to his house to apologize. He said BB didn’t fight him, that he let himself get pounded on, like he deserved it, and it made Principal feel bad. And WAIT FOR IT! He says BB wasn’t there, but Fab VW was, and how she saw the bruise on his knuckle and threatened to call the police. So Principal got the hell out of there. Gibbs has to put his glasses on to see the bruise. So … how did blind-as-a-bat see that bruise? HA! And HA!

And, off we go to Fab VW’s house, as she’s sprinting—sprinting!—out to her old VW wagon, carpetbag in hand, making her getaway. She goes back to her metal sunflower, unscrews the top and slides out the rolled-up painting. She turns to find Gibbs standing by her VW, going all Quentin Tarantino Pulp Fiction on us with his dark sunglasses and sharp suit. McGee comes up behind and after a little reading glasses banter and her trying to drop back into her old-lady persona … yeah, book her, Danno! (Or, you know, McGee!)

Vindication. So sweet.

Back in the elevator with Bishop, McGee, Quinn and Torres, we hear all about Fab VW’s sordid extracurricular activities, and Bishop is all, “She Keyser Soze’d us.” That, too! Torres doesn’t get the reference, says he’s not much of a movie guy. Oooh. Tony snap. They exit the elevator to discover a newly arranged bull pen. Gone is the wall between McGee’s old desk and the probie desk, and they’re grouped a little differently. Quinn is delighted. McGee is all, What the … Turns out it was Torres’ doing. I like that he’s just diving in and lets the chips fall. We don’t need more agents tip-toeing around Gibbs. And Gibbs needs to be challenged in a new way. I’m a fan. Bishop is a fan. McGee, however, is not amused. He’s got his boxers in a wad because why did he move desks if they were just going to move desks and how dare Torres without even consulting anyone? He’s all, “I’m the senior field agent, and—” Enter Gibbs, back of stage, who walks up behind McGee and gives him a well-deserved head slap. HA! Second best moment of the night. Right after watercolors.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

Last scene … Torres shows Gibbs a note he found in BB’s car. He was writing a confession, was going to turn himself in to the police. So the only bad boy of the whole thing was actually the good guy. Or trying to be. Never judge a book. The team bonds, as McGee asks Quinn what else she does, besides disrupting people’s work space. She says Broadway musicals, prompting Torres to threaten to shoot her if she starts singing, then shoot himself. She wants to know what he likes to listen to, and he smiles, says, “I thought you’d never ask.” He hits a button on his computer, and we get a full-on Latin music festival, complete with a little cha-cha action from Torres. And Fez is permanently erased from my memory banks. Hello, Special Agent Ricky Martin. Bishop starts to bop, McGee joins in, and the camera pans to Gibbs. Who gets up and walks toward his team. They’re all, “Hey, boss!” expecting him to join in. Instead, he leans over and quietly shuts the music off. Buzzkill Gibbs. Some things never change. Torres looks to Quinn, his grin only getting bigger as he whispers, “He’s going to learn to love it.” Quinn shushes him, but she’s smiling as everyone takes a seat at their respective desks. Time to get to work. Gibbs scans the room. And smiles.

Fade to a most excellent black and white.

HA! And welcome to season 14, everyone. It’s a whole new ball game. I can’t wait to see the next 20 innings! How about you?

Let’s keep the good vibes going and give away some free stuff, why don’t we? Last week I put a signed copy of my latest book, Starfish Moon, up for grabs. Thanks to everyone for the notes, the thoughts and the entries. And the winner is? Come on down, Beth Koehler! Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with your address and your prize will go out to you!

Up for grabs this week? The holidays are approaching faster than we’d like to admit. So how about a signed copy of my holiday romance Snowflake Bay along with a matching canvas book tote? Want in? Drop me a line with “I’m ready for some snowflakes!” in the subject line, and that’ll do it. If you’d like to send any thoughts you have about this new season thus far, or just NCIS in general, please do! But no commentary required to enter. I’ll announce the winner at the end of next week’s recap for episode three, Privileged Information.

I’ll see you back here then! In the meantime, feel free to drop by my author page on Facebook and hang out for a while. I’ll keep you up-to-date on all the NCIS goings-on, plus there’s that weekly Mark Harmon Moment you won’t want to miss, not to mention other goodies being given away on a regular basis. Hope to see you there!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!) Yes, even you.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

I’m starting off this week’s chat with a confession and a eulogy. I’ll start with the lesser important of the two. I want to thank the many (oh so very, very many) of you who wrote to me last week with lots of great comments and insight, but also one collective burning question: Why didn’t I mention that last week’s episode, Being Bad, was a direct tribute to the classic John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club? Simple. And this is my confession: I’ve never seen The Breakfast Club. What’s more, I didn’t have any idea what the plot of the movie was, either.

Tony would be so disappointed with me.

Pauley Perrette as Abby and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

So, mea culpa. But, hey, I can’t comment on what I don’t know. (Which is good, because we don’t have that much space.)

Now to the eulogy. You may have heard that last week NCIS lost its showrunner and executive producer, Gary Glasberg, who died in his sleep at the age of 50. This was a sudden, shocking loss that also brings with it a variety of issues that the show will have to address soon, even while deeply grieving his loss.

Gary Glasberg, NCIS showrunner since 2011, died Sept. 28 at age 50. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

Gary had been with NCIS since 2009 and had been the showrunner since 2011. He also was the creator and executive producer of NCIS: New Orleans and was its showrunner as well. I enjoyed his enthusiasm and true passion for the show and count him as being largely responsible for keeping this franchise chugging along as smoothly as it has into its second decade. These will be no small shoes to fill. So, raise your glass or bow your head, send kind and generous thoughts to his wife of 20 years and their two children, to his family and to his loved ones, and maybe hug those closest to you a little tighter. I don’t know what changes may come to the show down here on Earth as a result of this tragic event, but my guess is that Gary is probably not resting in peace up there. He wasn’t finished yet. And that’s a good thing. He’ll be keeping watch.

Rock on, Mr. Glasberg. Rock on.

And now we must rock on as well. So plump up those couch cushions, grab a bowl of popcorn and let’s pay tribute to Gary’s work on tonight’s episode, Privileged Information.

We open with an overview of the city and a woman hurrying to join her yoga class. Moments after she takes her place, a body falls from the building, through the awning, landing on the sidewalk right on the other side of the studio window. Female soldier wearing fatigues did not stick the landing, so we officially have our Dead Guy of the Week.

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits (which now includes a handsomely smiling Gibbs. Loving seeing more of that this season!).

We’re in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness as Torres is on the hunt for an apartment and groaning at the exorbitant cost of living space in D.C. Welcome to my world, Torres. Or what was once my world. (Green Acres is the place to be! Farm living is the life for me!) My grown NoVa-residing sons, however, still share your pain. Enter Gibbs, who welcomes him to the real world, with Quinn right behind him, and it’s grab your gear. Only it turns out that while our Marine didn’t exactly stick the landing, she’s not dead. Not yet. Critical condition at Walter Reed. And off they go on the magic carpet of TV Land that takes our special agents to all sorts of places in the D.C. metro area in the blink of an eye, when anyone who lives here knows that it could be 3 in the morning and that still wouldn’t be happening. But we forgive, because TV. And fiction.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Quinn and Gibbs go to the hospital while the rest of the crew go scope out the apartment building to see if the scene of the fall is actually the scene of a crime. Perhaps our Marine sergeant had some help exiting out that window. McGee wants access to the rooftop and hands Torres his NCIS jacket. When our newest team member hesitates, McGee asks if he’s still having trouble adjusting. Torres nods. I would guess after so many years going so deep undercover, it would be a little hard putting on something that screams “I’m a federal agent!” McGee tells him to just wear it when Gibbs is around. Thankful, Torres nods, leaves it on their truck. As they get access to the building, Torres notices a For Rent sign next to the door.

Up on the roof, the hunky apartment maintenance guy says all tenants have access to the roof. He didn’t know the Marine Sgt. well, she’d only recently moved in with her sister. He was in the basement when it happened, sister was at work. There are no clear angles to see the rooftop from other buildings, but there are surveillance cameras. Torres finds the fall spot from the edge, but McGee declines to come look over the edge. I’m with McGee. Not a fan of heights.

Sean Murray as McGee and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

In the hospital, Marine Sgt. is fighting for her life. Gibbs gets the prognosis from the doctor, which is a long list of injuries including to the brain. His opinion is she is unlikely to regain consciousness, but if she did, there would be irreversible damage. Quinn comes out from talking to the sister, who is in no shape to answer questions. As they leave, psychiatrist Dr. Grace steps from the elevator (Hello, Laura San Giacomo! So nice to see you back!). Turns out our Sergeant was also a patient of hers for the past month. Gibbs tries to get info, but of course, Doc Grace can’t comply. Her exact words being, “Give me a break, Popeye.” Heh. Quinn is more than a little interested in this exchange and wonders how they know each other. Grace explains they worked on a case together, then relents and tells Gibbs that they should be treating this case as an attempted murder. Fade to black and white.

Back in the bull pen, we learn MSgt was awarded both the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, with reports that she shielded her team with her own body. Quinn opines that makes her the perfect candidate for PTSD, which earns raised eyebrows from Dr. Grace, who has joined them for the debrief, but grudging respect. After a little back-and-forth with Gibbs in which she reiterates her earlier statement, she heads out. McGee and Quinn head out to talk to MSgt’s commanding officer while we shift to Bishop and Torres, who are looking through their apartment. Not looking like suicide, and the two chat, get to know each other a little better: Bishop having brothers, knows the rental scene due to a divorce, Torres wanting the inside scoop on the D.C. dating scene, Bishop being of no help on that score. Which is when he holds up red silk and white lace panties, wondering if they’re Marine issue. Bishop takes over the bedroom search, and Torres moves to the kitchen. Bishop asks if he’s ever been married and wonders what he means by “not really.” No answer is forthcoming. He finds MSgt’s phone, sees she missed a call from Afghanistan just before she fell. Hunky Maintenance Guy drops by with the security films on a thumb drive. Torres asks about the apartment for rent. MG doesn’t know from prices, but he complies when Torres asks if he can at least get in and see the place. He warns Bishop not to solve the case without him and heads out.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Quinn and McGee talk to MSgt’s CO, who says her record was impressive, but since coming to the base she seemed distracted. He thought her last tour was traumatic, and it was under his insistence that she’d been seeing Dr. Grace. He does not seem surprised about her fall.

Cut to Gibbs coming home to a neat and tidy little house, fire crackling in the fireplace. He sees a candlelit dinner table, set for two. Oh, Fornell, honey, I’m home! Yeah, no. Gibbs goes to flip on the light, but Fornell enters, stops him, says it will ruin the mood. Gibbs is all, “What, are we going to make out?” Yeah, much more like it. Fornell is simply trying to show his appreciation with a nice Italian meal. Gibbs would prefer he show his appreciation by not wearing Gibbs’ clothes. In fact, he thought it was laundry day. Fornell is all about how the day just didn’t go that way. Oh, Oscar. Oh, Felix. Only I’m not sure which one is which. Maybe Oscar and Oscar. Grouchy and Grouchier. Whatever it is, I love it. Turns out the candlelit dinner is because Fornell not only managed to kill the washing machine, but the entire fuse box. Exit Gibbs. HA.

Down in Abby Lab, Palmer is talking to an Amazon parrot whose response to his “Polly want a cracker?” is “Not Polly.” My parrot suddenly takes interest in the show, nods in approval. Enter Gibbs. Abby explains that it’s her brother Kyle’s rescue that she’s bird sitting. (She calls it a Yellow Breasted Amazon, but that’s a Yellow Crowned Amazon.) Gibbs wants to know why she didn’t leave it at home, and she tried, but the noise made her neighbors complain. Now that part is realistic. Palmer thinks it’s hilarious that the parrot’s name is Juan, and I’m guessing I’m missing yet another movie reference, but I’m sure someone will fill me in. Or many, oh so very many someones. If so, thanks in advance, and I think it’s great that Palmer is doing the almost-but-not-really movie references now that Tony is gone. Nice subtle tribute.

Brian Dietzen as Palmer and Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Back to the story, Abby shows Gibbs all the cobbled-together security footage that shows MSgt going up to the roof alone, no one is up there, and though the exact jump spot is not in sight, she falls less than 12 seconds later. No one enters or exits until the agents show up with Hunky Maintenance Guy. Gibbs repeats that his gut says it’s not a suicide. Abby wonders if his gut and Dr. Grace’s gut could both be wrong. Fade to black and white.

Back in MTAC Gibbs and Torres talk to the civilian contractor who was flying to D.C. the next day and trying to set up a meeting with MSgt to offer her a job after she left the military. He’s an abrupt guy, says the military doesn’t like civilian contractors poaching their people, then ends the call. Gibbs tells Torres to check him out.

Shift to the hospital with McGee and Bishop talking to MSgt’s sister. She dropped out of college to raise MSgt after their parents died. MSgt was going to take the high-paying contractor job so she could take care of her sister while she went back to school. Sis says it’s odd that she’d try to take her life from the roof as that’s where she’d usually go to clear her head. Lights and buzzers go off in MSgt’s room. Code Blue.

Brief scene is Abby Lab with Juan saying, “Gibbs,” and Ducky regaling us with a story about Winston Churchill’s parrot and Abby finding out that her brother missed his plane, so Juan stays another day. “Don’t tell Gibbs,” Juan says, repeating Palmer’s advice.

Up in the bull pen, we learn that MSgt was very well liked all around, no obvious enemies. Enter Bishop and McGee with news that MSgt suffered cardiac arrest but was revived. Sis isn’t doing well. Gibbs is going to call Dr. Grace. Torres enters, says he asked about the apartment for rent, but turns out the previous tenant was a 92-year-old man who died in the apartment. He’s a little creeped out by that, much to his team’s amusement. Sort of interesting that two people in the apartment building died — well, almost died — but no one seems to be following that track.

In Gibbs’ kitchen, Fornell is going over the case file. He pauses, says Gibbs’ name, and yes, he’s standing right behind him. HA. Fornell thought he was in the basement. Gibbs says he hid that file, and Fornell is all, “Not very well.” Seriously, these two, much love. Fornell is bored, but the FBI hasn’t signed off on his fitness eval yet. In strolls Dr. Grace. Fornell didn’t know she made house calls. “I don’t,” she replies, then heads straight to the kitchen to get a beer. Seriously, Gibbs’ home life is so not solo any longer. Three eps in, and we’ve had Fornell on the couch, Quinn playing poker, Dr. Grace strolling in, it’s Grand Central. I love that, too. Gibbs wants to know what’s up, and we learn MSgt passed away. Confidentiality ends with death, so she’s there to talk. Turns out MSgt was involved in the cover-up of a murder. Fade to black and white. Followed by a very quick fast-forward through the commercials!

Sean Murray as McGee and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Back at Gibbs’ place, Grace reveals that MSgt was only seeing her under duress and wouldn’t talk, but it was clear she was troubled. She told Grace about being involved in the cover-up, but nothing else. She didn’t want to implicate anyone. Gibbs runs down a list of possibles on who the murder victim might be. An Afghani civilian? Fornell suggests talking to the contractor, maybe the big payoff job was hush money. They pump Grace for more, but she hadn’t seen MSgt enough times to get any further. She adamantly stands by her assertion that MSgt was not suicidal. That she would have seen.

Down in Ducky’s Digs, Quinn comes down and explains to Ducky that she wants to spend some time with MSgt when her body arrives, needing the connection to help her get closer to figuring out what happened. She tried to connect to her in the hospital, but all the tubes and wires made it hard. She assumes he thinks she’s nuts for wanting to do it now, but of course, Ducky completely understands and the two bond. Palmer arrives and Ducky ushers him out for some tea, leaving Quinn alone with MSgt. Quinn starts their conversation by telling her she has a sister about her age.

We leave the morgue and head up to Gibbs, McGee and Torres in the bull pen trying to figure out where the murder MSgt was involved in covering up could have happened. The assumption is Afghanistan, given she’d been stateside for only three months. Then Torres tells Gibbs about the old man who died in MSgt’s apartment building, figuring it was at least worth checking out. Enter Fornell with Bishop, who found him in the lobby. Torres digs his jacket, which Gibbs angrily notes is actually his. HA. He called in a favor and found out that the contractor is former CIA. Torres is all, Is there such a thing? And Fornell is all, Thank you, and Gibbs is all, Go home! Classic. Fornell wants them to go meet the contractor when he arrives at Andrews, and in the meantime, can he borrow a desk. Gibbs instructs McGee to escort Fornell out of the building and gives him permission to use his weapon if Fornell resists. Heh.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Torres and Bishop talk to the cop who was on duty when the old man’s death was reported. He was found by MSgt’s sister and the Hunky Maintenance Guy. Sis checked on the old man every morning on her way out to work, and when he didn’t answer the door, she called HMG to let her in. He was on the floor in a pool of blood. The assumption is he lost his balance, fell and hit his head. Torres asks him about the neighborhood. Cop says it’s a nice enough area if you can afford it. The time of death was during the night before, a few hours before he was found.

In Ducky’s Digs, where Ducky has no patience to hear one of Palmer’s stories, so no quid pro quo, I guess. In comes Gibbs who wants Ducky to call his ME friend and find out what he knows about the old man who died. Gibbs is called away via phone by a rapidly talking Abby. He enters, sees the bird stand empty and is glad the bird is gone. Abby goes to show him what she found, and we hear, “Don’t tell Gibbs. Don’t tell Gibbs.” Ruh roh. Abby shows Gibbs the security film and points out that MSgt was wearing a different watch on her walk up to the roof than she was wearing on the sidewalk where she landed. They realize the initial footage of her going up to the roof was from a different day. A la Sis saying she used to go up there to clear her head. You know when a TV show maintenance guy is hunky, that he’s not just a maintenance guy. Just sayin’. Fade to black and white.

Back in the bull pen, turns out HMG is a brainy techy guy who was convicted of hacking and Internet fraud and spent some time in jail and still happens to be on probation. So he has the computer skills to change the security footage. McGee and Torres call in and say HMG is gone and residents say that’s unusual. Gibbs tells them to stay there on the lookout, and he’ll put out the BOLO. Gibbs starts to look at Sis as a possible suspect, given she also found the old man’s body, and tells Bishop and Quinn to bring her in.

Down in Ducky’s Digs, Palmer is working on MSgt, and Ducky is working on the old man. His body was still with the ME as they looked for next of kin, so Ducky decided to do his own autopsy. He says the gash is inconsistent with the fall, that it looks like he was hit with a heavy glass object, pieces of which he is extracting from the wound. Palmer tells Gibbs that MSgt had a drug in her system that wasn’t administered at the hospital, which means she was roofied before she fell.

Cut to the yoga studio where Torres is chatting up a yoga babe while holding on to his and McGee’s lunch. McGee, who doesn’t look quite as cadaverous this week but could definitely stand to eat a few burgers, is impatiently urging Torres to hurry up. When Torres returns, he takes offense that McGee thought he was hitting on Yoga Girl, claiming he was on the clock and, in fact, Yoga Girl was giving him the contact info for the person in the apartment building who can give them the gossip on HMG and Sis, who were apparently getting nekkid with each other. (Aside: I like Torres better when he’s being all broody, complicated guy. The funny side reminds me of Fez. I don’t want to be reminded of Fez.) Torres thinks it would be nice if McGee apologized, which he does. Which is when Torres turns the scrap of paper over and shows McGee that Yoga Girl did also give him her number. You know. Because he’s not Fez. Heh. Then the postman shows up and nobody gets their burger.

Back at HQ we learn that the post office held on to Old Guy’s mail, even though they knew he’d passed away, which is customary so the next of kin can claim it. Only no one ever did. The only piece of interesting mail is from a rare coin and precious metals dealer wanting to know if Old Guy wanted to sell his collection. When Torres saw the apartment, it had already been cleaned out and painted, so no idea where the collection might be. They are interrupted by Juan the Amazon flying overhead. “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest.” This from Torres. (Edited to add:  Okay, so it was “Juan flew over the cuckoo’s nest.” I totally missed that.  Also?  HA!  Love.) McGee gets off the phone with the dealer and says that Old Guy didn’t trust banks and had been buying gold bullion and rare coins for years, accumulating a collection worth over seven figures. Coin Dealer says he has a meeting with the person in charge of Old Guy’s estate, wanting to get the collection appraised for liquidation. Torres assumes it’s HMG, but that wasn’t the name used. In rushes Abby, and all three of them immediately point in the direction Juan had flown earlier. Heh.

Pauley Perrette as Abby and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

In interrogation with Sis and Gibbs, he tells her her sister was drugged and probably pushed. Sis is in denial, but we see her start to fray. Behind the two-way, Dr. Grace tells Bishop she should be in there, that she could get Sis to crack. Bishop refers to Gibbs Rule 17: Never ever interrupt Gibbs during an interrogation. Sis brings up the security footage, Gibbs brings up that it was tampered with by HMG. Sis looks down. Gibbs reveals he knows about their hooking up, and he reveals he thinks HMG was involved in Old Guy’s death. Dr. Grace really wants to be in there and goes to text Gibbs, but Bishop makes her put her phone away. Heh. Gibbs gets close, then McGee enters with important info. Dr. Grace is all, what happened to Rule 17? We don’t see what is said out in the hallway. Gibbs goes back in the interrogation room and McGee joins Bishop and Dr. Grace, answering their questions by telling them to watch. Gibbs leans in, tells Sis it’s her last chance. He asks about Old Man’s collection. She admits that Old Guy told her about the coins, that her only mistake was telling HMG. He told her Old Guy was going to die, and given his dementia, he wouldn’t even know if some coins were missing. With no heirs, the coins would just go to the government anyway, so she agreed to steal them a little at a time. Turns out Old Guy figured it out, caught HMG in the act, threatened to call the cops. And we all know what happened then. Sis says she didn’t tell the police about the coins or HMG killing Old Guy because he convinced her she’d be charged with the murder, too, but swears she had nothing to do with her sister’s death and that HMG didn’t either.

Bishop and McGee wait outside the coin shop for the mystery man to make his meeting with the dealer and Bishop tells McGee about Torres’ vague answer when she asked if he’d ever been married. McGee says his file says Torres has never been married, but maybe it was something from the time he was undercover. An aging window-washer knocks on the window, asking if they want a wash, but McGee waves him away. They spy HMG approaching with a wheeled bag, and McGee talks to Gibbs, who is inside posing as the dealer. And looks all geek chic in his black horn-rimmed glasses. Quinn is also on the inside. HMG buzzes to get in as window-washing guy starts to clean the windows anyway. McGee tries to get him to stop, and Bishop finally shows him her badge, which prompts him to say the word “cops” loud enough for HMG to hear and off he runs. Everyone takes off after him, but it’s Torres, who was outside the store hanging out in his hoodie, who catches him and takes him down with coins spilling everywhere. Torres is back to angry, brooding guy as he puts his gun on HMG’s neck. Ahhh.

Pauley Perrette as Abby and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Shift to Gibbs’ house with Fornell and Grace discussing the case. Fornell thought for sure it was the defense contractor, but Grace says HMG killed MSgt because he was sure she’d talk Sis into going to the police about Old Guy. Grace turns the conversation to Fornell, who’s all chatty about his recovery initially, then he realizes that Grace is “shrinking” him. She laughs off his assertion, swears she’s just making conversation. She does, however, offer him some professional advice. She doesn’t think it’s all that healthy for him to be sleeping, eating and living less than three feet away from where he was shot and almost killed. You know. Just sayin’. Enter Gibbs, and Fornell immediately thinks Gibbs put Grace up to their little chat. He thinks Gibbs wants him out, but can’t ask, so he put Grace up to do his dirty work for him. Gibbs rolls his eyes, Grace laughs it off. He says he’ll be in the basement, then invites Grace to join him. She’s all, “What’s in the basement?” and he’s all, “Sawdust. And a bottle of bourbon.” She lights right up at that. Off she goes, leaving Fornell stranded on the couch. He calls out that he can’t maneuver down the stairs, then adds, “Yet.” He grins. And fade to black and white.

Credits roll, followed by an “in loving memory” moment with a photo of Gary Glasberg and a message from the cast and crew. You can read their official obituary here.

A sad week, but a good episode entry. Things are beginning to gel for our new Fab Five. Introduction time is coming to an end, and story arc time is beginning. Where will it take us? (And that’s not even taking into account where the new showrunner, whoever that turns out to be, might want to take us.) Are you on board? Let me know your thoughts at donna@donnakauffman.com.

And while you’re at it, enter this week’s fab giveaway! Up for grabs, a signed copy of my latest release, Starfish Moon, and a beautiful little bookmark charm designed exclusively for the book by Joyce Taber of the always awesome Cotton Thistle. Want in? Just put “Of course I want a bookmark to go with my copy of Starfish Moon!” in the subject line, and you’re in. No additional commentary necessary, but I do love hearing your thoughts! Winner announced at the end of next week’s recap.

And speaking of winners, the happy winner of last week’s giveaway, getting her very own copy of Snowflake Bay, along with a fab canvas book tote to go with? Come on down, Bernadette Alvarez! Drop me your address to donna@donnakauffman.com and your prizes will go out in the mail to you.

That does it for this week. If you simply can’t stand being apart that long, head on over to my Facebook page and join the daily jocularity while keeping abreast of all things NCIS. Maybe even snag a chance to win more free stuff!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!) Yes, even you.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Hello, my NCIS BFF’s. We’ve already reached week four of season 14, and the word is we get murder on the high seas and a little romance on tonight’s ep, titled Love Boat. What more could a romance-author-TV-blogger ask for? Let’s not waste any time, shall we?

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

We open out at sea with a young female officer climbing out of her bunk to report for middle-of-the-night duty. In the bottom bunk? Her mom. Who wants to tag along. Oh joy. Her mom, you say? Yep! They are on a Tiger cruise (and it’s a real thing) where the families of our soldiers at sea get a ride-along, to see what life is like, shipboard, for their loved ones. Navy Daughter poo-poo’s her mom’s idea, and Mom reluctantly agrees, hoping that maybe her daughter wants alone time because she is actually going on some kind of midnight assignation. Despite the Navy frowning on such things, Mom gives her blessing and wants all the details later. Daughter merely smiles indulgently, and when Mom pushes for a name, she merely says, “Everyone calls him Elmer.”

Navy Daughter reports to the room where they compact the cardboard waste and tells “Elmer” (the industrial-sized trash compactor) that she confessed their love affair to Mom. She loads Elmer up, presses the button as we all cringe, pretty sure what’s going to happen next. And yep, Elmer jams, the buzzers go off. Navy Daughter climbs up to look inside and GAH. Hello, Murder of the Week!

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

McGee is giving us some math geek info on the design of our nation’s capital and how, twice a year, the sun sets in a way that allows the Washington Monument to cast a perfect shadow down the Mall, with the tip of the shadow reaching the steps of the Capitol building. He’s all about the mathematical symmetry love he shares with his soon-to-be-fiancée Delilah, but Bishop wants him to skip ahead to the part where he proposes. He explains that Abby’s Ranger Burt will help get McGee and Delilah up to the top of the Monument on the Perfect Sunset Night, so just as he gets down on one knee, the sun pierces through the window and highlights the perfect symmetry of the diamond. Oh, McGee. So adorkable. I miss his old face. And I’m not a diamond girl, but the ring he shows Bishop appears to be quite a beauty. Bishop’s only complaint? The next Perfect Sunset is six months away. Enter Torres who comments that they’re both geeks, then wonders how McGee plans on keeping it a secret and oh, hey, Tim, you’re looking a little sweaty. Heh. McGee says that ever since the ring arrived, it’s made him act like a different person. “Yeah, Gollum,” says Bishop. Ha! He wants to know what he should do, as Gibbs enters and tells him to either propose already or stop talking about it. Heh. Such a romantic, that guy. Quinn enters behind Gibbs and agrees with my assessment. I knew I liked her.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

Then it’s grab your gear time as Gibbs says that he and Quinn are taking a helo out to the destroyer. Quinn did time early in her career as an agent afloat, and much as she loved it, she’s quite happy to pass the assignment on to one of her new teammates. No takers, just a recommendation to take some seasickness meds. In comes Palmer, loaded down with gear and all nine kinds of sea sickness meds. Where’s Ducky? Turns out he’s already seasick. Ate some bad shrimp and is home with food poisoning. Poor Duck!

We move to on-ship action, seeing the helo land on deck, then Gibbs and team meet the ship’s captain, Commander Ray, who recognizes Quinn. Wincing, Quinn asks if she arrested her. Turns out no, what the Commander remembers is how Quinn was known by the guys as a heartbreaker. Gibbs is very amused by this. Quinn, not so much. Heh.

The Tiger cruise is an overnight, due to dock the next day, but they wanted answers sooner than later, especially given the number of civilians on board. Gibbs and crew begin processing the scene. Appears to be blunt force trauma to the head. Gibbs finds the weapon: a wood stick used to push trash into the pulper. The Commander ID’s the victim, a female lieutenant, one of the ship’s navigators. They ask if she has family aboard as part of the Tiger cruise. She has one male cousin aboard, and the Commander orders them to inform him privately and quietly, which Gibbs would prefer as well. They enter a room full of people to pull the cousin out and talk privately, but he immediately demands to know where his cousin is and if there’s been a murder on ship. Turns out that not only does everyone on board know, but it’s all over social media as well. Lovely. Fade to an annoyed Gibbs black and white.

Back in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness, turns out the initial tweet came from a pop star whom Bishop adores who happens to be on board the ship as part of a media blitz. Bishop says the star was her spirit animal during her divorce. Torres has never heard of her. Given Pop Star’s 3 million followers, #murderboat is now trending on Twitter. Torres wants to know why the ship navigator would be in the trash room, saying everyone has a dark side. McGee comes up with an idea to help keep the proposal a secret. He asks Bishop to keep the ring. For six months? She balks, saying she is lunching with Delilah and already having a hard time with knowing the plan. She offers up Torres, but says it’s between the two geeks. So, to Torres’ delight, McGee asks Bishop to be his Frodo and keep the ring. Ha! She reluctantly takes it.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Jennifer Esposito as Quinn and Brian Dietzen as Palmer in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

Out on the ship, Quinn and Gibbs are talking to Cousin, who grew up with Lieutenant Navigator in Maine and had been bugging her to bring him on a Tiger cruise. He senses from Gibbs questions that they might suspect him and grows prickly, saying they need to find the killer and in the meantime, he’d like to be alone. Palmer is working on securing the body while talking to Ducky via laptop link. He comments on how he’s not sure how he feels about Quinn being a heartbreaker, meaning she might have been breaking rules when her role would have been to enforce them. Ducky, who is feeling better, nudges them back to the case at hand. Along with the body, Palmer is also bringing back the contents of the compactor for Abby to examine, but in the meantime, Ducky points to a piece of metal that appears to have been compacted into Lieutenant Navigator’s torso, which is odd given she was found in the paper waste compactor. Was the metal tossed into the compactor along with the body? Enter Abby, who has been studying the crime scene photos and thinks the metal is an antenna, like from a remote control unit.

On the ship, Quinn is talking to a shipboard civilian who was seen out of his bunk the night before. Turns out he was seasick all night, even dropped his phone in the toilet and the screen is stuck on a photo of his son. He goes to hand it to her, but she demurs. Because, EW. He’d like her to keep his story quiet so he doesn’t embarrass his Navy buddy, who he is not that close to, and basically mooched the on board ride from him. (Civilians have to pay for the ride.)

Move to Gibbs interviewing a petty officer who worked under Lieutenant Navigator. His younger brother is the Tiger in the room, and Petty Officer Older Brother is all stiff and formal trying to set an example for his decidedly less stiff younger brother. Gibbs reunites with Quinn and their combined notes from their interviews thus far have resulted in a big fat zero in terms of leads. No one knows or saw anything, just one big happy family. Aaand, cue an angry altercation out in the hall (or whatever they are called onboard a ship) between the press agent for our Pop Star’s goodwill tour and a Tiger trying to score an autograph for his kid. Press Agent’s reaction seems a lot over the top.

Our all business Commander calls Gibbs down to the maintenance bay, certain she has a solution to the whole murder problem. She hands him a clipboard showing that the entire crew was accounted for the prior evening after muster, but they are missing one Tiger. She’s certain that’s their killer. Enter Navy Daughter, who explains that the Tiger in question was her brother, who had car trouble and never boarded the ship. However, someone signed in as her brother, which means there’s an impostor on board. Fade to black and white.

Pauley Perrette as Abby and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Out at sea, Navy Daughter has terse conversation with her apparently less-than-dependable brother via phone. He doesn’t know who signed in as him, but he’s heading to the Navy HQ in Norfolk to answer any questions they might have. ND tells Quinn she has her permission to shoot her brother if he doesn’t cooperate. Siblings. ND tells Quinn her job was already hard and now they think she had something to do with Lieutenant Navigator’s death. Quinn sympathizes, saying she was the only NCIS agent aboard a floating city of 5,000 for a full year and promises they’ll do their job and find the real killer.

Back in the bull pen, Bishop is listing the various places she can hide the ring in her home, but McGee isn’t wild about them. (Wha? Like Delilah is going to toss Bishop’s house and accidentally find it?) So she tells him to take the thing back. He claims not having the ring allowed him to sleep a full night without nightmares just as Delilah rounds the corner, wondering why her sweetie is having nightmares. McGee quickly slips the ring back in his jacket pocket while prevaricating quite badly. Torres enters the other side of the bull pen, spies the awkward interaction and backs out again. More awkward banter with McGee and a now suspicious Delilah, then Torres saves him and us from further weirdness by flying a drone into the room, saying Abby found a clue. Bishop comments that it’s kinda nerdy that he knows how to fly a drone. Heh. He tells them about underground drone races he participated in when he was undercover in Buenos Aires. He introduces his handsome self to Delilah then tells Bishop and McGee that the metal in their dead body came from that same kind of consumer drone remote control. The one he has was confiscated by the Navy Yard and all of them commiserate about the problem with drones when it comes to national security, and the fear they are either snooping or smuggling. So what was one doing on the ship? McGee heads out to call Gibbs despite his phone being right on his desk and Bishop whisks Delilah out for lunch.

Shipside, Quinn is shuffling cards at a table by herself as Cousin comes in, wondering why she’s not out hunting down the killer. She says cards help her think and offers to deal him in. She asks about him coming from Maine, wondering if his town is near the shipyard. He sits, accepts the hand she deals him, says no, not near the shipyard, and comments on how she’s a lot more relaxed than her partner. She and I both snort. Maybe Quinn is my spirit animal. She tells Cousin that Gibbs is off his meds. HA! Then she casually comments how he’s into drones. At his surprised look, she adds that she was looking at his faculty website and it was in his bio (he’s a teacher). Cousin relaxes and says he likes gadgets. She asks if maybe he brought his drone on board, and he immediately says she’s worse than Gibbs, interrogating him while pretending to be friendly. She says, “Queen of Hearts,” then elaborates that that is actually what they called her. Because she was always playing cards in the mess when she was the Agent Afloat. She found it was a good way to get to know someone, get them to relax despite her being essentially a form of ship police. Unless they were playing for money, of course. Heh. He wants to know why she’s telling him that, and she says to prove she doesn’t lie. It wasn’t an interrogation until he made it one, and now he needs to answer a few questions. He says no, that he wants a lawyer and leaves. Lovely guy, really.

Sean Murray as McGee and Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Down in the garage, Abby asks Torres if drone street racing is really a thing, and Torres just says that McGee owes him. HA. She wants to know how he could fly one and he shrugs, says he’s athletic. It’s funny, but it seems like Quinn and Torres fit right in and even Bishop seems to have better camaraderie. It’s almost like McGee is the misfit. Partly because his dramatic change in looks makes it hard to look at him and feel the warm fuzzies we used to, and partly because it’s like the rest of the team is gelling and he seems sort of extraneous. Definitely not the team leader, at any rate. One viewer wrote in to say they should move Bishop to doing the in-house analysis that plays on her NSA background, sort of the hacker aspect that McGee used to bring to the table, and let the others be the field agents. That’s not a bad idea, actually (and this from the one who has felt Bishop has no place, but would now choose her for that role over McGee. Maybe.) Put that into play and you could still extract McGee and be OK. Which leads me to wonder where this will all go given Gary Glasberg’s death, when a new showrunner (television term for the head writer who is also executive producer, meaning they essentially run the show) is named and takes over with whatever their direction might be.

Anyway … Abby is looking at Navy Daughter’s big brother’s car. He arrived at the gate for the cruise saying he was late because his radiator had to be replaced and didn’t have his license because his wallet was stolen. The Navy didn’t believe him. Turns out Abby doesn’t either. Not exactly. Turns out the radiator wasn’t replaced, it was just repaired, which allows her to see the original damage. Perfectly round puncture holes, like ones made from a screwdriver. Someone sabotaged his ride to keep him off that ship.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and, behind him, Jennifer Esposito as Quinn. in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

Back on board, we see Seasick Guy coming out of the bathroom again, and Big Brother/Little Brother having a talk about how long it takes a ship that size to make port, all while Quinn is following Pop Star and her jerk Press Agent, who tells Quinn that Pop Star sent out the tweet as a joke, but doesn’t know anything and won’t be saying anything. She meets up with Gibbs, and they still have no leads on the impostor and no leads on what the drone might have smuggled in, or who smuggled it on board the ship. Despite the destroyer being smaller than the aircraft carrier Quinn was stationed on, it’s still big enough to make collecting all the info needed a big challenge for only two people. Quinn wants more time and Gibbs says by all means, go ask the CO. And good luck with that. CO says she can’t keep the ship out at sea as it puts her crew and the civilians on board at risk, given there is a killer on board somewhere. Quinn argues that on board, they have the killer trapped, but if they dock, he has a way out. CO denies her request for one more day at sea. Instead, they have two hours to find the killer. Fade to black and white.

Brian Dietzen as Palmer in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We come back to Ducky’s Digs with both Ducky and Palmer. Cause of death is confirmed, and we learn Palmer got sick all over the evidence bags on the way back in the helo. Ducky forgives, Palmer goes to take the personal effects up to Abby and notes there an inscription on the back of the necklace. Time with you is never wasted.

Up in Abby Lab, she tells McGee she’s mad at whoever puked all over the evidence bags and is pretty sure it’s Jimmy. (You know, for an episode titled Love Boat, we’re spending an inordinate amount of time talking about puke. Ew.) She hugs McGee, happy about the impending proposal. Then she says that in one of the compacted discs from the ship’s plastic compactor, she found the crushed remains of the drone. The drone is beyond help, but she got the detachable camera out of it. Looking at the footage taken while it was detached, it shows the person holding entering a restricted area, which is where Pop Star is chatting up some of the Navy personnel.

We’re shipboard and Gibbs enters the room with Pop Star and Jerk Agent, who’s all, “You can’t barge in here,” and we’re all, “Have you met Gibbs?” Heh. Quinn is there, too, and shows them the film they have of her in a restricted area. Agent tries to keep her quiet, and Quinn wants to know what they are hiding. Pop Star says she has polyps on her vocal cords. She had surgery recently and can’t sing for a few months, so Agent is just looking out for her health, keeping her from using her voice. Pop Star says rather than stay home, she decided to use her recovery time to do the goodwill tour and raise awareness for the military. Her grandfather served. She was in a restricted area by permission, hoping her social media photos of the high-tech gear would attract millennial recruits. All sensitive material was turned off or put away. They didn’t film anything, but there were Tigers in the room with them along with Navy personnel. Gibbs wants to know who was there, but Agent says they didn’t take attendance.

Back in the bull pen, Torres has been relegated to McGee’s desk to input the manifest list of all the Tigers on board the ship to see if anything pops on them. He’s disgruntled because his superpowers aren’t being utilized. You know, banging down doors, breaking through windows. Doing the tango. Ha! He says between the drone flying and the data entry, they’re turning him into a geek. HA. He’s even less of a fan about Bishop’s plan to keep the ring at HQ. What better place to lock it up than in a secure, federal building, she wants to know. Enter McGee, who is having none of that. He doesn’t want to know where it is. Then he tells Torres they have a lead and does he want to put it up on the Screen of All Knowing. “Oh, hell no.” HA. They accessed footage from ND’s brother’s gym where he was the evening before he had car trouble and they see someone breaking into his locker and stealing his wallet. Turns out it’s the Soccer Dad guy who wanted Pop Star’s autograph for his kid.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

On the ship, Quinn says they are searching for Soccer Dad, who has a history of aggravated assault and trespassing, but no obvious motive for murder. An alarm goes off and Quinn wants to know if they won a prize. Heh. Turns out they have a man overboard. He matches the description of Soccer Dad, and they are close enough to port that he could make it to land. Fade to a very austere Gibbs black and white.

Back for our final act, we’re on board with the CO telling Gibbs and Quinn to hurry and catch the search helo about to take off from deck. Boats are also being lowered into the water and the base, which is the only shoreline he can climb out of, has been alerted. Little Brother is all impressed watching his Big Brother leap into action, then we see our swimmer climbing out on a dock, all thankful he made it. Then a light beams in his face and it’s all, “Freeze! NCIS!” with Quinn pointing a gun at him. Sorry, chump.

Quinn gets the interrogation duties. Turns out Soccer Dad is a paparazzo who snuck on board to get the scoop on Pop Star. While he is a weasel, what he isn’t is our killer. The drone was his, for overhead shots, and he was switching out the camera in the trash room, which is the only place he could find privacy. He heard someone coming, panicked, ditched the drone into the trash bin and hid, thinking he’d go back for it later. Only a man and woman came in, arguing with each other. He saw the murder, but not the man’s face and he didn’t really catch what the argument was about, so he didn’t come forward. He’s mostly just bummed because he lost everything and didn’t even get a payday out of it. So he cut his losses and jumped off when they got close to shore. Poor dear.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

In the bull pen, the manifest list pops up a restraining order on Seasick Guy who mooched the Tiger ride to Norfolk off his Navy friend because it was cheaper than paying for airfare and hotels. Turns out his ex-wife is a lieutenant stationed on base in Norfolk with their son and he’d never get on base with the restraining order, so he took the Tiger cruise as a way to get in. The ship has already docked so the crew heads to Norfolk (another magic carpet ride as it’s not just around the corner in real life) hoping to intercept Seasick Guy before he can do whatever it is he plans to do. We see him at the playground, picking up their son from the sitter, claiming Mom knows all about it. Sitter is calling Mom while kiddo is asking Dad what cool place he’s going to take them.

We see Dad take a gun and hold it in his lap as kid says, “Is it Disney World?” Enter Gibbs, who says, “Nope.” Dad slowly goes for his gun, sees the agents in the rearview approaching the car, guns drawn. Gibbs tells him that’s not a good idea, not in front of his son. Gibbs talks to the little boy, saying his dad came because he didn’t think he was going to get to see him again, and how much he misses his son, but he’s going to go with Gibbs, so they can see each other again in the future. Then under his breath, he tells Daddio to put his hands on the wheel. Nicely done. Dad exits the car, is taken into custody behind the car while Gibbs tells the little boy that Mom is coming to get him, but maybe they can grab a cup of coffee while they wait. Little Guy immediately agrees to that, which makes Gibbs laugh.

Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

In the HQ conference room, Quinn and McGee are explaining to Cousin, and us, that our Lieutenant Navigator was friends with Ex-Wife and recognized Daddio. She was going to turn him in, and we all know what happened then. Cousin breaks down, and that’s when McGee and Quinn say they know they were closer than cousins. They were dating. He bought the necklace, which they return to him. He just wanted to experience that part of her life. McGee points out there is a separate Tiger day cruise for significant others, but he didn’t want to wait another six months, so he talked her into the fake-cousin story. He asks if they wouldn’t put that on her record and McGee says they don’t plan on it. Not Cousin says he was happy he was on the cruise, given it was their last time together, but he does have one regret. He wishes he’d given her a ring instead of a necklace. McGee frowns, then says he does, in fact, understand. He tells Quinn to finish up and immediately exits.

McGee heads down, shows Bishop how he broke into Kate’s and Ziva’s desk and he pulls the ring out and takes off. The elevator door opens and Delilah is on board. He is surprised to see her, but doesn’t let her explain. Saying it’s perfect, he enters the elevator with her and closes the door, then hits the stop button. She’s alarmed and he’s babbling about symmetry and kissing cousins. Then he says he can’t waste any more time and gets down on one knee. Go, McGee! She says yes!

Fade to black and white.

So, you know … maybe not the strongest murder mystery, and I would have voted for more love and less puke on the boat (ship!), but you can’t beat that ending. Finally!

I also wanted to let you all know how much I appreciated the avalanche of mail last week, voicing your thoughts about this season and our new faces (overwhelmingly positive, as it turns out) and about my recaps (also very kind.) Even the less-than-happy folks were more often than not quite polite in expressing their views, and that makes me feel good about humanity, a feeling we can definitely use more of these days. So keep on, keeping on. I do enjoy hearing your thoughts and your reasons for the love — or the less-than-love — you have for this season. It’s good to hear all sides!

Thank you also for the interest in my “day job” and the enthusiastic contest entries! The winner of last week’s giveaway of a signed copy of my current release, Starfish Moon, and the fabulous bookmark charm specially designed for the book by The Cotton Thistle, is Nancy Billings. Yay, Nancy! Drop me a note to donna@donnakauffman.com with your address and I’ll get your prize out to you.

What’s up for grabs this week? How about the full set of my first Blueberry Cove Trilogy? Yep, winner receives signed copies of Pelican Point, Half Moon Harbor AND Sandpiper Island. I know! It’s the trifecta of coastal Maine romance goodness. Want in? Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Take me to Blueberry Cove!” in the subject line and you’re officially in the running. I’ll announce the winner right here in next week’s recap.

In the meantime, if you’re on Facebook, drop on by my page and join in the fun and frivolity. And get in on a chance to win more free stuff!

Until next week …

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!) Yes, even you.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

SPOILERS AHEAD!

It’s finally here! Or should I say he is finally here? Yes, our favorite MI6 agent, Clayton Reeves, marks his return to the show on this evening’s episode, Philly. We also get a peek into Agent Quinn’s background as well. So make yourself comfy on the recap couch and pass the popcorn!

Duane Henry as Reeves in NCIS. (Photo: Robert Voets, CBS)

We open with a young sailor walking down a rainy street at night, looking for his Uber ride. What he finds as he climbs into the SUV, however, are two masked men behind the wheel. Oops. Not your Uber. He backs out, comes face-to-face with another masked man who puts him back in the car, despite his promise to say nothing about what he’s seen. A few seconds later, we hear proof that, indeed, he won’t be talking to anyone. Ever.

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

Shift to the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness as Bishop enters with Agent Tony Francis, who you might remember from his stint on the season 12 episode Kill the Messenger, but you more likely recognize from his years playing with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Atlanta Falcons. After a little chitchat with Bishop and McGee about the latter’s impending nuptials, Torres enters, gets introduced. Then we see Quinn enter, spy Francis and make a quick turnaround. Too late. Turns out Francis remembers her from FLETC and, quite fondly, it appears. In fact, it seems like maybe there was a little more than an instructor-trainee situation going on there, or maybe he just wanted there to be. Whatever the case, he’s real happy to see her, while she’s happy to put a big, fake smile on her face, and do her best to dodge a dinner date with him while getting him on out of the bull pen as fast as humanly possible. Exit Francis. Enter the rest of the team (and all of us) staring at Quinn, waiting for her to explain what that was all about.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Robert Voets, CBS)

She says if there was a thing it was over and Francis is a great guy, a “10,” but not for her. However, if Bishop is interested, she offers … then adds the warning that if she says yes, she’d better be ready to settle down. Bishop makes it clear she’s not wanting anything, or even looking for anything, much less interested in settling down. Then Torres goes and puts his foot into it, saying that all women pretend they’re not looking, but secretly, they’re all willing to settle down. He continues to swallow the rest of his foot, and McGee abandons him as both women give him major side-eye. Enter Gibbs, whose only advice to Torres is to stop talking entirely. He promises Torres will thank him later. Heh.

Gibbs puts McGee in charge of holding down the soon-to-be-empty bull pen as he takes the rest of the crew upstairs to MTAC. (See! I was right last week. McGee does seem to be the odd man out this season. I mean, how topsy-turvy is it that Bishop, of all people, fits in better with the new crew, leaving the Tony-less McGee completely rudderless? And you all know what a huge 180 that is for me to be saying. Of course, I still think she should stick with desk duty, hacking and the NSA stuff, be the crime solver, and leave the actual crime-fighting part to the other three. And by three I mean Gibbs, Torres and Quinn. It’s like McGee without Tony has become all Palmer on us. And not for the lack of attention. You know who is getting the lack of attention? Abby. More Abs, please!)

OK, where was I? Oh, right! We’re in MTAC and hello, MI6 Agent Clayton Reeves there on the Big Daddy Screen of All Knowing. Turns out he’s in Philly — which gets a little duck of the chin from Quinn (ruh roh!) — following up on a fellow MI6-er who was tracking a smuggling operation, then went missing. Last known contact was a back alley, where Reeves is standing now, and where he happened to find our Silenced Sailor in a trash dumpster. Quinn directs him to the northeast NCIS office, but if SS is in any way connected to Reeve’s missing MI6-er, he wants Gibbs’ crew on the job. Gibbs tells him to have the body sent to him, and he’ll send a crew up to Philly. Bishop and Torres offer to go, neither having been to Philly before. Bishop gets the nod, but he holds Torres back, says he’s needed there. Quinn gets the other nod. Gibbs heads out of MTAC with Quinn hot on his heels, shocked, wanting to know if Gibbs could possibly be serious, and it’s clear Gibbs already knows why Quinn wants nothing to do with going to Philadelphia. Tell us, tell us!

Gibbs wants to act like it’s nothing out of the ordinary, but it’s very clear that it is to Quinn. And he knows why, but he apparently doesn’t think that matters enough to sideline her. Or, more likely, it’s exactly why he’s sending her. When she pushes, Gibbs gets indignant. She says she’d never defy a direct order, but was he really serious about making her go? So, he makes it a direct order. She says, “So you are messing with me.” Now he’s angry. We get the full-on flashing blue eyes. Which, you know, never gets old. Flutter. He tells her to get up there and find out what happened to that soldier. She’s obviously shaken, but holds her own, and says, “Yes, sir.” Fade to a very pensive Quinn black and white. Hmm … I like this plot thickening.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn, Duane Henry as Reeves and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Robert Voets, CBS)

We come back to Quinn and Bishop entering the hotel and Bishop being bummed that it’s not close to the Italian market. Apparently, she spent the ride up embracing all things Philadelphia. She’s cued in to Quinn’s utter lack of enthusiasm for the city and wonders if it’s an NYC-Philly sports rivalry thing. “Let’s go with that,” Quinn says wearily. Enter Reeves, happy to see them. SS’s body has been processed and shipped to Ducky. Still no sign of MI6-er.

He takes them up to MI6-er’s room. No sign of forced entry, last seen two days prior. Suitcase still there. Reeves explains that post-Brexit the smuggling market has been primed and ready for whatever fallout they can use to their advantage. In this case, it’s Russian rocket launchers. Gibbs calls in with the ID on SS. He was on leave from his ship docked in Rhode Island. Gibbs asks Quinn to do the notification to his family, who lives just outside of Philly in a town named Darby. This also clearly has personal meaning to Quinn, and not the good kind. “Of all places,” she mutters, which gets Bishop’s attention, though she says nothing. Torres hears it over the line and asks Gibbs what’s up with that. He knew Quinn didn’t want to go. Torres wanted to go. “And we’re here to make you happy?” Gibbs says, lets out a somewhat disgusted laugh, then turns on Torres and says if he’s feeling stuck? “Get unstuck!” So much for cuddly, smiling Gibbs.

Down in Ducky’s Digs he’s unzipping the bag containing SS’s remains, and we, along with SS, get a little Philly history lesson. Enter Gibbs and Ducky tells him the two shots to the chest were fired at point-blank range. He seems weary and Gibbs asks if he’s OK. Ducky chuckles at that oft-asked question, but says no, he’s never OK when he has a young person on his table. Gibbs nods, exits. Ducky stops him, thanks him for asking. (Foreshadowing? Make a note …)

David McCallum as Ducky and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

In SS’s kitchen, Quinn and Bishop learn from his mom that he went into town barhopping with some old high school friends. He wore his Navy blues to impress them. All of them good kids, including her own. She seems remarkably together for just learning her son died. She does start to break down toward the end, saying having a soldier for a son, you prepare for the worst, but not when they’re home and supposedly safe. They get phone numbers for the friends he was out with, then Quinn asks about another family who lives close by. Mom doesn’t know them, but says the road Quinn mentioned is just a few blocks away. Quinn thanks her, changes the subject immediately back to offering Mom any help she might need. Bishop is taking it all in, knows something is hinky. (Hey, we have to get Abs here in spirit!) Mom says what she needs is for them to catch her son’s killers. Bishop says they will, Quinn just nods, and they exit. Bishop offers to take Quinn to the street she mentioned, but she brushes it off, calls McGee with the contact numbers.

Torres is in the bull pen, fighting with the printer. And losing. McGee makes himself useful and clears up the paper jam, tells Torres that office equipment is his friend. Torres says he’ll just use McGee’s printer. Yeah. No. Enter Gibbs, time for the Screen of All Knowing. According to his CO, SS was a model sailor. They found the Uber driver who said SS sounded lost, thought he’d found her car, but she never saw him. Quinn and Bishop are interviewing his friends. McGee asks Gibbs what his gut says and his response is, “What does any of this have to do with a missing MI6 officer?” Exactly. Torres says he knows a guy in D.C. who has contacts to weapons smuggling, a guy he’s willing to squeeze quite thoroughly if needed. Gibbs sends him off with McGee to do just that.

Back in the hotel lobby, Reeves is on a laptop, enter Bishop with a Philly cheesesteak. She got him one, too. He notes there are two in the bag. “One for later,” she says. Quinn notes that doesn’t even count the one she ate in the car. Heh. Reeves gets a text with an SOS and the code 000. A Bond joke between him and MI6-er. Reeves is 009 and MI6-er is double-oh-nothing. He grabs his laptop, Bishop grabs the food, Quinn will take the wheel.

They kick in a door to an attic, find MI6-er on his side, still taped to a chair, lots of blood. He’s alive, tells them the guy went out the back. Bishop and Reeves head to the window while Quinn kneels to take care of him. His phone drops out of his hand, showing the text he managed to make, despite his hands being taped behind him. This triggers a flashback from Quinn, who sees an old flip phone on a street, flip top open, beside an outstretched hand, “call in progress” on the screen, pool of blood under both phone and hand. Sirens are screaming as Quinn, who looks to be undercover, shouts for help while cradling a woman, telling her to hold on. Bishop and Reeves come back in, no luck on the chase. Quinn staggers back, sits down, trying to gather herself as Reeves cuts his man loose. She assures Bishop she’s fine, directs her to help Reeves. We see her suck in deep breaths, looking anything but fine as we fade to another Quinn black and white.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop, Duane Henry as Reeves and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Robert Voets, CBS)

Back in the attic, a breathless and wound-up MI6-er is telling them he’d tracked and was observing the smugglers loading weapons from a warehouse into the SUV when this young guy just runs up and jumps in. He thought he was part of the gang, but then realized that wasn’t the case. SS was dead before he could stop them, and he was sure they’d have killed him, too, if he hadn’t identified himself. Quinn comes over from where she and Bishop were processing the scene and ties that young guy correctly to SS. MI6-er says they cut the GPS tracker out of his arm right there in the alley. We get a lovely shot of said bloody arm. Agh. They dragged him to that room to find out what he knew. Quinn wants to know where he got the burner phone. He said one of the smugglers dropped it, and it took him forever to work his way to it, to text and hope it went out (as it was behind his back and he couldn’t see what he was doing). They wore masks, so he doesn’t know who they are, but they know everything about him, including where he lives, where his wife is. He wants to call her, warn her. Reeves takes him out so that can happen. Her expression unreadable, Quinn notes that the smugglers did a real number on him. Bishop is calling in with an update, sending photos to Abby. Quinn says she’s sending trace evidence, too. Bishop wants to know if she should tell them anything else, earning her a flat look from Quinn who wants to know, “Such as?” She assures Bishop she’s fine.

Back in D.C., Torres and McGee enter the back room in some club as he asks McGee to hold his gun. The goon protecting the bad guy Torres is looking for is waved off as BG says he thought Torres would have been dead by now. Torres sits, says he’s been dead lots of times. Heh. BG says he knows nothing about no smuggling in Philly, seeing as how he’s all legit now with his club and all. McGee questions that part, given Goon with a gun, then introduces himself. BG goes ballistic that Torres brought a fed into his club. (Um … if he only knew?) Torres stands, makes like he’s going to leave, then leaps on the table. BG and Goon leap up, guns drawn. Torres says he really likes that song and starts doing his Ricky Martin impression, adding that it’s actually McGee who’s the crazy one. Pan to McGee who is holding his gun and Torres’ gun on BG and Goon. He’s all, So, who in Philly might be interested in those Russian rocket launchers again? Turns out it’s possible BG has a few ideas about that.

The team in D.C. connects a few names, but MI6-er dismisses the pair of brothers as he’s already tracked them, they’re exotic bird smugglers. Which leaves an Italian mob boss. They get an address of a body shop the guy owns outside of Philly. MI6-er is all fired up and ready to head on out right then. Quinn puts the kibosh on that idea, given he just spent the previous few days being beaten. In fact, she wants them all to sleep on it. She and Bishop head back to their room. Back at HQ, Abby tells Gibbs the bullets from SS prove the shooters were pros. Torres thinks that is all the more reason for him to head up to Philly. Abby tells him that Quinn and Bishop are more than capable agents who aren’t always looking to settle down, then strides out. Boom! Mic drop. McGee says they have credible leads and that not everything requires a table dance. Torres wants to know if he liked it, while Gibbs shakes his head and says, “Table dance?” HA! He sidelines Torres, tells him to finish his report. Torres grumbles he could have if McGee let him use his printer. Uh, no. Not happening.

Up in Philly, it’s morning, enter Reeves in the lobby with a tray of coffee. Looks like they’re going to be a team of four. Bishop tells him they have an address and Reeves asks Quinn if she’s familiar with it. She gets testy, like why would he think that? He says he thought she knew the area, and she’s all, “What, does that make me the mayor?” Then informs Reeves that his buddy needs to stay put. Bishop takes her aside, and Quinn reminds her that she trained Bishop, so Bishop does not take her aside. Bishop is still worried about her, and Quinn says she needs to stop with that. Bishop pushes, Quinn says the last time she was in Philly it might not have ended so well and that’s all she’s going to get. Of course that isn’t over yet, but enter MI6-er, who, much to Quinn’s disgust, is going with them.

Team goes in the body shop, Bishop identifies herself as an NCIS agent, asks to speak to Carbone. They see a guy start to walk out. Bishop shouts at him to stop. And jacked up MI6-er just pulls his gun out and shoots the guy in the leg. Quinn rounds on Reeves, all, yeah, he’s ready all right! Bishop and Quinn go to the fallen Carbone, get them to call for an ambulance as still jacked-up MI6-er collapses into a chair, not remotely sorry he shot the guy given what they did to him. (And aren’t we all beginning to question just what really happened to Mr. MI6-er? Because he’s pretty far gone here for a highly trained field operative. Quinn reminds him they don’t even know if he’s the guy who did anything yet. Ay yi yi. Fade to an upset Reeves black and white.

Back in the garage, Carbone says he ran because with his past, that’s what you do, but he’s never seen MI6-er and has no idea what they’re talking about. Bishop shows him photos of the cars in his garage, and it seems all of them are missing vehicle identification numbers (VINs). Carbone asks for his lawyer. MI6-er apologizes to Reeves for losing his sh— stuff, but says he’s fine. Reeves is having none of that and hauls him off, while Bishop fields the dreaded call from Gibbs. She explains about Carbone not being their guy, about the unfortunate bullet now in his leg, how Reeves relieved MI6-er of duty, and oh yeah, she doesn’t know where Quinn is, she left saying she had somewhere she needed to be. Gibbs wants to know where, Bishop explains she went back to the hotel after everything went down, saying she needed some time. Gibbs grabs his gear, says he’s on his way. Bishop tries to stall him, but no dice.

Pauley Perrette as Abby and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

We’re in Abby Lab with Torres trying to use Abby’s printer and getting so frustrated he pounds on it. Which is when Abby walks in demanding to know what Rhonda ever did to him. Torres is all, Say what? Rhonda? He says it’s just a machine and I’m pretty sure Abby’s knees buckled. She tells him he has serious TAI. Technology Anger Issues. Ha. He apologizes and says it’s not technology issues, it’s office issues. He needs to be out kicking down doors, fighting crime. Abby says she doesn’t kick down doors, and is he saying she isn’t a crime fighter? Oh, honey. You’re so in over your head here. Back away. Slowly. (Go, Abs!) Abby is looking at the attic photos and Torres notes there’s no bathroom. Or any obvious place for a guy who has been held for a few days to go. So …? He wins back a few points with Abs.

At the hotel, Quinn is at the bar, a drink in front of her. She’s toying with the napkin as Gibbs strolls in. He asks how many, she says she’s pacing herself. He says Bishop tried to cover for her, mentions her needing “time.” She says the whole thing went south, Austin Powers starts shooting up the place. HA! She knows he sent her there to test her, so apparently, epic fail. Gibbs is smiling, saying he knows she wanted the chance. That she sent him subpar agents when he was looking to fill the empty slot on his team, just to get the chance to get back in the field, a chance to confront this particular part of her past. Stunned, and not in a good way, she says he’s clearly spending too much with his shrink friend. HA. I really like that these two are more professional equals. No more probies. That’s a good thing. She admits that avoiding it hasn’t been exactly helping, so he closes the space between them, tells her then it’s time to go hit it head on. She admits that maybe she really hasn’t been pacing herself. Heh. But … off they go.

In HQ, Ducky comes up to see McGee as Abby and Torres enter with new intel. After the no-bathroom thing, and no other sign he relieved himself on the premises, she began hunting around for where the closest bathroom might be. Finds one around the corner, checks the surveillance camera and lookie, lookie there. None other than MI6-er, popping in for a quick spot of relief, while he was supposedly tied up and being beaten for intel. And who is he with? None other than the exotic bird brothers. Back in Philly, Reeves bangs into their hotel room, gun drawn, Bishop behind him, but, of course, it’s empty. Bishop states the obvious, that MI6-er is on the run. “Not if I can help it,” Reeves replies, and off they go. Fade to black and white.

We’re in the interrogation room with Club Owner Dude who gave them the names of the Bird Brothers to begin with. He parries, saying enough good cop/bad cop and McGee is all, “Is he saying I’m the good cop?” Torres parries, then McGee launches across the table and slams the guy, face down, shoulder twisted back, against the table. Good cop, he wants to know. Well, well, McGee. Look who’s the badass now. Torres likes it. (And yet me? I dunno. It’s just not the McGee we know and love. Good twist, though!) Club Owner gives them the info.

We kick up to Philly with Gibbs and Bishop outside some warehouse as she is telling him she thinks about it still, mostly at night, replaying it, trying to figure out what she could have done differently. Gibbs tells her to walk him through it. She shakes her head, says he was on her review board, he knows what happened. He says he read the report, he’s never seen the location, which is where they are standing now. He leads her into the story. Robbery case, Navy logistics depot. She was sent to join a task force. Her partner was a port authority cop she respected, liked. They became friends, Quinn spent time with her family, her husband and their 1-year-old. She sets the scene, explains they were surveilling their two suspects, they’d been there for hours. Partner took a call, her baby wanted to say good night. She got out of the car, and they shot her and kept shooting. Quinn shot back, but couldn’t get to her and she bled out. Gibbs says the coroner said she bled out in 20 seconds. Quinn responds it was too many seconds for her. That was when Quinn quit the field, became a FLETC training officer, thinking it would get better with time. Not so much.

Gibbs says she’s still blaming herself, and Quinn says yes, she should never have let her get out of the car. Gibbs counters it would make no difference, they were ambushed. Thirty-seven bullet holes in the car and Quinn still managed to kill one of the shooters. She’s all, So what? And he’s all in her face asking her what else happened. Because if that was all, someone as tough as her would have been over it by now. She loses it, saying, “Tough as me? Really?” He keeps pushing, telling her to just say it.

She breaks, says she was engaged and fighting with her fiancé, who called her, so her partner got out of the car to give them privacy. And Quinn feels responsible for her death because of it, because she was distracted, too. She flashes back to her partner screaming, to her trying to get there, but too many bullets, and seeing her phone lying there, saying “call in progress,” meaning her family heard it all. Gibbs steps in, says Quinn is also the reason why others are alive. No phone call killed her friend. The ambushers did. Gibbs gets a call, and a wrung-out Quinn directs him to take it. McGee updates Gibbs on the Bird Brothers and MI6-er’s involvement. Gibbs hangs up, looks one last time at where the shooters would have been positioned in the alley, shakes head.

Henry Wells Nixon as MI6 Agent Finley and Duane Henry as Clayton Reeves in NCIS. (Photo: Robert Voets, CBS)

Cut to Bishop and Reeves on the hunt, both in bulletproof vests, so we know things are about to get real. They corner MI6-er who, to his credit, doesn’t try to lie his way out of it. He tells Reeves he needed the money, says he didn’t kill the Navy sailor, tells them it would be best if they left. Reeves has lowered his gun, tucked it in his belt, Bishop not so much. MI6-er tries to pull the friendship card, says the Bird Brothers will be there soon, they need to leave to protect himself, after all, he and Reeves are mates and all. This is when Reeves hauls off and decks him and lays him flat out. He says no, his mate would be Bishop in this case. Bishop tells him not to worry about the Bird Brothers.

Cue the Bird Bros. coming in with more of their haul, only to see one of their launchers is missing. They’re all, “What the?” as Quinn comes in, gun drawn, shouting, “NCIS!” This is followed by the door behind them being kicked open and oh, look there, Gibbs found your rocker launcher! Quinn wants to know if it’s loaded. “Uh huh,” says a smiling Gibbs. Heh.

Torres is back at HQ once again, down in Abby Lab replacing Rhonda with a brand new printer. (Which looks reallllly familiar!) Abby comes in, all, You shouldn’t have, and he’s all, Well, it was the least I could do until Rhonda gets fixed and asks her to forgive him. She points out that he saved the day without kicking down a single door, so nothing to forgive. He’s still not sure he’s cut out for office duty. Cue sincere Abs, telling him she’s there for him, and she means it. He says it’s nothing he can’t handle, and she counters that if there are those days, he can come down and talk to her. Aw, Abs. Group hug! She’s all impressed that he got her the same printer McGee has. Yeah. I thought so! Ruh roh! Yep, back up in the bull pen … McGee discovers a big ol’ empty space where his printer used to be. He’s all wha? HA.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

Quinn comes down to Gibbs’ basement, surprised to see there really is a boat down there. He says it’s a work in progress, and she’s all, Aren’t we all? Heh. He asks how it went talking to her former partner’s husband, and Quinn says it went much better than she thought it would. Their child is 13 now, and Gibbs comments that it goes fast. Quinn thanks him, very sincerely. Says if he hadn’t made her go, she’d still be — “Stuck?” he offers. Heh. He goes and empties out the nail jars, pours them a drink, then asks her what happened to the engagement guy. HA! She said the same event that ended her career as a field agent — “until now,” he inserts — also cost her that relationship, and a few others. She might have a teeny problem with commitment these days. He says it’s something else she can work on. She smiles, then says she’d really like to know how the hell he plans on getting that boat out of there. Wouldn’t we all!! He pauses, shakes his head, smiles as she (and we) look on expectantly, and … fade to black and white. Oh, Show! You tease!

Me, I won’t tease you, though! Last week I put my entire Bachelors of Blueberry Cove trilogy up for grabs and boy, you guys! Thanks for the enthusiasm and all of the very kind words. Group hug! And the winner? Well, come on down, Meg Andronaco! Meg, drop me a line at donna@donnakauffman.com with an address and your goodies will go right out to you.

What’s up on this week’s giveaway shelf? How about a copy of my very first Blueberry Cove novel, Pelican Point, along with a cute pelican bookmark charm designed exclusively for the series by the fab Joyce Taber of The Cotton Thistle.  Want in? Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Take me to Maine!” in the subject line and you’re in! I’ll announce the winner next week, BUT please note! My editor is taking a very well-deserved vacay so next week’s recap will go live on my personal blog. Then we’ll resume right here the following week! And yes, the contest is open to NCIS fans and readers worldwide. Even you.

In the meantime, if you’re on Facebook, drop on by my page and get in on the daily jocularity. Also? Score a chance to win more free stuff. I know!

Until next week (on my blog…don’t forget!)…

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy really, so books have happened.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). Yes, she means you.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS recaps

Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

Welcome back! After an unexpectedly long hiatus (congrats, Cubbies!), we’re back with the now long-awaited seventh episode of the season, Home of the Brave. Why anticipated? Because tonight we welcome Senior back to the fold. I know! From what I hear, his appearance has to do more with the “home” part of the episode title.

Let’s find out, shall we?

We open with a man leading a blindfolded woman into what appears to be a small liquor store. He pulls out a six pack of beer and slips her blindfold off. She’s charmed, realizing he’s recreating their first date for their anniversary. They head to the counter to pay for the beer, only there’s no clerk. In fact, the whole store seems to be empty. They walk toward the end of the counter, calling out, “Hello?” only to find a man in fatigues lying on the floor, another man kneeling over him, obviously upset. The kneeling man looks up and says, “He’s dead.”

Cue awesome theme song and opening credits!

Emily Wickersham as Bishop, Pauley Perrette as Abby, Robert Wagner as Senior and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We shift to McGee knocking on the open door of … Tony’s old apartment? He walks in to the empty apartment, spies the goldfish bowl on a table, talks to the fish. Enter Bishop and Abby who were apparently also summoned to the apartment. Enter Senior (yay!) to a joyous group hug from the NCIS-ers. McGee comments on how they’ve discussed visiting Tony and we learn from Senior that not only is he spending the Christmas holiday with his son and granddaughter, but that Tony is enjoying Paris so much that he and his wee offspring have decided to make their stay an open-ended one.

We go on to learn that his reason for calling them there is that Tony has decided to lease out his apartment and Senior is to play landlord. “A Mr. Roper, but with class,” he jokes. Rent is reasonable, but the tenant is responsible for goldfish care. Before placing an ad, he decided to ask the “family” and all three raise their hands. Any chance of sharing, Sr. wants to know? Uh, nope. Then McGee’s phone rings, and it’s Dead Guy of the Week time.

Entering the liquor store, Bishop and McGee continue to argue about the apartment while Quinn says no matter how great the place, she’d never be persuaded to pack her life up again. Bringing up the rear, Torres remarks on how he’s the one who’s been looking for a place, so what great apartment are they talking about, anyway? And really, who better to take over Tony’s apartment than the guy who took his place on the team. Well, not as actual team leader, I know … but he feels more team leader material as well. More than McGee, who will always feel more suited to the Sidekick Guy role. To me. (Cue avalanche of e-mail.)

Gibbs arrives and we learn that our DG was a 23-year-old seaman, working for the security department at the Navy Yard. They are waiting on the owner to show up, as well as Ducky and Palmer, who are stuck in traffic. Quinn continues to look at Gibbs after explaining the security camera is aimed away from the body, focused on the register, but feels optimistic it will give them some leads. Gibbs finally asks why the look, and she’s all, “What?” And they continue to stare, him questioning, her unreadable, until Gibbs rolls his eyes and walks away. McGee observes, looks at Quinn, who is still all, “What?” But looking more pensive now. Hmm. We shift to Torres and Bishop talking to local cop who was first on scene. Turns out DG tried to stop a burglary and got shot for his efforts. Our anniversary couple didn’t see the shooter, so no lead there. The guy kneeling over the DG was the late shift employee who made the 911 call, but despite pleas from Anniversary Couple, he bolted before the EMT’s showed up. Gibbs learns, direct from the AC, that they saw blood on Night Shift Guy’s hands and he went out the back, through the office. Local Cop says the office door is locked and they’re waiting on the owner to open it. Torres just looks at her like, “Really?” and a moment later, we see the office door kicked in. Heh. Torres finds bloody prints on a shelf and a bloody towel on the desk. What was Night Shift Guy doing and why? Then Gibb’s lifts the bloody towel and finds a handgun. Well, that might have something to do with it. Fade to black and white.

We’re in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness waiting on Gibbs to show up for a situation report. Bishop has issued a BOLO for Night Shift Guy and Quinn is running background checks, only Torres and McGee turn to find her staring, sort of spaced-out, at Gibb’s empty desk. Torres whistles to get her attention. McGee calls her out on the whole weird staring at Gibbs thing, and she confesses she had a dream about him the night before. This leads the team to share their own Gibbs dreams. Bishop wonders if it’s the one where he tells them to grab their gear, only it’s gone. McGee wants to know if it’s the one where Gibbs cooks a steak, but it’s raw and you eat it anyway because he’s staring at you. Quinn shoots both of those down, saying it wasn’t that kind of dream, then makes a kind of wide-eyed fish face. Bishop clues in first, Torres right behind her. “So, sexy things were happening?” he wants to know. Quinn winces a little, all, “Yeah, well, you could say that.” HA! Bishop wants details, McGee not so much, Torres most definitely, then McGee is in, too. Quinn explains how it started so innocently. She was sitting right there at her desk … (And we all know that any second Gibbs is going to walk in. Talk about wince.) He knocks on her desk and asks if she knows what kind of wood that is. McGee is all literal, “It’s Formica.” Oh, McGee. Back to the sex dream, she goes on, saying, “That’s when it got crazy!”

Sean Murray as McGee and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

But in comes Gibbs, and they snap to attention, and to the Screen of All Knowing. Torres says Nightshift Guy was a Marine, and at a look from Gibbs, adds, “And always will be.” Heh. He’s a silver star recipient, honorably discharged. Got into a bar fight, did six months of a year sentence and has been clean since. Quinn explains — shakily at times when Gibbs leans closer to look at her notes — that NSG said a masked gunman shot DG and fled the scene, but the bloody fingerprints, gun, and towel in the office make them skeptical about that. Gibbs tells McGee to see if there is any connection between NSG and DG given they both have military backgrounds, albeit one Navy, one Marine. Bishop gets a call saying they picked up NSG in Pennsylvania and Gibbs sends her and Torres to get him.

Meanwhile, down in Ducky’s Digs, Ducky is quoting Hamlet to DG when Quinn enters. He tells her he was discussing dreams with DG, and another Quinn wince. “You heard?” Ducky merely smiles. Heh! Palmer overhears and wants to know what dream. Quinn tries to wave Ducky off, but he tells Palmer she had an “imaginative” dream about their boss. Palmer laughs, says he gets it, and we collectively shake our heads, because we know he does not. Except Palmer is all, “Is it the one where he knocks on your desk and asks what kind of wood it is?” And my jaw and Quinn’s drop open. HA. Point to Palmer! Quinn wants to know how he could possibly know that, and he’s all, “Hey, if you haven’t had the wood dream about Gibbs, you are not alive. Am I right?” HA and HA again! Best Palmer misdirect ever. Quinn remains slack-jawed, eyes like saucers in the face of Palmer’s insouciant grin, as Ducky awkwardly shifts them back to the real topic at hand. Ducky explains that DG died from bleeding out after the bullet hit his aorta. He has trauma to the torso including cracked ribs, but they were caused by someone doing CPR, which would explain how the blood got on NSG’s hands.

Shift to Abby Lab as she discusses the results of the gun testing to Gibbs and McGee. It was the murder weapon, but it wasn’t registered, no hits in the system and no fingerprints. Batting a thousand so far. The only unusual thing is the bullets were Swiss made for greater accuracy. She’s trying to hurry things along, we assume because she knows about the “imaginative” dream. Heh. She moves to the security cam footage, and though it doesn’t show anyone on screen, there is an indication that the door was opened three times after the shooting because a neon sign on the door flashes on the counter every time the door opens. NSG said there was only one shooter fleeing, so why does it open three times? She also discusses the bloody shoe print found near the body and can only tell that the soles of the shoes prove they were handmade and expensive. Her research there continues, and she tries to shoo them out, only to have Senior stroll in and her expression shift immediately to a guilty one. Ruh roh. What have you done, Abs? Gibbs and Senior hug it out while McGee realizes that Abby wasn’t giving them the bum’s rush about the dream, it was about the apartment. Abby says Senior is there to consult on the luxury footwear. McGee tells Senior he’s sure he’ll make the right decision, then exits. Gibbs asks Senior how he plans to decide and Senior replies he was hoping for some words of wisdom from Gibbs. “Nope.” Exit Gibbs, stage left. Heh.

Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

Shift to Pennsylvania and Bishop hearing from McGee on the Abby end around. Torres wants to know how he can get in on the deal, which is when Bishop sadly informs him that Tony could afford the place due to the fact there was a murder there. “A real bloodbath.” Turns out for a low-rent place in Dupont Circle, Torres can get over the dead body thing. The two then meet the local cop from the crime scene who tells them there must have been some confusion, that she thought NCIS was unavailable to do the pick-up, so she came up to get NSG. Hmm … so, that’s not suspicious at all, no. Bishop is all, “Well, we’re here,” and Local Cop is happy to take them to NSG. But we all know something is up there.

Shift to Bishop and Torres talking to NSG. He replays the story, said he ran out after the shooter, almost slid across the hood of a car trying to run across the street. Lost him, came back in the store, which explains the door opening multiple times. Said he found the gun — it had slid under the shelves — and put it in the office, locking the door, making sure no one else could get hurt. Torres reminds him that he then fled the scene, and Bishop wants to know why he went to Pennsylvania.

Instead of answers, we’re back at the Bull Pen. McGee and Quinn tell Gibbs that NSG’s footwear does not match the bloody footprint. Wrong shoe, wrong foot size. Also, a shop owner across the street corroborates NSG’s masked-gunman-fleeing-in-a-white-sports-car story, so looks like NSG is off the hook on that score. Enter an immigration officer who sounds like Barry White’s younger brother, looking for NSG. He saw the BOLO for NSG and tells Gibbs that he’s the reason NSG ran. He says NSG has “squandered” his right to be in the U.S. and that he’s there to deport him. Fade to black and white.

In the conference Barry White explains how NSG was born in Mexico, moved to the U.S. when he was one. Dad died, Mom worked on a green card. NSG enlisted, and when he got out of the service and committed a crime, and the one-year sentence made him deportable. Apparently, he, like many others his age, thought when he took the oath to the military, it conferred him citizenship. It did not. These days they do a better job of encouraging folks in NSG’s situation to apply for citizenship, but back then, not so much. Quinn thinks the whole situation stinks and wants to know why they didn’t deport him after he was arrested, but his record fell through the cracks. The BOLO put him back on ICE’s radar. Quinn reminds him that they cleared NSG and adds that she thinks it sucks to be deporting a guy who fought for our country. Barry is all, “Just doing my job, ma’am,” and says when they get NSG back to D.C., he expects them to transfer custody to him. He leaves and Quinn asks Bishop if there is anything they can do.

Sean Murray as McGee, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Cue Bishop taking a call from Gibbs while riding shotgun with Torres. NSG is in the backseat. She responds to Gibbs in the affirmative, but we don’t know for what and hangs up. NSG asks them if they have his personal effects. He’d like his compass back. Torres says he has to hand over NSG’s effects to ICE, but Bishop hands NSG his compass anyway, earning the side-eye from Torres. NSG says it was from his grandfather and felt odd not having it in his pocket. He notes that the compass no longer points north and thinks maybe it was dropped. Bishop says she has a friend who could fix it, earning more side eye from Torres. NSG hands the compass back, and Bishop comments that NSG was apparently apprehended on his way to Ohio. He says he knew how it was all going to end, and he was just going to see him mom, say good-bye. Bishop tells Torres to turn the car around, that NSG needs to see his mom. Torres looks at her like she’s crazy, but she tells him that Gibbs called to tell them to take their time and “do some good.” Torres says he is not going to Ohio. Bishop merely sighs and says how that sucks for Torres, seeing as how Bishop is suddenly in the mood to sing. She launches into a hard-edged version of “She’ll be coming round the mountain” — HA — and gets NSG to join in. Torres saves all our ears and caves early on.

As they head to Youngstown, we head back to Dupont Circle, where McGee is taking measurements at the apartment with Senior. Senior is uncomfortable letting McGee in without the others and wants them to get their group meeting on the books. McGee confides that none of them will let the place go willingly, so Senior is going to have to decide. Then he shares with Senior about how he’s now engaged to be married and just happens to have a little scrapbook of their relationship with him and hands it to Senior. How convenient. Oh, Timmy. Senior hands the book back and pulls out a slip of paper. When McGee asks what he’s doing, he says, “Changing the subject.” Heh. He found the name of the brand of shoe that made the bloody footprint. He wrote the name down on the slip of paper. Rare, Italian and handmade. McGee takes the paper and heads out to take it to Abby, but not before leaving the scrapbook with Senior. Seriously, with that, McGee.

In Abby Lab, she’s harvesting a rare earth magnet from an old PC, which she plans to use to recalibrate NSG’s compass, before ICE swoops in and takes him, “like an angry pelican.” She goes on to tell Gibbs that there are many out there, like NSG, who also served, then were deported over minor criminal issues without even being given the benefit of an immigration attorney. She singles out one guy who started a safe house for deported servicemen in Tijuana. She’s upset and Gibbs lets her know he’s on her side on that issue. (Side note: I appreciate that the show highlights various real-life issues that our servicemen and women face, along with various programs that have been put into place to help our veterans. They do it openly and clearly, but also find a way to work it into the storyline as organically and honestly as possible. Anything that can help shed light and bring help to the myriad issues that our vets grapple with gets a thumbs-up from me. Happy Veterans Day, indeed.) End of PSA. Well, from me, anyway. Back to Abby Lab and the bloody shoe print. She tells Gibbs that she cross-referenced men who purchased the rare shoes, sold in only two places in the D.C. Metro area, with men who also drive white sports cars and narrowed the list down to three. This earns her a peck on the cheek.

Over in Youngstown, we get our mother and son reunion, despite a still disgruntled Torres who wants them to get back to D.C. and back on the case. Bishop and I both comment on his lack of empathy. Yet, when they go inside, and it’s time for NSG to explain to his mom why he’s there, Torres steps in and tells Mama that her son is being deployed as an adviser and introduces himself as NSG’s recruiter. Nice save, Torres. I didn’t want to stop liking you. She wants to feed her brave Marine before they go, and Bishop steps in to say they have to go, but Torres smiles and says they’re starving. I’m not sure how I feel about Mama being worried her son is being deployed back into dangerous territory again, but the intent, overall, is a nice one, nonetheless.

Cut back to D.C. as Gibbs and Quinn pull up at a rather sumptuous mansion. Gibbs feels her gaze on him as they ring the bell and asks Quinn again what’s up, but she says it’s nothing. He mentions that maybe McGee could use her help running down the other two suspects, but the door opens before she can respond. When the privileged young man wearing his prep school uniform who opens the door is all, “Well, hello, there, Agent Mrs. Robinson,” Quinn is having none of it, tells him to just go get his father. HA. Daddy is an upscale Realtor (to say the least) who says he got rid of the shoes in question a year ago. He’s fine with them checking out his sports car, but as to having the 9 mm Swiss ammo, he doesn’t know as he doesn’t keep that kind of inventory. Turns out he’s a collector and leads them to a rather large room filled with guns and ammo. He takes a moment to apologize personally to Quinn for his son, says he just had a “crush” on her. She and I both shudder a little, but she smiles and asks him to get a list of names of other Realtors who might have seen him at this get-together he claims to have been at on the night of the shooting. She sidles over to Gibbs, urging him to get them out of there sooner than later, saying rich guys creep her out. For his part, Gibbs is tapping one of the glass gun showcases and asks Quinn if she knows what kind of wood it is. HA! It’s oak, he tells her. Flustered, she decides that McGee really does need her and skedaddles, exit stage anywhere-but-beside-Gibbs. Gibbs just shakes his head, all, “What did I say?” HA.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

We shift to her running up to join McGee. She explains about the wood knocking and how the whole thing is really starting to get to her. He asks her what she plans to do, and she says maybe get Gibbs to eat bologna with a fork. Apparently, her ex used to do that and it always turned her off. HA. Seriously, best humorous secondary plot line in ages. Turns out suspect number two lives in not-so-nice neighborhood, which confuses them. McGee spies the guy and calls out that they want to talk to him, and naturally, he runs and takes off in — you guessed it — a white sports car. Fade to black and white.

Back at the Bull Pen, Quinn is studiously avoiding eye contact with Gibbs as they recap their experience with suspect number two. Turns out he’s an identity thief who did three years in jail, but apparently is back to his old tricks. His latest victim is a famous horror novelist who McGee gushes over. ID Thief has been diverting the guy’s royalty checks to a private account and living the high life. No sign of the shoes, but he’s probably wearing them. They did retrieve a laptop that Abby is digging into. Quinn retreats to her desk and asks Gibbs what he found on the rich Realtor. He walks toward her as she continues to retreat (heh) saying there was no Swiss ammo and the guy’s alibi checked out. McGee calls Gibbs back to the Screen of All Knowing for the rundown on the third suspect, who is a hedge fund guy with an air tight alibi. So it’s looking like ID Thief for the win. Gibbs sends Quinn off to find the guy, just as Barry ICE comes strolling in. He knows from Local Cop that NCIS picked NSG up the day before. “Car trouble,” Gibbs says. Heh. ICE isn’t buying it, but Gibbs tells him that when NSG is back, he’ll be the first to know.

Sean Murray as McGee, Emily Wickersham as Bishop, Pauley Perrette as Abby and Robert Wagner as Senior in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS) ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In Youngstown, we see four plates scraped clean as everyone is marveling over Mama’s cooking. She gets up to go right down the recipe for Bishop. NSG thanks them both for what they did for him, then explains that the bar fight was him intervening between a drunk guy being aggressive with his girlfriend. He pulled the guy away, and it devolved from there. At the trial, the girlfriend stuck up for her guy, out of fear, most likely, and lied about NSG’s involvement, agreeing with Drunk BF, that NSG just attacked him for no reason. He smiles, says he hasn’t been in Mexico since he was a baby, that he doesn’t even speak Spanish, then becomes serious and wonders what he’s going to do there. Torres says to take his time with his mom, and he says he has to tell her the truth. There you go. That’s the hard thing, but the right thing. Even if the rest of it is a very wrong thing.

Back in Abby Lab, Senior has handed Abby an essay written by Bishop on why she should get the apartment. Oh, Ellie. Senior says he really cares about all three of them, very much, and so he’s decided to just draw a name to see who gets the apartment. Enter his impartial name-drawer, Palmer, who comes bearing one of Ducky’s hats. Abby is pumped as she’s very lucky when it comes to drawings. Enter Gibbs and she happily takes him over to show him her latest intel while Palmer writes the names down on slips of paper. She’s set of a traffic cam deal where it will ping her when the white sports car comes in to range of any of them in the area. In the meantime, on ID Thief’s laptop she discovered he’s a frustrated author wannabe. Senior pulls Gibbs aside and says that meeting his new Agent Quinn really put a sparkle in his day. Then Abby gets a traffic-cam ping and an address on the sports car, and off goes Gibbs. Palmer steps up with the hat, pulls the name and … HA! Torres is the winner. Of course. “Who the heck is Torres?” Senior wants to know. Heh.

Robert Wagner as Senior in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

In interrogation. Quinn and Gibbs have a chat with ID Thief while simultaneously reading a rough draft of his memoir. Quinn calls half of it BS, reminding ID that it’s supposed to be non-fiction, prompting Gibbs to read a short passage, including the “dot, dot, dot” part, which has Quinn goggling, telling him you don’t read ellipses out loud. Gibbs raises his hands, makes a “how am I supposed to know?” face and gets up while she continues to goggle. Out in the hall, McGee approaches while Gibbs has a mini meltdown, saying how Quinn is driving him nuts with the staring, and walking out on a search, and now about the dots. HA. McGee starts to explain, but Gibbs cuts him off and just asks him what he wants. Abby has processed ID Thief’s famous shoes, and the make is the same, but not the wear pattern, so he’s not the guy, either. Still saying it’s connected to Local Cop. But how? Hmmm, dot, dot, dot. (Oh, come on, I had to.)

We shift to Gibbs’ diner, where Bishop, Torres and NSG are getting one last cup of coffee. Then Torres gets the word that he got the apartment, much to Bishop’s shock and chagrin. NSG gets a call from his mom, and Torres says it’s OK, so NSG steps away to take the call. Bishop wants to know why Torres gave him his phone back and what caused the change of heart given she had to force him to turn the car around in the first place. He says because of exactly where they were sitting. He got to know the guy, he looked in his mother’s face. He knew it would be impossible to turn the guy over if he got emotionally involved. He has friends like him, family like him. Bishop said they did a nice thing, but now they have to do their job. Torres says he won’t be the one to hand him to ICE. Just then a guy comes in the diner and Torres sees the gun. He shouts gun, tells everyone to get down and goes after the guy when he runs. Torres and Bishop chase him into an old car lot as Bishop tells NSG to stay back at the diner. Torres loses him and goes on the prowl around stacks of tires and old cars. The bad guy pushes the tires over, knocking Torres down and his gun from his hand. He picks it up, turns and aims at Torres, but Bishop shoots him first. Torres looks up. Fade to black and white.

Back in Ducky’s Digs, we find out that our now dead bad guy was actually a hit man sent to hunt down and eliminate NSG. He tracked him down using his cellphone (ruh roh), but no word on who hired the hitman. Abby rushes in and reveals she figured out why NSG’s compass stopped working. When NSG chased the shooter from the liquor store, he ended up laid out over the hood of the white sports car and the rare earth magnet in the car’s engine depolarized his compass. Only one of the three suspects has a white prototype sports car with a rare earth magnet. Ah! Hello, smarmy Prep School Kid?

Yup! In interrogation with Prep Daddy, Bishop and Gibbs agree that his alibi was solid, but his son’s? Eh, not so much. They did some digging and found out that Daddy managed to pull some strings to clean up Bad Seed’s record. The play out how bored Bad Seed’s misbehavior escalated to robbing a liquor store only shooting someone wasn’t how it was supposed to go down. Prep Daddy saved the day and they commend him on his thoroughness. Daddy smiles, says it’s a good story, but none of it is true. Gibbs rolls out the name of the hitman Daddy hired to take out the only eye witness and how he’s dead now and they are already tracking that payment he received. Daddy’s not smiling now.

Shift to Punk Prep School Kid being led out in handcuffs by McGee and Quinn, still smug that his Daddy will fix things. McGee tells Quinn that Gibbs knows something is up with her, but she tells him not to worry. She’s over it. “He read an ellipses. Out loud.” HA. (As an author, I totally get this.) She says her Uncle Larry used to do that, and all she sees when she looks at Gibbs now, dot, dot, dot — oh, come ON! You know you wanted it — is Uncle Larry.

In HQ, Bishop and Torres give NSG his compass back, all fixed thanks to Abby. He tells them that his mama told him to never take his country for granted, that home was a privilege. He tells them he still feels that way. That he always will. Enter Gibbs, with Barry ICE behind him. He shakes NSG’s hand and tells him he has a lawyer friend. He’s not sure that it’s a case they can win, but he’d like to help him fight it. NSG says he heard a lot about Gibbs from Bishop and Torres and that they were right. Barry ICE steps in, and NSG goes with him. Gibbs says, “Hey, Marine.” When NSG turns, he says, “Semper Fi.” NSG replies the same.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)

At Torres’ new apartment, he’s glancing through McGee’s scrapbook (HA) when there is a knock on the door. McGee comes in, saying he left the scrapbook for Senior, and now it’s kind of embarrassing. Torres laughs and says not as embarrassing as the essay Bishop wrote. Heh. McGee offers to help Torres out with his surround sound wiring, being totally sincere. He turns to go, and Torres says that when he joined the team, he thought he would finally be a real good guy, that most didn’t see him that way. And he’s discovered he likes doing what’s right. So, he offers up the keys to the apartment to the soon-to-be newlywed. McGee takes the keys, asking him what he’s doing. He tells him that home is a privilege. And he’s not ready for it yet. But McGee is. Aww.

That is the perfect transition. McGee smiles. Fade to black and white.

SO! We’re just about a third of the way into our new Tony-less season. Long enough to have met the new agents and gotten a feel for the new tenor to the show. Perhaps not long enough to know where it will go given the sudden and shocking loss of Gary Glasberg, but now that George Schenck and Frank Cardea have been announced as the new showrunners (a showrunner is the person who decides what the overall story direction will be, amongst a lot of other things), perhaps things will continue onward more smoothly than might have been expected. Both men have been with NCIS since season one, first as consulting producers, then later as executive producers during season nine. Together, they have written more than 40 episodes, the most recent being this season’s third episode, Privileged Information, as well as the season 13 episode Reasonable Doubts, which, like tonight’s ep, guest-starred Robert Wagner.

So, what are your thoughts on this new NCIS team? Have you settled in? Are you still on the fence? For me, I’m enjoying the new agents, both in their own way. I like Agent Torres’ angsty-yet-charming personality. I’m very much enjoying Agent Quinn, especially liking her being more a contemporary of Gibbs than a subordinate, which brings a much-needed new dynamic to his storyline, now that we’ve finally settled much of his 13-seasons-long painful past history. I love Fornell still being in the mix. And, as I’ve admitted in the recaps, I’m pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying Bishop more now as she plays off of both new agents very nicely. The one character who doesn’t seem to fit as nicely or neatly into the new dynamic (to me, anyway) is McGee. Tonight’s episode notwithstanding. With Bishop able to handle the techie role, and Quinn and Torres more than capable of taking care of the case load, McGee’s role seems to be in a bit of a fugue state. I honestly just don’t see the McGee character as lead agent, though I understand it makes the most sense given his character’s tenure. Sean Murray’s dramatically (again, to me) altered appearance hasn’t helped matters either, making him seem even more distanced from the Tim McGee we know and love. I do like that they have seemed to find a good rhythm in giving everyone something to do, him included. But while McGee was great as Tony’s foil, the current lineup doesn’t really give him that role to play, and he hasn’t really seemed to find a new way to stand out. What are your thoughts? Send them to me at donna@donnakauffman.com.

And while you’re at it, you can enter the new giveaway! Up for grabs this week is a signed copy of my current release, Starfish Moon. To enter, just put “Starfish Moon for me, please!” in the subject line, and you’re good to go. I’ll announce the winner right here in next week’s recap. And speaking of winners, I can finally announce the winner for the episode six giveaway! Come on down, Denise Parent! Drop me your address to donna@donnakauffman.com and your signed copy of Sugar Rush, the first book in my Cupcake Club series, will go right out to you!

Until next week …

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!) Yes, even you. You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com or join her on Facebook.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

It’s the Very Special Thanksgiving Episode week! Let’s not waste any time finding out who is dishing up what.

We open with a couple driving down a rainy street, listening to hip-hop (and let’s just say I wouldn’t have picked hip-hop as their go-to playlist), but when the man says he’s reached his rap rhyming limit, the woman, who is driving, is all, Don’t even think about touching that dial. Apparently, they are playing the song and driving around to keep their infant asleep in the car seat in the back. It’s her favorite tune. Dad teasingly blames Mom for listening to rap instead of classical music during pregnancy. A moment later, they have a tire blowout and pull to the side of the road. Dad hops out to do a speedy change, but we fast-forward to some point later with Dad struggling with the lug nuts and Mom is tired and carrying the now-crying baby, trying to whisper-sing the rap song to calm her down. Heh. Headlights appear, and assuming it’s the tow truck, Dad steps out on the road to flag him down, but has to dive out of the way to keep from getting run over. The SUV goes past them, then through the railing and down the hill into what sounds like a crash landing. Ruh roh.

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

Emily Wickersham as Bishop with her brothers, played by Jesse Johnson as Robert, Jesse Bradford as John and Ryan Doom as George in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

We shift to Bishop entering her apartment wearing a little black dress. Upon hearing voices in her bedroom, she takes her gun out of the drawer and tiptoes down the hall. She busts in on … her three brothers, who have decided to surprise her for the holiday. After some oohs and ahhs over her badass entrance, a little Charlie’s Angels and NSA code-busting banter, she stows her gun and they all hug it out. Then they notice her LBD and do the brotherly, “Who is he and do we need to beat him up?” deal. She comments, tellingly, that they can’t find out anything an NCIS background check didn’t turn up. So, a co-worker? Not Torres. Torres? Fortunately for us all, she gets the call to head to the scene of the Dead Guy of the Week. Also, the brothers? Don’t look anything like her or each other. Did I miss where they were all adopted? I know a lot of sibs don’t share common facial traits, but this is way beyond that. Just me? M’kay.

Shift to the crash site with Quinn wrapping up talking to Mom and Dad. Nothing to see there. Enter Bishop and Torres (omg!) and Quinn adds the same two twos that I do, but we’ll see where that goes. They learn what we know, which is that there were no skid marks, so the driver apparently didn’t lose control. Bishop makes a Thelma & Louise reference and more potential date-like banter between the two. Oh, I’m so not ready for that.

Fortunately, we move to McGee photographing the wrecked vehicle that Abby is processing, and they’re chatting about how Ranger Burt wants her to come to his family’s Turkey Day celebration, and naturally, she’s stressed because it’s the “Super Bowl of dinners.” She’s wishy-washy on their status, but again, we’re saved when Gibbs walks over for the update. Our DGotW is a Navy chaplain, but the twist here is that Ducky called a time of death of 7 p.m., but Mom and Dad saw his car go off the road at 11 p.m. Oh good! I like the twisty ones. Except my twisty dreams are quickly dashed when Abby shows Gibbs the brick that was put on the gas pedal, keeping it depressed despite its dead occupant. Definitely murder. Fade to a pensive Gibbs black and white.

We’re back from commercial to find Quinn and McGee entering the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness to find the Bishop Bros draped all over her desk pod. Bros give McGee the once-over, pondering if he’s their sister’s co-worker-slash-love-interest, much to Quinn’s delight. Enter Bishop, who is surprised to see them. Apparently, they got guest passes and a tour offer from … Gibbs! No surprise, he’s a big fan of family. We move to the Screen of All Knowing. Turns out Navy Chaplain is a very charitable guy and was also an imam before joining the military, one of a few Muslim chaplains in the Navy. (I’m glad to see them keeping things topical this season. More light is never a bad thing.) One Bishop Bro crunches snacks in Gibbs’ ear, earning him The Stare. He stumbles back to Sis’ desk and on we go with the sitrep. He directs them to check out the Zen studio owner who received Navy Chaplain’s last call and talk to his supervisor to see who he was interacting with before his death. Bishop waggles a cautioning finger at her brothers.

Down in Ducky’s Digs, he has a convo with Navy Chaplain, sharing that he understands that in Islam it is believed that the dead can still feel pain, and he doesn’t want to add to the man’s suffering. Enter Gibbs, and Ducky updates us on Palmer’s absence due to a turkey fryer incident. Fortunately, he’s OK. Then back over to NC, who won’t be receiving an autopsy per a family request for religious purposes. Ducky concurs, but says he’s been able to draw several conclusions from external observation. The time of death was accurate, and the severe head wound happened before the crash, so blunt-force trauma likely played a big role in cause of death. He sent debris from the wound to Abby.

Rocky Carroll as Vance and Duane Henry as Clayton Reeves in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

We shift to the Zen center with Torres, McGee and the yogi who received NC’s last phone call. They did outreach together and were good friends. NC’s call was a request to meet for a favor he had to ask, but he died before their lunch date set for the next day. They worked together the previous weekend to raise money for a children’s hospital and NC was in high spirits, so no clues there. We shift to Quinn and Bishop who are talking with the coordinator for the interfaith church that NC ran and confirms he counseled some of the members. He did note NC spending more time than normal with one young, female parishioner. No name, but he gives a description. She was Middle Eastern, wore a hijab, and they appeared to be friends.

Back in the Bull Pen, the Bishop Bros corner Torres, continuing their potential boyfriend shakedown. He quickly disabuses them of that idea, so much so they get a little insulted, like what, she’s not good enough for you? Oh, brother. (Come on, you knew that was coming.) As a diversion, Torres steers them in a different direction, toward one Special Agent Clayton Reeves, who we learn is over on the “international desk.” Nice to know! Also? HA. As practical jokes go, well, just remember my friend, paybacks are hell. The Bros are at least smart enough to realize that had he wanted to, Torres could have owned all three of them without breaking a sweat.

Down in Abby Lab, McGee is annoyed that Bishop is dating and hasn’t told them who. Abby overheard the Bro’s shaking down Pale Dale and she thinks it’s a co-worker, which may explain Bishop’s silence, but she’s cool with it, knowing Bishop will tell them when she’s ready. McGee is all, “You’re dying to know who it is, too, right?” Abby goes into immediate fish-clenching, paroxysms of “you have no idea!” Heh. McGee uncovers a cache of classified files on NC’s computer involving the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, with all kinds of detailed information. They can’t imagine why he had them, but it could threaten national security were they to get in the wrong hands. Fade to black and white.

Back in the Bull Pen, we learn that NC was a chaplain at Guantanamo and his files had mostly to do with detainee Amir Hassan. Gibbs wants to know more, and behind the partition, up pops Clayton Reeves! Hello, Handsome! (Don’t judge!) He explains that Hassan is from Afghanistan, picked up by a joint U.S.-U.K. task force, taken to Gitmo. Hassan was being surveilled because of his contact with Dahwar Mahdavi, who was involved in the London attacks. Reeves is quite happy to assist them with the case, gushes about Bishop’s brilliant mind. Bishop is all, “The more the merrier,” while Torres is throwing them serious side-eye. As does Gibbs. HA. Reeves continues, explaining that Hassan was seen with Mahdavi and was taken into custody after the attack. NC had Hassan’s interrogation videos, but they are in Pashtun. Bishop can handle that, surprising Torres, but not Reeves. Heh. Gibbs puts her on it and agrees she can get help from a translator given the many hours of tape. He puts Torres on finding out what contact there was between NC and Hassan. Reeves asks for a task, and Gibbs essentially gives him grunt paperwork. He’s disappointed. Gibbs just gives him The Look.

Jesse Johnson as Robert, Jesse Bradford as John and Ryan Doom as George in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

Up in MTAC (where is our director these days anyway?), Quinn and McGee speak via the Big Screen of All Knowing with Gitmo’s CO. He has no record (despite Torres believing otherwise) of any counseling sessions with clergy, but he does tell them that aggressive behavior amongst the detainees was substantially lowered during NC’s tenure. The CO liked NC a great deal, but tells them that some of the other officers were suspicious of NC’s closeness with the detainees. CO investigated, but wrote them off as baseless claims. He has no idea how NC got classified files, but assures them he is looking into it. Torres is all, “So are we. You can bet on it.” Screen goes dark, and Quinn sardonically applauds Torres for his way with people, and he’s all, “Yep. It’s a gift.” Heh.

Up in the conference room, Gibbs enters and there is Quasim Naasir, who has come in to help them with the Pashtun translations. You might remember him from the season 12 episode, Lost in Translation. He thanks Gibbs for his help in getting his job, and Gibbs is all, “You did the work,” and hands them the files and some carryout. We shift to the elevator, where the door opens to reveal Torres and the Bros. waiting to enter? Clayton Reeves. Ruh roh. He smoothly swaps places, and Reeves is all happy small talk, “I’m a big fan of your sister,” and suddenly one Bro is stopping the elevator. Oh, brother. (Honestly, there’s nowhere else to go with it.) He quickly assures them they’re “just mates,” and they ask about their Scotland trip and just how many rooms do “mates” book. Reeves hesitates just slightly before saying two, and so he’s still hanging when we shift to Abby Lab.

Abs and McGee managed to piece the nav system on the SUV together enough to track NC’s movements the day he was killed. Turns out, NC didn’t have a cellphone causing Abby to marvel that someone actually hated technology more than Gibbs. Heh. NC’s day was pretty pedantic. Leave home, go to work, go to lunch, stop by hotel, stop by the bank, back to work, etc., ending at the scene of the crash. They focus on the hotel part and McGee reveals that Hassan’s sister had a room reserved there. Cut to the interrogation room with Hassan’s sister looking like she’s chilled to the bone, telling them they have no call to hold her. Gibbs counters that she was one of the last people to see NC alive and, by the way, you’re the sister of a terrorist, so they have to at least look at her. She claims her innocence in NC’s death and insists her brother is not a terrorist and has begged the US to look into his arrest. (Maybe the show title should have been Oh, Brother.) She says NC reached out to her, that he knew her brother was being wrongfully detained. She says all she knew was that someone on the inside was going to help and that her brother was silenced because he knew too much. Gibbs is called outside where Bishop tells him that it’s true that her brother is innocent. She says the translation did not match what Hassan was actually saying, that the information was deliberately changed to make it look like he was withholding information. He was set up. Fade to black and white.

Back at HQ, Gibbs is watching the interrogation video in question. And hey! Hello, Director Vance! Long time. They review one of the many translation inaccuracies, then Gibbs and Reeves explain that before he was killed, NC was going to turn over the fraudulent translation evidence to secure Hassan’s release. The only actual evidence tying him to Mahdavi was a photo of them exiting a mosque at the same time, and for that, Hassan spent 11 years at Gitmo. Vance directs them to get to the bottom of it, and, well, it’s Gibbs. Of course they will!

We move to Gitmo with Bishop and Quasim. Bishop is uneasy, but we don’t find out why as Hassan is brought in. She requests that Hassan’s chains be removed. They are, and he sits as the guard exits. He is understandably distrustful, but they tell him about NC and the evidence of his wrongful detention. He wants to speak to NC, and they tell him the bad news. Shift to MTAC with Gibbs and Vance talking to the Gitmo CO and he’s disavowing any knowledge of the fraud as it was before his time. He explains that prior to his command, some interrogations were conducted by private contractors, a flawed practice that ended under his watch. They get the name of the private security guy who did the interrogation. Then, back at Gitmo, Hassan asks if NC was killed because of him, and they say that’s what they are trying to figure out. Unfortunately, Hassan is no help as he’s had no contact with anyone for over a decade. She says they are picking up where NC left off, trying to get him out. He says it’s agents like Bishop who put him in there, thinking that because he is Muslim he’s a terrorist, so why believe her? Good point, that. Quasim steps in and explains his connection to Bishop and urges Hassan to believe in them, as he is alive thanks to his trust in Bishop and the NCIS team. They go on to have a conversation, and he reveals he knew Mahdavi only in passing because they attended the same mosque. He knew nothing about the man. Bishop promises they won’t leave there without him.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Rocky Carroll as Vance in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

Back in the Bull Pen, Reeves isn’t happy with Torres breaking the “guy code” and throwing him under the Bro Bus. Torres is all, They’re harmless, come on. Quinn just wants to not be their moderator. Reeves is willing to step outside to settle things, prompting Quinn to butt in, tell one of them to fess up to dating Bishop and get it over with. It appears Reeves blinked before refuting it, which he says is not proof. Enter Abby, who says she has proof. She did a probability chart comparing Bishop to the single males in the office. Torres got only a 17% probability match. Reeves scored an impressive 65%. But ding, ding, ding, the one who topped out at 87%? Gibbs. Oh, brother! Enter Gibbs, but Abby is quick with the clicker. Whew. Enter McGee, who has discovered that the private security guy who did Hassan’s interrogation used a fake name. Reeves says this is common, so they retain anonymity. He ran the prints found on the interrogation papers and got a hit. Aha! Mediation Man, the yogi.

Cue Zen Studio with McGee, Reeves and Torres. As team leader, McGee is in charge, telling who to go where, but seriously? It’s kind of funny. Out of those three? Yeah, not McGee. I hope he has some extra turkey over Thanksgiving. I miss Our McGee. He’ll forever be a sidekick to me, and I loved that about him. Reeves is taking the grounds, winding his way through the bamboo leaves and Yogi gets the drop on him. But that doesn’t last long as Torres joins in. Reeves takes Yogi’s gun away, knowing Torres is loving that the Zen master got the drop on him. He’s all, “Don’t say it.” But Torres just smiles. “You’re a baby. It’s what I do all day, son.” Ha. Fade to black and white.

In interrogation, Quinn tells Yogi that pulling a gun on a federal agent is bad karma. Heh. Yogi explains to her and Gibbs that he’s been on edge since NC’s murder. Gibbs demands to know who altered Hassan’s files. He admits he did, under orders of the defense firm he worked for. He quit because he disagreed with those kinds of tactics, but Gibbs is having none of it, and rightfully so seeing as Yogi left Hassan to rot in prison for 11 years. He says he didn’t kill NC, he was helping him. He was the one who gave him the files on Hassan. He was trying to right a wrong. Better late than never?

At Gitmo, Bishop is outside and she tells Quasim that Hassan was right, she sent people to Gitmo during her time at NSA. She’d talked about it, but had never seen it, and now that she has, it wasn’t what she expected. She says she knows there are detainees who have done horrible things, but that overall, it doesn’t feel like justice. Quasim concurs, saying that fear makes us do things that we shouldn’t. (A more timely and relevant statement there has never been.) Bishop wonders who else might be wrongfully detained, saying they can’t make right taking 11 years away from an innocent man. He reminds Bishop that she is not responsible for putting Hassan there, but she is responsible for getting him out. We see Hassan being released. Quasim says he’s leaving a free man. Bishop says it doesn’t seem like enough. Quasim says that on the contrary, that is everything.

Back in the Bull Pen, McGee is pooh-poohing Abby’s “scientific” findings about Bishop’s love match, saying that statistical data is hardly reliable. She says it predicted his timeline with Delilah, including when they will have their first child. McGee perks up, asking if she knows if it will be a boy or a girl. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” she smirks, then high-fives an entering Reeves and Torres as she exits, stage right.

Torres and Reeves tell McGee that they looked into the bank stop NC made on his last day and in addition to the ATM withdrawal they already knew about, he had gone inside and asked the bank for the records of the interfaith church he was leading at the time. Turns out all that money NC raised was withdrawn by the director, whom we met earlier, only none of those withdrawals ever made it to their designated charitable recipient. Shift to Smug Director exiting his car in the lot outside the church location only to meet Quinn exiting the building. She tells him she just has a few follow-up questions. He’s more than happy to help and says they should step inside. She says they can’t, seeing as the team is still in there processing the crime scene. HA. She asks if he’s ever heard of a product called Blue Star. It’s really good at detecting washed-out bloodstains, and it turns out he has a lot of those in his office. He turns to run and heads right into Gibbs’ gun. He claims it was an accident. NC found out about the fraud and confronted him. Smug Director pushed NC and he fell, hit his head, it was all a tragic accident, you see. Yeah, uh, doesn’t matter. You’re already dead on the fraud charges, but the murder charge will definitely seal that deal.

We end the evening with Gibbs at his desk, working late, as Bishop enters on her return from Gitmo. She’s surprised to see him and he’s all, “Work here, too.” She sees her phone dismantled on her desk and asks what’s up with that. Gibbs tells her that the next time she leaves the country on assignment, to tell her brothers. She asks how many times they called, then quickly amends that to, “Too many. Right.” Ha. She pauses and Gibbs gives her a put-upon, “What?” She talks about Hassan and how speaking the truth can set you free and that she needs to speak her truth. She apologizes for not telling him sooner, then confesses that she broke Rule 12. (Never date a co-worker.) She said it was a just-friends relationship, then it turned into something more. She says she won’t apologize, not because it breaks another rule, but because she likes him. A lot. Gibbs stands, smiles and says, “Took you long enough,” as he exits toward the elevator. She turns toward him, all, “That’s it?” He replies, “Happy Thanksgiving, Bishop.” And we still don’t know who it is!

Ryan Doom as George, Jesse Bradford as John, Jesse Johnson as Robert and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

Shift to Casa Bishop and the Bros crashing all over her couch, the game is on TV. Enter Bishop, who turns off the TV to immediate protests. She asks them to stop dropping in unannounced and getting all up in her personal life. Banter ensues, but they tell her that it’s in the big-brother description. She asks for a compromise. She’ll be more open with them, and they respect her space and her decisions. They agree to those terms. The doorbell rings and she says, “Good, because there is someone I want you to meet.” And by you, I know she meant ALL of us, right? They wouldn’t leave us hanging, would they? It’s Thanksgiving! Come on! Aaaaaand, enter Quasim!! Now THAT I believe. Perfect match. The Bros are just relieved it’s not Gibbs. HA! Welcome to the fam, Quasim!

Aw, and for the first time, as we go to credits, it’s no longer Gary Glasberg as executive producer. Welcome, George and Frank. Gary, you’re always with us.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of letters and comments after last week’s episode. So far my mail reflects close to a 50/50 love it/not so much split on your feelings about the new season and the new team members. For various reasons, mostly boredom, I find myself giving up on a lot of my “regulars” this season. They pile up on my DVR, and I’m having to face the fact that I’m always going to be “in the mood” to watch something else, and they will sit there forever. NCIS is still on my must-watch list and I enjoy it each week (and not just because I recap it. I’ve recapped shows that were firmly in the “please, do I haaaaave to?” category for me, so that’s a double blessing). Keep those notes and comments coming!

And, while you’re at it, enter this week’s It’s a Special Episode Week Giveaway! Drop me an e-mail to donna@donnakauffman.com with “You Give, I Get” in the subject line and you’re in. What do you get if you’re the lucky winner? A signed set of my first Blueberry Cove Trilogy: Pelican Point, Half Moon Harbor and Sandpiper Island. I know! You can escape to fictional Maine over the holidays, on me! And speaking of winners, the winner of last week’s giveaway of a signed copy of my current release, Starfish Moon, is John Johnston! John, drop me a note to donna@donnakaufman.com with your address and I’ll get your prize in the mail.

I’ll be announcing the winner of this week’s super special giveaway when we come back in TWO weeks. Yep, another break, but I’m glad we had this week together. I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday. I’m very thankful that you all are sharing this season with me! Yes, even you.

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com or join her on Facebook.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

SPOILERS AHEAD!

We’re back from our Thanksgiving break and looking forward to the holidays. Thanks for joining me once again on the recap couch! Let’s find out what our favorite very special agents are up to, shall we?

A retired admiral, a congresswoman and a wealthy potential campaign donor walk into a duck blind … We open with these three folks sitting in a duck blind on a naval base, swapping witticisms as the newly elected congresswoman tries to hit up Wealthy Donor for a contribution to her re-election campaign. More banter involving the congresswoman’s aide and his calorie-counting app, a snoozing, old hunting dog and three poor ducks, at least one of which goes down in one dead-eye shot from our contribution-hunting politician. Her hunting prowess earns her that handsome donor check, but apparently not everyone is impressed with her congressional aptitude. She finds a dead rat on the front seat of her car with a sign saying, “You’re next.” So, a little foul play to go along with our fowl play. Heh. I know, I crack myself up.

And cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

Cut to the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness as Quinn, Torres and Bishop start their workday with Bishop lamenting the lost contents of her broken fridge and Quinn and Torres a little cross-eyed from having to listen to said lament for far longer than their interest would otherwise allow. Enter McGee, who immediately asks Bishop for an update on the fridge situation amidst very vocal protests from his other two teammates. Heh. Bishop is suffering from serious snack deprivation and sniffs out a bag of ketchup and prawn potato chips. Gah. And … up pops Very Special Agent Clayton Reeves on the other side of the bull pen partition! We learn he’s been assigned to the NCIS international desk. Because we need more players on this team. Except, it’s cutie-patootie Reeves, so, you know, maybe I don’t mind so much. Don’t judge! He hands over the whole case of prawn chips (so much gah!) to Bishop, then enter Gibbs, and it’s grab-your-gear time. All except Reeves, who is asked by Director Vance (hello, Leon!) to head upstairs with him for some transition talk. Reeves wonders aloud if he’s somehow already landed himself in trouble and gets a “welcome to NCIS” response from Gibbs as the rest of the team heads out. Heh.

At the scene of the Dead Rodent of the Week, we learn Congresswoman is from a district in Maryland mostly comprised of horse farms, has served on a military appropriations committee and is generally well liked by her fellow congressmen. No usable prints, no cameras in that area, so no immediate leads from the scene other than the fact that whoever did it managed to get onto a military base. Gibbs makes it clear that even a dead rat threat will get their full follow-up, then they learn from CW’s aide that she’s had more than one threat but wouldn’t let him report them to the FBI. (Our CW isn’t on scene, she’s already taken off for her next meeting, leaving her aide behind to handle things.) Previous threats were more the threatening-letters- and social-media-type attacks, with some of the same angry faces showing up at multiple campaign events. Our handy, ever-vigilant app-happy aide has even gone so far as to start keeping track of said familiar faces and hands over a typed list to Gibbs.

Sean Murray as McGee and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

Cue to CW storming Vance’s office, quite unhappy with his handling of the situation. She doesn’t want anyone thinking she can’t handle the heat, then hears Vance assure the FBI, who happens to be on the other end of the line, that he’ll be happy to work with the CW to get to the bottom of the matter and protect her while doing so. Her unhappiness escalates from there. She feels that if she hasn’t upset the apple cart on both sides of the aisle, then she isn’t doing her job. Vance thinks that’s all fine and well, but given the violent nature of the threats against her, they’re going to look into it anyway. Testy and impatient, she tells him it’s her life and Vance shoots back, “And we’re going to protect it.” She smolders, Gibbs smiles, and Vance simply says, “You’re welcome.” HA. Oh, NCIS, it’s good to have you back. Fade to black and white.

Back in the Bull Pen, Quinn and Bishop are admiring CW’s bulldog congressional style, while Torres and McGee think that also might explain why there are folks wishing violence upon her. Enter Gibbs for an update on the list of the most viable threats amongst those folks and we go to the Screen of All Knowing. Threat No. 1 is a guy with an online message board dedicated to exposing the heritage of our elected leaders. He happens to think CW is a threat because she is a descendant of Attila the Hun. But he also happens to be doing a stint in jail. Which brings us to Threat No. 2, who happens to be the right-hand man of No. 1 and is still going after CW. Quinn and Bishop still have another 10 names they are looking at, so Gibbs sets them to it and sends McGee after No. 2. Quinn and Torres notice Reeves and Vance coming downstairs with two military officers, prompting them to think Reeves is getting pulled into something serious.

Down in Ducky’s Digs, Ducky and Palmer are pondering the dead rat and the note, which Ducky notes was tied around the rodent’s neck using a seaman’s knot. Then we get a decidedly unwanted view of the gutted rat (GAH!) who has already been sliced open and had all his internal organs removed (she typed, keeping her gaze fixed steadfastly on her laptop monitor, at least until this scene ends. So much for that late-evening snack I had planned later.).

Moving to Torres and McGee as they track down No. 2, who is a young woman currently taking her driver’s ed class and, well, let’s just say if orange highway cones were pedestrians, she’d be doing life without parole. McGee takes their private moment to reassure Torres he had planned to tell him about Reeves coming on board. He adds how he personally understands the challenges of two “alpha men” trying to “prove their manhood,” seeing as how he had much the same struggle with Tony. Torres is nodding, all, “You see right through me, Tim.” HA. And? Oh, McGee. As the driver’s ed car approaches, they get out of the car. On spying the “fuzz,” our driving-challenged No. 2 throws it into reverse, but only gets so far before her instructor uses his own set of brakes to slow them down. Torres and McGee approach the car, guns drawn, but the instructor is unfazed as he continues to fill out No. 2’s report, saying, “I stare death in the face every day.” HA.

We shift to interrogation with Gibbs, Quinn, No. 2 and No. 2’s mom. Mom is all, “She wasn’t thinking” during that whole attempted getaway part, prompting Quinn to ask if Daughter Dearest was thinking when she threatened CW. This is news to Mom, who gets to see prints of Daughter Dearest’s activities, helpfully blown up to a nice 8-by-10 size. Turns out DD was simply following in Mom’s activist footsteps, only perhaps a bit more vociferously. Whatever the case, she denies being behind the dead rat, and a now sheepish Mom is all, “So much for free-range parenting!”

Mary Stuart Masterson as Jenna Flemming in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

Back upstairs, Vance is lecturing CW on the benefits of remaining on government property where security is present, only CW is still pounding the re-election funding trail while simultaneously doing her job (the one she was just re-elected to), and she’s not all that impressed by Vance’s strongly worded suggestions on how best to handle herself during such difficult times. He requests her cellphone and laptop, and she’s all, “From my cold, dead hands,” and he’s all, Yeah, I’m trying to avoid just that. Heh. Vance shows her a photo of her home, posted online by one of her detractors, and says there’s more. She explains that she can’t let herself think about those folks or she won’t be able to focus on her job. She thanks him, but assures him his services are not needed. They are interrupted by a call, to Vance this time. It’s Gibbs, calling him to the scene of a crime committed in CW’s district. Turns out the victim is none other than CW’s aide, who is now floating face-down and fully clothed in a motel pool. Vance and CW arrive, and, yeah. Now she’s a little more concerned. Fade to black and white.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

We’re still at the scene and learn that they don’t know, yet, why CW’s aide was at that motel, and no one is claiming to have heard anything. That is no one except the older woman in a pink satin housecoat getting ice for her champagne bucket who overhears Torres saying as much to Gibbs. She heard two men arguing, then peeked out in time to see a car, possibly red, possibly a Cadillac, charging out of the parking lot. A decidedly younger man wearing only boxer briefs steps out of her motel room and she’s all, “Champagne is still chilling, Rodney,” and explains to the agents that he’s, uh, her accountant. They ask what time she heard the argument, but she says she wasn’t really paying attention. “I was in the middle of an audit.” Heh.

In the bull pen, Quinn strolls by Reeves’ desk, happens to notice a restricted file with “Operation Willoughby” at the top. Reeves enters the other side of the room, asks if she needs help. She quickly moves on, says she was just passing through, but he says he meant help with her case. Reeves says he’s done and is free to help Team Gibbs. He mentions how Vance is still with CW and has taken a personal interest in the case. Quinn thinks it’s because CW votes on military spending, but Reeves thinks it’s something else. Quinn shifts back to the case, saying nothing was found in the aide’s room to help solve his murder. He’d been staying there off and on for the past month, but not apparently for job-related reasons. Enter Aide’s girlfriend, a real estate agent, who says he was staying at the motel in order to see her. She tells Quinn that CW had her boyfriend working on a secret project and wonders if that might have gotten him killed.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

Up in Vance’s office, he and CW are discussing the ramifications of a base closing, both on the occupants of the base itself and the surrounding towns, whose commerce benefit from the base’s existence. CW is on the committee that recommends base closures, and it turns out the one in her district was being considered. She had her aide do the research for her so as not to alarm anyone needlessly, but the result of the research, unfortunately, was that the base would go on the recommended-closure list. None of it had been made public, but Vance — who admires CW’s committed and empathetic approach to such decisions — says that someone apparently found out. She is torn up by her aide’s death, but they had been through a lot together, and she doubted he’d have inadvertently said anything. Vance asks who the contact person was for the base research and learns it was a local business owner who also happens to be the de facto mayor of her hometown district. Vance assigns her an overnight security detail, which still rankles her.

At HQ the next morning, Bishop shows Gibbs a pic of Mayor Contact Guy and says everything CW said about him checks out, and it turns out he drives a red Caddy. He sends her to pick the guy up, then heads down to Ducky’s Digs where we learn that the blow to Aide’s head cracked his skull but didn’t kill him, but the disorientation from the blow might have been the reason he fell into the pool and drowned. The blow came one hour before he died.

We shift to Bishop and Quinn entering Mayor’s garage, guns drawn, calling out for him, but find nothing there, as they apparently also had found nothing and no one in the house. They call in a BOLO on the red Caddy, also missing. Then Quinn checks the chest freezer out, and any chance I had of munching on that late-night snack vanishes as she discovers it’s full of bagged, frozen rats. Oh, Show. When we said we liked the laughs and occasional gags in your storylines, we didn’t mean literal gagging. Fade to black and a very pasty white.

David McCallum as Ducky, Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Brien Dietzen as Palmer in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

We return to Abby and her table o’ frozen rat packs explaining to Reeves that it turns out the rat in CW’s car was related to the rats in the freezer. Reeves, who is holding a very large Caf-Pow for Abby, says that Mayor is still missing, as Torres enters with a matching very large Caf-Pow for Abs. The two men play “whose Caf-Pow is bigger?” while trading the many facts they have learned about Mayor as Abby looks on, bemused. Turns out the rats were Navy lab rats who died of natural causes in due course of research being done on a protein that can hopefully be used in treatment of Alzheimer’s patients. Turns out the only lab doing that research is on the naval base in CW’s home district. Reeves thanks Abby and hands her his Caf-Pow before quickly exiting, prompting Torres to do the same, explaining she should drink his because it’s 30 seconds fresher. Heh.

Gibbs and Torres are at the research lab and find a note on the door to use the buzzer. While waiting for entry, Gibbs asks Torres if he’s going to have a problem with Reeves. Torres is all smiles and, “What?” Gibbs smiles along with him, but is clearly serious. Torres brushes off any concerns. Tired of waiting, Gibbs pounds on the door only to have it swing open. They enter an empty lab. “This is exactly how a zombie movie starts,” says Torres. Heh. They hear a noise in the back, and a tech enters through swinging doors, music blaring from the back room, with a placket of freeze-dried dead rats draped over his arms.

Lab Tech Guy explains their program ended the month before, so military personnel were transferred and civilians let go. He’s the only one left. His job is to fill out all the reports and keep watch over the rats. As they die of natural causes, their organs are removed and everything is cataloged for potential future study. They were denied funds for future study given there were other bigger, better-equipped labs to do the work. He says he took the end of the program in stride. Gibbs shows him photos of the rats found in Mayor’s fridge and the drowned body of Aide. He says he and Mayor bowl occasionally and that Mayor took the denial of the program funding seriously given he owned a bunch of businesses in town. Add that to the fact that Aide had been poking around, asking questions, Mayor figured out what was going to happen. Angry, he got the rats from Lab Tech Guy to send a message to CW.

Back in the Bull Pen, Quinn says no sign yet of Mayor, and they’re still drying out Aide’s cellphone, but McGee has gotten Aide’s laptop where all the research notes were stored. New commercial buildings were going up that would help both the town and Mayor. Gibbs tells him to keep digging. Quinn follows Gibbs out to the hallway and asks him if Reeves is there to work on Operation Willoughby. When he gives her the sideways glance, she says she knows about the operation and she knows it was put on hold six months prior when the Navy came to FLETC (where she was working at the time) looking for recruits and no one signed up. Gibbs steps on the elevator, smiles at her and says, “Until now.” Ruh roh!

We move upstairs to a talk between CW and Vance. She is taking in one of the display cases containing photos of agents lost in the line of duty. She has just gotten off the phone, having talked to her aide’s parents, and apologizes to Vance for saying his job was easier than hers, given he has had to make too many of those same calls. She also apologizes for saying that he didn’t understand personal sacrifice, given the loss of his wife. He accepts graciously, and she goes on to tell him that he’s actually very well liked on the Hill, as are his addresses to her committee. He wonders if she’s sweet-talking him and assures her that her security detail stays. She doesn’t dispute that now, but asks if he could assign some agents she could actually talk to.

Duane Henry as Reeves and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

In the break room, Reeves is at the vending machines, but has only euros. Torres is all, No problem, and comes over, thumps the machine and out drops the snack. Heh. Torres asks for Reeves’ reassurance that they are just messing with each other, and Reeves is all, “Yeah, just part of our charming repartee,” to which Torres immediately agrees. Cute. He’s all, “Why does everyone think we’re going to fight?” and how silly that is that two physical specimens like themselves can’t work peacefully, side by side. It’s all funny and cute until their expressions grow serious, and Reeves is all, “But we are going to fight one day,” and Torres nods, relieved, “We have to.” HA. Enter Vance and CW and he’s all, “When you two physical specimens are done, I have a job for you.” Double HA.

Reeves and Torres pull up to an apartment building, all man-bonding over lost luggage and who benches more weight, only to be interrupted by CW, who leans in from the backseat, wanting to go inside to her home, you know, if they don’t mind. They note the red Caddy at the curb in front of CW’s row house and spy Mayor on CW’s stoop, banging on her front door with one fist, a bagged bottle of booze clutched in the other. They get CW to get back in the car, and Torres stays with her as Reeves approaches the very drunk Mayor, who is demanding to see CW. CW goes to reach inside his jacket, prompting Reeves to pull his gun, but before anything can happen, Spider-Man Torres is over the stoop railing behind Mayor and flips him over and off the stoop to land face-down in the grass. Turns out the only thing he had in his pocket was a crumpled note. More manly specimen banter, and we shift to interrogation.

Mayor is slugging down coffee and apologizing to Quinn and Gibbs. His note was also an apology for the dead rat. He was just upset about the possible base closing, and the argument with Aide was because he lied to Mayor about the reason he was asking questions around town. He was drunk when he fought with Aide, but he swears he was alive when he left him. Quinn asks if he did hit Aide, though, and he looks very guilty. Then she gets called out of the room by Bishop, who has confirmed that Mayor was drunk at a strip club when the attack happened, so he’s not the killer. But we know it can’t be that easy! Fade to black and white.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Mary Stuart Masterson as Jenna Flemming in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

In the Bull Pen, McGee has been digging into who stood to lose the most other than Mayor. Turns out a local firm was set to build a huge apartment complex by the base, but it hadn’t gone to escrow yet, so technically, the developer wouldn’t lose anything if the base closes. The real estate agent, however … Ruh roh! Oooh, did you suspect the girlfriend? I must be rusty from too much turkey and egg nog! Turns out that not only did she negotiate the deal on the land, but her firm also retained exclusive right to represent the units once they were built and ready to sell. Loss to the tune of $40 million. The downside is they don’t have any proof tying her to the murder.

Move to Torres and CW entering a house that is on the market and being represented by none other than Aide’s girlfriend. CW tells Torres she’s just making a condolence call and asks for a minute alone with the GF. Torres smells freshly baked cookies in the kitchen and happily leaves them to it. GF says she’s happy to see a friendly face, only CW quickly assures her that she is not going to be one of them. She tells GF how close she was to Aide and how she knew he was seeing a real estate agent, having met her while doing his local research. She didn’t think anything of it until Aide had her scheduled to show up at the groundbreaking for the new development, then put two and two together. She comes right out and asks GF if she killed Aide, and GF gets all up close and says it might be time for CW to leave. She goes for her purse as Gibbs enters, badge out, followed by Bishop, who snags the purse from GF. Gibbs and CW profess on how they’re all surprised to see each other, and CW is all, “You can arrest this woman,” and GF is all, “What’s going on here?” A question echoed by Torres, who comes into the room, still munching on a cookie. Heh.

In the room on the other side of the two-way mirror showing the interrogation room, Vance jumps on CW about her decision to just stride right in and confront GF, to which she says, “I was tired of sitting in orange rooms.” HA! Line of the night. The only problem is CW forced the situation and it turns out there was nothing in GF’s bag but a cellphone, so still nothing conclusive to tie her to the murder. While they are watching Quinn get nowhere with the interrogation of GF and CW is all apologetic, Abby comes in with the case-saving evidence. Remember how Aide took a photo of the nutritional label on his protein bar back at the duck-hunting expedition so his app could track his caloric intake? Well, he also took one of the lunch protein bar he had right before he died, and in the photo, you can see GF’s fingernail polish while holding up the bar so he could photograph it, proving she was there at the motel at the time of Aide’s attack. (Well, kind of proving. It’s fingernail polish, and yes, it’s the same color, but … proof? Flimsy at best.) Only she confesses that she hit him, and gosh, I should probably get a lawyer. In the words of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, “Ya think?”

Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Mary Stuart Masterson as Jenna Flemming and Rocky Carroll as Vance in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

Bishop is at her desk, blissfully munching on shrimp and ketchup chips when Reeves enters, wearing what suspiciously looks like one of Torres’ tank tops and correcting her that the Brits call them crisps. Chips are French fries. Apparently, Reeves’ luggage has yet to arrive. Torres explains they are going to the gym. McGee begs off, says he does yoga at home. Oh, Tim. That visual SO does not help the somewhat sad and lacking team boss transformation this season. Bishop ponders if there is a budding bromance between our two physical specimens.

Quinn corners Reeves when he stops by his desk to get his wallet on the way out and asks him, privately, if he opted in on Operation Willhoughby, and how it’s pretty much a suicide mission. Reeves tells her knows what he signed up for, and he has his reasons. Ooh, new story thread. I like. And we need one. She turns and sees Gibbs standing there. He asks her if she wants to talk, and she nods yes.

Up in Vance’s office, CW is going over possible manufacturing plants that might put down roots in her hometown, to lessen the commercial blow to the town of the base closing. Vance is making drinks and wants to know if she ever stops working. She says she will when he does. Heh. She says he never answered her question about why he took such a personal interest in her case. He assures her it had nothing to do with her appropriations vote. She agrees, saying it was actually because of his wife. She mentions the non-profit shelter that his wife started up six years prior and that was now in need of a chairman. She says she can’t take the position herself, but she does have some friends who might fit the bill. She asks if they’re going to discuss things over drinks in his musty office, and he invites her to dinner instead. She says it took him long enough. They agree on Italian, and she makes it clear she’s picking up the check. They both down their drinks and smile. Ooh, we get a little Vance romance, too? We’re left to ponder that as we fade to black and white.

Rocky Carroll as Vance and Mary Stuart Masterson as Jenna Flemming in NCIS. (Photo: Michael Yarish, CBS)

Nicely done, Show!

That wraps up another week and gets us one step closer to our Very Special Christmas Episode. However, we’re right on top of announcing the winner of my “You give, I get” giveaway! A full signed set of my first Blueberry Cove trilogy goes to … Taylor Bannock! Drop me a note to donna@donnakauffman.com with an address, and your prizes will go right out to you.

For all you not-Taylor Bannocks, good news! There’s another giveaway this week. What’s up for grabs? A signed copy of my current release, Starfish Moon, and a pretty little bookmark charm designed especially for the book by The Cotton Thistle designer Joyce Taber. Want in? Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with “I need a Starfish Moon stocking stuffer!” in the subject line. And if you want to add any commentary about this week’s ep, please do.

Check back right here next week to see if it’s your name “in lights.” In the meantime, feel free to drop by my Facebook page (or Twitter feed, or Instagram account … me and social media, yeah, we’re likethis) and join in the daily jocularity and get a few more chances to win free stuff!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com or join her on Facebook.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

Adam Campbell as Young Ducky in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

SPOILERS AHEAD!

It’s our last week on the recap couch for 2016! Yep, after tonight’s ep, we head into the winter break. I know! However, our NCIS crew is giving us a delicious holiday gift. Not only do we get more of the Fornell and Gibbs Oscar-Felix bromance, we also get a trip back in time with Young Ducky!

So let’s not waste any time unwrapping our sweet, sweet NCIS present …

We open as a young couple, along with her father, sporting his military dress cap, are exiting a performance of The Nutcracker and sharing some witty badinage. Dress Cap Daddy checks his phone to see that their car has arrived. The three part as DCD climbs into his Uber (they use the company name Home Stretch) and is offered a phone charger and bottle of water by his youthful driver. He accepts the water. And … a few minutes later is going to regret that. Youthful Driver pulls into a back lot as DCD struggles to breathe. He waits a few extra minutes for DCD to become our Dead Guy of the Week, then calmly pulls on rubber gloves. He tugs DCD out of the car, then leaves his body in the back lot before driving away. Just another night’s work.

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

Cue the air horn! We’re in Gibbs’ house as Fornell’s daughter uses an airhorn to launch her daddy from his deep sleep on Gibbs’ Dream Couch. Daddy isn’t happy, but Emily isn’t all that perturbed by that. Fornell is certain Gibbs will be coming down the stairs loaded for bear … except, ah, nope. Turns out Gibbs is sitting at the kitchen table eating a giant bowl of Wheat O’s, calm as you please. HA. See? This holiday present is already giving us the goodies.

David McCallum as Ducky, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We learn Emily — who does look a lot more grown up all of a sudden. Our little girl! Where does the time go? — is home from college and intent on introducing her boyfriend to Daddy Fornell. Only she’s definitely not introducing him to “Recuperating” Daddy Fornell, still camped out on Gibbs’ Dream Couch like Oscar from The Odd Couple. Emily claims Fornell is not doing his exercises and wants him at home where she can oversee them. Fornell, not happy with Gibbs ratting him out, immediately kicks off the covers and bows his torso up off the couch, instructing Gibbs to come “push down on my pelvis.” Yeah. Gibbs takes a pass on that. “See what I’m up against?” a plaintive Fornell asks his daughter … right before he suddenly realizes that she used the word boyfriend. Oh boy. Here we go.

Emily tells Gibbs it’s his fault her dad is still on the couch, while Fornell is already barking that she’s not old enough to have a boyfriend (even one who is studying to be an entomologist). Gibbs gets a call and mercifully skedaddles the brewing brouhaha. “Got a dead body,” he tells Fornell. “Gonna have another one in a minute,” Emily adds. Gibbs smiles as he exits, stage right. HA. Seriously, Santa, you’re being too good to us. And we haven’t even gotten to Young Ducky yet. It’s an embarrassment of riches, really.

Our team gathers at the stinky back lot scene of the dead body, with Torres changing out of his jacket, claiming it’s hard to get the urine smell out of suede. “Something you’re familiar with?” quips Bishop. Heh. Quinn finds DCD’s wallet still full of cash, so not a robbery. They know he’s a captain, and they know a witness saw him getting into a ride-share, but that’s it so far. She finds a slip of paper with the town name Reston on it, and Ducky lights up, saying he used to live there. (What a coincidence! I also teach craft classes in that very town. Place called Angela’s Happy Stamper. Same town where fellow author David Baldacci has a residence. Small world.) Where were we? Oh, right. Sneaking in plugs for my pals. Ducky reminisces about his place on a tree-lined street, and he and McGee recite the same address. Only McGee is reciting it from the slip of paper found on DCD.

Ruh roh. Palmer wants to know why a dead man has Ducky’s old address in his pocket, and Ducky isn’t too sure he wants the answer to that. (We do! We do!) Fade to a pensive Ducky black and white.

We return to the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness where Gibbs is getting the sitrep at the Screen of All Knowing. We learn that DCD’s phone is missing and that he was under internal investigation for selling information to a foreign entity. So, maybe the buyer found out he was being investigated and had him killed. In the meantime, all they have is Ducky’s old address in his pocket. He sold the place six years ago, after his dear old mum passed away. Quinn opines that maybe that’s a coincidence, but when she earns the Flat Stare from Gibbs, she realizes she’s broken a Gibbs Rule. Rule 69? No, McGee tells her that’s “never trust a woman who doesn’t trust her man.” Quinn is surprised by that one, says it’s a bit misogynistic, asks Gibbs if there’s a “never trust a man who doesn’t trust his woman” rule. No? She says he might want to think about that, then tosses Rule 51 at him. McGee helpfully supplies that No. 51 is “sometimes you’re wrong,” which earns him a head slap. Heh. Gibbs sends McGee and Bishop to check out the current homeowners at said address, thinking maybe DCD was looking for them and it was, you know, a coincidence. HA.

Adam Campbell as Young Ducky in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

We head down to Ducky’s Digs where he and Torres are trying to find out why DCD would have his old address. No mention of the man in Ducky’s files. Palmer tells Gibbs DCD died from a fast-acting poison, which they will confirm during autopsy. Torres asks if they’ll wait until he’s outta there to start. It’s not the blood, he tells Palmer, it’s the smell. Palmer tells him he can expense his dry cleaning, earning a look from Gibbs. The team wonders if Ducky might have crossed paths with him elsewhere, but the only other overseas place DCD had been, other than Iraq, was Majorca. Ducky has never been there, but he does have a story.

We skip back in time as Young Ducky (yay!) comes bouncing in from a date with said date still on his arm. Lovely home, a festive Christmas tree is aglow in the corner. Playful banter ensues as the woman ponders how a soldier doctor can afford such a place. He starts to come clean about how it actually belongs to his dear old mum when the two of them startle to find a rather young-looking Dear Mum reclining on the couch, nude except for the light green throw over her body. Seems she came back early from (say it with me) Majorca. Mum refers to Young Ducky’s date as “Tramp” despite Date trying to introduce herself. Then a strange noise gets Young Ducky’s attention, and suddenly Dear Mum is up off the couch, careful to stay wrapped in the green throw. Only Ducky crosses the room ahead of her and throws open a wardrobe door … and, hello, Old Naked Guy! HA. Date averts her eyes as ONG covers his privates with a hat and we’re thankful for a well-thought-out camera angle. Turns out they met at a bagpipe class in Majorca. Dear Mum has “quite a set of lungs” as it turns out. HA. ONG goes to excuse himself, but Dear Mum is having none of that. Beaming, she tells Young Ducky that they’re in love. She asks her son if he’s going to say anything, Young Ducky looks at ONG and says, “Yes. That’s my hat.” Gah.

Back in Ducky’s Digs, the rest of the gang is waiting for Ducky to share his reverie, but he claims it’s not relevant and keeps it to himself. And us. Torres informs Gibbs that DCD’s Nutcracker ballet-loving daughter is upstairs, and up we go to the conference room where she and her husband want to know who killed him. They show her Ducky’s address and ask if it means anything. They don’t know anything about it or how Ducky might be connected. Son-in-law tells Gibbs that DCD had asked him about some of his overseas contacts the week before, but both he and DCD’s daughter strongly refute the idea that DCD would ever be selling classified intel.

Bishop and McGee interrupt to tell Gibbs that Ducky’s Old Digs are presently empty as the owners have been away for the past month, but neighbors had seen DCD there on three different occasions. Turns out he was looking for a Mallard, but not Ducky. He was looking for Dear Mum. Fade to yet another pensive Ducky black and white.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Rocky Carroll as Vance, Duane Henry as Reeves and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS) ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

We come back to Torres and Clayton Reeves having a bit of an arm wrestle in the outer room to Director Vance’s office. He and Gibbs enter and Vance tells them to “compare testosterone levels on your own time.” Heh. Vance tells Torres and Reeves that, according to the secretary of Defense, DCD’s work was more sensitive than previously known, and if had been compromised, they need to know who DCD was selling info to, ASAP. Reeves tracked down a bank account DCD has in Crimea, which points to the Russians being the buyer. Vance dismisses the two to “go crush beer cans against your foreheads.” Heh. Vance keeps Gibbs for an extra second to ask him what he might know about the connection to Ducky’s mother, wondering if Ducky is upset that his mother might somehow be connected to treasonous activity. Gibbs responds by asking if Vance ever met Dear Mum. He has not. Gibbs smiles and assures him, “This doesn’t really rank.” HA.

Over at Ducky’s Old Digs, McGee and Quinn talk to the Mallard gardener, who was kept on for the new owners. He doesn’t have anything new to offer except that when DCD dropped by, he had a friend with him in the car. No description of the car or the friend, but McGee perks up when he notes a recently installed, high-end doorbell camera. Back at the Screen of All Knowing, we get a look back at the doorbell cam footage and see DCD, his car and not much of a look at the passenger. Gibbs orders they put a BOLO out as Abby comes in and says they need to make that for two. She fast-forwards again until just after McGee and Quinn leave, and Gardener immediately hops in his red pickup and speeds away.

Abby is leading Gibbs to Abby Lab when Emily pops up. Gibbs takes her aside for a private moment. She wants to know why Gibbs hasn’t kicked her dad out, and he’s all, “It’s not for lack of trying.” Heh. Gibbs tells her he’s tried everything he knows, so she asks if she has his permission to do whatever she needs to do so that she and her dad can have Christmas dinner together at their home. Gibbs gives her the go ahead, then says, “Don’t burn down my house.” Her reply? “Fine. Plan B, then.” HA. Ducky steps up as Gibbs exits. Emily says her mother would never have let it get that far, and Ducky agrees that her mom was a formidable woman, much like his own Dear Mum.

Cue flashback. Young Ducky talking to his hotel-heir buddy, Angus, about Dear Mum’s engagement. Angus doesn’t see the problem, so YD takes him aside and explains that he has an off feeling about the guy and asks Angus to check around, see what he can dig up. Angus reluctantly agrees.

Adam Campbell as Young Ducky in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

Back in Abby Lab, where she is offering Gibbs a taste of her Caf-Nog. Her own special blend of Caf-Pow and eggnog. Gah! (And I like eggnog.) She won’t give him the lab result goods until he takes a sip. Gibbs grimaces through the sip, which leaves a milk mustache (HA) before taking him over to the computer. She tells him that DCD’s phone was infected with a worm that allowed someone to intercept his call for a ride share and do the ride providing instead. Likely the killer. She hasn’t been able to track that, but she has tracked a call that DCD made right after leaving Ducky’s Old Digs. Ducky enters the lab with Abby’s tissue samples just as Abby tells Gibbs that the guy DCD called is ONG, Dear Mum’s hat-festooned betrothed! Stunned, Ducky drops the tissue samples to the floor, then tells Gibbs and Abby who the man was. Aaaand, then we fade to our third pensive Ducky black and white.

We come back to the conference room with Vance, Gibbs and Ducky. ONG’s cell number was registered to a post office box, so no luck in tracking him down so far. Vance wants to know what else Ducky knows about the guy, but Ducky says ONG couldn’t be involved, as he’d be over a hundred years old now. He then tells them the whole story, revealing that Angus’ background check did confirm Ducky’s suspicions about the guy. And back to the past we go. YD, Angus and the betrothed couple are dining at Angus’ hotel, when he steals Dear Mum away to look at a new bar he’s opening in the place, leaving YD to have a chat with his soon-to-be new daddy. YD cuts right to the chase and hands ONG a file exposing his con-man-swindling-rich-women past. ONG confesses, saying he has indeed done all those things, but it’s different with Dear Mum. He’s a changed man. He’s in love. Dear Mum is his soul mate. YD is having none of it. He gives ONG 24 hours to clear out of the country, or he’s turning the file over to Scotland Yard, and ONG is never to have contact with his mother again.

Back to the future, Gibbs and Fornell are in Gibbs’ basement. He regales Fornell with the Dear Mum story as he works on the boat-in-progress. Fornell ponders if maybe ONG had a son with the same name, and maybe that’s who DCD was calling. He also wonders who the guy is in the car. Gibbs tersely tells him they are still working on it. Fornell tosses the case aside a bit too easily, but it’s because he wants Gibbs to do a fingerprint check on Emily’s new boyfriend. Turns out he met the guy earlier that day, and he seems like a good kid, but you never know, and he just happened to keep a glass that the guy used with his prints all over it. Heh. Gibbs is telling him it’s against the law, but then is distracted by something on his boat-in-progress. Turns out it’s a termite. Ruh roh! Fornell is immediately on the phone with an exterminator before the little critters get to his microfiber Dream Couch. HA. A clearly perturbed Gibbs asks what Emily’s boyfriend was studying, but then takes a call and heads back into work.

Nothing on the gardener’s truck, but McGee says the Metro PD located the guy who drove DCD to Ducky’s Old Digs. He was picked up for stalking a guy in Rock Creek Park. He hasn’t given them his name, but Quinn and Bishop have him in interrogation while they run his information. McGee and Gibbs enter the room on the other side of the two-way to watch. Quinn and Bishop show him photos of dead DCD and he tells them he was following the guy in the park because he’s a private investigator who had been hired by the guy’s wife to follow him. He says DCD hired him to find out whatever he could about ONG. Or at least the same name as ONG anyway. All he found was a personal ad taken out by a woman with the same name as Dear Mum six years earlier looking for someone with the same name. They went to the address, found out she had passed away, considered it a dead end. He knows nothing about DCD’s murder, but he does have a hard drive DCD gave him to hold on to as an insurance policy, in case anything ever happened to him. Plot thickener!

Duane Henry as Reeves in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Up in the Bull Pen, Torres has a copy of the personal ad, and Ducky says he was surprised his mother had the wherewithal, considering her Alzheimer’s, to even place the ad, but assumes if she did, it was because she wanted to track him down before she died. Still no idea why DCD would have also been looking for him. Enter Reeves, who tells them that ONG’s name has actually been popping up all over the world, tied to a variety of different accounts, used by over a half-dozen different con men, including Dear Mum’s ONG. Ducky surmises that maybe DCD was using the same name to launder the money he made selling classified data. Enter Abby who just got done reviewing DCD’s hard drive and she states that DCD was definitely not selling classified data. Torres wants to know why he was killed if he wasn’t the seller. And, once again, we fade to a weary and concerned Ducky black and white. (Should I be worried about the overt Ducky focus of this episode, despite the other secondary story lines? I know there is talk that this is his last season, but … let’s not start the Big Send Off quite yet, k?)

Back in the Bull Pen McGee and Bishop tell Gibbs that they can prove that DCD wasn’t on his computer when the classified intel was stolen, so he was set up. Turns out the bank account set up in his name in Crimea was signed for by a guy named — say it with me — ONG. Apparently, DCD knew all of this, it’s all on his hard drive, making Bishop wonder why he didn’t go to the police and clear his name. An increasingly testy Gibbs would like to know, too, and orders her to find out. He orders McGee to find the gardener, as he clearly knows something about all of this, then takes a call at his desk and gets really incensed. He barks at whoever is on the other end, telling them that it’s the worst possible time, then suddenly stops, grows calm and tells whoever it is that, in fact, he’s all right, even goes so far as to thank them. Smiling, he hangs up. Bishop wants to know if they got a break in the case. A relieved Gibbs laughs and just says, “Exterminator. My house has to be tented.” He’s grinning madly now. “Termites,” he adds, laughing gleefully as he exits, leaving Bishop and McGee looking confused. Ah, yes, the perfect way to get Fornell out.

Down in Ducky’s Digs, Quinn enters and says Abby got hold of the original paperwork for Dear Mum’s personal ad and she thought he’d like it. She also tells him that the PD has found the gardener and is bringing him in. She gently asks the clearly distracted Ducky if there’s anything he’d like to talk about. He says he’s talked enough. Young Ducky appears in the room, in his mind’s eye, telling Our Ducky that he made the right choice, that ONG was as “bent as a two-headed penny.” Our Ducky doesn’t seem so sure. The two go back and forth over ONG’s admitted past and whether or not love would make a leopard change his spots. In the midst of it, Young Ducky compliments Our Ducky on his “fabulous” skin. HA. Young Ducky reminds Our Ducky that if he’d told Dear Mum what he’d learned about ONG it would have crushed her, and embarrassed her, to think she’d fallen for a man like that. Our Ducky is convinced that he should have left it up to her, that he took her one and only love away, leaving her alone the rest of her life. Young Ducky reminds Our Ducky that he did the same, and he agrees, saying that is why he knows exactly what he took from her. He can’t make peace with it.

We shift to the past where Dear Mum is beside herself with worry about ONG, and how she hasn’t heard from him in two weeks, convinced something horrible has happened. Young Ducky tries to calm her by saying that perhaps things were moving too fast and he just needed a break. She gets right up in his business and makes it quite clear that she knew exactly what she was feeling was the real thing. She breaks down and Young Ducky looks torn, but tells her that when his tour in the field is done and he moves to America, he wants her to come with him. At first she’s rather aghast. (“America? Where they mix bacon with syrup?” HA.) But then she calms and thanks him for being such a good boy, naysaying the idea. He counters that he can live with her until she gets settled. And we all know she never does and lives with him the rest of her life.

Jennifer Esposito, Wilmer Valderrama, Duane Henry, Pauley Perrette, Brian Dietzen, Emily Wickersham, Sean Murray and Mark Harmon in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Cue the interrogation room with McGee and Gibbs, where Gardener is watching the video clip of him hopping in his truck and taking off a second after the NCIS agents had left. Gibbs wants to know where he went. On the other side of the two-way is Torres and Ducky, who has just entered the room. Gardener claimed that he was late for a class, and McGee and Gibbs hammer him on whether this class taught him how to hack passwords and set up fake accounts. He looks completely clueless to what they are saying, then blurts out that he can’t tell them the truth because he promised. Gibbs presses and he says he’ll tell them, but that Ducky can never know. Turns out Gardener and Dear Mum were lovers. Ruh roh. Torres thinks it’s hilarious. Ducky? Maybe not so much. Gibbs takes a pause, too, then urges him to go on. He explains that he and “Bubbles” (oh, Ducky, we’re so sorry, but HA!) hooked up in the nineties. He was 25 years her junior and not English, so a scandal as far as “Bubbles” was concerned. She made him promise never to tell her son.

McGee wants to know why, if they were together, that Dear Mum ran that personal ad. Turns out Gardener was the one who ran the ad. He explains that near the end, Dear Mum thought she saw ONG, and so he offered to run the ad to try and find him. He said she wasn’t well and he’d have done anything for her. It’s very sweet. Ducky’s expression smooths out a bit. Gardener says Dear Mum wrote all of it down in her diary, which she gave him when she started to get sick. It turns out that’s where he was going when the agents left, back to his home to make sure the diary was still hidden as he’d promised. Gibbs asks where Dear Mum thought she saw ONG. Turns out it was at the theater.

We return to where we began, at The Nutcracker. This time it’s only DCD’s daughter and hubby descending the steps outside the theater after taking in another showing. Daughter says she can’t believe he’s gone and out steps Gibbs from behind a Christmas tree on the sidewalk, saying she might not ever believe it. He tells her he still wakes up every morning thinking the same thing about his own dad. Aw, Gibbs. We miss him, too! She asks if he has news about her father’s case and he says unfortunately, he does. Bishop comes up behind her hubby and pulls his wrists behind him so she can put the handcuffs on him. So, a very not merry Christmas for her, then.

Adam Croasdell as Young Angus Clarke and Adam Campbell as Young Ducky in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

We shift to Ducky’s Digs, where he learns from Gibbs that DCD’s son-in-law was ONG’s nephew. Turns out Dear Mum saw Nephew and thought it was ONG. ONG came from a very long line of con men, and in their family, the fake name was passed down from generation to generation to anyone who needed it. Nephew tried to go the straight and narrow after marrying, but saw an opportunity with his wife’s daddy and hacked his account and sold intel to the Young Driver of the ride share, who was, in fact, a Russian spy. Young Driver Spy got nervous when DCD started poking around trying to find out what was really going on and posed as the driver in order to kill him. Interpol has picked him up on his way to Moscow. Son-in-law didn’t realize Young Driver Spy’s plans and didn’t know DCD was in danger. Seems NCIS believes that to be true. So, you know, there’s that for DCD’s daughter to take to bed with her at night.

Ducky says it was all a needless tragedy, but he does have one silver lining. He’s been reading his mother’s diary, and turns out Gardner makes quite an appearance. Gibbs and Bishop both share a “yikes” face, and Ducky smiles and says, “Yes, I’ve been bleeding from my eyeballs all morning.” HA! I bet! All in all, though, he’s happy because his Dear Mum was having a real romance with Gardener and wasn’t alone after all. He says knowing his mum spent the last years of her life head over heels in love is the best Christmas present he could ever have. Aw, Ducky. Bishop tells him they have one more. The door to Ducky’s Digs open and in walks Palmer, with Gardener. Ducky and Gardener hug and Abby pops in just in time to get a photo of the two. Enter the rest of the team, arms filled with presents, so they can celebrate Christmas Eve together. (I might have wanted to open mine somewhere other than the metal autopsy table, but then I’m all “Torres-y” like that.) Everyone lifts a glass to toast Ducky. He lifts his glass as Young Ducky appears at his side. He lifts a silent toast in YD’s direction and smiles, content now, as he takes his sip.

Jennifer Esposito, Wilmer Valderrama, Duane Henry, Pauley Perrette, Brian Dietzen, Sean Murray, David McCallum, Mark Harmon and Emily Wickersham in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We have one bit of business left to take care of, and I’m sure it won’t disappoint. We move to Fornell and Emily, both back at home again, the former wearing a red Christmas sweater with white polar bears on it. HA. She is setting the table and looking forward to opening presents later. She tells him that her boyfriend will be there later and Fornell makes it clear he knows what she and her entomologist boyfriend did. Heh. She plays dumb and he says he knows she planted bugs at Gibbs’ house and “pulled him out of summer camp before the session was over.” HA! When else could two guy friends hang out, drink beer, watch movies? “And braid each other’s hair?” she adds. HA! She grows serious, tells him she wanted him at home for Christmas, that she misses him. He says he knows, and agrees, giving her a hug. He adds that he’d gotten his fill of Gibbs anyway, how he’s a horrible conversationalist. Heh. And even he has his limit on fireplace steaks and cans of beans. The doorbell rings and Emily warns him to be nice to her boyfriend. Fornell assures her he will be, saying he really owes the guy a thank-you for saving him from Gibbs. That last part comes out as Emily opens the door and there stands Gibbs, with a bedroll and clothes. Turns out he needs a place to stay while his house is being fumigated. HA! He comes in, drops his gear and flops down on the couch. He puts his hands behind his head and we fade to a broadly grinning Gibbs black and white.

Best. Ending. EVER.

Ah, I always love the Special Christmas Episode, but this may go down as one of my all-time favorites. I’ll just try not to think about the part where that means we don’t get to spend time with the team again until sometime in January.

In the meantime, I still have a Christmas present for one of you to open! Last week I put up a signed copy of my current release, Starfish Moon, along with a bookmark charm designed exclusively for the book by Joyce Taber of The Cotton Thistle. And? Santa has parked his sleigh on Debbi Taylor’s roof! Debbi, drop me an e-mail to donna@donnakauffman.com (I do all of Santa’s book shipping) with your address and your prize will go right out to you.

I hope all of you have a safe and happy holiday season. I look forward to joining you all again in January. In the meantime, feel free to join me on my veritable swath of social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, heck, even Pinterest. (Remember that craft-teaching-on-the-side gig?) Drop by, join in and you’ll get to be a part of the everyday party AND even get more chances to win free stuff! I know! Ho, ho, ho!

See you back here next year!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com or join her on Facebook.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

Happy New Year! And welcome to part two of season 14. We’re about halfway through the season, and tonight we dive straight into the story arc teased last month. Wilhoughby.

I’m diving straight in, too …

We open on a private airstrip as a black SUV pulls up. A well-dressed man gets out, meets the pilot of a small jet on the tarmac. Well-Dressed is the point guy for someone very powerful and influential and informs the pilot that his boss will arrive shortly and confirm if everything regarding the flight prep is to his liking. We learn the regular co-pilot has food poisoning and has been replaced by another, but no worries. Mr. Powerful & Influential has already signed off on the new guy. And who might the substitute pilot be? Well, well, none other than our own Very Special Agent Clayton Reeves.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Cut to a small, bare-bones bathroom containing a claw-foot tub/shower, toilet and sink. Gibbs is standing at the latter, shaving using a straight razor and strop. Of course he is. He gets a call from Director Vance back at HQ who informs him that Operation Willoughby is a go. Gibbs smiles and exits stage left.

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits! Hello, 2017!

Bishop enters the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness with her boyfriend, Qasim Naasir, the translator we first met in season 12. Turns out he’s doing a stint with the NSA at the moment and finding his office space unconducive to critical thinking. Bishop likes the library. Qasim likes the forest. In comes Torres and Quinn who both smile at the newly attached couple. Qasim exits and Bishop asks the other agents where they do their best thinking. For Quinn it’s when she’s sleeping. For Torres, it’s the bathroom. Aaand, I put my bowl of popcorn aside. McGee, who sadly didn’t beef up even a little over the holiday break, is too distracted to even note the conversation, but Gibbs pops out of Vance’s office just then and directs him to read the team in on Willoughby. Off they go to … interrogation? Because there aren’t any other secure places in the building?

Anyway, in the interrogation room, McGee tells them the operation focuses on Mr. Powerful, who, as it turns out, is Kai Chen, a wealthy Asian businessman accused of committing acts of terror to manipulate the stock market. Bishop mentions two attacks that Chen supposedly funded, and Torres assumes with that intel it would be a slam-dunk, but McGee reports they have no hard fast evidence tying Chen to any of it. Operation Willoughby is tasked with gathering that evidence. McGee tells them about how they’ve inserted Reeves on to Chen’s flight to D.C.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Jennifer Esposito as Quinn, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We move to MTAC where Vance and Gibbs are talking on the Big Screen of All Knowing to the international task force that has been organized to run the operation. There are agents from France, South Africa, and the other I can’t see yet. Vance says MI-6 will be on board as well. The team confirms to Vance that Reeves has been able to bug the cockpit and the plane’s operational system. They also have eyes on Chen’s vehicle on the freeway. He’s 10 minutes from arrival at the airfield.

Back in interrogation, McGee picks up the story, explaining that when Chen is on board and connects his laptop to the plane’s Wi-Fi system, Reeves can activate his remote device that will allow them to copy all the data on Chen’s computer directly to the team at NCIS. Nifty. They feel certain that will give them all the proof they need. Boom. Done. Quinn is confused, because when NSA approached her during her time at FLETC looking for recruits for the operation, she was told it was something of a suicide mission. She’s not seeing how their current game plan is that potentially dangerous. Torres explains that once Chen connects his computer to the plane’s Wi-Fi, his top-notch digital security will inform him of the breach. Meaning Reeves will be stuck on a plane with a bunch of folks who know he’s the plant in all this. So, yeah. That’s not good.

Everyone in MTAC is watching, waiting, all systems go. Then suddenly Well-Dressed, Chen’s point man, makes an unanticipated exit from the plane. Gibbs isn’t getting a good feeling about that at all. Well-Dressed heads straight to the SUV as Chen’s vehicle heads toward a highway exit. Certain they’ve been made, Vance orders them to tell Reeves to abort the mission. The SUV peels away from the plane … which explodes a moment later.

NO! That’s not how you start a new year, Show! Don’t go killing off one of your guys. Come on, now. Say it ain’t so. Special Agent Clayton Reeves, we barely knew you! (And I don’t see there being any way he got off that plane, as they were all watching it, live on screen. They’d have seen him.) Gibbs, Vance and all the agents on screen look stunned. Suicide mission, indeed. Fade to a very disturbed and disgruntled black and white.

OK, so we come back from commercial break and McGee is shouting down the press over the phone, then tells Bishop their cover story about the plane explosion being due to mechanical failure with no survivors is playing well so far. Can’t have Chen knowing that Reeves survived. Because, yeah. Apparently, Reeves miraculously survived a private jet completely imploding. Not only that, the other pilot is also alive and in surgery. You know, Show, if you want folks believably surviving stuff, you can’t blow it to smithereens. Because the explosion you showed, and the scorched earth that was left afterward? Yeah, nobody walked away from that. Shaking my head. But OK, let’s go with that. Welcome back to the land of the living, Agent Reeves!

The team has a BOLO out on the black SUV, but given Chen made a vehicle switch and has otherwise completely disappeared, it would be hard to believe that Well-Dressed is still tooling around in the same car. But then, if we’re supposed to believe that folks can survive being inside a small container that has been blown to literal bits, why not? Then we see the reporter that McGee threatened live on television revealing that both men are still alive and ruining their cover story. Well, if Chen was trying to blow Reeves up because he was on to Operation Willoughby, his cover isn’t only blown, it was blown up. If they think Chen will try to come back and blow him up all over again, well, then, they can use Reeves as bait. Whatever the case, this plot isn’t fulfilling any of my Big Story Arc dreams so far.

So … we’re with Reeves and Gibbs at the hospital. Reeves says when he saw Well-Dressed leave the plane, he didn’t take any chances, and dove out the window on the opposite side of the plane, and the other pilot followed him. (OK. A: They’d have still seen them both hit the ground. B: Even if they somehow missed that, they’d definitely have seen them running far enough away that not only did they not get blown to bits, but other than a few tears in Reeves’ shirt, there isn’t a dirt mark on it. Come on. Also, C: The other pilot is in critical condition, so he didn’t go running anywhere.) But again, we’ll just suck that up and move on. Reeves tells Gibbs that he’s just banged up a little, no harm, no foul (it’s not a short drop out of the side of that plane, but at least that is somewhat plausible) and that just before he departed, stage left, he overheard Well-Dressed talking on his cell, speaking Chinese, telling whoever was on the other end that Chen is planning another attack. Reeves begs Gibbs to put him back in the field, but Gibbs says he’s in the hospital until the doctor releases him, then he’s to report to HQ. Reeves isn’t happy. I say he should run out and buy all the lottery tickets. With his kind of luck, he’s sure to win the Mega Millions.

Back at HQ, Vance and Gibbs argue over the best way to proceed. Vance has called the global task force to come in for a meeting (hey, there’s a nice target for Chen!) so they can plot another operation. Gibbs isn’t impressed, given the result of the “foolproof” plan they just tried to execute. He wants to work with the leads they have right there on the ground in D.C., and Vance gives him the OK, but reminds him that given Chen’s international reach, they will still be working with the task force.

We take a Cute Couple Banter Break with Bishop and Qasim. He’s still translating phone calls and getting nothing. Bishop brings him NSA mail that came inadvertently to her desk, and they have a short chat about how she saw that on Reeves’ call sheet he listed himself as the person to call in case of emergency. Qasim reveals he listed Bishop, and she’s charmed by that. He adds that maybe Reeves didn’t have anyone else to list but himself.

Back in the bull pen, we learn that the pilot is out of surgery and McGee is off to speak to him. Still no current photo of Chen, so they are working off the one that is over a decade old. They do have a current shot of Well-Dressed, but for all the good that will do them. No sign of him or the SUV. Gibbs tells Torres and Quinn that after WD vetted Reeves, Reeves followed him to an auto-parts place in D.C. He suspects that might be Chen’s “hub” in D.C. and sends Quinn and Torres to find out.

In comes Abby, letting Gibbs know that the intel bug that Reeves planted did pick up one transmission that she managed to decode. It was from the other pilot of the plane, who called Chen right before Chen’s car suddenly exited the highway. They contact McGee with that info. As he arrives at the hospital, Reeves has been officially released. McGee tells him that it was the pilot who tipped Chen off and takes him along for their little chat. Other Pilot looks far more the worse for wear than Reeves, but he’s not burned over the larger percentage of his body as anyone else who was involved in that kind of explosion, so he has that going for him. Reeves wants to know how he knew Reeves was a plant, then says he thinks Other Pilot is also keeping a few secrets of his own. OP tells them to call his girls, then, as McGee tries to get him back on track, he persists, saying that his girls don’t know anything. Before they can get anything more from him, he flatlines. Fade to black and white.

We come back to Ducky talking about a historic fire where miraculously nobody died, and yeah, OK. Turns out the injuries sustained in the explosion didn’t kill him. In fact, he would have made a full recovery. OP killed himself by intentionally increasing the morphine on his morphine drip. They found his fingerprints on the keypad that locked and unlocked the drip and surmised he watched the nurse code it in and repeated it. Up in the bull pen, we learn that Chen would harm or kill the family members of anyone associated with him who spoke out of turn, so OP was afraid that his family would suffer and offed himself before anyone could talk to him. His girls turned out to be his wife and 9-year-old daughter. Bishop wonders what OP could have known that would make him take such drastic steps. McGee reveals he’d been Chen’s pilot for five years. We also learn that Reeves trained for months to get his pilot’s license and get in close with OP to set himself up for the gig. Bishop worries that Reeves doesn’t have many close friends and might be mourning OP’s death. Enter a serious Reeves who tells them he’s back on desk duty and ready to get back to work. No more chitchat.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Rafi Silver as Qasim in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We shift to Torres and Quinn who are still staking out the auto-parts shop that might double as Chen’s local hub. Torres is dry-brushing his teeth while Quinn worries that with all the other cars on the block now departing, they are too conspicuous. Torres thinks if anyone sees them, they just start making out. Quinn is not enthused by that plan. She sees a window high up on the building across the street and thinks that would make a better lookout. Torres is all, “I don’t take orders from you,” and she’s all, “Well, I could tell everyone about your hour-long beauty regimen.” He’s less of a fan of that idea and off they go to find their way up to that window.

Turns out the building is a doughnut-making factory and the owner is all too excited to show them how the magic is made. Quinn urges him to show them where the window is while Torres scores as many packs of doughnuts as possible. Heh. Turns out the bathroom is high above the commode in a small, industrial-looking bathroom. Torres is fine with this, after all, it’s his good thinking place. Quinn, not so much.

We skip back to HQ with Vance meeting with the task force. They are committed to continuing the operation, but question whether Reeves might have divulged his connection to OP. Vance sticks up for Reeves, but there is continued concern that the two men became good friends over the few months they worked together and if he didn’t outright divulge his role, that maybe he somehow tipped OP off. Outside the office, Bishop is talking to Gibbs about Reeves and his lack of friends, and how even when she spent time with him the previous summer in Scotland, she had no idea he was training for a job that would risk his life and — Gibbs cuts her off, saying he assumes her bottom line is that she’s concerned about Reeves? She says yes and he’s all, “Why didn’t you just say that 10 minutes ago?” Bishop not being clear is one of the underlying themes tonight, but it’s not really playing.

In the conference room are OP’s wife and young daughter. Daughter has her head bent over her books while Mom answer’s Bishop’s questions. She didn’t know much about her husband’s work. He didn’t talk about it and she didn’t ask. She admits that she had sort of figured out that the money her husband made was too good to be true. She explains that OP had a hard childhood and was trying to provide something better for their daughter. Mom doesn’t want anything said in the room that would change her daughter’s opinion of her father, who was a good dad to her. Bishop notices her charm bracelet. Her father brought her a charm back from each trip he’d piloted for his boss. Ooh, you say charm bracelet. I say clue bracelet! Chen’s itinerary is on that girl’s wrist. Bishop is right on that. She notes that the cities represented on the bracelet match the places noted in Qasim’s conversation translations. She and Gibbs head down to his office and yep, the cities match up. Bishop tells Qasim that his work might be the key to them solving their case. Fade to black and white.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Back in the bull pen, Bishop has printouts of all the translated phone conversations. They are between two unidentified men speaking in a rare form of Pashto that is hard to translate, but the men are not Afghani as they are speaking with an accent. Reeves believes they are using the rarely spoken language as a sort of code, and what they are saying in that language is also in code. Bishop reports that NSA has another phone call between the two men from the previous night. Gibbs orders it to be sent to Qasim, then invites Reeves over for a steak dinner and read-through of the translations to see if anything pops with something he may have learned while working with OP.

Meanwhile over at the auto-parts store, Torres is waxing philosophical, being as he’s all in his brain place, while Quinn is wishing she could be anywhere else. They spy a black van pull up, but the driver gets out and puts a package in the mailbox across the street, so they assume it’s unrelated. I dunno. Maybe that’s the dead drop? Except kind of hard to retrieve it, unless the postman is on the take.

Back at Gibbs’ place, Reeves is coming up blank on finding anything of use in the translations. He assumes Gibbs really brought him there to talk about his possibly divulging things to OP, so he assures him he did not and that, despite being orphaned young and passed around foster care, Gibbs can stop worrying about him. Gibbs assures him he already knew all that about him and that he’s not worried about him. Bishop, however, is another story. Reeves says, “Scotland.” Then he tells Gibbs that he went there to figure out things, life things. Bishop was there at the same time, and they met up. She talked about her family, and her NCIS family, and it was obvious how much it all meant to her. So when he got back, he signed up for Willoughby, so the NCIS family wouldn’t have to risk any one of their team, of their family. Aww, Reeves. Hug! Gibbs says, “You think you’re alone in the dark, close your eyes, remember everything good.” He explains that his mother told him that just before she died, then adds, “Smart lady.” Reeves takes that in, then looks down at the translation and sees where the two men are talking about unlucky numbers and the one they say can’t be trusted happens to be the last digits in Reeve’s pilot license. The call was made weeks ago, which means Chen has probably known about Willoughby for quite some time.

We shift to Abby Lab, where Abs is stomping on bubble wrap as a non-violent way to work out her aggression about being duped. She explains to McGee that it turns out the phone calls always came within an hour after one of their task force meetings. Which means they have a mole on the task force. She was able to put the voices through voice recognition and bingo! Up in Vance’s office, in comes the only woman on the task force team (I thought she was from France, but not sure) and they play her voice as recorded in the room during their meetings, and her voice on the taped phone call and they are the same. Ruh roh. Busted.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Rafi Silver as Qasim in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Next up, we see Bishop going into a library where she finds Qasim working at one of the desks. He said he tried it out and it worked for him. She smiles and tells him she had 10 plants delivered to his office. Building him a forest. She gives him another thumb drive to translate and tells him his work has helped them a lot. He’s pleased, they both smile and he stands to take Bishop’s hands … then boom, the library window shatters as Qasim takes three bullets to the chest (now that looks really, really bad, but potentially, plausibly, survivable. So, naturally, since this is the one happy part of the show, he’ll probably die.) He goes down, Bishop dives, then crawls over to him and shouts for someone to call 911. And we fade to another tense black and white.

Wow, so they weren’t kidding about not messing around with the second part of this season. Dang, Show.

We come back to Bishop racing along next to an unresponsive Qasim on a gurney as he’s being rushed into surgery. Back at HQ, Gibbs updates McGee on that and says Ducky is on his way to be with Bishop. McGee says a witness saw a black SUV outside just before the shooting, which is enough to bring Well-Dressed in for questioning, but not enough to arrest him. A disgusted Gibbs heads into interrogation where Reeves is getting nowhere with the task force mole. She explains that Chen has her over a barrel and she can’t tell them anything. Gibbs counters that he’s the one who has her. She says she fed Chen intel before he became a monster, that she needed the money for her son, but Reeves cuts off her explanation, saying they don’t care why, they want to know why Chen allowed the operation to play out so long, including blowing up his own plane. She says that the operation kept the task force tied up and that gave him more time to set things in motion. He knew his pilot had gotten close to Reeves and thought OP had turned, so the bomb was meant to kill both of them. Gibbs goes on to say that she knew Qasim was helping them with the translations, so she was responsible for him being a target, too. She says Chen didn’t want him translating that last call. She says she can’t say more or Chen will kill her family. Reeves continues with question after question, but she wants to call her embassy. Gibbs wants to know the next target, but she says she doesn’t know anything more than they do, that it’s somewhere in the New York City financial district. Gibbs explains that her embassy will just tell her to do what he tells her to do, and that’s to call Well-Dressed and say they need to meet at the auto-parts shop.

Down in Abby Lab, she’s stomping bubble wrap again, more worked up than before, and McGee is on the phone with Quinn and Torres, who tell them that Well-Dressed just showed up at the auto-parts store. (OK, so I’m thinking that package in the mailbox is a bomb and Chen is getting ready to blow up Well-Dressed because he’s getting too close to being busted. But that’s just me.) Quinn and Torres are ready to go in and snag Well-Dressed, but Gibbs tells them to hold tight. He hangs up and asks McGee if they’ve gotten anything else on Well-Dressed yet. Abby gets done with her bubble wrap tantrum and tells Gibbs that Quinn and Torres got the VIN number off the SUV after Well-Dressed went inside the auto-parts shop and she’s been able to tap in and download the GPS history on the vehicle, but it’s still downloading. She thanks McGee for being so understanding about her anger issues, then her computer dings with the GPS download results, proving that the SUV was at the library at the time of the shooting. Gibbs calls Torres and sends them in to snag Well-Dressed.

Rafi Silver as Qasim in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Quinn and Torres race out as Well-Dressed is leaving the shop. Shots are fired from both sides and WD goes down. They pin him with two guns pointed at his chest and order him to tell them where the attack will be. He says they continue to underestimate Chen, then uses his gun to shoot himself in the head. One hell of a boss, this Chen.

Gibbs and Reeves come off the elevator at the hospital as Ducky stands to meet them, asking if the others have come. He’s told they are on their way, but that the prognosis isn’t good. Qasim was without oxygen for too long, and though the doctors stopped the bleeding, there is no brain function. He’s being kept alive by machines, but he is brain dead. He tells a visibly shaken Reeves that Bishop was asking for him. He nods, then goes into Qasim’s room.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Rafi Silver as Qasim in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

A tearful Bishop stands up and hands Reeves the thumb drive she’d gone to the library to give Qasim, the one with the conversation Chen didn’t want translated. He wants to know why she’s giving it to him. She says she doesn’t know his reason, but she does know he will do anything to get Chen. She tells him she will, too. Reeves turns to go, then asks if she wants him to stay. She says no, that she just doesn’t know how to say goodbye to Qasim. Reeves says, “Maybe you could close your eyes. Remember everything good.” And suddenly I think someone must be chopping onions in the other room. I need a tissue. They hold each other’s gaze for a moment, and he leaves. She sits beside the bed and takes Qasim’s hand, then she closes her eyes.
And we fade to our final black and white.

Dammit. I need more tissues!

So, plane explosion debacle notwithstanding, I’m in. Will be interesting to see where this goes. What say you, my intrepid NCIS viewers? One of the most frequent comments I get from you all each week is the feeling that this new team hybrid needs to jump into one of NCIS classic multiepisode story arcs to truly solidify things. Will this be The One? If you’d asked me 30 minutes ago, I’d have said nope, don’t think so. I’ve changed my mind. You?

Drop your thoughts to me at donna@donnakauffman.com. And while you’re at it, you can enter the first giveaway of this brand-new year! Up for grabs is a signed copy of my current release, Starfish Moon, along with a beautiful bookmark charm designed exclusively for the book by the lovely Joyce Taber of The Cotton Thistle. To enter, just put “I could use a little Starfish Moon escape!” in the subject line, and you’re in! I’ll announce the winner right here in this column in two weeks (no new NCIS next week).

In the meantime, feel free to join me on any of the plethora of social media sites I frequent: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, heck, even Pinterest. I’m everywhere. Drop by, chat a little and even get the chance to win more free stuff! Yes, even you.

Donna Kauffman is the USA Today bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!) You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com or join her on Facebook.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

And we’re back! Again. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

After a cliffhanger ender, the previouslies getting us back up to speed on Operation Willoughby, right up to and including Qasim being KIA and Agent Reeves taking Qasim’s intel-filled thumb drive from a grief-stricken and angry Bishop.

We open with Gibbs having breakfast at his favorite diner. And check him out. That turtleneck? Yes. Out the window, he notices a guy looking to pick up some work as day labor on a construction crew. Guy is turned away, but Gibbs is already tracking him. As the man nears his vehicle, Gibbs calls out to him, then messes up his hair a bit and walks with a limp as he crosses the street toward the guy. For his part, Guy reaches under his shirt for the gun he has shoved down the waistband of his pants, but when he sees who it is, he lets his shirt drop back into place. He tells Gibbs he thought he was dead. Gibbs chuckles and tells him, “Wishful thinking.”

Then it’s awesome opening theme song and credits!

We’re in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness as Torres arrives and spies a big bouquet of flowers filling the space between his desk and Quinn’s. He’s not big on “froufrou flowers” but she tells him they’re for Bishop, given she’s had to deal with both Qasim’s funeral and clearing out his apartment. Torres thinks that is a splendid gesture and asks to be put on the card, saying he’ll pay half. Quinn says nope and carries them to Bishop’s desk. Reeves is on the other side of the partition and tells Quinn he’s been summoned to the British Embassy to meet with the special ops director.

Reeves meets up with Bishop as she’s exiting the elevator. She assures him she’s OK. He tells her he hasn’t found a translator he can trust to decode the info on the thumb drive. They part, Bishop heads to her desk, comments on the flowers, and Torres is all, “We thought you’d like them,” earning the side eye from Quinn.

Enter Vance and McGee, the former wondering where Gibbs is. Seems he missed a training session he was supposed to be teaching and Vance can’t reach him by cell either. The team is stumped, and Vance orders them to find him. Aaand, I guess this is where the Off the Grid episode name becomes a thing. McGee and Quinn think something is wrong, as it’s out of character for Gibbs to not let them know if he’s going to be late. Torres thinks maybe he’s doing something personal that’s none of their business. McGee sends Bishop and Quinn to Gibbs’ house, which isn’t an assignment they relish, going into the boss’ house when he’s not home. McGee orders Torres to go with him to the diner. Finally, McGee getting the chance to look all team-leadery. Or, you know, do something. If we’re to believe he’s team leader after DiNozzo’s departure, then they need to step up his storyline, pronto.

Mark Harmon and Tobias Jelinek in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

I can’t recall if we’ve ever seen the exterior of Gibbs’ house, but if so, I’ve forgotten it. Looks a lot more, I don’t know, homey, I’d have assumed. What with the neatly trimmed hedges and porch. They ring the bell, enter, calling out. We switch to outside the diner with McGee and Torres as McGee slides a parking ticket out from under the wiper blade on Gibbs’ truck. He says he’s never known Gibbs to get a parking ticket in his life. Back at the homestead, Quinn and Bishop come up empty-handed, except for the book Bishop finds on Gibbs’ nightstand, complete with bookmark showing the owner has read a fair bit. The title? The Sensitive Man’s Survival Handbook. HA! Quinn is all, “I didn’t see that coming.” You and us both. Then Quinn accidentally breaks a dish, and, very unfortunately for her, it appears to be one made by Gibbs’ late daughter, Kelly. Ruh roh.

Back at the diner, McGee and Torres question Gibbs’ waitress, who said he seemed in good spirits, chattier than normal even, then mentions how he took off when she was still making his to-go coffee, leaving a $20, which was far more than his tab. She hasn’t seen him since. McGee calls Abby and gets her to ping Gibbs’ cell, which, it turns out, is across the street from the diner. They call the cell … and hear it ringing inside a U.S. Postal mailbox. More ruh roh … Fade to black and white.

In Vance’s office, McGee and Torres explain that they had a postal service inspector open the mailbox. Inside they found Gibbs’ wallet, ID, badge and phone. But not his gun, so he has that going for him, anyway. No way to know if he was robbed. No cash in the wallet, but all his credit cards were there. They agree that it might have been a way to quickly go undercover, ditching anything that could reveal who he was, but why he would do such a thing, they have no idea. McGee plans to get any traffic cam footage from the area. He’s already checked the phone and there was one incoming call from Rebecca Chase that morning and one outgoing call when Gibbs called her back. McGee explains to Torres that Rebecca is one of Gibbs’ ex-wives. Oooh, the mysterious one we’ve never seen yet? Or wait, maybe we saw her once. Anyway … intrigue! Vance will call Rebecca to see if she knows anything and McGee takes Gibbs’ personal belongings down to Abby in case there is any trace on them from someone other than Gibbs.

Quinn is looking at traffic cam footage and shares that D.C. has more traffic cams than any other city in the country. She notes Bishop isn’t paying attention and walks over to her desk, sees that she’s looking at Chen’s file. They have a short chat about Bishop needing to let the others work on the Willoughby op, and Bishop insisting she’s OK. Quinn is worried that Bishop’s dogged nature, which she’s observed since FLETC, will keep her involved and warns her off. Bishop insists she understands, then heads down to Abby Lab to see if Abs has found anything.

Abby gives Bishop a big, sympathetic Abby Hug. But it’s Abby who needs the Abby Hug. She hasn’t found any evidence on his truck or personal effects and is freaking out. Bishop talks her off the ledge. Up in the Bull Pen, we’re watching the traffic cam feeds on the Screen of All Knowing and see Gibbs, who is alone, dumping his personal effects in the mailbox. He looks right at the traffic cam, sending the signal that he knows what he’s doing. The next shot shows him getting into the truck with Guy, and the team spots his limp. The angle of the truck makes it pretty much impossible to get a facial rec or license plate, but they send the footage down to Abby. Who, as it turns out, is doing a pyramid something or other over Gibbs’ effects, as a mystical way to ensure his safe return. We see that Abby has already decoded the license plate and see Bishop in the background, running the info. In the meantime, Quinn brings out the broken Kelly plate, asking if Abby can help her repair it. She agrees to give it a shot, just as Bishop comes in with the hit on the license plate.

Up in Vance’s office, we learn that Guy is actually Bodie Whitman, who just finished a 10-year stint in a federal prison for armed robbery thanks to Gibbs’ very last undercover case. Bodie was part of an anti-government militia run by his older brother. Gibbs went undercover to infiltrate the group, using the name Leland Robert Spears. Vance wants to know what the hell Gibbs was thinking, given the gang Bodie was attached to were, in his words, “a bunch of psychos.” Fade to black and white.

Tobias Jelinek and Mark Harmon in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

We come back to the Bull Pen and learn, from Vance, that 16 years ago, Bodie’s big brother was involved with hijacking a Navy transport carrying spent nuclear fuel rods. Two Marines were killed. Gibbs went in as a disgruntled vet, was undercover for months, learned the militia planned to bomb D.C.’s Metro subway, but the militia eventually got spooked and scattered. Gibbs got Bodie on harboring his brother, but that was the extent of Bodie’s involvement at that time. Several of the militia were killed in an FBI shootout a year later, but Bodie’s big bro and the fuel rods were never found. Vance orders them to pull everything NCIS has on the old case and track down any agent who worked on it over that time period.

We finally shift to Gibbs and Bodie, who have stopped to get gas. Gibbs gives Bodie cash to pay for it, making Bodie think he’s doing well for himself. While he’s inside paying, Gibbs bums a phone off a woman pumping gas, using the excuse that he needs to tell his worrier of a wife that he’s going to be late.

Back at HQ, we learn that Gibbs’ calls with his ex, Rebecca, were to confirm dinner together that evening, McGee fields the incoming call from Gibbs, but Gibbs is forced to hang up just as McGee answers, as Bodie returns to the truck. Bodie asks about the woman, but Gibbs passes it off as a woman with phone trouble. He cleans the back window of the truck, notices Bodie taking a few pills. He claims to have a headache and heads back to the driver’s seat. Gibbs finishes cleaning the rear window, hears the woman taking a call, and we’re fairly sure he knows it’s one of the agents calling back on the number.

Sean Murray as McGee and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

McGee identifies himself to her, she explains who made the call. He asks her to describe the guy and she does, including Gibbs’ “incredible blue eyes.” Heh. McGee is able to confirm that Gibbs is with Bodie by describing the truck. She gives them the location. We know they are heading to Baltimore based on a comment Bodie made, and McGee figures out that is their destination as well, given that Bodie’s current driver’s license has a Baltimore address.

Up in MTAC, we’re reminiscing with some older agents who worked the militia case way back when, one of whom mentions working with some hotshot young agents, Gibbs and Vance. Vance enters to hear this and banter ensues. Vance tells the retired special agent that an old case of his resurfaced and the agent is disappointed to see which one it happens to be. Deputy Director of the Department of Energy is on the MTAC Screen of All Knowing and Retired Agent (Pettis) learns that Gibbs ran into Bodie that morning and “went dark.” They’re hoping that Gibbs is trying to get a second crack at Bodie’s older brother and finding the fuel rods, which falls under the Deputy Director’s responsibility. Vance isn’t calling the 12-years-retired Pettis back on duty, and he has no desire to risk his life with that group anyway. What Vance wants is for him and the Deputy Director to do a deep dig on all the collected info and see if there’s any information they can glean or recall that might be of some help.

We shift to McGee and Torres, the latter of whom is urging McGee to drive with a bit more urgency. This leads to talks of bull-riding (don’t ask) and Torres’ recounted history with a bull named Robert. The eventual moral of the story is: Drive faster, McGee. Which he does.

In Baltimore, we see Bodie and Gibbs enter Bodie’s apartment. We see militia-type sentiments posted on the wall and a knife sunk into the back of the door, clearly not for the first time. In the convo that follows, we learn that Bodie is behind on his rent by a few months. We also learn that Gibbs has told Bodie that he has a buyer for the fuel rods. He expects Bodie to call Big Bro and get things going, only to learn that Bodie, well, you see, he doesn’t so much call his brother as send out a signal to him, and then only in emergencies. Turns out the only signal he’s ever sent was when their father died. Gibbs loses his cool, threatens to walk. We see Bodie take more pain meds, then he goes to the laptop and explains how they contact each other via a wish list item on an auction site. Bodie shows an interest in the wish list item, and Big Bro sees it and knows to call him, always using a burner phone, of course. Gibbs urges him to make contact and Bodie does.

Tobias Jelinek and Mark Harmon in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

They head outside, going to get something to eat. Gibbs is behind Bodie by a step or two, still limping. He gets knocked into by a passerby, who turns to apologize. It’s Torres. They keep on walking their separate ways. We learn that Torres managed to slip Gibbs his wallet, with his undercover ID driver’s license inside. They pass by McGee, who appears to be chatting on his cell. So Gibbs knows they are both there. Nicely played, boys. Fade to black and white.

Gibbs and Bodie walk and talk. Gibbs tells Bodie he was in Idaho a long time, just came back to D.C. a year ago. Bodie of course has been in prison. McGee and Torres are now in their car across the street. There was a bug in the wallet, so they can listen in on the conversation. McGee is impressed with Torres’ ability to plant the wallet. Torres calls it the “reverse pickpocket.” He asks what time it is, then hands McGee his watch, saying he practiced on him. Heh. Gibbs and Bodie are back in the apartment, sharing their government-hating views. McGee says it’s weird listening to his boss talk like that, and Torres reminds him that that’s Gibbs’ undercover persona talking. They hear the phone ring. In the apartment, we see Bodie take the call from an unlisted number, certain it’s his brother. Gibbs talks to Big Bro, explains about having a buyer. Big Bro says he’ll get back to him.

Back at the Bull Pen, Reeves returns from his meeting at the embassy and tells Bishop in a hushed convo that he learned that intel suggests that Chen is on a yacht in the Aegean, off the coast of Greece. He reminds Bishop that if Gibbs finds out she’s working the Chen case and that Reeves is helping her, he’ll kill them both. Bishop is willing to risk that. Across the office, Quinn finishes up a call and spies the two talking by Reeves’ desk. She’s got her suspicions, but just then Abby pops up with the repaired plate. Quinn is astonished, it looks as good as new. She’s all, “Where is the crack?” and Abby’s all, “Crack? What crack?” Mission accomplished, Abby heads out for the night.

Back with Bodie and Gibbs, who, I should have mentioned, has adopted this weird cadence thing in his voice for his undercover role that doesn’t really play, and calls everyone Bubba, but says it like, buh-BAH. Like I said, a weird affectation. Anyway, Bodie gets a call back from Big Bro, who is setting up a meeting. “Bitchin’,” says Gibbs. I shake my head. Big Bro will call back with the location and time. Then Bodie turns around with the gun in his hand and tells Gibbs that what his brother really said was that Spears was actually a federal agent. This prompts a hearty, disbelieving laugh from Gibbs, who tells Brodie that his brother is a little insane, definitely paranoid, which is what blew the deal the last time. He urges Bodie not to let his brother implode things again, telling him they can show the government how much they hate them and get rich, all at the same time. Bodie’s gun hand is shaking and he still doubts Gibbs’ story. Bodie is scared of going back to prison. Gibbs plays devil’s advocate and says even if he was a federal agent, if Bodie shot him, knowing that, he’d get the gas chamber for sure.

Wilmer Valderrrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

Gibbs decides to drop the façade, telling Bodie he’s done nothing wrong so far, only talked to his brother. They can end it there, no harm, no foul, but Bodie thinks killing a federal agent would also send a message to the government. Gibbs tells him he’s got agents right outside, so no way Bodie gets away with it. Bodie is all, “Don’t take me for a fool,” and Gibbs shouts, “McGee?” and gets a “Right here, boss,” in return, much to the surprise of Bodie. Heh. Then Gibbs shouts, “Torres,” and Bodie turns to the bedroom door and fires. Gibbs pulls his gun and tells Bodie to put his weapon down. Bodie swings his gun toward Gibbs, who puts two in Bodie’s chest and that’s the end of that standoff. Fade to a disappointed Gibbs black and white.

Back in the Bull Pen, Bishop gives Gibbs a relieved hug when he comes back. He questions if she should be back at work, and she reassures him she’s fine. Gibbs is concerned that he’s spooked Big Bro, who has likely gone even deeper underground. Gibbs heads down to Ducky’s Digs, gives him the bottle of pills that Brodie had. Turns out the medicine is prescribed to help involuntary jerking. Gibbs thought he was strung out, but turns out Brodie had Huntington’s. Enter Quinn who has traced that the incoming calls to Brodie’s phone were from an old burner phone. No info on the buyer — she can only give him the location of the cell tower the call pinged. Gibbs feels certain that Big Bro destroyed the phone. Ducky tells them that given Huntington’s is hereditary, there is a 50-50 shot that Big Bro has it, too. Despite the fact that it’s not a rare disease, Ducky thinks they might get a lead by tracking the medication.

Up in Vance’s office, he tells Gibbs he might have almost gotten him killed. There are only two people who were connected to both the first and second instance of Big Bro getting spooked, other than Gibbs. One being Pettis, the other being the Deputy Director of the Department of Energy. Vance is certain one of them is the mole who gave up Gibbs to Big Bro. Quinn and Ducky come in and tell Vance and Gibbs that they found someone in the same county as the cell tower that pinged from Big Bro’s burner phone with Huntington’s disease. Up pops a clean-cut-looking guy who doesn’t resemble the Big Bro that Gibbs remembers, but it has been over 15 years. He tells Vance to get a warrant.

In Abby Lab, Abs is recalling the crazy skinhead Big Bro was back in the day as McGee pulls up a bearded, shaved-head Big Bro photo from back then, and the driver’s license photo of the clean-cut guy they think is Big Bro today for a side-by-side comparison. Modern-day guy is married, two kids, lives in Northern Virginia with his schoolteacher wife and works as a real estate agent, Little League sports coach, member of the Rotary and church deacon. About as far a cry from the old days as you get. Abby does a facial match and for sure, it’s the same guy. Off the team goes.

We see Big Bro, who is an all-American cute guy now, packing off his wife and kiddos into their car for an obviously unplanned trip. From their car across the street, Gibbs says to wait for the wife to leave, as it appears that Big Bro is staying behind, so they don’t do the take-down in front of the kids. Wife wants to know what’s up, but Big Bro says he’ll explain later and to give him a call when she gets to her mom’s house. Off they go … and as he ducks into the garage, Gibbs and team get out and surround the house.

In the house, Big Bro opens a small lock box and takes out a gun. As the team closes in, they tell a neighbor to go inside. Big Bro is staring at a portrait of his family, then calls out that he’s unarmed and is going to unlock the door. He unlocks the door, comes out, hands behind his head. He and Gibbs exchange the “never thought I’d see you again” and Gibbs corrects him on the name. Special Agent Gibbs.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

We move to the interrogation room, as photos flash of clean-cut Big Bro’s stripped upper torso, still covered in militia tattoos. On the other side of the screen, Torres explains to Vance that Big Bro explained the tats to his wife by saying he had a past, riding with bikers. Quinn enters and says the warrant paid off. Turns out Big Bro got a phone call from the Deputy Director. So, we found our mole. Or our weasel, as the case may be. Vance tells her to text Gibbs the info.

In the room, Big Bro says he’s willing to talk, but he has conditions. No dice, says Gibbs, who lays photos of the dead Marines on the table. He expresses concern about his family, who knows nothing about his past. Gibbs gets the text from Quinn, as he asks Big Bro where the fuel rods are. BB readily tells him they’re buried about 500 feet from where they hijacked the truck. He said they’re buried near an auto salvage yard, a place he carefully picked. They buried them, then drove the truck away, figuring they’d track the truck, which they did. Gibbs hands BB a pad of paper, telling him to write it all down, including that part where the Deputy Director was the one who tipped him off. He asks if he can see his brother’s body after he’s done writing down his confession. Gibbs nods yes.

Over at Gibbs’ place, he’s watching the news, listening as they relay the story of the now located fuel rods and dead Marines. Quinn comes in, says they picked up the Deputy Director, who has apparently always been anti-government and took the job as a way to get high up on the inside to help the cause. He says she could have called with that info and she agrees, but says she had to come by as she’s been feeling really guilty about something. She hands him a blue gift bag. Gibbs pulls it over, looks inside and smiles, says he was wondering where it went. She explains the whole story, apologizes. He says she could have snuck it back in, and she says it’s not her style. She tells him she knows how horrible it is to lose something special. She relates a story about a bracelet she was given by her mom, that belonged to her grandmother. She lost it and hasn’t been able to tell her mother what happened. Gibbs says Kelly made the plate when she was in the third grade and he probably used it too much, maybe there was a hairline crack. He says it looks like new now, asks how she did it. She asks if he believes in miracles. He says no. “Do you believe in Abby?” He smiles, says, “With all my heart.” Aww. Quinn goes to the door, and Gibbs counsels her to tell her mom about the bracelet. Quinn says no, that it’s a long story. Gibbs says he’s got the time. Quinn smiles. Probably thinking what a sensitive guy … Heh. And we fade to black and white.

I liked this one. A blast from Gibbs’ past, a little step forward on Willoughby, yet another peek into something that will likely take two or three more seasons for us to learn about Quinn. You know what else is fun? This ep of NCIS was directed by Rocky Carroll, who plays Director Vance. Check out the cute behind-the-camera pic!

Rocky Carroll, who plays Vance, directed this episode of NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

What say you about this ep? Thumbs up? Thumbs sideways?

What I say right now is, we’ve got a winner! Two weeks ago I put up a signed copy of my latest, Starfish Moon, and a lovely Cotton Thistle-designed bookmark charm. Thanks to everyone for their enthusiastic entries and very kind comments. Our winner this week is Karlene Barger! Karlene, drop me an e-mail to donna@donnakauffman.com with your address and your prize will go right out to you.

What about the rest of you, you ask? Well, how about the same deal this week? Want in? Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with “I want to win, too!” in the subject line. If you’d like to add your thoughts about the episode, please do! But it’s not necessary, just the subject line will get you entered. I’ll announce the winner right here next week. Yep! No breaks this time, two episodes in a row!

In the meantime, feel free to join me on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, I’m everywhere. Drop by, chat a little, check out what’s going on, and maybe even get another chance to win cool stuff.

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!) You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

Two weeks in a row of new episodes! (That streak ends this week. Wah.) But let’s not think about that now. Let’s dive right into the episode that, according to CBS’ teasers, is going to drive Jimmy Palmer out on the ledge. Literally. Ruh roh! Let’s hope the diving right in stops right there.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Brian Dietzen as Palmer and Spencer Treat Clark as Sonny in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

We open with a father and adult son in a car, dad’s driving, and giving his son a hard time about losing his job. Dear old dad thinks that cutbacks and being fired are the same thing, and if sonny boy was good enough, they’d have kept him on. Sonny tries to explain, but all of a sudden they’re in an intersection and cars aren’t stopping properly. Horns blare, brakes squeal … but everyone makes it through unscathed. As they continue onward, Dad berates the other drivers’ incompetence, but Sonny comments that there was a stop sign. Dad, of course, is certain it was hidden behind a tree. Things calm down, Dad wants to eat dinner out. Sonny isn’t hungry. Apparently, the day’s date has significance, and not the good kind, at least not to Sonny. Dad explains how he just wants his son to be happy, to get his life together. Sonny agrees he’d like nothing better himself. Dad pulls in at an ATM, intent of giving Sonny some extra cash to help him out. Sonny declines the offer, says he’ll figure things out. Dad says he longs for the day when he can stop worrying about his son. Sonny agrees, saying he longs for the day when his dad butts out of his life. It’s just all sunshine and rainbows with these two. Mostly I’m just waiting to find out who is going to be the Dead Guy of the Week, and how that’s going to happen. My guess is it’ll be Daddio, and it will happen on this anniversary-of-something-bad, which will send Sonny reeling even further off keel. In fact, I see a ledge in his future. Anyone taking that bet?

Well, if so, pay up, because no sooner does Daddio step out of the car and put his military side cap on then he’s taken out by a speeding SUV.

Aaaaand, cue opening theme song and credits!

We’re in Ducky’s Digs as Abby enters carrying a tray of skull smiley cookies she baked over the Bunsen burner. Palmer is just wiping things down before heading home, and we learn that his wife and daughter are out of town visiting family. He admits to having a bit of the winter blues, that the short days make him cranky. This prompts Ducky to turn around and give Palmer his favorite piece of advice (and the link to this week’s episode title): “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” Jimmy says he’s not going through hell, more like going through heck. Heh. I like it. Ducky gets a call from Gibbs, and they head out to the crime scene. Palmer takes the plate of cookies with him.

We meet up with the gang as they process the scene, and things unfold very quickly. Gibbs is wondering why the body is so far from the car, so we’re assuming the son has left the scene. As Gibbs goes to talk to the only eye witness, who was facing the ATM when Dad was struck by the SUV, Palmer looks up and sees somebody out on the top-story ledge of the building overlooking the crime scene. He rushes inside. The others see the ledge walker a moment later, and Gibbs orders Ducky to get the body off the street. Which is when Ducky realizes that Palmer is gone. A moment later, they see him climb out on the ledge beside the ledge walker, which, no surprise, turns out to be Sonny. Palmer grabs Sonny’s belt to keep him from jumping and the two wobble dangerously just as Gibbs and Torres stick their heads out of the nearby window. Gibbs demands to know what Palmer thinks he’s doing. Sonny is still struggling to get Palmer to let go. For his part, Palmer has grabbed on to a water pipe and is clinging to it and Sonny. Palmer watches his hat sail off and down toward the street and admits to Gibbs he has no idea what he’s doing. Fade to a knuckle-biting black and white.

We come back right to where we left off. Sonny is still struggling to get free so he can end his life. Gibbs comes out on the ledge, intent on switching places, only Sonny holds him off, saying if Gibbs comes closer, he’ll jump and take Palmer with him. Palmer begs him not to, but Sonny is beyond distraught. There is a helicopter hovering now as Gibbs climbs back inside. Torres asks Gibbs to let him trade places, but Gibbs assures him that Palmer’s got it. He instructs Palmer to keep going. (A theme emerges …)

Pauley Perrette as Abby and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

Palmer talks to Sonny, explaining he’s no hero, telling him he feels quite the opposite of heroic. He relives the time when he let the team down, didn’t do the heroic thing, only for Ducky to tell him that he wasn’t training to be a field agent, but a medical examiner. He says he has no doubt Palmer has it in him to die a hero, but he’d rather Palmer keep hold of his well-developed sense of self-preservation and keep assisting him, if he didn’t mind. Heh. Palmer tells Sonny that he’d appreciate it if they could both die heroes many, many years in the future. Sonny says his father was a hero, but didn’t die like one, and takes the blame for it, saying everything he does or tries to do ends up going wrong.

The fire department shows up and Gibbs calls down to Quinn and instructs her to keep the firefighters down below, as they are spooking Sonny. Quinn explains about one of their guys being on the ledge and how they can’t go up, but if they have one of those inflatable bags, she wouldn’t mind if they set that up, you know, just in case. So dry, that Quinn. That’s why I like her.

Down below Bishop is noticing that there weren’t any skid marks, so the SUV driver didn’t even try to brake before the deadly hit-and-run. Up on the ledge, Palmer tells Sonny he has a wife and daughter he loves very much, and Sonny thinks he should just let go, then, and stay safe, because Sonny has nothing to live for. He just cost his father his life. He explains about losing his job and that his dad was just stopping to get him some money. He goes on again about how he screws everything up and Palmer tells him that’s not a bad thing, because it means he’s trying.

Bishop comes up, shows Gibbs the lack of any evidence that the vehicle that struck and killed Dad tried to swerve or stop. Gibbs sticks his head back out, asks Sonny a few questions about Dad, did he have any enemies, etc. Sonny is all about how perfect his dad was and how everyone loved him. Really? Because the guy we saw was kind of an ass. I mean, he wanted to help his son, but the way he went about it wasn’t exactly inspiring. Sonny tries to leap again, and Palmer’s hand comes off the pipe. They manage to keep from going over the edge. Torres is going to climb out, but Sonny holds him off, threatening to take Palmer with him. Gibbs sticks his head out, tells Palmer not to let the guy jump. Palmer moves enough to grab the pipe again. Then Gibbs tells Torres not to let Palmer fall and heads downstairs after Bishop and McGee. Fade to black and white.

Back in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness, we learn that Dad is a widow, a Navy hero, stationed at the Navy Yard just in the past year. We learn that it’s Sonny’s birthday, and we get the name of his employer, which they’ll soon discover is his former employer. Ducky heads down to work on Dad’s body to look for clues. Abby heads to Abby Lab to look at the ATM cam footage, and Gibbs and Quinn head up to the conference room to talk to Dad’s operation officer. The OP has only kind words for Dad, but says he gave an unfavorable review to their commanding officer the week before and strong words were exchanged. Dad didn’t order a court martial, but it was apparently at that level of insubordination. They worked past it, but things have been icy since, and the CO’s career took a nose dive as a result. They get Commander’s address.

Back on the ledge, Torres tries to chat Sonny up, but he’s having none of it. He’s disgusted with himself because he couldn’t even commit suicide properly, but he is calming down, whether he realizes it or not. Palmer corrects him and says, technically, he’s the one who screwed that up, not Sonny. Sonny admits he’s thought about killing himself before. He lists the ways he was a disappointment to his father — going to college instead of the military, studying architecture instead of business, not getting a job in his field straight out of school. Yeah, boy, those are hanging offenses, Dad. Jeez. Sonny says it was not wanting to disappoint his father again that kept him from killing himself in the past, but that’s no longer an obstacle. He mentions how not getting a job as an architect after finishing college made his Dad think he wasted his tuition. (Seriously, everybody loves the guy? Really?)

Palmer assures him that not everyone gets a job in their field straight out of school, but, when pressed, admits that he was one of the lucky few. He goes on to add how he almost blew it on his third day, though, being late to work, and we get another flashback. Sonny explains he’s been bouncing around entry-level jobs for a few years and just got laid off from his job as an associate systems engineer, which he says is a fancy way of saying apprentice architect. Palmer tells him he’s an assistant medical examiner, so not a very fancy job title either. He goes on to say he loves his job, and Sonny says he was just starting to get into his, too. Palmer says that’s a good thing, and if it happened once, it can happen again, then reels off a string of “when one door opens” type sayings. Sonny wants to know if this is some kind of “self-help karaoke.” Ha! Palmer says he’s got a million of them and can keep it up all night long if necessary. Torres pops out, asks if they want food. McGee is sending up some burgers. Palmer says he’d like one. Given they’re going to die and all, might as well indulge. No comment from Sonny.

Spencer Treat Clark as Sonny in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

In Abby Lab, she’s chanting a mantra of support for Palmer as Gibbs comes in. The ATM footage shows a black SUV hitting Dad, but at such an angle, and so quickly, it makes getting any other identifiers impossible. Ducky comes in with samples of paint from the SUV that scraped off on Dad’s watch. Abby says it’s enough to match to a specific vehicle. Ducky said Dad died instantly, never saw it coming, then gives Gibbs Dad’s wallet to give to Sonny, just as soon as Palmer talks him down off the ledge.

Back on the ledge, Palmer asks Sonny about the architectural style of the building they are lounging on, and Sonny complies, then mentions how he thought he’d be in Architectural Digest by now. Palmer sympathizes, saying he thought he’d get out and be king of the world when he was in his 20s. Sonny muses about how all of his friends are out there having all kinds of successes, in business and in their personal lives, splashing it all over social media. Palmer reminds Sonny that folks only brag about their “greatest hits.” They don’t mention the “B Side” or negative stuff. Palmer goes on a riff about tough days with a recalcitrant toddler and frustrated wife and his complete failure at being a referee, which prompts a much calmer Sonny to ask if Palmer would like to sit down. Palmer would love to sit down, so they do.

McGee comes up and Torres tells them the food has arrived, then adds, “Don’t jump,” before ducking back inside. Heh. McGee doesn’t have food, he has a wire, though for what purpose, I can’t fathom. Oh, wait, Torres said something about not being able to hear what they were saying on the ledge, so that must be it. But what hearing the convo is going to do to help matters, I don’t know. Unless they think they’ll get clues to who killed Dad.

Out on the ledge, Palmer is telling Sonny how he can’t use social media as any kind of gauge, then goes on to say how when he’s having a crap day, it’s his friends who lift him up. We get another flashback to Abby giving Palmer what-for, telling him sometimes life works out for the best if he just has faith. Back on the ledge, Sonny nods, says Palmer has good friends, but that he doesn’t have friends like that. Then he says he’s sorry and gives Palmer a hard elbow, breaking himself free and scrambling away. The action sends Palmer dangling over the ledge, prompting Sonny to scramble back to save him. He pulls him up, and Palmer says Sonny doesn’t want to die, or he’d have taken Palmer and gone down right then. Torres sticks his head back out, says dinner is served. Fade to black and white.

We come back to Torres and McGee sliding the food down the ledge to Palmer and Sonny, and he mentions it’s Sonny’s birthday. Sonny would rather not be reminded. The transmitter is stuck to the side of the food box. McGee patches the transmission to Gibbs back at the bull pen so he can listen in on the convo, and Gibbs orders McGee back to the office. Quinn says that Commanding Officer, the guy who argued with Dad over the bad review, is nowhere to be found, but drives a black SUV. So they add that info to the BOLO.

Back at the ledge, we find out that Sonny’s mom died of cancer when he was 12. He was angry, but his dad was never the same. Sonny says he tried to be all things, disciplinarian and nurturing mom, and you can see him start to see his dad in a new light. Palmer admits his dad was never any of those things, but mentions Gibbs and how he’s the toughest guy he’s ever met and it might seem that other folks have a much easier go of things, but where Gibbs is concerned, no one has had a tougher life. Gibbs, of course, can hear this, and Palmer has no idea about the mic on the food container. Bishop and McGee listen, too, as Gibbs paces, while Palmer goes on about how Gibbs lost his wife and daughter on the same day, but never mentions it. He talks about how he builds boats and occasionally kisses Abby on the forehead, but is not much of a hugger. Or, at least, he’s never hugged Palmer, at any rate. Palmer goes on to say he relies on Gibbs a great deal. All the while, Gibbs has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Palmer says you’d never know it and that he really worries about Gibbs. He says that on the day the adoption fell through, and he lost his child, that it was Gibbs who comforted him most. We get a flashback to that moment, when Palmer is grieving, and Gibbs tells him to fight for it. Someone must be chopping onions in the other room again, because my eyes are suddenly all watery.

Back on the ledge, Palmer tells Sonny he’s sure his dad was the same, and if he tried, he could think about all the times he was kind. Sonny smiles, says maybe his dad cared too much. I think we needed to see more of that side of Dad before the SUV wiped him out, but I get it. Sonny relates what happened that day, that his dad wanted to take him out for dinner, but also blew up when he found out Sonny lost his job. He mentions how they were almost in an accident when his dad missed the stop sign. This perks Gibbs’ interest. Palmer gets Sonny to mention the intersection, and the team is all over it. Down in Abby Lab, we see the traffic cam footage from the near miss and the black SUV is there, too. The footage shows it following Dad’s car as they leave the intersection. We have our murder weapon! Fade to black and white.

Back at the Bull Pen, Gibbs is inexplicably carrying a baseball bat around. They listen as Palmer asks Sonny if they can take a bathroom break. Not happening. Bishop mentions they’ve been out there three hours, and Quinn says maybe it’s time to let the firefighters do their thing. Gibbs agrees to let the firefighters put the inflatable below, but nothing on the roof. He still doesn’t want to spook Sonny and risk Palmer. McGee reports that Commander and his SUV have been detained in Richmond. He’s setting up a convo via MTAC. Gibbs tells them to keep listening and heads upstairs.

Back on the ledge, Palmer argues with Sonny about being his own worst enemy and maybe he needs to keep score a little differently, stop being so hard on himself. He relates how sometimes you need to be careful of what you wish for, then we get a flashback to Ducky praising Palmer, which he claims was what made him want to finish medical school and take the medical examiner test, which he did, and failed on both his first and second tries. So when he passed on his third try, he never told his co-workers, because he realized he didn’t want to go anywhere else. Ruh roh! Shift to the bull pen, as Quinn’s, Bishop’s and Abby’s eyes widen in shock. So he’s actually Dr. Palmer, only nobody knows. Sonny says he could go anywhere, but Palmer says he will someday, that he knows nothing is forever. But he’s had so many friends come and go, and he doesn’t want to prematurely end the dynamic he has with his co-workers. He says he feels like he’s doing good, so he puts on his scrubs, goes to work and opts for happiness. Abby hears her words to him echoing back and grabs Bishop’s arm. Off they go to … we don’t know yet.

Up in MTAC, Gibbs and McGee talk to Commander, find out the argument between him and Dad had escalated when Commander called Sonny a loser. He knew Dad’s son was his whole world and he apologized for saying it. But, while the two will never be buddies, they did move on. Commander just left town to see family. He appears to be telling the truth. Enter Abby and Bishop. Abby says she thinks he should put Palmer in for a raise — heh — then goes on to say she’s traced the SUV in the traffic cam to a rental place in D.C. and gives Gibbs the name of the guy who rented it. Turns out he’s had a string of DUI’s and one for being a road-rager, and now appears to have gone after Dad after their almost miss in the intersection. So, he didn’t even know Dad. Abby gives Gibbs the guy’s GPS coordinates, and we immediately shift to Road Rager angrily staggering out of a convenience store. Gibbs grabs him as he goes to get into his vehicle and slams him up against the SUV. He cuffs him while Quinn comes around the corner, gun drawn, and eyes the damage to the front of the vehicle. Case closed there.

Back on the ledge, Palmer says Sonny shouldn’t consider it a failure if he doesn’t kill himself. Sonny says he doesn’t have a future. Palmer disagrees, saying the future comes anyway, so you might as well be there. Sonny shakes his head, saying he won’t have his dad, has no job and his friends aren’t close like the ones Palmer has. He says he turns on the news and the world is so angry and divided, so much meanness. Palmer tells him to stop looking for it. Sonny says he doesn’t have to, it’s everywhere, you can’t avoid it. Palmer says to look around it, then, find the good, and assures him it’s out there. He says if he finds meanness, then kill it with kindness, prompting another eye roll from Sonny. That just serves to fire Palmer up and he doubles down on his advice, running down a list of small kindnesses that anyone can do, and ending with the advice that if he wants good friends, then be a good friend, and they will find him.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Brian Dietzen as Palmer and Spencer Treat Clark in NCIS. (Photo: Monty Brinton, CBS)

Sonny says Palmer seems to have all the answers, but he doesn’t have one for his dad. Palmer agrees, he doesn’t, but goes on to say that he’s seen more dead people than anyone Sonny knows, all of them gone too soon and none of them peacefully. We get a flashback to when Palmer is faced with doing the post-mortem on one of his own team members, then back on the ledge, he tells Sonny that all he sees is the B Side of life, every day. He says some family members drown in their sorrow, while others choose to make their darkest moment the one that defines them moving forward. He tells Sonny that he is the something good that his father left behind, and he needs to honor that. Best Palmer speech of the series, and a timely one at that. (Thanks, new showrunners. Well done.)

Just then, Gibbs pops his head out and tells Sonny it was a road rager who killed his dad and would have tracked him down no matter where he stopped. It wasn’t Sonny’s fault. He says if they want to get the guy, then Sonny has to testify at the trial. Gibbs tosses Dad’s wallet to Palmer, who hands it to Sonny. Gibbs says there’s something in there that Sonny is going to want. It’s a photo of him and his senior thesis project. Gibbs mentions how worn the photo is, how often his dad must have shown it off. Palmer tells Sonny that his father was proud of him, and Sonny agrees, prompting Palmer to share Ducky’s words of wisdom from the beginning of the episode. “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” He lets go of Sonny’s belt and the two share a look. Sonny says he never would have taken Palmer with him, and Palmer says he knows that. Sonny thanks him, and the two head inside.

Gibbs helps Sonny in, then Palmer slips and almost falls. Torres grabs him, pulls him in, then looks at Gibbs and says, “You told me not to let him fall.” Heh. Torres tells Palmer he did a good job, then Palmer sees the mic set up on the desk and realizes they were listening in. Ducky walks in and Palmer asks why he’s there. Ducky says he’s not going to leave him alone out there, then calls him Dr. Palmer. Yay! (Is this how they set up Ducky’s eventual leaving? No. I can’t think about that yet. For now, I’ll choose happiness.)

Back at Gibbs’ place, Palmer heads down to the basement to talk to Gibbs, who is working on his boat with a fair amount of vigor. He apologizes for the personal things he said, explaining that he didn’t know Gibbs was listening in. Gibbs keeps working on his boat, saying nothing, so Palmer keeps walking closer, apologizing all the way, saying he was pulling out all the stops, saying whatever he could think of, but he shouldn’t have mentioned Gibbs’ wife and daughter. Gibbs cuts him off with a hug. Aww. You’re killing me, Show. I can’t even blame phantom onions at this point. Somebody hand me the damn tissues! A surprised Palmer finally hugs him back and closes his eyes. Fade to a blurry black and white.

Best show of the season. And who’da thunk it would be Palmer who’d deliver it? Or, should I say, Dr. Palmer.

Well, as soon as I can dab my eyes clear, I’ll keep the happy going and announce this week’s giveaway winner. Come on down, Karen Beam! You win a signed copy of my latest, Starfish Moon, and a lovely Cotton Thistle-designed bookmark charm. Just drop me a note to donna@donnakauffman.com with your address and your prize will go right out to you!

We skip next week. (Super Bowl Greatest Commercials is kicking us out of our time slot. Seriously?) Then we’ll be back on Feb. 7 with our next new episode. I’m going to be playing writer hermit that week in a cottage on an unnamed beach, but if I can get the Wi-Fi hot spot to hold up, I’ll be back here, too!

In the meantime, feel free to join me on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, I’m everywhere. Drop by, chat a little, check out what’s going on, and maybe even get another chance to win cool stuff. Yes, even you.

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia, thankfully surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!) You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

Mark Harmon as Gibbs on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

SPOILERS AHEAD!

We’re back, and so is Senior! After the three-hanky last episode, I’m ready for some light-hearted frivolity. Did I mention The Sherlocks are back this week, too? (Hello, Jessica Walter!) A small caveat — I am in a little beach cottage off the coast of Georgia at the moment (book research, the struggle is real), so I am without benefit of a rewind button (or any button other than the one marked on/off). Therefore, details might be a little light this week, and possibly shaky, as this is coming at you totally on the fly.

So, I am buckling up and strapping in. Let’s do this!

We open with a cheerful pizza delivery boy trying to make a delivery, but no response. A peek in the window shows a body sprawled on the floor. Pizza Boy goes in, asks the sprawled woman if she’s OK. My guess is from the repeated close-ups to the freaky open eyes, that … not so much. He figures this out, too. Pizza box goes flying, as does Pizza Boy. We’ve officially got our Dead Guy of the Week. Or, in this case, Dead Gal.

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

In the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness, Bishop and Quinn are giving Torres the eye as he stands beside his desk, looking over a case file. The pondering stretches out another moment, then Bishop tells Quinn to go ahead and take it. Quinn wastes no time in collecting the $20 bill that has apparently been sitting on Torres’ desk chair for three days. Three days during which time he’s never sat in it once. He is surprised to learn this fact, but is hesitant to sit now that they’re making a thing of it. He starts to appease them, only to have Gibbs come in and it’s “Grab your gear” time. Torres feels vindicated, as his on-his-feet style keeps him ready at a moment’s notice. As they exit, Gibbs asks who won the $20. Heh.

At the scene of the crime, we get more creepy eyes close-up shots as the team discusses that there was no forced entry, nothing apparently stolen. They comment on how the town is very Mayberry-esque, including a Barney Fife-type sheriff. Ducky says the cause of death looks to be strangulation, but as he goes to explain why Dead Gal’s eyes are a clue to that particular form of demise, his statement is finished by the Barney Fife sheriff himself. And look who it is! Why, none other than Walt Osorio, whom we first met in the season 13 episode 16 Years. You might recall that’s the same episode that introduced us to a crew of Walt’s fellow amateur sleuths, which at the time included Ducky. They call themselves The Sherlocks. Only now, Walt has gone and become a sheriff! And let’s just say his excitement at being able to legitimately work a case with Gibbs is not reciprocated. Palmer (now referred to as Dr. Palmer!) apologizes for not mentioning the fact, and we learn he’s taken Ducky’s place on the team.

Robert Wagner as Senior on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We shift to the grand estate, owned by famous mystery author Judith McNight (hello, Jessica Walter!) where the privately funded investigative Sherlocks team holds their meetings. We have Sheriff Walt, Palmer, Judith, the singularly named Lyle and our newest sleuth probie … Senior! They are discussing their joy in getting a crack at working with Gibbs, and we are reminded that Judith made it quite clear the first time we met her that she’d like a crack at Gibbs, and that feeling hasn’t abated.

Back at the Bull Pen, Palmer is apologizing for not telling them about the group, and he mentions that he’s not even the newest member, and how the newest member is someone they know. They ask him to spill the beans, but he demurs, given the group is a secret society. They press and Palmer gives them a clue, which is that the new member is related to Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, and they immediately guess who it is. Gibbs walks up behind Palmer as he bemoans breaking one of the rules and gets a Tony-esque head slap. Aw, first the hug, now the head slap! Palmer, you’re a Real Boy!

We move on to the Screen of All Knowing and learn Dead Gal used her phone app to order lunch, but no other immediate clues there. Her husband was just coming in on a flight to Dulles and they’ve got him in the conference room. He seems kind of dazed and confused by the news, upset, but also distracted. He tells Bishop they had a home security system but that DG didn’t like it. He got it because he liked to keep his emergency stash in the house. Five thousand dollars in a coffee can, tucked in the freezer. He says how he worried about her all the time when she was deployed, then she comes home where she should be safe. Bishop asks if she has any enemies, any problems. He says he flew to see her in Rota, Spain, and DG mentioned an argument with her immediate commander, but didn’t say what it was about. Bishop tells him they have to process the home as a crime scene and he’ll need to stay somewhere else, asking him closely if he has somewhere else to stay. Again, he seems distracted and upset, but something isn’t skewing right with him.

Down in Ducky’s Digs, he comments that Palmer will be doing the autopsy and giving the report to Gibbs. Maybe I should start calling it The Doctors’ Digs! Enter Gibbs, and Ducky and Palmer go over the report, which confirms that she died of asphyxiation. The only new news is that she had a rash on her neck and they’ve sent fibers found in her skin to Abby for testing. As Gibbs exits, he thanks them saying, “Good work, doctors.” Palmer is all aglow at first, then admits it makes him kind of uncomfortable. Still our adorkable Palmer!

Jessica Walter as Judith and Robert Wagner as Senior on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Torres and McGee head to the victim’s home to look for the coffee can, see if maybe it was a burglary after all, and notice that the crime scene tape is torn. They go in, guns drawn, only to find some dude coming out of the closet with the alarm system box in his hand. He’s all Stoner Surfer Dude-esque and doesn’t quite understand when they draw their weapons and yell at him to stop, that they mean him. Turns out Stoner Dude Taj is the guy who installed the alarm system and Sheriff Walt sent him there to take it out and bring it to them for examination. McGee is all, “No, we’ll take that,” when in comes Walt and he’s all, “Nope, you got the autopsy, we get the alarm system.” Walt tells Torres to get his “size sevens” off Taj’s back and Torres corrects him that they’re size 11’s. Heh. McGee asks Sheriff Walt to share whatever they find, then he and Torres head to the kitchen intent on tracking down the coffee can, only to have Walt tell them he already checked there. It was empty. Walt asks McGee how much money was in the can, but they only say that it might have been enough to make someone commit murder.

We shift to meeting DG’s CO, who tells them DG was on board for three years and was well respected. He tells them DG’s immediate department head has been summoned and they can wait with the other agents. Uh, what other agents, Gibbs wants to know. He enters the other room, and there are the Sherlocks. Turns out Sheriff Walt deputized them so they are now part of the official investigation. All except Senior, who says he’s still a probie. “Surprise,” he says sheepishly. Judith looks at Gibbs and says, “Guess who has a new pair of handcuffs?” HA! Fade to a very disconcerted-looking Gibbs black and white

We return as Gibbs wants to know if the new deputies were given weapons. Judith is only too happy to show Gibbs her little Taser, which she’ll only use on the “bad boys.” Then she asks him if he wants to see what good boys get. Oh, Judith, you scamp! He tells them to steer clear, that he has jurisdiction, but Lyle explains how they have concurrent jurisdiction, and Gibbs just turns to leave. When asked where he is going, he mutters, “Overboard.” Heh.

Torres hangs in the doorway of Abby Lab, observing Abs in her element. When she asks what he’s doing, he explains he’s noting how she’s got her space set up, and she comments that she needs room to move. He thinks that’s perfect, especially the part where she doesn’t have a single chair in her work space. Heh. She tells Torres that the fibers found on DG matched the carpet found in one part of her house, so she was likely dragged to the spot where her body was found. She surmises that the killer was either interrupted from removing the body, possibly by Pizza Boy, or he left the body there so it would be discovered.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Mark Harmon as Gibbs on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We shift back to DG’s department head being interviewed. She has only good things to say about DG and that she was admittedly harder on DG because she saw how much promise she had. The Sherlocks are also there, peppering DH with additional comments. She’s asked what she and DG argued about in Rota and she says she was trying to get DG to take some leave, but she requested to stay aboard ship. Judith comments on how maybe DG had another reason to want to stay on the ship. After all, the ship is just full of seamen. Oh, Judith. DH says no, that DG was a straight shooter, wouldn’t have been fooling around.

McGee visits Sheriff Walt at their posh Sherlock HQ where it turns out Walt has set up a satellite office for himself, seeing as he otherwise has to share space. He hands over the alarm system info when McGee hands over the autopsy report. Lyle steps in, says he dug up some dirt on DG’s husband. Turns out he wasn’t living at home on the weekends. He could track when the alarm codes had been turned on and off and they weren’t being keyed in on the weekends. McGee looks at the alarm box, which Lyle has completely dismantled. They discuss whether to confront Hubby about his weekend whereabouts and Lyle votes yes, but Walt and McGee agree that confronting him might tip their hand. Lyle makes note that Walt and McGee are actually agreeing on things now. He’s a lot more charmed by this than McGee. Heh.

Abby and Quinn are down in the garage lab going over unsolved burglary cases, looking for clues, and Abby tells Quinn that she discovered there was a weekend power outage that triggered Hubby’s alarm system, and he had to switch it off remotely, via an alarm system app. She’s tracing where the remote app was used and finds out that hubby was somewhere in Fredericksburg, about 60 miles from home. They send Bishop and Torres to stake out the location and see what Hubby is up to there.

Senior pays a visit to Gibbs, who, naturally, is grilling steaks in his fireplace. He’s set two places, having anticipated the visit. Senior apologizes for surprising Gibbs with the whole Sherlocks thing. Turns out he was visiting Tony and his granddaughter in Paris over the holidays, then suffered a bout of depression upon his return. Tony suggested he look up the Sherlocks and the rest, as they say, is history. Gibbs assures him that he’s fine with Senior’s involvement with the group. This leads Senior to his other question. He wants to clear it with Gibbs before he makes his move on Judith, you know, seeing as how the two were once lovers and all. Gibbs almost chokes on his steak and assures Senior that is not the case, but Senior assumes he’s just being gentlemanly, not kissing and telling, and pushes to get his permission. Gibbs is all, “Woo away! Woo woo!” HA! This prompts a now excited Senior to ask if he can take his dinner to go. Heh.

Jessica Walter as Judith McNight and Todd Louiso returns as Lyle Waznicki on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We shift to Torres and Bishop staking out Hubby’s weekend digs, with Lyle in the backseat, doing the psychological breakdown of why Torres doesn’t do chairs. He’s convinced that Torres sees his desk as a kind of solitary confinement. Torres, however, thinks that description is more apt to him being stuck on a stakeout with Lyle. This is interrupted when Hubby finally shows up and, ruh roh, he’s got company of the female persuasion. Lyle comments on how in his dirt-digging on Hubby, he did discover that Hubby has a sister, so maybe … Only then Hubby and his female companion lock lips and Torres is all, “That’s not his sister.” Fade to a bemused Torres black and white.

We’re in the conference room with Female Companion who is more than happy to tell them that she and Hubby are in love, engaged to be married, in fact. They tell her that as it turns out Hubby is, well, a hubby. This comes as big news to FC. They tell her how Hubby is now a widower and she realizes that Two-timing Hubby is a suspect. She is in complete denial, saying no way could he do such a thing. They remind her he did such a thing as not mention he already had a wife, so … They ask her where she was two nights ago, and she realizes that she’s a suspect now, too.

Hubby is in interrogation, and he confesses to having a lover, says that FC is his soul mate and he was lonely. He goes on to say how it started as a one-night stand, but now he’s in love and when he came home from his business trip he was going to ask DG for a divorce, only the agents met him at the airport with the tragic news of her death. He confesses that he moved in with FC on the weekends, had told her he lived in Texas but was going to come clean just as soon as he told the wife he already had that he wanted a divorce. He denies killing his wife, saying he was out of town, and he couldn’t have, and he denies that FC could have done it because she didn’t even know about his wife.

Back at the Sherlock mansion, Senior is talking French and pouring champagne for himself and Judith. She downs that and when the grandfather clock chimes, says, oh, it’s gin-thirty and asks Senior to fix her a martini. He winks and asks if she wants it dirty, and she says, “Filthy.” Palmer had come in the room about then and makes an immediate about-face. Heh. He wanders over to where Stoner Taj is trying to reassemble the alarm system, but can’t do it. Lyle thinks this is suspicious, but Taj reminds him that he only installs the things, he doesn’t build them.

In the Bull Pen, the report on FC provides a good alibi, so she looks to be innocent. They then go through the surveillance video from the various airports Hubby traveled through on his way back from San Francisco and they can peg him all the way from left coast to right, so that’s about as good an alibi as there is. There is also no indication from his bank records that he might have paid someone else to do it. Gibbs puts them back on the burglary angle, and he and Bishop head out to talk to the Sherlocks, to see if maybe they’re holding out on a possible clue.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Emily Wickersham as Bishop on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

The team learns that the one common thread in the unsolved burglaries is that they all had the same kind of system that DG had in her home, only none of them were tampered with … then they find out that they were all installed by, you guessed it, Stoner Taj. They call Lyle to give him the heads-up on Taj, and Lyle tries to do the Vulcan neck pinch thing, only that doesn’t work, so he pulls out his Taser. When Gibbs and Bishop arrive, however, it’s Lyle writhing on the foyer floor, the victim of his own stun gun. He tells Gibbs that Taj went upstairs, so Gibbs heads that way, gun drawn, as Bishop scopes the outside of the house. Gibbs hears something behind a door and goes in, gun first … only to find Senior and Judith in a candlight bubble bath. HA! Senior is all, “You’ll pardon me if I don’t get up,” and Judith is all, “Oh, he’s up, I assure you.” GAH! Bad images, bad images!

Meanwhile, Taj climbs out a second-story window and jumps, banging himself up a bit in the process. He hobbles to his service van, only to have Bishop bust out the passenger window and point a gun inside the cab. We move to Taj in interrogation and he’s all, “I just install, bro,” but they note how the watch he’s wearing matches one of the stolen Rolexes and how he’s now on the hook for murdering DG. He says he can prove he was somewhere else that day and gives them a location. They counter that he wasn’t scheduled in that area, and he says he was doing it “off book,” then gets the brilliant idea to show them the one-of-a-kind belt buckle he’s sporting as proof, which he brags about lifting from that residence. He realizes that maybe that wasn’t so bright of him after all. Yes, he’s off the hook for the murder, but now he’s on the hook for a string of burglaries. Dude.

Back in the Bull Pen, the team is mulling over the fact that they don’t have any suspects left. Gibbs, however, thinks they still have one, and he heads out. He meets Hubby at Hubby’s house and hands him the house key. Hubby wants to know if they’ve arrested DG’s killer. Gibbs says no, but they know who did it, then points to Hubby. Hubby is all, “You must really hate me,” and how he wasn’t even home. Gibbs pulls out a very big knife, giving Hubby a moment’s pause, then he uses it to cut the crime scene seal off the door. Hubby is all, “I’m no saint, but I didn’t kill her.” Gibbs discusses how he thinks Hubby got FC pregnant, and when he told his wife he wanted a divorce, his wife, who was a devout Catholic, wanted to make things work. Hubby couldn’t have that, so he killed her. All he has to do is prove it. Hubby steps in the house and tells Gibbs to go to hell. Gibbs is all, “I’ll save you a seat.”

Senior and Gibbs talk on the phone about the case, and Senior tells him he was watching the airport surveillance tapes and it made him recall the days when he smuggled Cuban cigars. He used to go in the men’s bathroom and switch out the labels for Nicaraguan cigars because that’s the only place where there are no cameras. Enter Judith, who dangles pink handcuffs and says, “Round three,” and suddenly Senior has to go. Heh. Senior’s airport comments prompt Gibbs to have the team look back over the airport tapes again, and they spot a guy going into the restroom the same time as Hubby in San Francisco, then the very same guy going into the rest room with Hubby again in Dulles. They track down the other guy and it turns out he was on a non-stop flight from San Francisco, one that got into Dulles three hours earlier than Hubby’s flight. They are the same build and appearance, and once they go through security, they won’t get their ID checked again, so they switched clothes and boarding passes in the bathroom, then Hubby took the direct flight home, giving him three additional hours to take care of DG and get back to Dulles in time for Other Guy to arrive, where they can swap clothes again, right before the agents show up to tell Hubby the horrible news. And the payment? Yeah, that would be the $5K that Hubby grabbed out of the freezer after offing his wife.

They go over this story with Hubby in interrogation and he’s refuting it, until they show him Other Guy, presently head down over the table in the adjoining room, writing out his full confession. Now, you and I both know that isn’t Other Guy, but Hubby is not that sharp and he falls for it, exclaiming angrily about how Other Guy was supposed to go to Mexico until things died down. Gibbs tosses his handcuffs on the table, says he’s a man of his word. They pull Hubby up and Gibbs steps in the cuff him. Hubby is furious that they tricked him into confessing, and Gibbs tells him he’s no saint, either. Heh.

Todd Louiso as Lyle, Jessica Walter as Judith and Robert Wagner as Senior on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

With our Murder of the Week solved, we shift to the Sherlocks’ posh digs in time to see Sheriff Walt making Senior a full member of the team. Senior and Gibbs share a moment, and Senior tells him he’s a happy man now, that Judith is taking him to Paris, and she’ll get to meet his family. Gibbs tells Senior that no one deserves happiness more … and we fade to a smiling black and white. Oh, you guys!

So, a nice, uplifting episode with a little cloak and a little dagger … and more handcuff action with the oldsters than I probably need to picture ever again. Heh.

Let’s replace those images with images of the free stuff you can win if you enter this week’s giveaway! How about a signed copy of my current release, Starfish Moon, and a fun bookmark charm designed exclusively for the book by The Cotton Thistle? Want in? Simply drop me an e-mail to donna@donnakauffman.com with “No handcuffs, just a free book please!” in the subject line. And feel free to add any dish about this week’s episode if you like. It’s not required for contest entry, but I always like hearing your take.

We get three new episodes in a row this time, so I’ll see you right back here next week. Same bat time, same bat channel. I’ll announce the winner at the end of next week’s recap. In the meantime, feel free to join me on social media over on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, even Pinterest. Drop by and sit a spell, enjoy the latest on what’s happening, get peeks at all things NCIS, maybe even get another chance to win cool stuff.

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia, thankfully surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!) You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s recaps

I’m back on the recap couch this week, but before we jump into tonight’s ep, I promised a quickie for last week’s Valentine’s Day episode-slash-NCIS: New Orleans crossover, Pandora’s Box Parts I & II.

Sean Murray as McGee, Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Pauley Perrette as Abby, Rocky Carroll as Vance and Mark Harmon as Gibbs on NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

First, let me say, that as a Valentine’s Day episode? Complete fail. Mostly because it had nothing to do with the holiday in question. (Nothing says “I love you” quite like a few drops of sarin gas in a festive balloon.) Wasted opportunity, Show! What we did get was Abby being recruited to play “what if?” with a Homeland Security team whose mission is to figure out how to circumvent various security implementations to launch a large-scale terrorist event on U.S. soil. The idea being to find ways to upgrade security to thwart all possible threats. Abby was understandably not enthused with having to be Evil Abby in order to come up with a veritable playbook of possible scenarios. She is even less enthused when their fake mission to implement one of her scenarios turns out to be not so fake at all.

This sends our favorite agents off to track down the person responsible for turning the pretend mission into a real one, and that eventually takes two of our team down to New Orleans. There they hook up with the NO NCIS team to track down Abby’s playbook, which has gotten into the hands of seriously nefarious folk. In the Big Easy, we get to see McGee play mentor for a change, and we get to see Torres work with new NCIS New Orleans recruit Special Agent Tammy Gregorio. We did get all kinds of steam between Gregorio and one of the Baddies of the Week, Eva Azarova, including an intense lip-lock before the latter was hauled away in handcuffs. All in all, no real advancement of backstory on our NCIS front, but NCIS: NO fans got to learn a little more about their newest teammate.

That brings us to this week, with an episode more aptly titled for Valentine’s week, A Many Splendored Thing. I’ll take splendored any time of the year, so here’s hoping. This week it’s Bishop’s turn in the spotlight as she finally makes a move on doing something about her boyfriend, Qasim Naasir’s, killer. If you read my recaps last season, you’re well aware that I wasn’t a Bishop fan, but no one has benefitted more from the cast shakeup between seasons 13 and 14 than our little Ellie. I think tonight will continue that progression. Let’s find out what our little about-to-go-rogue agent is up to, shall we?

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

We start with previouslies, reminding us about Operation Willoughby, how Qasim was killed before he could translate the recorded conversations, how Agent Reeves is working the case and Bishop is supposed to be on the sidelines, only not so much. The clips end with her telling Reeves she’ll do whatever it takes.

Cue to this week’s ep, which opens with a woman wearing a Navy hat finishing up a jog, then heading into her house. She spies a gun on her coffee table, then a modulated voice comes through her TV speakers, addressing her as Commander, telling her that she has let them down and there will be consequences. The TV screen comes to life with video of her young daughter at the playground. The modulated voice says the Commander has a choice. Kill herself, or they will kill her daughter.

Cue opening theme song and credits!

We’re in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness as Torres does a little bump ’n’ pick on McGee as he exits the elevator, returning to show Quinn and Bishop the wallet and watch he just took off McGee. Apparently, he’s teaching the two the finer points of pick-pocketing. He sends Bishop to bump ’n’ pick an employee passing by and show of hands on who saw the coffee-dump-down-the-shirt coming a mile away? Everyone? Right. Bishop apologizes and Torres assures her there will be other opportunities. He turns to Quinn, encouraging her to take a stab, and she simply tosses Torres his badge, which she just lifted while he was watching Bishop. Heh.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

An incoming Reeves draws Bishop away from her comrades. He tells her the recorded conversation has finally been decoded, but he doesn’t see anything special in the translation other than a bunch of song lyrics. He shows the printout to Bishop, who assumes it’s another code of some kind. He also reveals that Interpol finally moved on the yacht where the mastermind has been holed up, but he’d already taken off. Now there is news that one of mastermind’s couriers is in D.C. Bishop immediately wants in, but Reeves says he’s handling it alone, via his agreement with MI-6.

Enter Gibbs with a grab-your-gear, saying they have a body. I guess we know which choice Commander Mom made. Sad. Gibbs and Torres have a little bump and McGee says his wallet is still light by $20. Torres reaches for his wallet, saying he was just making sure McGee was paying attention, only to discover … ha! Oh, Gibbs. “Just making sure you’re paying attention,” Gibbs says as he tosses Torres his wallet and then his badge. HA.

We move to Commander’s living room, where she has indeed taken her own life. Single GSW to the chest. They discover tickets to Orlando, booked that morning, and new groceries, but no suicide note. Enter Ducky, who regales them with the tidbit that only 30% of suicide victims leave a note and goes on to describe a case with a note so offensive that perhaps the lack of one might have been the better option. Bishop gets an incoming text from Reeves saying he needs to talk. She replies that she’s at the crime scene. The team is talking about picking up the daughter, special services being called, and Gibbs wants the TV, which just has static on the screen now, shut off, when Bishop gets a 911 text from Reeves. Claiming a burst water pipe, she begs off and heads out. McGee can’t turn the TV off, so Gibbs just yanks the plug. Heh. Outside, we see Bishop head across the street as Reeves signals her from … an RV? Turns out he found the courier. Bishop steps inside to find said courier taped and trussed up in the back of the RV. Reeves gives her a half shrug … and we fade to black and white.

Rocky Carroll as Vance and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Trae Patton, CBS)

We’re at the Screen of All Knowing where we learn that Commander’s husband is also military, stationed in Japan. Quinn is working on contacting him, and Torres tells us that the daughter is with her grandmother. So, Sophie’s Choice TV kept his word as far as that goes, anyway. Nothing in her background indicates her being a suicide risk, far from, but McGee did notice she ordered some big-time computer equipment for her department, then deleted the order at the last moment. McGee said it’s odd, mostly because her department wouldn’t have used that kind of equipment. Gibbs tasks McGee with looking into that. McGee says he’ll take Bishop, only she’s still not back yet.

Move to Bishop and Reeves having a chat with Courier Guy. Courier Guy claims he knows nothing about Mastermind Chen’s next move, or the next possible terror attack that NCIS determined will happen in the financial district. Courier Guy is more concerned with Reeves not taking proper care of his RV, prompting Reeves to grab grape juice from the fridge and pour it on Courier Guy’s carpet. He freaks and relents, telling them he might have overheard something about an attack on the electrical grid. (CG seems way too inept to be in the hire of someone like Chen.) Bishop checked through CG’s GPS system and thinks maybe there is something on the route he’s taken that will give them a clue. Reeves says he’ll tackle that and she should go back to NCIS. She wants to stay, but Reeves says Qasim wouldn’t want her risking her career.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Rafi Silver as Qasim in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

She says Qasim wasn’t exactly the guy she’d turn to for tactical advice, then we get a flashback to Qasim bungling an attempt to rig it so he can be on her bowling team for an NCIS tournament, only to have her step over to tell him the event is already over. We didn’t really get to see their courtship, so I’m guessing we’ll relive it via flashback.

Cut to Ducky’s Digs as Gibbs enters. Ducky tells Gibbs that Commander had a surge of oxytocin in her system at the time of her death and explains that the hormone is usually related to a surge of affection, which would be odd for someone to experience right before killing themselves.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and David McCallum as Ducky in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

Enter McGee (who, it’s good to notice, isn’t looking as cadaverous these days). He says that Abby took a look at Commander’s TV and discovered it was hacked. He shows them the tape of Commander’s daughter that was played before her death, which explains the oxytocin. They now know she had to choose her life or her daughter’s life, but still don’t know what Sophie’s Choice Voice was referring to when mentioning that she didn’t do as she was told. Abby cuts in on the screen to mention that the IP address used to hack the TV just went live and she gives them the address.

Quinn and Gibbs head up into the hills. The address is a remote radio tower and the IP address is still live as they arrive. They enter, guns drawn. The computer screen shows they just logged off and Gibbs hears a noise at the back of the building. They enter the back room, guns drawn, and encounter … Reeves and Bishop. The latter lower their guns, and Bishop is all, “Hey, Gibbs,” and he’s all, “Hey, Bishop. How’s that water leak going?” Ruh roh. Fade to black and white.

We return to Reeves and Bishop being called on the carpet by Director Vance, who is understandably none too happy with either of them. Vance says he’ll discuss Reeve’s future with the team on their way to his 2:30 meeting and directs Reeves to haul a bunch of boxes out to Vance’s car. Gibbs has entered and waits for Vance and Reeves to exit, before unleashing on Bishop. Oooh, he’s not happy. Bishop explains that no one is more motivated to nail Chen than she is, and Gibbs reminds her that doing so will not bring her boyfriend back. She tells Gibbs that Qasim was not just her boyfriend. Cue the flashback that shows Qasim coming to Bishop’s apartment for what appears to be a night out to celebrate his birthday. Only he klutzily breaks a piece of much-loved pottery, then goes into a sneezing fit over her new perfume. In the midst of all of this, he proposes. Oh boy.

Pauley Perrette as Abby and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Trae Patton, CBS)

Cue back to the interrogation room where they have the owner of the abandoned radio tower, who apparently bought the place via eBay. On the other side of the glass, McGee comments on how he bid on that tower, and Quinn says, “You know what really impresses me? I have no idea if you’re kidding or not.” Ha. Torres and Gibbs question the tower owner, explaining a woman killed herself after receiving a message sent from his tower. He claims to have no idea what they’re talking about, and we learn all the stuff he has stashed in the tower bunker is there in case the world comes to an end. He’s what is known as a prepper. So Gibbs wants to know why Chen would be getting deliveries made to the bunker and shows Prepper a photo. Prepper is all, “Oh, you mean Bobby.” Bobby? Really? Turns out he’s one of Prepper’s silent business partners. “I guess his real name isn’t Bobby?” Uh. That would be no. He says he overheard some of “Bobby’s” delivery guys mentioning that he would be back in town that weekend.

We shift to MTAC where Gibbs and Vance learn that Homeland has all agents monitoring every transportation venue for Chen’s possible arrival. Gibbs tells Homeland if they get eyes on Chen to arrest him, only Congresswoman Flemming enters MTAC just then and rescinds the order. Turns out she’s now the ranking member on the House subcommittee on counterterrorism. In addition to being the woman Vance is currently dating. Hello again, Mary Stuart Masterson! She says she was going to tell Vance that night, and Gibbs is all, “Tonight?” Heh. She’s been tasked with supervising all activity that has to do with Chen, causing Gibbs to question wither she means sabotaging. Flemming claims they don’t have enough to arrest Chen yet and refers to Vance as “Lee.” Gibbs says the body they have down in autopsy says otherwise. “Lee.” HA. Flemming is afraid if they round Chen up, they won’t be able to keep him and he’ll disappear forever. Vance changes his order to Homeland to surveil Chen only, no contact, then he looks to Gibbs and asks if he understands. “Hard not to,” he replies. So much shade.

Now we’re in Gibbs’ basement as Bishop comes flying in and down the stairs. She’s upset about NCIS being told to stand down on arresting Chen, but quickly realizes that Gibbs has another plan. Before they can talk it through, a noise upstairs has them both heading up, guns drawn, only to find Chen standing in Gibbs’ living room, holding the plate Gibbs’ daughter made for him. Cool as you please, he smiles and tells them he heard they wanted to talk to him. Fade to black and white.

Bishop pats down Chen none too gently, causing him to ask her if Qasim liked it rough. Oh boy. They say they know about his planned electrical grid attack and blame him for the Commander’s death, too. He claims he hasn’t killed anyone and says they can’t arrest him. Gibbs says they’ll just try it anyway, and Bishop cuffs him. She repeats Gibbs’ words earlier about it being better to ask forgiveness than permission and Chen claims they’ll get neither, that he’s not the enemy. Chen smiles and says that apparently Gibbs hasn’t heard. They’re on the same team now. Ruh roh.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Mary Stuart Masterson as Jenna Flemming and Rocky Carroll as Vance in NCIS. (Photo: Trae Patton, CBS)

Gibbs charges into Vance’s office, demanding to know what the hell is going on. Vance is trying to open a bottle of wine, says he doesn’t know what Gibbs is talking about. Gibbs explains that he wants to know when Vance learned that Chen was working with the CIA. Cue Flemming, who enters with a bottle opener. Turns out Vance didn’t know about the deal, either. Oh, lovely. Talk about harshing their dinner-date buzz. Flemming explains that they worked a deal with Chen earlier that day to help them nail a Syrian warlord who Chen had done business with in the past. They argue that Chen is a terrorist who has already killed one of their agents, and she counters that the Syrian they want finances ISIS cells who are attacking U.S. troops. She promises them they’ll still get Chen, but that mission is on pause for the moment.

We shift to Bishop’s apartment. Enter Reeves, who tells an understandably upset Bishop that he thinks Flemming made the right call. Bishop counters that she knows the warlord they are after as she tracked his intel when she worked for the NSA and he’s nothing more than a two-bit player in the Syrian conflict. The two argue and Reeves says if she can’t step back to see the bigger picture, maybe she needs to step down completely. She has a flashback to the night she got engaged. Turns out Qasim took her bowling for his birthday celebration, back to where they had their first date. Qasim makes a heartfelt plea for her to not think in “binary code” when it comes to love and makes a comment about how even the crappy music being played at the bowling alley is all 1’s and 0’s, but that’s not the point. Snap back to the present and Bishop realizes that she can now crack the conversation coded in song lyrics.

We’re in Abby Lab as she explains that when the song lyrics are decoded, they form an executable computer program. Enter McGee who corrects her and explains it’s actually a computer virus. It turns diesel generators off and on so quickly that the older generators can’t handle it and they eventually implode. Aha. So that is how Chen is planning to attack the electrical grid. Gibbs and McGee head up to the Bull Pen, but Bishop heads toward the stairs, explaining to Abby she left something in her car. Ruh roh. Fade to black and white.

Sean Murray as McGee and Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Trae Patton, CBS)

In the Bull Pen, Torres is on the phone sending out a warning to all power plants with older generators, as Vance and Gibbs enter to learn that Commander was being blackmailed into buying the computer systems that would be infected with the virus and once linked up would put the virus throughout the Department of Defense’s system. In the end, Commander refused to go along. Gibbs puts McGee on developing an antivirus, which will take a few hours, possibly more time than they have left. Enter Flemming, who agrees she made a mistake putting the mission on pause and has called a meeting of the joint chiefs up in MTAC. She wants Bishop to explain things to them, only they realize she’s not at her desk. Flemming says she ran into her in the parking lot. Torres tries to call her cell. Apparently, Bishop used her bump ’n’ pick skills and dropped her phone in Flemming’s pocket and took Flemming’s phone.

Vance calls Flemming’s phone, but Bishop, who is on the road now, opts not to answer it. McGee pings the cellphone as being north of D.C., but Bishop has since turned the phone off. She sent one text from Flemming’s cell, to Chen’s contact number. To the surprise of no one, she is going after Chen, making it seem as if it’s Flemming who is making the contact.

We’re back at the radio tower bunker as Bishop takes a moment to look at a card from Qasim, complete with photo booth photos of the two together. She’s taking her time before going in, so we all get that she’s conflicted about it, knowing she is ending her career with this rogue move and quite possibly putting her life on the line as well. What would Qasim want her to do? My guess is, not this. Bishop decides otherwise, and in the bunker she goes, gun drawn.

Rafi Silver as Qasim and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

We see Reeves, Gibbs and Quinn heading to the radio tower, but they are 20 miles out. In the meantime, Bishop looks out the window as Chen arrives. He enters, and she explains how the congresswoman won’t be attending their little meeting. She explains she knew he’d come alone, as he couldn’t risk any of his cohorts learning that he’s been working with the CIA. Chen quickly surmises that Bishop isn’t there to discuss business. Ah, nope. Chen says he’s not responsible for Qasim’s death, that he made his own choices. Bishop draws her gun on him as she flashes back to Qasim apologizing for his comments about Bishop overanalyzing things, and she says no, that she knows she does it, claiming her mother says it’s easier for her to think instead of feel. She says she uses her brain to push people away, but she doesn’t want to push him away. However, she tells him she’s also not ready to get engaged, though she might be. One day. Qasim chooses to wait, giving her all the time she needs.

Back to the present, Bishop tells Chen he’s right, that life is about choices, and she’s made hers. She takes out Flemming’s phone, makes a call and says, “I got him.” She then directs Chen to put on handcuffs that she’s already latched to what looks like an old … generator. He does so, saying NCIS won’t be able to hold him. She says they know how he plans to attack the electrical grid. He is not concerned. Until she tells him that her call wasn’t to NCIS. She called the Syrians. Oh boy! Now Chen looks a little concerned. Bishop says a certain Syrian warlord is unhappy with Chen for selling him out to the CIA and might be sending a few of his American contacts over for a little … chat. Chen is panicking in earnest now. He tries to make a deal, but she’s having none of it. He says the Syrians will kill him. “Only if you’re lucky,” she replies. Then she inserts the virus program disk into the generator Chen is handcuffed to and tells him how she’s not really responsible for him. Now he has the same choice he gave to the Commander. Push in the disk, blow himself up along with the generator. Or … wait for the Syrians. She heads outside just as the team pulls up. A moment later, the bunker blows up. She says he forced Commander to make Sophie’s Choice. “He just made his.”

We’re down in Gibbs’ basement with him and Flemming. She tells him how his team impressed her and says she thinks he’s ready for “the big chair.” He says, “Director?” Then reminds her that seat is already taken. She asks if there is another vacancy, but before Gibbs can reply, Bishop comes in. Flemming makes her goodbyes. Bishop asks Gibbs how much trouble she’s in. With Flemming, Gibbs says none. With him? She says she’ll understand if he wants her gone, she knows she went rogue and broke his trust. He reminds her she did it twice. She agrees, but she says she did the same thing she thinks he’d have done in her situation, and if she had to do it over again, she wouldn’t change anything. Gibbs says then they have a problem, because each time an agent goes rogue, there is a price to pay. “And it’s not cheap.” She says she knows that and he corrects her, telling her she doesn’t know. “But you will, soon.” She nods, then pulls the card out with the photos inside. She tells Gibbs she was going to give it to Qasim the night he was shot, that she can’t stop looking at it, but that she needs to. She hands it to Gibbs and thanks him, then heads up the stairs. Gibbs watches her go, then looks down at the card. He moves the photos aside and behind it, on the card, is a big heart with YES! written in the middle. Gibbs makes a hard swallow. Fade to black and white.

Now. THAT is what the Valentine’s episode should have been. Poignant, yes, but some love stories are. Also, Bishop? Nicely done. You’re finally making this work.

Let’s keep the love going — on a more uplifiting note this time — and announce the winner of the giveaway launched in my last recap. Drum rolllllll … come on down, Deborah Dumm! Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with your address, and your signed copies of my Blueberry Cove series will go right out to you!

OK, OK, I see the pouting faces of all you not-Deborahs out there. So let’s give away a copy of my current release, Starfish Moon, along with a bookmark charm designed exclusively for the book by The Cotton Thistle. Want in? Send me a note to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Starfish Moon & Bookmark charm? I’m in!” in the subject line. Feel free to add your thoughts about this week’s episode. I love hearing them, but just the subject line will get you in the running for this week’s prize. I’ll announce the winner in the next recap, which will be for the March 7 episode. (Yep, we get another little break. Wah!) In the meantime, feel free to join me on social media over on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, even Pinterest. Drop by and sit a spell, enjoy the latest on what’s happening, get peeks at all things NCIS, maybe even get another chance to win cool stuff. Then meet me back here on the recap couch. And bring snacks!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia, thankfully surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s recaps

The New Episode Pendulum swings back our way this week (next week, too!) with the McGee-centric What Lies Above. I say let’s dive down below before it changes its mind!

Rocky Carrol as Vance in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

We open with McGee entering Tony’s dark apartment (now McGee’s apartment) and immediately tripping and falling to the floor. Understandably confused, he rolls, hears something, then sees someone and yells, “Someone there? What are you doing in here?” Now, I don’t know about you, but wouldn’t a trained agent immediately assume the worst possible scenario and reach for his gun, then approach the situation from a position of strength, rather than draw the attention of the stranger in his apartment to him as he lies sprawled on the floor? Aaand, stranger shoots. Now McGee scrambles for cover and pulls out his gun. (Good thinking!) They exchange gunfire. McGee wings the guy as he runs away, but it turns out he wasn’t the only one breaking and destroying. More gunfire ensues and this time McGee downs the second intruder, then asks if there’s anyone else (because, sure, they’re going to answer) as someone in another apartment yells that they’re calling 911. McGee heads toward prone Intruder No. 2 but stumbles and falls over some kind of unknown detritus on the floor, hits his head on the table (seriously sloshing gold fishies Kate and Ziva!). He manages to get a lamp on, sees destruction all over the apartment, including where someone has dug up his floorboards (hence his tripping on entry). We hear sirens approaching as McGee crawls over to our brand-new Dead Guy of the Week, calls Gibbs and breathlessly manages to say that yes, it’s him on the phone.

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

Now we’re with Director Leon Vance and Congresswoman Flemming, his new lady love, sipping drinks at a bar as she discusses her stalled bills, and Leon (please, stop calling him Lee, it’s not cute) tries to change the subject by inviting her to a Wizards game. She’s trying to finagle LeON to work his newly found street cred, post Kai Chen take-down, and run for Congress, sweetening it by saying he could give his director’s chair to Gibbs. He thinks this is all very cute, and I’m hoping that’s all it is. Flemming teased us and Gibbs with his possible promotion at the end of our last episode. I just don’t see an NCIS show that doesn’t have Gibbs out with the team, taking down the baddies and solving our Dead Guy (or Gal) of the Week mysteries. At least, not in a way that will make me want to keep tuning in. So let’s hope this is like the team offer they kept making to Tony that he never accepted, and move on. Vance moves on to take a call from Gibbs regarding the McGee Situation.

And we cut to Bishop processing the crime scene with her camera, allowing us to see all the destruction done to the apartment, along with DGoW who still lies where he fell. Gibbs orders them to check the hospitals for the guy McGee grazed. Torres tells us DGoW has no wallet, but his fingerprints give them a name and the news that he’s a recent parolee. Quinn tells us DG had nothing on him and wonders what the other guy got away with. McGee is just happy Delilah is currently in Dubai on assignment. He’s not keen on telling her, given the DGoW currently sprawled on her new living room floor. Torres jokes that she can’t get too upset, what with DGoW not being the first dead body in that apartment and all. This perks up Quinn, who wants to know that story. (Remember, Torres was in the running for this apartment, too, when Senior was picking and choosing who he wanted to have it.)

Wilmer Valderrama as Torries, Sean Murray as McGee and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

Bishop and Torres fill Quinn in on the triple homicide perpetrated right there in the apartment, explaining that’s why Tony got such a dream palace on his NCIS salary. They go into detail about just how messy the apartment got that night, prompting McGee to ask them to knock it off. He then reveals that, well, you see, he never really got around to telling Delilah about the whole “our apartment was the scene of a grisly bloodbath” story. It happened 15 years ago, and he feels like what she doesn’t know, won’t hurt her. The rest of the team thinks the same thing I do: Oh, McGee. He tries to corral their support in helping him keep the backstory mum from Delilah. Torres and Bishop (and I) are having none of it. Quinn, on the other hand, says it’s not lying, but simply omission, adding that sometimes keeping secrets is the better part of valor. Especially with family. Torres wants to know if that means Quinn has kept secrets from her family and her stinky-eyed response is all the answer he needs. Heh.

Re-enter Gibbs who wants them to dig into the triple murder to see if there’s a connection. McGee fights this, then sees a sprawl of books on the floor and races over to check a particular volume containing a hard drive with all of Delilah’s childhood photos and the like. It’s missing. Gibbs wants to know if she might have stored any work files, DoD files, and McGee doesn’t think so, but doesn’t know. Cue McGee’s phone and … it’s Delilah. It’s very early in Dubai, so he’s surprised, but Quinn isn’t. She swears women have a sixth sense about these things. I am on that same page. McGee stalls, saying he’ll have a talk with her later, but the whole team essentially taps their toes and waits on him to answer. Gibbs finally tells him to take the call, so he does. He makes nice on the phone, telling her, to his team’s astonishment, that yeah, it’s just a quiet evening at home. Oh, boy. Fade to black and white.

We’re in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness the following morning with Bishop and Quinn. Bishop is reviewing the triple homicide, telling us that police responded to a 911 call to find the apartment owner, who was a licensed furrier, had shot the intruders — all known felons — and was presently dismembering them with an electric carving knife. He pleaded home invasion and self-defense, only the judge and jury apparently thought dismembering them took self-defense a bit too far and gave him three life terms in prison. Quinn thinks there are possible parallels with the current case, given the home-intruder angle and the known-felon part. Enter McGee who thinks no such thing, nope, not at all, nothing to see here, move right along please. He explains the furrier business was a front for a smuggling ring, and the murdered felons were also furriers who were working for him, presumably as, you know, smugglers.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

Enter Torres who wants to know how Delilah took the news, and we learn that maybe McGee didn’t quite tell her everything. In fact, she knows only that there was a break-in, and that freaked her so badly she wanted to fly home immediately. So McGee didn’t “pile on” with the part about the destruction, and oh, yeah, the guy he shot and killed on their living room floor. He says he needed her to stay in Dubai at least long enough to give him time to clean up and fix the place. Quinn stands by her “omission” theory, and the “family doesn’t need to know everything” belief, but Bishop and Quinn are having none of it. McGee just wants to find Delilah’s hard drive. Enter Gibbs, and McGee tells him he contacted Tony, but he didn’t have anything that could help.

Gibbs wants a sitrep, so we go to the Screen of All Knowing, where Bishop tells us that DG just got out of prison after serving three years for drug smuggling. No previous break-ins on his record, but as Gibbs says, there’s a first time for everything. We learn there were prints on a crowbar found in the bedroom, along with footprints, all of which is with Abby for examination. McGee is panicking about the hard drive, the absence of which he also hasn’t told Delilah about, prompting more pushback from Torres and Bishop about lying. Gibbs joins Quinn’s team and says it’s not lying, it’s omission. If you want to dismantle the meaning down to its most basic interpretation, then yeah. Sure. It’s not lying. I would, however, call it a betrayal of trust.

We go down to Ducky’s Digs, and I make the mistake of looking up from my keyboard long enough to see fake flesh peeled back from a fake body, about which the fake part my gag reflex does not have any cares left to give. Gah. So I keep my head down and eyes averted as Dr. Ducky and Dr. Palmer discuss the vagaries of lying vs. omission. Enter McGee who is none too enthused to find out that Palmer also knows that he’s been … omitting things with Delilah. He’s on the Bishop/Torres team, but agrees to keep silent. An impatient Gibbs wants to get a report and we learn that DG died of a gunshot to the heart. McGee calls it a lucky shot as Abby comes in to tell him that his apartment is decidedly unlucky. She gives him the standard Abby thank-God-you’re-OK hug and goes on about the unlucky-ness, making McGee increasingly uncomfortable. In the background, once again I focus on the keyboard as Palmer takes what look like big hedge clippers to cut DG’s ribs. Why can’t we “omit” that? (Yes, I’m a wuss. This is why I never made it past the first episode of Dexter. Heck, I can’t even watch CSI.) We learn that Abby got a match on the print from the crowbar and it belongs to another ex-con who did time for burglary. She’s sent them the guy’s cellphone number, then tells McGee as he follows Gibbs from the room that she agrees with Torres/Bishop/Gibbs that it’s too late to tell Delilah about the apartment’s violent history.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

Torres and McGee pull into an alley and get out, looking at the ping signal on Intruder No. 2’s phone, which they should be on top of any second. I’m thinking No. 2 is probably in the nearby dumpster, but then he just strolls out from behind said dumpster, clutching his still bleeding arm. No. 2 is a little dazed, but he does figure out that maybe he should run, so he does. Torres runs ahead, then trips the guy as he comes through a gate. Torres cuffs him as McGee goes through the guy’s backpack. Amongst other things, Delilah’s hard drive is recovered.

Then we’re in interrogation and No. 2 is all, “I’ve never been shot before.” Not fun, I’m guessing. McGee wants to know why he was looking for the hard drive, but the guy says he took it because he thought he could sell it. He tells them that he was paid $500 by DG to break him into the apartment and he could also take anything he wanted from the place. He doesn’t know what DG was looking for, but said the guy would know it when he saw it. DG was working off a tip he got from a guy he met while in prison. Torres and McGee share knowing looks. The Furrier? I’m thinking yes.

On the other side of the glass, Abby says she hopes they don’t have to tear apart McGee’s apartment to find whatever it was DG was looking for. Gibbs says that’s fine, but only if she can find a way to do the search without tearing it apart. He leaves, and Abby tells Vance, who is also in the room, that she can, in fact, do just that. She leaves as Vance takes a call from Flemming, who wants to change their lunch date to a venue where the power players like to dine. Vance doesn’t seem too upset by this notion and agrees, making Flemming very happy. Me? Not so much.

Down in the Bull Pen, the team finds info via prison inmate acquaintances that links the Furrier and our DG. Ruh roh. Looks like he’ll have to tell Delilah now, but suddenly McGee isn’t so much worried about that as he is in actually living in the place at all, given it’s apparently a target and all. Fade to a handsome Gibbs black and white.

Rocky Carrol as Vance and Mary Stuart Masterson as Jenna in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

We come back to Quinn and McGee at the prison, waiting to speak to The Furrier. McGee is understandably nervous about meeting the former owner of his place and thanks Quinn for having his back about the apartment history. She simply says that all families have secrets, that no one is immune. Then our killer enters. He’s rather insouciant and finds it all kinds of amusing that McGee lives in his old place. He waxes rhapsodic about all the woodwork he did in the place, the shelves, the floors, and he’s sad to hear they were damaged during the break-in. That said, he proclaims he has no idea why DG broke in or what he was looking for. All a big coincidence that there are direct ties from DG to him.

Back at the Bull Pen, Abby is running a long bar-shaped machine over Torres’ desktop, revealing the contents inside the desk via the little screen on top. Fun little x-ray scanner and Gibbs tells them to head over to McGee’s and put it to work. Bishop gets a call from DG’s parole officer with news that he lived in a nearby halfway house. Bishop and Gibbs head that way and Abby and Torres head to McGee’s. Gibbs instructs them to tell Quinn and McGee to head there as well.

We go to the halfway house and they talk to the office manager who doesn’t give them much to go on. She says she doesn’t get to know them that well as they all hit on her too much and she’s “done saving souls.” Is she lying about how well she knew DG? Mebbe. Bishop asks about a photo of a young girl she sees on DG’s dresser, but Office Manager Girl claims not to know who it is.

Over at McGee’s place, Abby and Torres are still x-ray scanning when Quinn and McGee get there. Quinn tells Torres that Furrier was definitely psycho, but also a bad liar. They know something is hidden in the apartment. The only place left to search is under McGee’s bed. When he seems reluctant, Quinn is all, “If you need us to step out for a moment” in case he has any “secrets” under there … HA. He says nope and leads the way. He lifts the bed up and they see comic books (which happen to belong to Delilah) and the box containing McGee’s father’s ashes. Torres and Quinn have the same reaction I do to sleeping on top of dear old dad’s ashes. Not happening. McGee assures them that Delilah does know the ashes were there and was fine with it. It’s just ashes, McGee says. And, yeah, but … I dunno. Seems a little (or a lot) disrespectful? Especially with all those bookshelves in the living room and all …

Sean Murray as McGee and Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Trae Patton, CBS)

Abby’s scanning determines that there is definitely something under the floor. Torres is pumped. “I knew it! It’s a treasure chest!” Ha. I like the dry-bordering-on-comic humor-slash-wounded-warrior persona they’ve given Torres. It’s a nice layering, rather than have him be the more stereotypical “moody, anti-social guy.” Abby carefully pries up the boards, then tears back the covering … so they can see a bearded guy in a bag. “Suddenly, sleeping over your dad’s ashes doesn’t seem so bad,” Quinn offers, along with her trademark wincing smile. HA. McGee simply stares down at the dead body as his phone rings. He pulls it out, sees it’s Delilah and in a very raspy, stunned voice says, “I’m going to let that go to voice mail.” Yeah, Skippy, you are. Ruh roh, indeed. Fade to black and white.

We’re still in McGee’s with the now fully exhumed body. Proximity to ventilation ducts, according to Ducky, created the perfect environment for mummification. He tells Gibbs they’ll be able to tell how long ago the deceased got himself that way during autopsy. Out in the other room, Torres is gesticulating to McGee to delay Delilah’s return, which McGee is doing. As McGee wanders to the kitchen, Torres explains to an incredulous Quinn that he changed his mind, that Delilah does not need to know she’s been sleeping — and, you know, not sleeping — on top of a dead guy. He says it was one thing when McGee knew about the murders before he moved in, but this is a total surprise and he’s well within his rights to protect Delilah from knowing, then adds, quite animatedly, that he really wishes he didn’t know. HA.

We’re back in Ducky’s Digs and my attention is back on my keyboard. Ducky tells Gibbs that mummification makes time of death tricky but ballparks it at 10 to 15 years. Cause of death was either blunt-force trauma or the cut to the carotid artery. Dr. Palmer gets a hit on the fingerprints he obtained by “rehydrating” one of our New Dead Guy’s fingers and says Ducky nailed it. The ID shows that the man went missing 15 years earlier. Gibbs recognizes the name as belonging to a crooked lobbyist. Palmer notes something suspicious on the x-rays, some foreign object in the man’s stomach. Ducky agrees and makes an incision I don’t watch so he can extract a rather large key the man apparently swallowed before dying. Ouch. Although maybe not as bad going down as it would have been … well, never mind. Palmer takes the key to Abby.

/gibbs bishop

Up in the Bull Pen, the team and Vance learn that the body is indeed that of a notoriously crooked lobbyist whose disappearance rivaled that of DB Cooper. Vance isn’t sure where this will lead, but he leaves the team to explain Crooked Lobbyist’s background to Torres, who was undercover at the time, so he can make his lunch date with Flemming. Bishop tells Torres that CL was a lobbyist for South African exports and was rumored to be involved with a huge heist of African diamonds worth millions taken from a charter that had come into Dulles International Airport. When he disappeared, folks thought he took the diamonds and ran. Except instead he’s been dead under first Tony’s and now McGee’s bed all this time. Gibbs tells a still shell-shocked-looking McGee to snap to as he needs him focused. In comes Abby who has been able to make out a few numbers on the key, which is the size to fit a locker or safe-deposit box. Quinn wonders if they might be on the trail to discovering the lost Pretoria diamonds, prompting Torres to say he knew they were on a treasure hunt! Heh.

We move to lunch between Vance and Flemming. She’s ecstatic that Leon and his team might be close to solving the Pretoria diamond heist, certain that will cement his chance to win a congressional seat. She recalls CL “trolling the halls” her first year on the Hill, remembering him to be a slimy sort. A passing congressman pauses for a hello with Flemming and a meet-n-greet with Vance. Passing congressman is a Vance fan. Flemming asks him if he ever crossed paths with CL and the congressman gives a shudder, saying he hopes the guy bought an island with a volcano on it, then goes on his way. Vance tells Flemming she came a little too close to spilling the beans about their case, but she assures him she would never. Just priming the pump for when they solve the case and Vance makes his run for office official. Oh, boy.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Mary Stuart Masterson as Jenna Flemming and Rocky Carroll as Vance in NCIS. (Photo: Trae Patton, CBS)

Back at the prison with Furrier, who is disappointed that it’s Gibbs with McGee this time, instead of Quinn. Gibbs tells him they found CL then we go on to learn that CL found out that Furrier was actually running a smuggling business and wanted him to help him hide the diamonds. They were going to sit on the diamonds a few years, then divvy up the spoils, only CL couldn’t wait and started flashing his newfound wealth around town. Furrier demanded a meeting, wanted the key to the safe-deposit box, but CL swallowed it right in front of him. McGee wants to know why he didn’t just cut the key out of CL like he cut up the other guys, but he says that was weeks before the triple murder and he didn’t know what he was going to do about it all at that point. He had a key he needed to hide a body to dispose of, and a floor he’d almost finished installing. Seemed like a good plan at the time. When the smugglers he’d hired to help with the diamond heist came looking for the money, he tried to keep things clean, but that didn’t happen, he got caught, and the rest is history. Gibbs wants to know why he decided to tell someone about CL and the key. He says he’s serving life, not ever getting out, and thought DG was a nice enough guy, so why not? McGee wants to know why he wasn’t more specific about the key’s whereabouts, but he says that wouldn’t be any fun. He says it’s McGee’s key now, so he can do what he wants with it. Then he realizes they are there because they don’t know where the safe-deposit box is located. He’s quite tickled about that. He offers to tell them if they’ll see about getting him a bigger cell. Gibbs says they don’t deal and gets up. Gibbs and McGee walk out as Furrier keeps talking about what heroes they’d be. McGee thinks maybe he has a point, but Gibbs just smiles and tells him to keep walking. Fade to black and white.

Rocky Carroll as Vance and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn in NCIS. (Photo: Trae Patton, CBS)

Vance and Gibbs are in his office. Vance is talking about how exhausting politics can be and Gibbs says he’s not even running yet, prompting Vance to give him the side-eye and “don’t you start.” Gibbs says he’d vote for him and Vance says that might be the nicest thing he’s ever said. Enter Flemming, who is happy to see Gibbs is there as well. “Yes, I work here,” he says. HA. (Are we supposed to like Flemming? If so, I’m going to need a lot more convincing. Apparently, so is Gibbs.) Flemming is all a-dither about them not cutting a deal with Furrier and solving the famous Pretoria diamond-heist case. Gibbs reminds her that Furrier killed four people, and she counters that he’s serving life in prison for that. Vance interrupts and says he’d like his team to have the chance to solve it, and Gibbs’ phone rings with a call from Abby. He heads out and Flemming stops him to say she’s not trying to overstep, she’s just excited about the case being solved. Gibbs tells her to direct that to Vance, that they’re all on the same team. Vance lights into Flemming, explaining that they are not politicians, that while she can “dance with the devil,” his job is to “put devils away, or put them down.” He says she can work with guys like Kai Chen because it serves her “greater good” and she butts in, saying her “greater good” helps a lot of people. He agrees with her, but says she doesn’t accomplish that goal in the same way he and his team does. Vance tells her it’s not personal, it’s just the truth. Flemming clearly doesn’t see it that way and heads out. Vance tells her he’d put Furrier in a four-star hotel if he thought it would help, and she replies that he’d just ask for a five-star hotel, and that she gets that, but still flounces out. So, yeah, not so much, really.

In Abby Lab, she hasn’t made headway with the key, but she did find a purple hair in DG’s T-shirt. And who has purple hair? Halfway house Office Manager Girl. The one who didn’t get personally involved with the residents. Riiiight. We move to interrogation with her, Gibbs and Bishop. She says she didn’t speak because she was afraid, but assures them DG was a nice guy who wanted a fresh start, like she did. They had a dream of moving West, reuniting with his daughter (the photo on the dresser) and maybe open up a restaurant, start a family of their own. She said they just wanted to find the key, that was all, to help them get some money to start their new life. She didn’t know DG had a gun. She says she’s not even sure there really was a key. Bishop tells her there was. She asks if the diamonds were where Furrier said they’d be, then realizes Gibbs and Bishop don’t know where they are. Gibbs assures her she doesn’t need a deal, so she tells them the safe-deposit box is in a small bank in Delaware.

Shift to said small bank in Delaware as Quinn and Torres enter the vault and slide out the safe-deposit box. Torres takes out his phone to record the moment and Quinn reminds him of the big old bunch of nothing that was inside Capone’s vault. She unwraps the velvet … and there they are. Quinn is slack-jawed, and Torres laughs and says, “That is not nothing.” He takes a picture of Quinn’s gaping expression. HA.

Pauley Perrette as Abby and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Trae Patton, CBS)

Back in prison, McGee gives Furrier a photo of all the lovely diamonds. “So, no window?” Yeah, no. He asks to keep the photo, and McGee happily obliges. McGee just wants to know if there are any more “surprises.” Furrier wants to know what that info might be worth, and McGee just shakes his head and exits. Furrier stops him, then solemnly says he’s good, no more surprises. Then just as McGee steps out, he adds, “Maybe.” Then chuckles.

I thought we might be heading directly to the Delilah-McGee Big Reveal, but we’re going to detour through Vance’s office where Flemming is pouring a drink as the news on the TV goes on about the big solved cases for NCIS. She doesn’t seem all that enthused and asks Vance if Hollywood has called for the movie rights. Vance says no and he won’t sell his rights unless he’s played by Denzel Washington. HA. That would actually work. She tells Vance she’s done pushing him. He comes around the desk, takes her hand, says that what she does so well, he just doesn’t think he would be very good at doing. He assures her it isn’t personal, that they use different methods, but he didn’t intend to demean her method of her. However, she is taking it very personally, because what she does and how she does it is who she is, and that is very personal to her. She tells him she loves what she does and will make no apologies for that. He says he doesn’t think she should apologize for anything. She says she thinks the world of him, calls him Lee again, and he tries to lessen the tension, saying, for problem solvers, they’re not doing a very good job of it. She tells him she needs to take a step back, which surprises him. (He apparently didn’t hear me start cheering when she told him she thought the world of him. Death knell line if ever there was one.) She steps close, tells him she’s sorry, and I hate it that she has the power to hurt Vance, who is the very last guy who needs more hurt. Yet, I do not mourn her leaving. Still, he’s sitting there all glassy-eyed and all. Aww, Leon. Just … next time, choose more wisely, man!

Down in the Bull Pen, Torres stands by his advice that McGee shouldn’t tell Delilah everything. Quinn comments that the news story is going to make that a little hard, and Bishop says for a guy who used to lie for a living, he has a lot of rules about lying. He says undercover work is different from real life, because there are actual lives at stake. Quinn puts in that sometimes that is true in real life, too. Torres asks if that refers to her family secrets and wants to know what she’s hiding. She tells him to move along, nothing to see here. Bishop adds the Mark Twain line about if you never lie, you never have to remember anything. Enter McGee who adds that Twain never found a dead body under his bed. He tells them that he told Delilah everything, except the part where he knew about the triple homicide before they moved in. He asks them to keep that a secret for him. He says Delilah took it well, though he thinks there will be a lot of “disinfectant and sage-ing going on.” At the very least.

We see McGee enter his apartment through the goldfish bowl, with Kate and Ziva swimming around, perfectly fine. He hears a noise and this time he immediately draws his gun. There we go! Gibbs steps out of the other room, tools in hand, and asks McGee if he’s going to help him fix his floors or what? Heh. McGee smiles. Fade to black and white.

Hmm … not sure how I feel about this one, except the part about Flemming taking a bow. Is it wrong that my personal takeaway is just wanting to know more about Quinn’s story? What did you think? Before you shoot me an e-mail, read on.

Last we chatted, I put up a copy of my current release, Starfish Moon, along with a fab bookmark charm designed exclusively for the book by the lovely Joyce Taber of The Cotton Thistle. Your enthusiastic response did not go unnoticed! I’m happy to announce the winner is Kimberly Wright!! Kim, please drop me your address to donna@donnakauffman.com and your prize will go right out in the mail to you.

What’s up for grabs this week? I’m so glad you asked! Last week HEA published a sneak peek of my upcoming June 27 release, Blue Hollow Falls, right here in their Happy Ever After book blog, along with an excerpt AND (the most exciting part) a chance to be the very first one to get your hands on an advance copy. I know! That winner will be announced on my blog, Twitter and Facebook tomorrow (March 9). BUT! I couldn’t leave my fellow recap couchers out in the cold, now could I? So, this week, YOU also get the chance to be … well, OK, not the first now, but close to the first person to get their hands on an advance copy. Blue Hollow Falls launches a whole new series for me, set right in my Blue Ridge Mountain, Virginia, home area. Want in? It’s easy. Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with “I want a copy of Blue Hollow Falls!” in the subject line. That’s it. I told you it was simple. Of course, if you want to gab about this week’s episode, or this season in general, I’m all ears (and eyes, thankfully) for that, too! I’ll reveal the winner in next week’s recap. (Yes, two new eps in a row!)

In the meantime, feel free to join me on social media over on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, even Pinterest. Drop by and sit a spell, enjoy the latest on what’s happening, get peeks at all things NCIS, maybe even get another chance to win cool stuff. Then meet me back here on the recap couch. Bring popcorn! And peanut M&M’s. I don’t ask for much.

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 60 titles. (Yes, 60! She’s been at it for 24 years, a child prodigy, really, so books happen.) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia, thankfully surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS recaps

We’re back, and tonight it’s Torres’ turn as we shine a little light on his deep, dark past. Let’s not waste any time, shall we?

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

We open with a man in cammies, sporting a black eye, getting a cola out of a hospital soda machine, talking to a woman who is clearly not well. Pale, sunken eyes, head wrapped in a scarf, so likely no hair. She teases him about his soda habit and mourns not having had soda in longer than she can remember. He gives her the can, urges her to take a sip and she does. (Am I the only one who thinks she’ll, like, immediately convulse and die?) Instead, there’s a big to-do in the hospital room by where they are standing, doctors rushing in, starting CPR and firing up the heart-thumper pads. The two move to the window, observe the team trying to save the person in the bed. The sick woman looks at the cola guy and says maybe it’s her time to go. He calls her lieutenant, says no can do, she made him a promise. The team in the room cranks up the juice and hits their patient with pads again, and this time they get a pulse. They move back and we see the person on the bed is actually the sick woman from the hall. Ooooh!

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

We’re at Gibbs’ diner on a Sunday morning with McGee, Bishop and Torres, who is wearing shades, cuddling his jacket and looking like he’s nursing a serious hangover. Bishop is on his case because they are slated to do a five-mile run that day in training for the marathon, their first serious session. Torres assures them his body is a “finely tuned machine” and all he needs is a little fuel. McGee counters that maybe it’s more like a full tune-up, but Torres assures him he got one of those last night. Heh. Enter Quinn, who wants coffee and an omelet before her run. Bishop balks at this, but Quinn assures her she can eat before and after. Torres tells McGee and Bishop he’ll just wing it like his last marathon and tells an inquiring McGee his time was three hours. McGee finds this impossible to believe and Torres repeats the whole “my body is a work of art” thing and says it’s both a blessing and a curse, but hey, at least McGee will never have to worry about that. Burn. Quinn urges McGee and Bishop to go on ahead and they’ll catch up. Bishop starts to balk, but she and McGee head out.

Over at Gibbs’ house, he gets a visit from a retired general who apologizes for the unannounced drop-in, but Gibbs seems happy to see him. He tells Gibbs that his daughter is dying, and we learn she is the same lieutenant we saw in the opening scene. General tells Gibbs that his daughter is why he’s there and that they need his help. Cut over to the hospital. Gibbs enters to see a surprised and happy young petty officer. They clearly go way back and he hugs her, gives her a kiss on the forehead, before sitting and saying her dad didn’t fill him in, that he told Gibbs she wanted to do that herself. She said she probably doesn’t look like he remembers her. He reminds her he was the one who took her to the hospital when she crashed her bike into the tree in his yard and they both chuckle over her and the tree still bearing the scars from the collision.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

Lieutenant tells Gibbs that she has stage-four ovarian cancer, inoperable, and none of the treatments has helped. She’s asked to see him so he can help her with a last wish. During her time on board her last deployment, one of her fellow corpsman went overboard, and though they searched, he was never found. She shows Gibbs a photo of her and the corpsman, and it’s the man we saw in the opening scene, getting the cola. She tells Gibbs that it was classified an accidental man overboard, but she thinks it was something else. She tells Gibbs that two days before he went over, he showed up with a black eye and was behaving out of character. He couldn’t tell her why because he said he wouldn’t lie to her, but she thinks it was tied to him going overboard. Gibbs tells her it could be totally unrelated, but she says her gut says otherwise. She started looking into it but then got sick. She was his division officer, in charge of watching over him, and feels like she failed him. She refuses to fail him again. She begs Gibbs for his help, says she’s running out of time. Fade to black and white.

We’re in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness as Torres might be acting a bit smug over the fact that McGee and Bishop had a 10-minute head start, but he and Quinn still ran them down and beat them. His finely tuned machine and all. Bishop grouses that it was like running against Usain Bolt and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Quinn says that she and Torres are simply gifted runners, but with hard work, Bishop and McGee can improve and that she believes in them. Torres says they will never beat him, of course, but maybe they won’t come in last. Quinn says he needs a little work on his pep talk. Enter Gibbs, who wants an update and everyone hops to it.

At the Screen of All Knowing, we learn that our Man Overboard was 27, unmarried, no kids. His ship was patrolling South American waters on a counternarcotics mission with the Coast Guard. On-board investigation was conducted by the master-at-arms, then NCIS got involved 48 hours later. Quinn contacted the field agent from that office and the report is being sent over. A broken stanchion was found and it was surmised that when it broke, MO went overboard, no foul play suspected. Gibbs says, “It is now,” then fields a call from Ducky and heads out.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn, Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

McGee and Torres are at the ship, talking to Master-at-Arms, who conducted the investigation, which was reported after MO failed to show up for his appointed duty. They see the replacement stanchion and are told that the original was taken in for evidence. The stanchions are wobbly, as they are removable, held in place by a pin. It was three hours after his fall that he was reported missing. We learn that a fellow petty officer was the last person to see him alive. The Master-at-Arms seems open, helpful, not a future nefarious suspect.

Shifting to the hospital, Gibbs brings Ducky to see our sick Lieutenant and she kids Gibbs about looking like she’s dead, but assures him she’s not needing a medical examiner quite yet. Heh. Ducky tells her he has a close friend, an oncologist, doing a new, exploratory treatment for advance-stage cancer and is willing to get her in the program. She initially balks, but when she hears that some patients had their lives extended by five to 10 years, she decides what the heck has she got to lose.

Now we’re in the conference room back at HQ, where Bishop and Quinn are talking to the petty officer who was the last one to see MO. She says it wasn’t unusual for MO to go out on the deck late at night, but he shouldn’t have been leaning on the stanchion, that he wouldn’t do that. She seems surprised that Bishop and Quinn might think his death wasn’t an accident. She’s dressed kind of dark, heavy makeup, not sure what that’s all about, but tells them she was with MO when he got the black eye. They were in port, at a bar, and her boyfriend, another petty officer, got drunk, started yelling at her. MO intervened, got punched for his efforts. She broke up with him, and ex-boyfriend immediately took up with someone else the next day. She hasn’t contacted him since leaving the ship.

Sean Murray as McGee and Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

Over ship-side, McGee and Torres talk to Ex-Boyfriend, who is about as lovely as you’d expect. McGee and Torres taunt him with how much better MO was than he was, but ExBF isn’t having any of that. He’s all about how MO wasn’t a golden boy so much as a rule-breaker. Not that he’s a snitch or anything. Torres encourages him, what with MO being dead now and all, to give them an example. He tells them that MO and Lieutenant were in a relationship, despite officers not being allowed to date enlisted. ExBF is all proud of what a nice guy he was for keeping that on the down-low, despite the fact that the Lieutenant had it in for him, according to him anyway. He smugly says she should be happy he was so forgiving and Torres makes an under-his-breath snark about how the more ExBF talks, the worse it gets for him. Heh. They ask his whereabouts that night, but he was on duty, lots of witnesses.

We pop over to Abby Lab, where Abby tells Gibbs that she found traces of blood on the life line that was part of the broken stanchion. The blood belonged to MO, so not a big surprise as he might have injured himself in the fall. The surprise is she also found traces of bleach, which is not used on ships as it’s too corrosive. So someone was trying to hide something. Fade to black and white.

In Lieutenant’s hospital room, Bishop and Torres tell her about Abby’s discovery. They also ask her about her possible relationship with MO. She knows then that they talked to ExBF and tells them she reprimanded him so many times he went down a pay grade, so she’s not surprised he had nothing good to say about her. While Bishop is talking to the Lieutenant, Torres is pacing the room like something is bugging him, but doesn’t say what. Bishop mentions that ExBF wasn’t the only one to say that Lieutenant and MO spent a lot of time together. She agreed that they did, but that it was because she thought he was officer material and had sent his paperwork up right before he went missing. She says nothing inappropriate was going on between them.

In Abby Lab, she gives McGee a power smoothie to help up his run time. Turns out Torres might have posted their run times online. Heh. She tells McGee to use it as motivation. One sip and he’s not a big fan. Enter Gibbs, just in time for a taste test, but one look at McGee’s expression and he begs off, claiming he just ate lunch. Abby is fine with that, because more for McGee! Then we get back to business and learn that the ship our Lieutenant and the MO were on was in charge of seizing cocaine on their counternarcotics mission in South America, which they did to the tune of $2 billion (yes, with a b), then turning them over to the DEA back in Norfolk for processing and storage. We learn that every batch of drugs, in this case cocaine, has a “fingerprint” based on how it’s processed, that no two batches are the same. So, that makes it kind of tricky when cocaine seized recently in Curacao is from the same batch that MO’s ship supposedly turned in to the DEA. I think we have motive!

In the Bull Pen, Torres is still moody and looking at a photo of a young man who looks like it might be himself at a younger age, not sure. Bishop asks why he’s acting weird, and he corrects her, saying he doesn’t act “weird.” He acts “mysterious.” But before she can find out what is making him act mysterious, enter Gibbs, who wants an update. For some reason, he picks up the black baseball bat while they talk. We learn that even one brick of stolen cocaine could net 25 grand, so they wouldn’t have had to steal a lot to make some serious money. Torres says only 12 sailors on board had access to the confiscated cocaine, and of them, only one had something pop up on his financials. And the winner is? Petty Officer Face Paint!

McGee and Quinn track her down, but her apartment building isn’t exactly the Ritz. More like, as McGee says, something from The Shining. Not exactly the digs of someone with $100K in her bank account. Moments later, we find Petty Officer dead on the floor of her apartment, needle by her side. Fade to black and white.

Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

In the Bull Pen, we learn the Petty Officer’s neighbors didn’t see or hear anything, and Torres says that there was enough heroin in her apartment that an overdose was likely inevitable. Gibbs isn’t buying overdose and thinks it all looks too clean, like MO’s death. He orders Torres over to the hospital as protection for Lieutenant. He balks, says he’s not a hospital guy, that Bishop would be more well suited for the job. Gibbs says no dice, he’s sending Torres, so get on with it. Torres asks why him, prompting Gibbs to walk over to him, asking if there is a problem. “You know there is,” Torres says calmly. “But that’s the point, isn’t it?” Bishop is watching the two now. Torres asks Gibbs what he’s trying to do, and he says, “My job.” Then suggests Torres go and do the same. Exit an unhappy Torres.

Down in Ducky’s Digs, he tells Gibbs that Petty Officer was definitely a junkie, but he doesn’t think her overdose was self-inflicted. There were ligament marks showing she’d been restrained and flesh under her fingernails. In rushes Abby, who says she has a hit from those tissue samples. Aaaaand, bingo. Hello, ExBF.

This time the whole team is on board, and no one can find ExBF, but heard he goes off board for lunch. Aaand, here he comes. McGee calls out his name, and ExBF decides to make a run for it. Because … sure. That’ll work. (They always run. They always don’t make it. Silly criminals.) He’s taken down by a super-speedy McGee, who is quite happy with his run time this go around.

Over at the hospital, Torres is a study in fidgeting discomfort. Lieutenant tries to use humor to engage him, but finally comes at him straight, explaining how people who know she is dying from cancer act in a set number of ways, and avoiding her, as he is doing, generally means it’s because he’s lost a loved one to cancer. She says she’s sorry for his loss and has said all of this kindly and very straight-forwardly. He walks to her bedside and, as serious as we’ve ever seen him, informs her he is not there to have a Hallmark moment with her. “Got it?” he says. Her eyes widen a bit, but she doesn’t look overly insulted. The thing about being terminal is that you can care a lot less about what someone you don’t even know thinks about you. She smiles, says, “Got it,” then gives a little eye roll when he turns away. Now, her, I get, and applaud. But Torres? Dude. Whatever the reason is you don’t want to be there? You don’t take it out on the dying girl. My respect for him, down a whole handful of notches. Hope there’s an apology coming in the ending scene of this ep.

We move to interrogation and ExBF is crying medic for the broken rib McGee gave him, but Quinn and McGee aren’t feeling all that sympathetic. They go back and forth, then when he says once again that he had nothing to do with MO’s death, McGee shows him Petty Officer’s morgue shot and asks if maybe he had something to do with that one. He looks sincerely surprised, saying he just saw her the night before. McGee says he knows, they found his flesh under her fingernails. He hurries to tell them that he wouldn’t ever hurt her, only protect her. When they were on board, MO told ExBF that he thought Petty Officer was stealing the confiscated drugs to support her drug habit and thought ExBF put her up to it. He didn’t and swears she wouldn’t have stolen them anyway. Then they came around asking about MO’s death, and he knew something wasn’t right, so he went to see her to confront her directly. She admitted to stealing but wouldn’t tell him who, was clearly terrified of whoever it was. He didn’t tell NCIS because he didn’t want her to get in trouble, thought he was doing the right thing.

At the hospital, General brings Torres a cup of coffee, thanks him for protecting his daughter. Torres insists it’s just a precaution. General confides in him that he’s actually more worried that NCIS will solve the case and then his daughter won’t have anything left to keep her fighting to stay alive. Torres says he’ll have more time with her now that she’s in the program Ducky recommended. General tells him she was turned down for it, that her cancer has progressed too far. Torres looks through the door to her room, sees her laughing and talking with a nurse, and asks General if she knows. He says she found out before Torres got there that morning. He tells Torres that he’d do anything to save her if he could, cutting out his own kidney with a spoon if he thought it would help. He looks at his daughter and says she’s going to die, and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it. Torres looks at General, then Lieutenant … fade to black and white.

In Vance’s office, he’s on the phone with SecNav, then tells Gibbs when he enters that now that they have two dead sailors and stolen narcotics, SecNav wants answers and is willing to throw the weight of her office behind the investigation. Whatever Gibbs needs. To which Gibbs says, “Well, there is something …”

But we don’t get to learn what that is. Instead, we’re outside the hospital with Lieutenant in her wheelchair and Torres tells her she shouldn’t be out in the cold. She laughs, says if the weather wants to kill her, it will have to take a number. Heh. He gives her his coat anyway, drapes it over her lap. After an awkward pause with him standing stoically and silently behind her wheelchair, she looks up at him and says they should bite the bullet and just apologize to each other, and move on. When he says nothing, she’s all, “OK, I’ll go first.” Seriously, Torres? She tells him that finding out she was terminal made time a precious commodity, and due to that, she tends to speak straight to the heart of things. She tells him if she offended him, she was truly sorry. There is a pause, and she says, “This is the point where you say something.” Ha. You tell him, Lieutenant. He says, “I don’t like clutter in my work space.” She falters a moment, then says, “Deep.” HA! He caves and sits on the bench near her. He says he has nothing on his desk except a photo. That’s it. One he’s kept with him for years. She asks of what, and he says, “Me.” That earns him a look from her, and another laugh from me. He says it’s from when he was 16, but she’s still not getting it. He says it’s not the subject matter of the photo. It was a gift to him, taken by a good friend named Sophia. Childhood friends since they were 5, inseparable, it wasn’t until they were sitting in the high school cafeteria that he looked at her and just knew she was going to be the one for him. He was never more sure of anything in his life than he was going to marry her. She was diagnosed their senior year. He said she fought it the whole time, never gave up hope, and he just knew that she was going to make it. When he got the call, he wasn’t ready. Lieutenant tells him no one ever is. He tells her that being around her was a reminder and admits to being an ass. She wholeheartedly agrees with that assessment. Ha. He does apologize and we both forgive him. They head inside for Jell-O.

We head to the Bull Pen where McGee and Bishop tell Gibbs that when narcotics were confiscated, the sailors who boarded and took the contraband brought it aboard their ship, which was the point the Petty Officer likely got her hands on it. They also noted that each officer was checked on boarding the ship to make sure such a thing didn’t happen, and that each time Petty Officer boarded, the same officer searched her. And yepperino, it was the only person left to blame this whole thing on, our friendly, oh so helpful, don’t look at me, Master-at-Arms. Our MaA has had a string of bad luck on and off the job, including being passed over for promotion eight times and being forced to retire in the upcoming year. So, not entirely surprising that he turned to a life of crime, thinking the military owed him something.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn and Sean Murray as McGee in NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

Quinn and Gibbs corner him on the ship as he’s putting a few of his men through their paces. Quinn and Gibbs run down his list of sins, telling him he’ll be coming with them. He reaches for his gun, but Gibbs is all, Yeah, don’t do that. Quinn mentions that he might shoot them, but he’d still have the guys behind him to deal with, and they just learned MaA killed two of their own. She assures him he’d do better with NCIS. Heh.

Back at HQ, McGee and Bishop confront Quinn with the knowledge that they know she hired an Uber to take her to the final mile marker so she could cheat and beat them on their run. Bishop says she never had any plan to run the marathon. Quinn laughs, says they got her, she was just pushing them to work harder. McGee can’t wait to get in Torres’ face about this, but Quinn says, Oh, he wasn’t in on it. He actually ran it. Much to McGee’s and Bishop’s dismay. Ha!

At the hospital, Lieutenant learns who committed the crime from Gibbs. General thanks Gibbs for his help, and Lieutenant says she wished she could have done more for him. Gibbs says she did. MO’s paperwork was reviewed and he was posthumously commissioned the rank of ensign. Lieutenant breathes a happy sigh of relief. She tells Gibbs how truly grateful she is. Enter Torres. Lieutenant tells her dad that maybe he should step out for a bite with Gibbs. She assures him she’ll be fine. Gibbs tells him he has just the place. Off they go. Torres stops Gibbs in the doorway. Gibbs just looks at him and says, “We’re good?” He gives Torres’ shoulder a pat, then heads out, leaving Torres to smile and shake his head.

Once they’re alone in the room, Lieutenant tells Torres the case is solved, she thought he’d be long gone. Hah. They trade quips, then she gets her Service Warfare pin, tells him a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into earning it, and it was her proudest moment when she did. She wants to give it to Torres. He balks, saying her father should have that. She says the General is a Marine, he’ll understand. She wants Torres to have it for the same reason Sophia gave him the photo. It wasn’t so he’d have something to remember her by, it was to let him know that she would remember him, too. (OK, Show, now you made me cry. Again! Dang it, I can’t see my keyboard. Where are the tissues?) Clearly moved, he says, Thank you. Then he says he does have a stipulation. HA. “Of course you do,” she says. He tells her that no matter how little time the doctors say she has, she has to keep fighting. Every day. For the next day. And the next. And the next. She agrees, then tells him she has a little stipulation of her own. He chuckles. Then she tells him she doesn’t want him to look at that pin and be reminded of some girl who died. She wants it to remind him of someone he helped. Then she gives him a swagger look and adds, “Got it?” HA! Best. Line. Ever. He says he gets it, then they laugh and he says he’s glad they worked that out. He grabs the remote and clicks on the television. She’s all, “You’re sticking around?” and he’s all, “They got free Jell-O. Where else would I be?” She laughs, shakes her head, looks at the television. He looks at her … and fade to black and white.

OK, so once I can stop my eyes from leaking, we’ll get on with more fun stuff. Nice episode, NCIS. I think they are finally finding their rhythm with the newbies.

SO! Last week I posted a very exciting (for me, anyway) giveaway, putting up for grabs an advance copy of my upcoming June 27 release, Blue Hollow Falls. My own mother hasn’t seen a copy yet, but one of my faithful recap couchers will get their hands on a copy this week! (Mom, I promise you’re next!) Thanks for the avalanche of entries and enthusiasm for my new series launch. Isn’t the new cover gorgeous? If you missed it, you can read an excerpt that HEA has exclusively right here. And the winner of a signed advance copy goes to Lise Reese! Lise, drop me a note to donna@donnakauffman.com with your address, and your prize will go right out in the mail to you!

CBS is airing a repeat next week (I know, wah!), then we’re back on March 28 with an episode titled The Wall. There’s a special treat for you Rizzoli & Isles fans with a guest appearance by Bruce McGill, aka homicide detective Vince Korsak. I know I’ll be watching! And recapping. (And making another big giveaway announcement!)

In the meantime, drop by my Facebook page for all the day-to-day jocularity and the occasional chance to win more free stuff! You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram. Until next time!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of 70-plus titles, translated and sold in more than 26 countries around the world. Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia, thankfully surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS recaps

We’re back on the recap couch after a week off. Let’s not waste any more time and get right to it!

Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Bruce McGill as Henry Rogers on NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

We open in D.C. with a veterans’ tour group listening to their tour guide explain what’s next on their agenda. We break away as two vets share their background, while another brushes brusquely past them on his way to the curb. One story-sharing vet says that he noticed Grumpy Vet had been standoffish throughout the tour thus far. We shift to Grumpy as he tries to hail a cab, only to have a woman rush in front and beg him to let her have the taxi as she’s late and afraid it will cost her her job. Before he can respond, a young Marine rushes up and implores him not to leave, to stay with the group, reminding him he came to see his own memorial, which they haven’t done yet. Grumpy isn’t happy, but his discontent quickly changes to concern when his young Marine escort begins to make a choking noise. Young Marine collapses to the ground, and what appears to be foam is forming around his mouth. Grumpy starts shouting for a medic.

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

We’re in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness as McGee enters and Bishop laments how she lost a bet that she could get Gibbs to eat a tofu steak (ew! ::Jimmy Fallon voice::) and will be buying drinks after work that night. McGee doesn’t care about that, he’s got something else to talk about. Torres and Quinn aren’t there, so McGee gleefully shares the news that he had dinner with a friend the night before, and said friend happened to be training at FLETC the same time as Torres, and both of them happened to have Quinn as an instructor. According to his dinner friend, Quinn and Torres shared a short, but hot fling during his stay. “Sweaty Top Gun, sexy instructor.” Oh, McGee. Bishop doesn’t think it’s possible, but says if it did happen, she’s wondering if Top Gun volleyball was involved, because she could totally visualize Torres running around the sand in tight jeans … Naturally, in strolls Gibbs, who asks Bishop to fantasize on her own time. Heh! It’s grab-your-gear time. Our Young Marine apparently didn’t make it. Gibbs instructs Bishop to call Quinn and “Tight Jeans” and tell them to meet them there. HA!

In D.C., the team is questioning the story-telling vets who say that because Grumpy stayed apart from the group, Young Marine, who was his escort, was also apart from the group most of the time, so they didn’t really get to know anything about him. Meanwhile, McGee is eagle-eyeing every move Quinn and Torres make, making every innocent gesture between the two into something possibly salacious. Bishop isn’t sure, but she’s not ruling it out. Shifting to Quinn and Torres as they talk to the tour guide. She works for the Honor Flight Network, a non-profit organization that transports veterans to D.C. to see their memorials. This trip is for Vietnam vets. The tour pairs vets with an escort, usually a family member, but Young Marine had asked to be paired with someone who didn’t have an escort. Tour Guide begs off at that point, saying some of the vets had been on the waiting list for years and she doesn’t want them to miss seeing their memorial.

Sean Murray as McGee and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres on NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

We shift to Gibbs and Ducky, who tells him the paramedics said it appears Young Marine died of a heart attack. Ducky tells Gibbs that “seeing the elephant” is a metaphor for seeing combat while in the service, and relates his time in Laos where he saw an actual elephant delivering supplies to the North Koreans. Gibbs hurries him to the point, which is there are often more than one kind of beast lurking in the jungle. He relates the foam the paramedics saw around Young Marine’s mouth and says it appears something other than a heart attack might be the cause of death.

Gibbs meets with Torres who takes him over to Grumpy, who is the only person who had any interaction with Young Marine during the tour. Grumpy is presently giving McGee a hard time, saying he’s answered their questions and he’s done. Enter Gibbs, who explains that they are investigating the suspicious death of a fellow Marine and as the only witness, they need him to be on board. This seems to get Grumpy’s attention and he wants to know more. (Is it just me having a hard time not picturing him as Detective Korsak? Rizzoli & Isles, I miss you!)

We’re in Ducky’s Digs, and he’s found an injection site on YM’s arm, where a small dot was inserted under his skin. It’s so small, it would have felt like a bug bite. Abby comes in and we learn the dot carried a type of botulism poisoning, but there were other elements involved as well that masked all the symptoms, so that when the poison finally hit YM, it hit him all at once. Abby tells Gibbs that there are doctored poisons like this being sold all over the Dark Web. She said it’s a hand-to-hand combat range type poison, but they are even selling silencers for the injectors. Worse, there is no way to trace who is buying them. Fade to black and white.

We come back to the Bull Pen and Bishop pulls McGee aside for a quick convo where she tells him she talked to a friend who was at FLETC the same time as Torres and he confirmed the fling. Said it all started during a troop karaoke night. Bishop plans to find out more, but is sent up to help with the Grumpy interview. Meanwhile, Quinn and McGee do the Screen of All Knowing with Gibbs. Turns out YM has a clean record of service and volunteered for a number of organizations. McGee reports that a man claiming to work with YM called his house looking for him and his girlfriend told the man that YM was off that day volunteering with the vet tour group. No ID on the caller. No way to tell when exactly he was darted, but it happened in a two-hour window before he died. They were in and out of crowds the whole time, so it is impossible to narrow it down. McGee says that Grumpy was at his side the entire time, so he’s their best source in figuring it out.

We head up to the conference room where Grumpy Korsak is living up to his name. Bishop reminds him that YM volunteered to fly to Nebraska to pick him up and was going to accompany him home again, so doesn’t Grumpy owe him at least a little compassion. Grumpy seems to settle down again, agrees with them and sits. Torres asks if there was any time Grumpy could recall when YM could have been injected with a dart. This wakes Grumpy up. He tells them a “fancy coffee nutjob” bumped into YM at a shop they went to and gives them the name of the place, then gets up to leave, saying he’s going to his hotel. Torres stops him, says they need him to stay in case they need an ID. He seems to agree, but when Torres turns, he tries a duck around. Torres is too fast, prompting Grumpy to tell him if his back wasn’t bad he’d have had him “crying in a corner.” Ha.

Bruce McGill as Henry Rogers on NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

Up in Vance’s office, he’s shredding something and telling Agent Reeves that MI-6 wants him back. Reeves asks when he’s to leave, prompting Vance to throw shade about how he could have tried to look a little choked up about leaving. Turns out he’s not leaving. Vance is keeping him in trade for two U.S. agents who are acting as liaisons in England, so Reeves will fulfill that same role for his country in the U.S. He doesn’t look entirely excited about this, but is told his job remains the same. Investigating international cases. He says he’d prefer another high-risk mission like Willoughby, which is his specialty. Vance says he’ll see what he can do. Reeves asks if he can be given some solo tasks, help him focus for an upcoming high-risk mission. Vance starts to push back, but Gibbs says he has something … and tasks Reeves with taking Grumpy to see the Wall. Heh. He explains that their needing to keep Grumpy around is keeping him from getting to see the memorial he came to see and Reeves thanks them for keeping him on the easy track until they can assign him to the next big mission. He exits and Gibbs just smiles at Vance.

Shift to Reeves and Grumpy in a car, with Grumpy explaining he has no desire to see the Wall and Reeves being confused because isn’t that why he flew to D.C. in the first place? The two share some rather acidic banter with Grumpy providing unpleasantries that include dissing Reeves’ British heritage and bringing up “beating down your kind in the Revolutionary War” and asking who raised him to believe everything he heard. Upon seeing Reeves pause at that, he makes it clear he’s not pitying him because he’s an orphan. “Join the club.” Really, lovely gent. Reeves offers to take him back to the hotel, but reminds him he will be staying with him as Grumpy is considered a flight risk, which Grumpy immediately confirms to be true by jumping out of the car and taking off. So much for that easy assignment there, Reeves!

We shift to the fancy coffee shop with Quinn and Torres, and Quinn asking Torres if he’s noticed Bishop and McGee acting weird. She’s sure there’s something going on with them and it’s about her and Torres. Torres sees the barista they came to question, but we learn from Abby that tests she’s run prove that the dart pierced YM after the rain storm, so the barista is not their suspect. Meantime, McGee learns that a hotline center where YM volunteers had their system hacked and only the calls the night YM was working were erased. Abby posits that perhaps a caller said too much about some kind of threat they were receiving that put YM in jeopardy. Fade to an Abby black and white.

We’re back in the Bull Pen and McGee has found something on “Operation Sweaty Maverick.” HA. He dug up a video of Torres doing a karaoke version of Puppy Love. Not too badly, I might add, but swoon material it is not. Bishop thinks the back of a woman’s head in the audience might belong to Quinn, but decides they need further confirmation. Bishop says she’ll talk to Quinn and McGee says he’ll get Torres alone, man to man. Enter Gibbs with, “Fantasize on your own time, McGee.” HA! Screen of All Knowing update time. The center took 17 hotline calls that night, but there is no way to know who called and the cable tech support center that hacked in and erased the calls has over 30 techs working there, so no way to pin down which tech did the hacking. Gibbs sends Bishop to the hotline center and she asks to take Quinn along.

Gibbs takes a call from Reeves, listens, then says, “What kind of problem?” Heh. Up in the conference room, Gibbs finds Grumpy handcuffed to a chair. Ha. He tells Gibbs that Grumpy tried to run four separate times and has no interest in seeing his memorial. Grumpy, who calls Reeves a “leprechaun,” claims he doesn’t understand sarcasm. Gibbs tells them both to knock it off and work it out, that Reeves has the detail overnight, and exits. Reeves takes off the cuffs and Grumpy informs “Lucky Charms” that he’s getting his room service that night. Oh, Korsak.

Over at the hotline center, Bishop tries to dance around the subject, but Quinn finally confronts her about how she and McGee are acting weird, so Bishop comes straight out and tells her they heard a rumor that at FLETC Quinn and Torres hooked up. Quinn laughs and says that if she “spent any time under that man, I’d have been crushed by his ego.” HA! They talk to a man from the center who tracked down through the phone system which calls went to YM’s phone that night. The calls were erased, but he has the incoming numbers. Two were from frequent callers to the hotline, the third was a first-time caller, so not in their system, but he can tell them the call lasted 48 minutes.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres and Emily Wickersham as Bishop on NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

Over at the hotel, Grumpy is getting his room service and bitching about getting imitation potatoes, while Reeves puts the roll-away bed in front of the door, fire code be damned. Heh. Reeves tells Grumpy he looked at his file while he was showering and knows Grumpy was awarded the Navy Cross. He says he knows Grumpy ran straight into fire, pulled his recon team to safety. Grumpy shrugs it off, saying two of them died anyway and the other was killed a month later by mortar fire. He talks about how YM is just a kid, saying they were all just kids. Reeves asks him who they should call to reschedule the traditional welcome home vets get when coming back on the flight, and he says he didn’t get a welcome home when he came back from Vietnam so he wouldn’t want one now. Reeves questions that no one will be there and Grumpy barks that Reeves shouldn’t feel sorry for him, but look in the mirror and feel sorry for his own self. “Poor little orphan boy, bumbling around by himself,” and points out that Reeves didn’t have to call anyone to say he’d be bunking at the hotel that night, so don’t feel sorry for him being alone. He pulls two bottles from the minibar and offers to buy Reeves a drink if it will keep him quiet. Reeves says he doesn’t drink. “Got that bad, eh,” Grumpy shoots back. Reeves says nothing, just makes himself comfy on the cot with headphones on.

Down in Abby Lab she’s making a studded welcome mat for Grumpy. She tells Gibbs that she spent time with him in the conference room and feels badly for the way he was treated when he came home from serving in Vietnam. Apparently, her time with the old guy was substantially more cheerful. She can’t change how he was treated, but she wants him to feel a welcome every time he comes home, and she’s been inspired to volunteer for the Honor Flight Network. (Which is a real thing. Learn more about it at www.honorflight.org.) Back to the case, Abby has been digging into that third call YM received, and though the content was erased, she was able to track down the caller. Up pops a woman’s driver’s license and off goes Gibbs and Torres. They show up at the woman’s house … only to find her dead in the front seat of her car. She’s scribbled one word on a piece of paper — form — but they don’t know how it’s relevant. Fade to black and white.

In Ducky’s Digs, we learn she died from the same kind of dart that killed YM. Ducky says time of death was eight that morning, which means she got darted sometime in the two hours prior to that. Being as it was so early in the morning, that should drastically reduce the number of people who could have crossed her path during that time. Up in the Bull Pen we learn she worked in product development for a flooring company and lived alone. Torres and McGee are searching her apartment but not finding anything to help them figure out why she called the hotline or what form she was referring to in her note. Abby processed her car, but got nothing. She did have a restraining order on an old boyfriend, but he’s been living in New Zealand. Gibbs questions if he might have hired someone to kill her, but Quinn questions how that would have tied to her call to the hotline. Bishop says looking at her work schedule she would have been on the way to work, but looking through her phone showed that during the time the poison was working, she was in her home, meaning she was injected with the dart in her home. Gibbs tells her to let McGee and Torres know to ramp up the search in her apartment. Meanwhile, Vance passes Reeves on the way to the conference room and tells him he has a new mission for him, which makes Reeves happy. Vance also mentions he heard Reeves was handcuffing senior citizens to chairs, but Reeves assures him all is well. He is right that moment bringing Grumpy a heating pad for his back and Abby’s welcome mat. Only, of course, when he enters the conference room, Grumpy is gone, leaving behind a note calling Reeves a sucker. Oh, Grumpy.

Torres and McGee are processing the dead woman’s apartment and McGee asks him if he ever had a fling with Quinn. He says no, that he never tried, but that he doesn’t mind the rumor. “Feeds the rep.” Heh. Torres finds a pill bottle for allergy medicine that appears to have pencil shavings inside, but before they can ponder what that’s all about, the building manager arrives, explaining he was delayed because he was at a snake convention. Okaaaay. He says he doubts the woman was at home since she took long walks every morning before work, and that would still jibe with her phone pinging off a local tower. Then he asks McGee and Torres to let him know if they find a boa constrictor. Seems “Bonnie” has gone missing. Ruh roh.

Later that evening, Gibbs is home pressing shirts when Reeves barges in asking if he, please, has Grumpy. He explains that Grumpy picked the locks on the handcuffs and Reeves thought maybe Grumpy came to hang with Gibbs, what with them being Marines, and him being a Brit and that whole Revolutionary War thing. Heh. Gibbs is unperturbed by all this, keeps pressing his shirt as he tells Reeves that Grumpy isn’t that. Gibbs also tells him he has good instincts, use them. Gibbs turns off the iron, puts on his jacket, and the two head out, because he knows where Grumpy is. He’s at the Wall. He said he didn’t want to go to the Wall with anyone. But he said nothing about wanting to go by himself.

Sean Murray as McGee and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres on NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

At the Wall, Grumpy is making impressions of what I assume are the names of the recon group he earned his Navy Cross for saving, only to lose them all anyway. He’s crying as he looks at a photo of the group of them together. Meanwhile, Reeves and Gibbs observe from their car and Reeves wonders why Grumpy didn’t just come out and say he wanted to go alone. Gibbs says that for Reeves, it’s like looking in a mirror, with him and Grumpy. Reeves doesn’t get the comparison, and Gibbs says that Reeves asking for another high-risk mission is yet another way to keep from connecting with people, to stay solo. Reeves starts to ask what Gibbs knows about that but he cuts him off with “a lot.” Reeves says he knows what happened to Gibbs’ family and he’s very sorry for that, but it doesn’t make Gibbs an expert on Reeves. Gibbs denies saying it did. Reeves says he was 3 when his parents died, so he has no idea what it feels like to have people care about him. It’s just a fact. It’s all he’s ever known, it’s what he knows, who he is. Gibbs tells him he’s got more than memories, that he’s got the people he let in after that, he’s got the family he chose to make, meaning his NCIS team. Gibbs says that he, Grumpy and Reeves are all the same guy, just that Reeves is a few decades behind. He tells Reeves that “when you lose everything, you make a choice, where to go from there.” Grumpy made his choice, Gibbs made his choice. He looks to Reeves and says, “What about you?” Then he gets out to go get Grumpy. And we fade to a deeply pensive Reeves black and white.

In Abby Lab, Abby shows a collection of traffic and business cam footage she used to track our dead woman’s walk. Turns out she’s a hugger, which Abby gets, but doesn’t make it easier to pinpoint the dart shooter. Enter Reeves and Grumpy, who is instantly swallowed in an Abby hug, much to his dismay, which just delights Abby further. He gripes about the vending machine and Abby offers to make him cookies on her Bunsen burner. He’s all about the cookies. Heh. They show him the stills Abby took from the cam footage with each interaction to see if he recognizes any of them from his time spent with YM. Meanwhile, Abby also tested the pill bottle shavings. Turns out they are from a kind of flooring, but they happen to also have really high levels of formaldehyde, which could make people really sick. Gibbs puts it together. Form = formaldehyde. Grumpy ID’s a woman in one of the still photos as the same woman who tried to steal the cab from him. Abby sends her image through facial recognition.

And we bump up to the Bull Pen and learn that our Dart Pusher is a purchasing manager at the flooring company. Turns out she signed an order for $15 million in flooring from Asia for a great deal, except for that part where they are filled with formaldehyde … which makes that environmental safety report she also signed a bit of a sticky wicket. McGee learned that our dead woman had also contacted a reporter via a second e-mail account and was planning on being a whistle-blower, which could have brought the entire company down, not to mention charges against the Dart Pusher. McGee tracks DP’s cellphone, and it shows she’s at work. Exit Gibbs, stage left.

We go into the flooring plant and Dart Pusher takes off into the warehouse, Bishop and Torres hot on her heels. Gibbs ends her flight with a gun pointed at her chest, and off we go to interrogation, where Quinn and McGee show her all the evidence … and she tells them she wants a lawyer. Killer caught.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres on NCIS. (Photo: Patrick McElhenney, CBS)

But, game not over. Reeves is up in Vance’s office where he hands him his next mission, which will take him to Syria. Reeves asks for a moment to think about it. Meanwhile, down in the Bull Pen, Bishop is showing a cringing Quinn the tape of Torres’ karaoke performance. Bishop is all wiggling eyebrows and Quinn, like me, asks her, “How do you think that would make me want to unzip anything?” HA. Bishop points to the back of the head she was sure was Quinn, but Quinn says she wasn’t the type for karaoke, and besides, her hair was much shorter back then. Enter McGee and Torres, and Bishop declares the rumor has been put to rest. We learn from Torres that they caught the guy who hacked the system and erased the recordings — a cousin of Dart Pusher — and he’s been arrested. Bishop asks if they group wants to go out and McGee reminds her about that lost bet. She agrees the first round is on her. Torres is in, as is Quinn. Bishop and McGee head to the elevators as we zoom in on Torres. He walks around Quinn’s desk and leans on it, saying what a crazy rumor that was, but that he doesn’t remember her hair being shorter back then. She smiles at him and says, “It wasn’t.” HA! He starts humming Puppy Love as they head out. Heh.

Meanwhile, in Nebraska, Reeves and Gibbs both escort Grumpy home. He dismisses them as soon as they get inside the terminal, only to pass through the door to the gate to hear his name announced over the intercom, and a huge group of soldiers waving signs and cheering. Not entirely unexpected by this viewer, but worthy nonetheless. Grumpy walks through the group, shaking hands, receiving hugs, clearly moved. Gibbs tells Reeves it was a good thing he did, putting that together. Reeves says he couldn’t have done it without Gibbs, who just looks at him and says, “Syria?” Reeves says he decided to decline. “Good choice,” says Gibbs. Reeves thanks him, then smiles when Grumpy looks back to him and catches his gaze. Fade to black and white.

Off-the-wall crime tonight, but good backstory!

How about a good giveaway to top things off? In case you haven’t heard, I’m kicking off a new series next month (you can sneak peek an excerpt right here.) I happen to have my hands on an advance copy of Blue Hollow Falls and thought one of you might enjoy being the first to get your hands on it. Want in? Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with “I want to get my hands on Blue Hollow Falls” in the subject line, and you’re entered! Feel free to dish about tonight’s episode, this season or the show in general if you like. I’m always interested to hear your thoughts. I’ll announce the winner in next week’s recap, so don’t forget to tune back in to see if it’s your name in print!

In the meantime, drop by my Facebook page for all the day-to-day jocularity and the occasional chance to win more free stuff! You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram. Until next time!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of 70-plus titles, translated and sold in more than 26 countries around the world. Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia, thankfully surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

Two new eps in a row! (Sadly, that streak ends tonight.) I say let’s focus on the positive, settle back and enjoy Gibbs & Co. while we’ve got them.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We open with Admiral … Bruce Boxleitner? Sweet! (Still a handsome man despite the few-too-many years it’s been since we started our love affair on Scarecrow & Mrs. King.) He’s taking a call about weapons needing to be offloaded from an aircraft carrier and running into weather issues, preventing that from getting done. A young officer comes in, hands him papers, reminds him about a speech he’s giving. Admiral Bruce ends the call, chats with his assistant and opens an e-mail, subject heading: HELP. His computer is immediately attacked by a ransomware virus demanding payment or the contents on the laptop will be lost forever.

Cue awesome theme song and opening credits!

We’re outdoors with Gibbs and crew — minus Quinn — on a test-firing range. As they walk out to get their targets, McGee notes that Gibbs is firing a different gun. Turns out he’s decided to go old school and shoot his dad’s old Colt 1911, the one he grew up firing, says it just feels right. McGee sees Gibbs’ target, every hole neatly bunched right between the eyes and says, “I can see why.” Enter Admiral Bruce’s assistant, who informs Gibbs that AB needs to see McGee right away. Off he goes. As they exit the field, Torres asks why Quinn isn’t there for the mandatory requalification. Gibbs tells him to worry about himself … and his aim. Heh.

We shift to a woman — Mercedes Ruehl? Where have you been? I love her! So, Mercedes is telling her gardeners where to plant specific flowers, throwing a little snark as she does. Enter Quinn, who is … her niece? Her daughter? She’s some relation we don’t know yet. What we do know is that Mercedes, aka Marie, sent a 911 text that had Quinn rushing to see what was wrong, only to find the woman apparently fine and ordering her yard help around. She apologizes, realizes she had her phone on silent in her pocket, saying it was a false alarm. Quinn makes her promise to never use 911 unless it’s a real emergency and Marie agrees, then reminds the departing Quinn that she’ll be expected at her father’s birthday dinner the following night. Quinn is … not enthused, but agrees to attend. Marie is all, “I’m making my 12-hour ribs, baby,” that last part all throaty Lauren Bacall-like. Clearly, Marie is a “character.” We’ll see what that’s all about.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Back with AB, McGee is explaining he has ransomware on his computer, which was apparently attached to that HELP e-mail that we learn came from his sister. Fortunately, the laptop contained no sensitive info, and McGee explains that kind of virus happens all the time, and since the ransom for getting his laptop and all the info back is only $500 — which isn’t much comparatively speaking — he should just pay it and call it done. (Really? He’s just supposed to pay it? So, they can hack him again?) Turns out AB agrees with me, reminding McGee that his own father used to brag to AB about how sharp McGee was when it came to computers. McGee says there is no way to get the encryption key to unlock the laptop except to pay the fee. AB says in 41 years, he’s never surrendered and he’s not about to do so now. He hands the still-locked laptop to McGee. You go, AB!

In the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness, Reeves is looking at their range scores and tells Bishop she was just three points behind Gibbs. She’s pleased by that, but doesn’t seem overly surprised, and the entering Torres comments on how she’s a dead-eye. Enter Quinn. Torres tells her she was missed on the range and asks where she was. “At the corner of None of Your Business,” she says. Heh. Enter McGee moaning about AB. Turns out he handed the laptop back, saying there was nothing he could do. Also turns out AB called Vance complaining about that very thing. Enter Gibbs, fresh from Vance’s office, who surprisingly tells McGee he did the right thing. Gibbs then heads over to Quinn and quietly asks if she’s good, asks if she needs more time. She says she’s good and doesn’t need the time. McGee’s phone beeps with an incoming text. It’s AB. McGee hopes this means that AB has come to his senses about the ransomware, clicks to reply … aaand his phone is immediately infected with the same virus. Nice. McGee shoots to his feet, saying if his work phone is infected, as they’re all on the same network … He doesn’t need to say more, as the team’s smartphone screens in the Bull Pen start flashing with the same virus warning. Ruh roh. Fade to an alarming black and white.

In Vance’s office, we learn from AB that he clicked the send button on the virus so McGee’s phone would get it, hoping it would motivate him, unaware that by doing so he’d infected the entire agency. Vance reminds him he just committed a felony, unwittingly or not. Annoyed at their anger toward him, AB thinks they should be directing it at the hacker. Gibbs thinks they can do both, thanks. Heh. McGee calms them down by saying he managed to contain the virus just to the team, that there was nothing sensitive on their devices, and all the info has been backed up, so they can let the virus run its course, then reboot after it crashes them. McGee thinks AB wouldn’t have done something so rash without good reason, and we learn that AB had photos of his late wife on his laptop, memories he can’t duplicate as he never printed them. Mmm, I’m thinking that’s not it, or not all of it, but we’ll see. Don’t you disappoint me, Scarecrow! McGee assures him they have their entire cyber unit working on tracing the hacker, but they won’t be able to work fast enough to find him before the virus crashes his laptop. AB counters that nothing is impossible.

Sean Murray as McGee, Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Vance asks McGee, hypothetically, how would someone defeat the virus. McGee just shakes his head, but Vance asks McGee to humor him and respond to the question. McGee says the only way is to find the host server and shut it down from there. Problem is, it could be located anywhere in the world, which is why folks pay the fee rather than try to fight to find the source. Vance says that’s a solution for civilians, but not for them. They don’t finance terrorists, which is exactly how he defines the hackers who are doing this. Vance asks Gibbs if his team is working this and he says they are now! He exits along with McGee and we see AB’s laptop and all the team’s phones under a Plexiglas dome on the table. I … profess I don’t get how the whole Cone of Silence thing stops malware from spreading, but ookay.

Down in the Bull Pen we learn that the desktop computers were wired to a different network, so they are safe. McGee enters with burner flip phones (HA!) saying they’ll get new government-issued smartphones the next day. Gibbs doesn’t see why they’re grumbling about them and tells McGee he doesn’t need a new phone, seeing as his wasn’t infected. I guess this is where Gibbs’ old flip phone outsmarts the hackers. HA! Bishop has traced the virus to hackers with Russian locations. Reeves says he has MI-6 contacts working cybersecurity in Russia and offers to snag their help via MTAC.

Upstairs we go, where we learn from Reeves’ Russian MI-6 counterpart that all ransomware viruses originate in Russia, a point of personal pride with Russian hackers, apparently. According to MI-6 Guy, he thinks this virus — which he’s never seen before — didn’t originate in Russia. He says that Russian-sourced virus attacks usually have typos and other syntax errors due to translating Russian to English, but this virus has none. He steers them to his American counterpart at Langley and says if he can’t do it, nobody can. And off we go!

But first, we take a little break in the Bull Pen as Torres is ushering in a visitor to see Quinn. Well, hello, Marie! Turns out she is indeed Quinn’s mother. Oooh, the plot, it thickens! Torres is gleefully eavesdropping as Mama Marie apologizes for breaking their apparent rule about no mamas in the workplace, only she remembered why she did the 911 call, tried to contact Quinn, but no answer. The hacked phone. So she swung by and Torres saw her down in security and helped her to get in. Mama Marie is all about how she “relies on the kindness of strangers” leading Torres to call her Blanche, which makes Mama Marie swoon, and Quinn dies a little as she sees things getting completely out of hand. One assumes that’s the norm where Marie is concerned. Possibly worse? We’ll see. Turns out Mama Marie wants her crockpot back (for those 12-hour-ribs-baby, I assume) and Torres perks right up about those ribs. Mama Marie invites him to dinner, but Quinn is all about how Torres signed up for, uh, that stakeout and can’t make it. To his credit, for once, Torres plays along and agrees with Quinn about that mission he has to take and they all agree on a rain check. Quinn hustles Marie out to go get that crockpot, asking Torres to cover for her, which he happily agrees to do. Marie says it was a pleasure meeting him, and should she call him Stanley? Torres thinks that’s a fine idea, and Mama Marie has no idea how her daughter gets any work done with a charmer like that around. Baby. Torres is all, “Moms love me,” and it’s very adorable, so we’re left wondering what is really wrong with Mama Marie, since she seems totally fine. A “character,” for sure, but otherwise, fine.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We’re at Langley where we learn that MI-6’s U.S. counterpart now spends 80% of his time fighting ransomware, up from just 1% three years ago. The reason? Money. To the tune of a quarter-billion dollars paid by U.S. victims alone. They open a sealed envelope and hand him AB’s infected laptop (so it can come out of the Dome of Protection now?) while telling him the virus is called Elliot, asking if he’s heard of it. He pauses a beat too long to my way of thinking, before saying no. Then he visibly blanches as he looks at the screen for the first time, despite trying to look unflustered. He explains his reaction by saying when he sees a virus screen it reminds him of chasing ghosts, then quickly redirects them to a program he has that can check binary codes in hopes of matching it to a previously determined base. Reeves gives him their flip phone temporary number and says the sooner the better. Reeves and Bishop exit and both think the same thing I do, that Counterpart’s nervous tics make him look awfully suspicious. But about what? They decide to bring him in for questioning, which, you know, will delay him from finding the hacker, but whatevs. Maybe he IS the hacker! Maybe he’s studied ransomware for so long he’s decided to try and launch his own, thinking it’s foolproof. Maybe his middle name is … ELLIOT!

Just spitballin’.

They go back to Counterpart’s office to snag him, but to the surprise of no one, he’s gone! Fade to a perplexed black and white.

Back in the Bull Pen Bishop and Reeves are kvetching over their phones only holding nine phone numbers and want to know how Gibbs handles it. “I remember their phone numbers.” Reeves thinks that’s insane, making Gibbs smile. No luck finding Counterpart. His phone and car GPS have been turned off. No credit cards used. Abby is looking at traffic-cam footage with McGee to see if that is any help and his wife is being brought in for questioning. Stand-up guy, married, one kid. The only black mark on his record was his expulsion from college based on conduct detrimental to the university. They’re tracking down the specifics. Gibbs gets a call on his beloved flip phone and heads down to Abby Lab.

Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Mark Harmon as Gibbs on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We head to the Elevator of Secret Conversations where Quinn is thanking him for helping her deal with Mama Marie, and Torres is telling Quinn her mom is cool. Quinn agrees and says she’s also nuts. Torres demurs, saying all kids think that about their parents. He asks why she calls her mom Marie, and she says she’s the parent in the relationship, so it seemed to make sense. He presses her on it and she says her mom asked her to, because Mom made her sound old. “An original cougar,” kids Torres. Quinn says she liked to think of it as a “youthful quality” but these days, not so much. Torres pauses, quietly asks if there’s anything more. Quinn shrugs it off, but he presses, asking if there’s a family secret. Quinn’s gently chides him, all, “Who are you, Oprah?” and he smiles, but backs off.

Up in the conference room, Counterpart’s wife wants to know where he is and when Bishop tells her she was hoping Wife could answer that question, they go back and forth, but get nowhere. Nothing out of the ordinary asking him to trace their hacker, as that’s what he does every day. Wife wonders if one of the hackers he caught and had sent to jail came out and went after him. Bishop asks if they can check his home computer and stating her belief in her husband as a good man, she says yes.

Down in Abby Lab, Abby has located Counterpart’s car using his subscription to a satellite radio service to track him. It’s been in that location since that morning. McGee heads out, telling Abby to send him the coordinates, only to be reminded that his flip phone doesn’t do GPS. Momentarily at a loss on how to proceed, Gibbs tells him to use a map. “Remember those?” HA. Abby tells Gibbs that the car was at a storage facility the night before, stayed there until leaving that morning to head to its current location.

Bishop and McGee drive along a road that ends at the water’s edge, but no Counterpart’s car. Until Bishop spots the car in the water. Under the water, that is. We switch to Torres and Gibbs at the storage facility, as they question a rather recalcitrant manager who doesn’t have any listing of Counterpart’s name, so they get him to grudgingly look through the security cam on the gate. They see Counterpart’s car come, with a passenger they can’t make out, then leave again that morning, no passenger. They get the code for the storage unit from the code the driver punched in at the gate. Torres looks up the file for that unit, goes to take a photo of it with his phone, but yeah. Nope. So he says he’s taking the file. Grumpy is fine with that, says is that all they need? Gibbs picks up a big bolt cutter and says, “Nope.” Heh. Inside the unit, we find … nothing. Much to Grumpy’s laughing delight. Gibbs gets a call from Bishop … and we go back to the water.

Law enforcement and rescue are pulling Counterpart’s car out as we swing back by. Nobody inside. Gibbs opens the driver’s door, lets a flood of water out, then tries to pop the trunk. Torres notices steam coming from the trunk, which they end up having to pry open with a crow bar. Inside the trunk is … Counterpart. Not entirely unexpected. What is unexpected is the source of that steam coming out of the trunk compartment. Turns out Counterpart has been frozen solid. Yikes. Fade to a very disconcerting black and white.

Wilmer Valderrama as Torres, Sean Murray as McGee, Emily Wickersham as Bishop and Mark Harmon as Gibbs on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Back in Ducky’s Digs, Ducky is apologizing to Counterpart before Dr. Palmer takes a drill to him and I quickly avert my attention to my keyboard. GAH. My writer’s very overdeveloped subconscious imagination will be sure to have a field day with that tonight when I’m in Dream Land. In the meantime, Ducky inserts a thermometer in the drill hole to try to ascertain time of death, only to discover the body registers 62 degrees below zero. Gibbs has entered and demands to know how that’s possible, but of course Ducky doesn’t know that. Gibbs notes that Jimmy’s laptop is now under the Dome of Silence, turns out the virus mutated with some kind of work that infected his machine and Gibbs quickly loses interest. Back to Ducky, who rechecks his reading, but yep, the body’s internal temperature is almost at 100 degrees below freezing. Unfortunately, Ducky has to wait for him to thaw before doing the autopsy, and they can’t expedite that without damaging tissue. Also, the defrost will take days, not hours. Gibbs is not happy.

In Abby Lab, we get a demonstration on liquid nitrogen, which is the only thing that could have frozen Counterpart that deeply, that quickly. The lead, they hope, is that it would have taken a whole lot of liquid nitrogen and a very big tank to freeze a whole human body. There is only one supplier in the area, but none of their clients had ordered anywhere near the quantity needed for that kind of operation. Bishop enters with info on a cryotherapy spa that uses liquid nitrogen, a new trend favored by athletes who use it like a freeze spa kind of thing that causes superfast recovery in muscle tissue. My oldest has done this, liked the results. Abby thinks that it would make a great ladies’ night out with Bishop and Quinn. Me, I’m sticking with using frozen objects exclusively in my A&W root beer to chill it to my exact specifications. My muscle tissue will have to recover the old-fashioned way. McGee comments on how even a cryospa wouldn’t likely have enough liquid nitrogen to freeze an entire body. Bishop says of the half-dozen local cryospas, only one orders significantly more of the stuff than any of the others. And off we go! Bundle up!

Up in the Bull Pen we learn that Counterpart got kicked out of college for — no surprise — writing a ransomware code and infecting his dorm buddies with it as a joke. They didn’t think it was funny, neither did the school. Turns out the dorm name? Elliot Hall. HA! Knew it! So he wrote the virus 10 years prior, then went straight and went after the kind of hackers that he used to be. Then, all that time later, his own virus suddenly pops up, and Conterpart ends up dead. Gibbs wants to know what they found out about the guy who rented the empty storage unit. Quinn fields a call, so Torres picks up the ball, tells Gibbs that all the info on the storage unit registration has turned out to be fake, meaning it was an alias, and Torres thinks Grumpy would have to have known that. Quinn is dealing with Mama Marie on the phone, so Gibbs tells her to do whatever is needed and he heads out with Torres in tow.

Over at the cryospa, Bishop and McGee do the math on how much nitrogen the spa uses vs. how much they order and pressure the young employee there to give up the goods. Turns out the manager has been selling off the extra canisters for a big mark-up, to the same alias used to rent the storage unit. At the storage facility, Torres has the bolt cutters and tells Grumpy he plans to open every unit unless he can tell them about the guy who rented the unit in question. Grumpy says he can’t be expected to remember every renter, he has a couple hundred units. Gibbs makes it clear that they are fighting a time deadline and can’t arrest him and haul him in for interrogation, so he explains that the guy they saw on the surveillance video ended up dead in a lake. This surprises Grumpy, who then confesses that Alias has a second unit he pays for under the table, along with a tip to keep Grumpy from saying anything. I want to reach through the screen and smack the guy, so you can imagine how Gibbs feels.

We enter the second storage unit to find some kind of cryolab. Torres looks at the big cryospa unit and says, “Not the pleasure kind, either.” Gibbs spots a bottle of ether and says, “Not the pleasure kind. Ether.” HA. Torres opens a window panel cover on the cryo unit and ruh roh … somebody is in there. Two somebodies, in fact. That’s not good.

Guest star Bruce Boxleitner, Rocky Carroll as Vance, Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Duane Henry as Reeves and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Over at Mama Marie’s place, Quinn rushes in to find smoke filling the place and her mom up on a ladder using a wooden spoon to knock the smoke alarm silent. Quinn helps her down. Mama goes on about the dang crockpot, and Quinn notes the dining room table is set for three. She asks Mama Marie who else is coming to dinner. Mama says her dad, of course, then tells Quinn not to give her that look, just to be the bigger person and give her dad a big hug. We all begin to understand that Dad is probably no longer with us, and we begin to see Mama Marie’s issues. Quinn has her mom sit down and gently reminds her that she knows that Dad is dead, that he died three years ago, and she lives there alone. Mama recoups, nods, says of course she knows, but her veneer is no longer solid. She asks Quinn why she’d tell her that and Quinn tells Mama Marie that she told her because she didn’t remember. Both women have tears in their eyes as Quinn says that Mama Marie “doesn’t remember a lot.” Mama deflects by smiling and happily sharing a story she remembers from Quinn’s youth, but it doesn’t make things better. Lucid, Mama Marie says she wasn’t ready for him to leave her so early, that they were going to buy a boat. Quinn smiles with her, says how Marie can’t swim, and Mama smiles back, saying she doesn’t need to swim if she’s on the boat. It’s all sweet and bittersweet at the same time. (And seriously, Show, one week with no Kleenex. Is that too much to ask? Apparently.) Marie looks down at her apron and jumps up, saying she needs to go change. Quinn tries to stop her, saying she wants to try the ribs, but Marie demurs, saying she needs to change. She doesn’t want Quinn’s father to see her looking like that. It’s his birthday, after all. Quinn watches her go, then lets her head drop. Fade to black and white. Oh boy. Just pass me the dang tissues already.

We’re back in Ducky’s Digs with defrosting bodies on several tables now and the two doctors enjoying a spot of tea. Enter Gibbs and Bishop. Palmer explains how the newly discovered guys were victims of attempted cryogenics, where folks have themselves frozen after death in hopes of being thawed later and cured of what ailed them, or when, as Palmer puts it, “Death isn’t so … inevitable.” We learn that cryogenics is legal and that there are over 250 bodies presently frozen in the U.S. alone. At least in the legal laboratories. More information my subconscious did not need to know. (Now you know why I don’t recap The Walking Dead.) Bishop wants to know why, if it’s legal, was Alias was running some kind of off-the-books setup. Turns out that Counterpart and his cryogenic pals weren’t frozen after they died, but while they were still alive. Yikes. I think I’ll just skip the whole sleep thing tonight, thanks.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs, Duane Henry as Reeves and Wilmer Valderrama as Torres on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Up in the Bull Pen, AB comes in, wants to know how things are going. McGee explains how things have gone way past the simple hacking thing. Vance enters and says he’s been keeping AB up to speed, but that AB is there for another reason. AB apologizes for letting ego and obstinacy get in the way of clear thinking, and he wants those photos, so he’s now willing to pay the ransom. He will pay the ransom for his laptop and everyone else’s devices that were infected. I’m just glad Scarecrow is a stand-up guy. (Heh.) McGee appreciates the apology, but tells AB they have 90 minutes left, and not to be hasty. Enter Gibbs who wants to know if they got an ID on the two new cryo guys. Both homeless men with no apparent connection to Counterpart. McGee, however, has discovered that Counterpart wasn’t the only one kicked out of school for the ransomware prank. Here we go. They track the guy down and everything points to him being the guy, from the paper on cryogenics he wrote in college, to being fired for stealing things from the blood bank he worked for — those things being nitrogen canisters. That was when he switched to buying them from the spa so he could keep his experimentation going. He reactivated the ransomware he and Counterpart created in college to help earn money to pay for all the nitrogen. Reeves wants to go get him, but Gibbs is all, “No. He’s coming to us.”

We move on to Alias showing up at his little rental lab of horrors. He spies the cut lock on the ground, lifts the doors to find Gibbs and McGee waiting. He turns to run, which is when Torres and Reeves move in, guns drawn. Torres shouts, “Freeze.” Ha. Ask me, I think Alias can give them the decryption code or, you know, take a little spin in his spa tank. Just sayin’. McGee asks for the code, Alias asks what happens if he refuses. “A shower,” Gibbs tells him, reading my mind. “A cold one.” Why yes. Alias types in the code, and McGee sits down and shuts down the virus. Up pops a photo of AB and his late wife.

In interrogation, Alias is very upset to hear they are defrosting his subjects. He insists he put them in a state of suspended animation and if they defrost them, they’ll die. Uh, yeah. Already dead, delusional dude. Already dead. He says he wants to freeze folks with cancer so when they cure it, he can bring them back and cure them so they can lead healthy, productive lives. Gibbs says he took two homeless guys and froze them to death. Alias counters that he had to freeze them while they were still alive because he couldn’t bring them back if they were already dead. Uh … m’kay. Gibbs snags Alias’ arm. He demands to know where Gibbs is taking him. “Hibernation.” As he leaves, Alias says how they locked up Galileo, too, but now he’s called the Father of Astronomy. Oh boy.

Jennifer Esposito as Quinn and Mercedes Ruehl as her mother, Marie, on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Over with Quinn and Mama, they are looking through a family photo album. Mama points out her grandmother, saying how dearly she loved her, and that she was senile. Quinn assures her they don’t call it that anymore. Mama Marie says it apparently skips a generation, so Quinn is safe. Quinn asks her mom how long she’s known, about forgetting things. Marie says she’s known for a while. She relates a few examples, then says it’s like a window that closes a little bit more every day. Quinn says they’re not going to let that happen, and Marie counters that nobody can stop the window from closing. Quinn comes right back with how they’re not “nobody.” Quinn tells her that they fight, and that she’s not putting her mom in a nursing home. She tells her Mama Marie that she’s there for her. Mama Marie says, “I know. But what happens when I’m not here for you anymore?” Aaand, pass the dang tissues. Mama Marie falls apart, saying Quinn shouldn’t have to deal with this and losing her father, too. She says she doesn’t want to live to be a burden. Quinn assures her she’s not a burden. “You’re my mama.” They share a “she’s not heavy, she’s my mama” joke, laugh, then hold each other as they both cry.

I’m blotting my eyes as we move to the firing range where Gibbs is with Quinn as she does her requalification. They are both shooting. As they go to check their targets, he asks after her mom. Quinn shrugs and relays her mom’s saying about “if life is a bowl of cherries, how come I always get the pits?” Gibbs says he never got that saying, that if you have a bowl full of pits, it means at least you got to eat the cherries. Quinn nods, then says how her mom had been good at hiding it and she’d been good at denying it, and how it all just seemed to come on so quickly. Gibbs says it’s OK to be scared. Quinn says she’s moving back in with Mama Marie. “How’s that for scary?” Gibbs nods, smiles. Quinn bites her lip … and we fade to our final black and white.

I tell you, the first half of season 14 spent a good while finding its footing with the change-up in the cast, then dealing with the sudden, tragic loss of showrunner Gary Glasberg. But this second half? They are finding their way forward. Maybe one week with a classic, goofy storyline amidst all the backstory sadness or bittersweetness wouldn’t be amiss … but yeah. NCIS is hanging tough. Nicely done, Show. Again. I think Gary would be proud.

So, I can add a cherry to that bowl and announce the winner of last week’s giveaway! Winner gets a signed advance copy of my June 27 release, Blue Hollow Falls. Come on down, Marie May! Drop me a line to donna@donnakauffman.com with your address and your book will go right out in the mail to you.

I’ll be back on the recap couch in two weeks. I hope you’ll join me! In addition to spending an evening enjoying our crew of very special agents, I’ll be putting up another fab giveaway. I know!

In the meantime, drop by my Facebook page where I add the goofy stuff all the time, then stay for the occasional chance to win more free stuff. You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram if you’re game. See you back here in two weeks!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of 70-plus titles, translated and sold in more than 26 countries around the world. Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia, thankfully surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com.

MORE ON HEA: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts

We’re back from our mini-break! Let’s not waste another moment and dive straight in, shall we?

Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We open on a sunny, country road with a young man hopping out of a U-Haul-type rental truck and racing around to the back. He slides the panel door up, pulls out the ramp, then looks anxiously down the road. Sirens are blaring in the distance as he urges whoever he’s waiting for to hurry. A lone dirt bike appears in the distance and races down the road toward the truck. As soon as the bike and the rider are safely in the back of the truck, Young Man slides in the ramp, jerks down the panel door and races around to the driver side door. He jumps in, slams the door shut and slouches down as three police cars come screaming by, lights flashing and sirens blazing. When the police cars are gone, Young Man turns around, slides open the panel behind the driver seat and barks at the rider, who is still wearing a helmet with full black visor. He accuses him of cutting it too close and wants to know if “bro” is trying to get them both busted. In reply, Bro pulls a gun and plugs Young Man once between the eyes and again in the chest. How’s that for a thankyouverymuch?

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits!

We shift to the Bull Pen as Bishop enters and gives Torres grief for not RSVP-ing to her painting party e-vite. He’s confused about the concept so she explains that instead of a house-warming, folks can come over and, you know, help paint. Torres is not enthused by this concept and says, “Unless someone is posing nude? I am not interested.” Complete with oh-no-she-din’t head wag. He adds that if it’s just a ploy to see him with his shirt off, he can take care of that right there. HA. She declines. (Thanks for nuthin’, Bishop!!) He says it’s an open offer. She says the word, he’ll lose the shirt. Of course, enter Gibbs who adds, “And your job.” Heh. It’s grab your gear time, as Young Man is officially our Dead Guy of the Week. As they exit, Torres asks Gibbs if he got Bishop’s e-vite. “What the hell’s an e-vite?” Gibbs wants to know. I share Torres’ smirk.

We find Young Man facedown on the side of the road, all signs of the rental truck are gone. Quinn and McGee are already on scene, processing, and we find out that Young Man was a Marine corporal, cargo clerk, stationed on a ship docked in Norfolk. Body was discovered by a hitchhiker, but he didn’t see anything else, just spied the body as he was walking by.

Enter Ducky and Palmer who turn the body over. Palmer notices the drag marks, blood included, from the roadside to the YM’s current location off the side of the road and opines that the killer must have dragged the body there. Gibbs teases Palmer, asking if he’s thinking about being a detective. Torres calls Gibbs over and shows him the tire tracks from the dirt bike in the dirt on the side of the road, along with those of the rental truck. Gibbs assumes, based on the tracks, that the bike was put on the truck just as Bishop comes over and tells him that a nearby bank was robbed the day before and the robber got away on a dirt bike. Bingo! Security footage is on the way to Abby Lab. Torres asks Gibbs to have a look at that footage. Apparently, something about the dirt bike has snagged Torres’ full attention. He calls it a hunch. I’m betting that hunch pays off.

Over in Abby Lab, we’re looking at footage from a bank in Boonsboro, Maryland. Hey! I know that place! (I have to give a shout-out to Turn the Page, the best little bookstore in that historic little Civil War town. It has graciously hosted me for book signings many, many times over the years. If you’re ever in the area, drop by. And don’t miss The Creamery, either. Best frozen custard evah.) Ahem. Where were we? Right, bank footage. We watch Bro come in, leathered up, helmet on, gun toting. Torres notes he takes bills only from the front of the teller drawers, avoiding dye packs. Abby did a height comparison based on the counter height and pegs Bro at 6-4. That eliminates one suspect Torres had in mind. Torres stops the playback as Bro climbs on the dirt bike outside and asks Abby to zoom in on the bike. She can’t as it would pixilate it too much. Torres runs down make, model, color, everything down to and including the custom exhaust. Abby says there’s no way he got that from a blurry bank video image. Torres agrees. He says he knows that info because that bike doesn’t belong to bank-robbing Bro. That bike belongs to him. Ruh roh! Fade to a ticked-off Torres black and white.

Sean Murray as McGee and Jennifer Esposito as Quinn on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

We return to the Bull Pen and the Screen of All Knowing, which is currently featuring a photo of a five-years-younger Torres, along with a few other young dudes and their dirt bikes. McGee teases that the photo would have made a great CD cover. Turns out the other young dudes were members of a crew (read: gang) that Torres had infiltrated during his undercover years. They were known for dirt-bike riding, hard partying and oh, yeah, bank robbing. Torres was recruited for the undercover job because the crew often recruited sailors to do their dirty work. Torres explains that he befriended a kid who was the proverbial good-kid-mixed-up-in-bad-company. Torres eventually convinced the kid to flip on the head honcho, who was Torres’ target. Good Kid did the right thing and testified, Head Honcho went to prison and Good Kid ended up in Witness Protection. Bishop thinks they should find Good Kid and talk to him, but Gibbs says once he’s in WP, he’s untouchable. Torres adds that would especially apply to agents. Wouldn’t do GK any good for folks to see federal agents knocking at his door.

McGee wonders why Young Man, who had no blemishes on his service record, got hooked into the crew in the first place, and Quinn says she’s off to talk to YM’s commanding officer. Gibbs orders McGee to talk to DOJ about having a convo with Good Kid, then tells Bishop to accompany him to the prison to talk to Head Honcho. Torres questions why he isn’t going along given he knows HH pretty well from the year he spent in his crew. Gibbs declines the offer thinking it’s better to keep HH from knowing straight off that they have Torres as their ace in the hole. Instead, he sends Torres out to find leads on his old dirt bike. As Gibbs exits, Torres says he should at least brief Gibbs on HH, and Gibbs tells Torres he can call him from the car.

Down in Ducky’s Digs, Dr. Palmer has found something under YM’s fingernails that might be mud but doesn’t exactly look like mud. Ducky takes a look under the microscope, but with the absence of any obvious markers, he sends it up to Abby Lab. Meanwhile, Gibbs and Bishop enter the game room at the prison where HH is playing chess against himself. They tell him about the bank hit and the dead Marine. HH seems mildly surprised that his old gang is back up and running, saying there weren’t many left when he went to prison. Bishop and Gibbs remind him that’s because he killed them all. HH says he would never kill his own, but Bishop isn’t buying it, neither is Gibbs. HH says he’s not running the gang from inside prison, as he’s up for parole in five years, but he might have heard rumors. They ask who spread the rumor and he says he won’t tell and neither would any of his crew, that they never talk, ever. Gibbs reminds HH that one of them talked or he wouldn’t be in prison, prompting HH to tell Gibbs to remind that NCIS agent who infiltrated his crew that HH won’t be in prison forever. So. That went well.

Back at HQ, Torres gets a requested meeting with Vance, explaining that he took down the gang’s leader, gave a year of his life in doing so and shouldn’t be put on the sidelines during the current investigation into the same gang. Vance reminds him he was paid for his time, that he was doing his job then and he’ll do his job now. Vance stands behind Gibbs’ decisions and reminds Torres that Gibbs will employ his agents in managing the case however he sees fit. Vance regales Torres with a story about a Bulls’ basketball player who sat on the bench but was also the shoulder Dennis Rodman leaned on the most, thereby allowing Rodman to lead his team to victory. Torres says he didn’t give eight years of his life to deep cover to be the shoulder. Vance nods, then tells Torres it’s his move. Torres announces he’s going home to get his old case notes. He explains that he almost exposed a wiretap he was wearing once and never wore one again, opting instead for taking detailed notes, day by day, hour by hour. He knows he still has those notes from his time with the bike gang. Vance gives him his blessing, then says, “Enjoyed the talk, Torres,” after Torres is already gone. Heh.

Over in Norfolk, Quinn is talking to YM’s CO. She said she was about to write up YM again for being unaccounted for and Quinn asks for details. CO says YM had been a good, well-liked Marine, but had changed over the past few months, distracted, unfocused, forcing her to write him up a few times. She suspected drugs as the cause of the sudden change in his behavior, but a sweep of his bunk came up clean. CO says he wasn’t close to anyone lately, but that she heard he’d recently broken up with his girlfriend and offers to get Quinn the contact info, thinking maybe the gf would know something.

Meanwhile, Torres is tooling into an alley of what appears to be well-maintained garages and pauses in front of one. I think maybe they’re storage places and he’s at his own storage place to get his notes, but when he raises the garage door, inside is just a dirt bike. His old dirt bike. Torres looks up at the second-story windows above the garages, but sees nothing. Gun drawn, he decides to get out and investigate. He takes two steps toward the bike … and it explodes, sending Torres skidding across the pavement. He rolls to his back, gun pointed … and we fade to black and white.

We return in Abby Lab with the charred remains of Torres’ bike and Abby getting a little twitchy from Caf-Pow withdrawal. Torres hands her the drink and they have a little banter about his poor bike not feeling a thing given there was enough black powder in it to kill a rhino, then a tangent about endangered rhinos, and Torres also thankfully not being killed, and we finally move on to more plot stuff. She tells Torres the bomb was detonated using a burner phone and he needs to be careful. He tells her if they’d wanted him dead, he’d be dead. Now he just has to find out why they want him alive.

Sean Murray as McGee, Jennifer Esposito as Quinn and Mark Harmon as Gibbs on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

Up in the Bull Pen, Torres is showing Bishop his notebook from his time with the gang. She thinks carrying that around would be more dangerous, which was exactly my thought. He hasn’t found anything useful yet and Bishop reminds him they need to find a connection between YM and the gang. Enter Gibbs who angrily tells Torres that the connection is most likely him, given the gang killed YM and just tried to kill him. Bishop thinks they’ve probably been looking for him since HH went to prison, but Torres says if it was a revenge hit, he’d be dead. Enter Quinn who says she might know where the gang is currently hanging out. She located YM’s ex-girlfriend, who is on her way to HQ for a chat.

YM’s ex tells them that she likes to remember him as the kind, generous guy, the one with no filter. Gibbs asks her to tell them about the other side of YM. She said six months ago, he became suddenly obsessed with fantasy baseball, aka gambling, and got himself into serious debt. They argued about it all the time, then suddenly had the money to start paying it off. He wouldn’t tell her where the money came from, but she knew it had something to do with his new buddies, who, as it happens, call themselves by the very same gang name as the one currently under investigation. She confronted YM about it, he wouldn’t talk, but she knew despite his claim that he would make a clean break with them when his debt was paid, he was still gambling. He wouldn’t tell her where he met up with them, so she put a GPS tracker on his car. (I love Gibbs’ surprised face at this. He was probably assuming, as was I, that she was going to say, “So I ended it.” HA.) She thought he was cheating on her, but turns out he was going to a popular motocross track.

Off we go to the motocross track. Quinn is all about the bikes flying high overhead as they jump ramps on the course. McGee, on the other hand, echoes my thoughts exactly. Every mother’s worst nightmare. (When my sons went through the “I want a dirt bike” phase, I bought my oldest a sweet, sweet helmet and told him if he could work hard enough to earn the money for a decent used bike, he could ride. At least then I’d know it was a real passion. Yeah, we had that helmet a looong time before he finally admitted the bike was never going to happen. Picture my relief.) Gibbs spies a guy coming off the track and picks him out as mostly likely to be one of the gang. They head over, talk a little bike shop, then the gang rider shuts them down, being as he doesn’t talk to cops. Quinn says if he knew YM, then he shouldn’t have a problem talking about him, and GR basically laughs in her face. Meanwhile, Gibbs crouches down and gives GR’s bike a closer look and he tells Gibbs he’d better back off. A smiling Gibbs straightens and replies with the classic, “Or what?” This does not endear him to GR who demands to be shown some respect. Oh boy. He starts to get a little hand-to-handsy and another team rider calls GR off. GR says he’s messing with them and Team Captain says, “No, he’s playing you.” HA. Now they know who the leader is and TC says Gibbs can look at the bike if he wants. Gibbs does. He gets close to TC and says he’s been thinking about getting a bike. TC tries not to smile as he asks Gibbs for his verdict. Gibbs grins and says he’s going to stick with his sedan, then leans in and asks Quinn to take a photo of him and TC. He wishes the team well and Gibbs, McGee and Quinn head out, leaving a bemused TC in their wake. McGee wants to know how Gibbs tagged them out of all the other bikers as being the “Rosewood Boys” gang members they were looking for. Gibbs says the bike gave it away, then motions to the big rose painted on the side. Heh.

Back in the Bull Pen, Gibbs (who has his black baseball bat again) wants to know if Torres recognizes TC. He does not and says he for sure wasn’t in the gang five years ago when Torres was undercover. He also questions TC’s team captain status, saying that would be a meteoric rise in such a short time. Bishop questions whether or not Good Kid might know something about TC and you can tell Torres is not at all enthused with the idea of them outing Good Kid’s whereabouts in Witness Protection. Enter McGee who says DOJ wants the U.S. Marshals Service to sign off on making contact before they’ll approve and the Marshals want DOJ to sign off on it before they’ll approve. While this discussion is happening, Torres slides his notebook off his desk and heads out. Gibbs directs the team to focus instead on TC and see what they can dig up to give them leverage to make him talk. Each agent chimes in with where they plan to look, until they get to Torres … and realize he’s not there. I can’t tell if Gibbs is surprised by this or expected it, but I assume it’s not the latter.

We cut away to Torres pulling up to a small house in the middle of nowhere. There are mountains in the background and I hear seagulls, all of which is odd, but who knows. (Yes, I realize this is filmed in California, but they usually do a little better job of making it loosely fit the general vicinity of the D.C. metropolitan area.) Torres checks his notebook and reads over a passage too scribbled for me to fully make out, then gets out of his Jeep and heads to the front door. It opens before he even knocks. Hello, Good Kid. (Now, if Torres was angry about the team making contact with Good Kid, why does he think him making contact is any better? I know he was a member of the crew, but the whole crew knows now that he was an undercover federal agent. Also, since when would someone being put into WP get to choose his location? Because how else did Torres know where he was? Hmmm …) Fade to black and white.

Back with Good Kid and Torres … we learn that Torres promised to see GK every few weeks, but five years later … Torres says the feds told him it wasn’t smart for him to be seen visiting, so he wanted to keep him safe. GK says he’s not sure if the little house he’s in isn’t really just a different kind of cell block, and Torres reminds him he did the right thing. GK says that the other people they had to turn on might have been gang members to Torres, friends even, during his year with them, but to GK, they were family. They head out back and GK shows Torres his potter’s wheel (and, are y’all just waiting for the long-range bullet to come whizzing in, classic NCIS-style, and drop GK where he stands? Just me?) GK explains that making pottery helps him escape what he’s become, a rat. A rat who can’t make peace with his past. I notice there’s a dirt bike out back as well as Torres smiles and says maybe it’s a bad time to ask for a favor. He tells GK that the gang is running again. He shows him TC’s photo and GK knows who he is, but assures Torres he’s small-time. Torres tells him he’s the new boss and wants to know what GK knows about him. GK says he’s asking him to rat again, but Torres says he likes to call it helping. GK says how he did what he did and ended up in that little house/cell in the middle of nowhere, whereas Torres did what he did, and still gets to “play cop.” Torres says he did what he had to do, prompting GK to wonder what NCIS would think if they knew all the things Torres “had to do.” Torres asks GK if he’ll help or not. GK says he’s being a better friend to Torres than Torres was to him, but he knows TC has a secret he’s been holding a long time. The two go back into the house.

Wilmer Valderramma as Torres on NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)

And we go back to Abby Lab. She was able to trace the phone that called the burner phone, triggering the bomb on Torres’ old bike. The address the call was made from happens to also be TC’s last-known address. Bingo! Cut to our band of merry agents, including Torres, breaking in the door at said address, guns drawn, as they hunt down TC. They spy the helmet worn during the bank robbery, so they’re on the right track. They eventually find TC and we find TC’s secret. TC is in bed, bullet through the head and heart, just like YM … and the guy in bed with him received the same. The MO pegs it as a gang hit, but Gibbs wants to know why the gang would kill their boss, and who, specifically, did the deed. (We still don’t know if Gibbs knows that Torres has spoken to GK, but I presume that is a no.) Torres’ phone rings as he notes a safe in the corner of the room. The incoming number shows as blocked. He heads out of the room to answer.

The voice on the other end of the line is purposely filtered so the caller’s real voice can’t be detected. He tells Torres that TC ordered the hit on YM, and now that they’ve killed TC, NCIS has their man, so they can end the investigation. The voice describes killing TC as a gift from the gang to Torres and that if he doesn’t walk them away from further investigation, they’ll tell NCIS what Torres did. I’m thinking the guy on the other end is GK, but would be nice to be wrong about that.

In Ducky’s Digs, we learn that though the two new victims were “double-tapped” (one to the head, one to the heart), a different-caliber gun was used on the latest victims. Torres opines that a different gun doesn’t mean a different shooter. Ducky tells us that they were ambushed in their sleep. Palmer says that while they couldn’t find out what kind of dirt was under YM’s nails, it does look a lot like the mud found on TC’s boots. Ducky says if they match, it would tie the murders together. And everybody say it with me now … potter’s clay! Dang it, GK! You’re letting us down here. Gibbs says that’s a lot of ifs, then looks at Torres as he looks down at TC, before heading out of the room, clearly unhappy. I suspect in large part because he knows exactly what Torres has been doing and is angry he doesn’t trust Gibbs enough to confide in him.

Torres exits after Gibbs, and as soon as they walk into the elevator together, we know it’s Showdown Time! As expected, Gibbs presses the emergency button, halting the elevator. This is a new thing to Torres, who asks him why he did it. Gibbs calmly says, “Because I can.” Ooh. Torres says they don’t have an emergency, but Gibbs just keeps staring at him, and he’s all, “Do we?” Gibbs is giving him the steely-but-calm stare as he asks Torres what he’s hiding. To his credit, Torres pauses barely a second and says, “Okay. Let’s talk.” He doesn’t know where to start, so Gibbs, whose expression is now one of respect and maybe a little relief, tells him to start with the truth. He says he can’t help Torres unless Torres helps himself, and that it’s time to rip off the Band-Aid. Torres tells him he planted evidence and that he did it to get Head Honcho off the streets so no more of his friends would end up dead. Gibbs clarifies “friends” as gang members, and Torres responds that is what they do, but not who they are. Gibbs asks if he has any regrets, and Torres quietly yet fiercely says none at all. Torres swiped the gun HH used to kill two of the gang members and tossed it in the bushes near the bodies. Gibbs asks if he was sure HH did the murders, and Torres assures him HH admitted as much to him directly. Torres says HH was “cleaning house” and he felt he had no choice. Gibbs doesn’t respond, so Torres half jokes that this is the point where Gibbs tells him his job is safe and that, as a young agent, he himself did the same thing. With a half-smile, Gibbs presses the emergency button again and simply tells Torres that they have a lot more in common than he thinks. He adds that his Band-Aids, however, always stay on. HA. He exits as the doors open, then directs Torres to head down to Abby Lab and get a match on that mud. Good talk, Gibbs and Torres, good talk!

Down in Abby Lab we have a little Abby Spin, then she leads Torres and Bishop to the computer where she shows a definitive match has been made, but it wasn’t mud so much as a kind of clay. Bishop says, “Like pottery clay?” And we see Torres’ expression falter, then he ducks out as the other two are still discussing the lab results. Oh, GK, here it comes! Out in the hall, Torres calls GK and tells him he knows it was him, not to do something he will regret, then asks him what he wants. Fade to an even angrier Torres black and white.

We’re in GK’s house as he looks out front while Torres walks in the back. Torres says if GK was planning to meet up with any other pals he’s currently blackmailing, he’d like to know. GK says he calls it “restitution.” Torres says he owes GK nothing, but GK notes the bag of cash Torres is holding, then asks if it’s all there. Torres says yes, it is. Torres wants to know how GK knew TC had $200K in his safe (which, we assume, is the money now in Torres’ bag), and GK says TC was holding it for him. Ahhh, he’s even more crooked than we knew. GK is actually the real boss! He says TC (well, clearly he wasn’t Team Captain, but it’s too late to change it now) was stealing from him so he had to teach him a lesson. Clearly one of many who needed to learn that same lesson. Torres asks Not-So-GK how he ran the gang from inside WP and he says that when he put Head Honcho away, given HH had been cleaning house, NSGK wasn’t seen as a snitch so much as a savior. Instant Boss Man. Torres asks why he had YM killed and he said the guy was too deep into gambling and would have become a liability, then loses a bit of his patience and says it’s time to do business.

Torres puts the bag on the table, then asks if NSGK really had a recording of their conversation when he told him about planting the gun. NSGK pulls a drive out of his back pocket, smiles and says $200K in exchange for Torres’ freedom isn’t such a bad deal. Torres wants to know if it’s the only recording and NSGK says he can’t be sure. Now, we know Torres has already come clean with Gibbs, so basically, they just need to get all the info on tape, have NSGK accept the money, then I’m sure the rest of the agents will come storming in. But that doesn’t mean Torres’ angst is feigned, given the one good thing he thought he’d done, protecting GK, turns out to be nothing but a lie. NSGK smiles happily as he opens the bag and pulls out stacks of money. Torres tells him there’s something else in the bag for him. NSGK frowns now, digs and pulls out a pair of handcuffs. “Go ahead and try them on,” Torres suggests, not nearly so tense now. “I think they’re just your size.” NSGK says he’ll just turn the tape over to the feds, and Torres suggests he can head outside and hand it to them himself.

Mark Harmon as Gibbs on NCIS. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)

NSGK looks outside, sees Gibbs and Quinn leaning against their car and turns back to Torres, who tells him he’s out of moves. Torres moves in, tells NSGK to turn around so he can cuff him, asks him quietly. NSGK starts to, then grabs a pot from the shelf and smashes it over Torres’ head before taking off out back to his dirt bike. Come on, please tell me they dismantled that bad boy. Buuuut, no. Off he goes, and off Gibbs and Quinn go, chasing him down that same country road. NSGK goes off road onto a dirt track and Gibbs gives chase right behind him. NSGK jumps a fallen tree … and off he goes, leaving Gibbs to leap out of his car and start after him. Ah, here we go. Cue Torres, on a second bike, coming up from behind them, jumping the tree and giving chase. A more fitting end, perhaps. Over hill, dale and field we go, with Torres closing in right behind him. Torres finally takes a side-by-side jump, passes him, then gives him a side kick to the knee, sending NSGK sprawling. A fuming Torres stops, walks over and says, “You forgot these.” He takes out the cuffs as NSGK looks disgusted. Game over. Owned.

Back at HQ, Torres is looking through some of the photos from his time with the gang. Enter Gibbs who tells Torres that he listened to the audio file NSGK had and said he couldn’t understand a word, just a lot of mumbling, no way to know it’s even Torres. Hunh. Imagine that. Torres pushes, asks if Gibbs is sure, but Gibbs says nothing. Torres asks if Abby has cleared the file and Gibbs says she didn’t clear it, he did. Torres is confused, because, does Gibbs even know how to properly scan an audio file? Gibbs looks at him and calmly but directly says, “You did the wrong thing for the right reasons. Never do that again.” Torres just stares at him as Gibbs turns back to his desk, gets back to work. You can see Torres’ eyes fill with emotion as Gibbs tells him it’s been a long week and he should go home. Torres pauses, his eyes growing a little glassier. But not mine, Show! Not mine! You will not make me grab for a tissue three episodes in a row! Torres heads back to his desk, grabs his gear, then turns back to look at Gibbs once again, as if trying to comprehend why he would do something like that for him, lift such an immense burden. Gibbs keeps messing around at his desk, and Torres finally simply nods, ducks his chin and smiles, as the Slow Chords of NCIS Reconciliation play in the background while he exits. OK, fine. FINE. Hand me a damn tissue already. Gibbs waits until Torres is heading to the elevators before finally looking up. He pauses, smiles briefly and nods, before getting back to work.

Fade to black and white.

Say what you will about this season, and all the changes, both with the team on the screen and the team behind it, but they’re bringing it all home now. One more break next week (sorry!), then we’re back for three in a row, taking us all the way to the season finale. I will just start stocking up on tissue now.

I can try and make this last break a little easier with a fun giveaway! Maybe you’ve heard, but I’ve got a new book coming out on June 27. Blue Hollow Falls kicks off a brand-new series set in my Blue Ridge Mountain home area. Kirkus Reviews was kind enough to say in their recent review, “Kauffman is masterful at scene painting, which draws the reader into the idyllic setting of Blue Hollow Falls … Compelling and cute … The start of a promising series … Fresh in ideas and scenery.” I hope you feel the same! AND, on July 22, I’ll be signing copies of it at that very same little bookstore in Boonsboro. If you’re in the area, please stop by!

In the meantime, jump in to win a signed copy before everyone else by dropping me an e-mail to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Yes, I want a copy of Blue Hollow Falls!” in the subject line. Then join me again on the recap couch two weeks from now when I announce the winner. (Want additional chances to win? Check out my blog for the details!)

Want more? (You’re so greedy like that. I like it!) Find me on my Facebook page, or Twitter or Instagram, and it will be like we never parted!

Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of 70-plus titles, translated and sold in more than 26 countries around the world. Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Virginia, thankfully surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. Also? She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com.

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