And so it begins. No, not season 14 of NCIS. We should be so lucky to not take a summer break from our favorite merry band of very special agents!
Mark Harmon as Gibbs in the NCIS episode Ships in the Night. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)
In fact, it’s because we don’t want to take a break that I’m here. For you. OK, OK, and for me, too. I’ll be taking on a summer’s worth of classic NCIS episodes and giving them the blog-it-as-it-happened recap treatment, so we can hang out with our fave agents as they solve the murder of the week … and hang out with each other while they’re at it.
Sound like a fun little summer fling? I thought so! And there will be more free stuff being handed out every week, too! (We’ll get to that later.) For now, let’s find out who our Dead Guy of the Week is going to be, shall we?
First up is Ships in the Night from season eight. This is the episode where we meet up for the second time with one of my favorite folks (and yours if your mail is anything to go by).
Let’s jump right in, shall we?
We open with a dinner cruise on the Potomac River, the lights of our nation’s capital twinkling in the background. The focus is on a couple seated by the rail. Our soon-to-be-an-heir Lothario isn’t reading the room at all as he comes on to his clearly less-than-happy-to-be-there date. A peek inside her purse shows she’s carrying a gun, so Lothario Larry might want to dial it back before he becomes our Dead Guy of the Week. Fortunately for him, she excuses herself for a bit of freshening up. If by “freshen up,” you mean toss back a few drinks at the bar.
She encounters a handsome young Marine in his dress blues who sympathizes with her blind-date-on-a-boat dilemma. She comments that the only way out is overboard. He wonders if perhaps he should call in the Coast Guard. She smiles, says no need. She is the Coast Guard. And, once again, we meet CGIS Special Agent Abigail Borin. (Yay!) The first lieutenant introduces himself and says if her date doesn’t improve, he hopes to meet her again. “Safe bet,” she tells him. Smiling, he leaves her to her shot glass … just as Lothario Larry tracks her down. He smarms his way closer, only to be interrupted by the sound of two gunshots.
Abigail immediately pulls her gun from her handbag, startling Lothario Larry as she heads toward the fray. Her search concludes with a blood trail leading out the door, where she finds out handsome Marine sprawled down a short flight of deck stairs, dead.
Cue awesome theme song and vintage opening credits! (Hello, yellow 1970 Dodge Challenger! We miss seeing you!)
We open in the wee hours with our team of special agents still hard at work in Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness. Tony is lamenting a late night at the office when he could be out and about, wining and dining. Instead, we just get the whining part. He mentions to Ziva that it must be hard finding time to see her “Cuban Casanova,” and after mentioning that he’s not Cuban, she comments that she doesn’t mind the overtime, that, in fact, she’s using her comp time to go see her not-Cuban Casanova for an upcoming three-day getaway. Tony is confused, saying she can’t do that. She assures him they can, being as they’re both adults, and he’s all, “Not that.” Heh. He means that she can’t use her comp time for personal leave, only to be corrected by her and McGee. He’s always taken his comp as an additional paycheck, when he’d rather have had the extra time. Time to be dating untold numbers of other women. “Respectfully, dating,” he assures Ziva, who is giving him her patented, “Oh, please” look. Gleefully, Tony grabs his time sheet so he can plot how much overtime he’s accumulated. Only to have Gibbs enter and mention he’s about to earn a bit more of that.
“Grab your gear!” Tony asks if it’s another all-nighter, only to be told, “You can sleep when you’re dead.”
Ah, Gibbs, we couldn’t leave you for an entire summer. What were we thinking?
Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Diane Neal as CGIS Special Agent Abigail Borin in the NCIS episode Ships in the Night. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)
We shift to the harbor, where the floating crime scene is now moored at the dock. Gibbs arrives to find our favorite CGIS agent still be-frocked and ordering the local PD around, instructing them to keep gawkers at a distance, “even if one of them tells you he’s my date.” Ha! Sorry, LL Not Cool Date guy. Gibbs smiles, tells her they have to stop meeting like that, and she’s all, “If by meeting, you mean taking over one of my cases again.” She reminds him she invited him as a courtesy, and he reminds her that “body trumps boat.” We scan to our dead Marine, then back to her lovely gold frock, with the blood smeared all over the front. He compliments her on the dress. She informs him she gave the Marine CPR. He asks if she’s cold, then proffers a stack of clean clothes, mentioning that the gift shop was out of pantsuits. HA! He says she can always go home if she’d rather. She takes the clothes, telling him he can’t get rid of her that easily. I love these two. More Borin, Show! (In fact, seeing them together, and that immediate don’t-need-to-break-her-in chemistry they have and, as important, she has with us, is yet another reminder of how not-Borin the new FBI Agent Tess Monroe happens to be. I’m impatient. I want to like folks right off. Or not. And if the avalanche of mail the past two weeks is any indication, it’s about, oh, 100 to 1 in agreement with me on Monroe. Just sayin’, Show. Just sayin’.)
As Borin does a quick change behind a solid boat rail, she brings Gibbs and us up to speed. Handsome Marine was dining with his sister and uncle, who are being held up on deck for questioning. No sign of the murder weapon, probably at the bottom of the river. But no passengers have been allowed to debark, so the killer could still be on board. Now dressed head-to-toe in NCIS gear, she drops the bloody dress in the evidence bag Gibbs holds open for her. He comments that the Navy looks good on her. She gives him the dry side eye. Yeah, I really miss these two.
We move inside where Tony is doing crowd control in the dining area. If by crowd control you mean imitating Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot and commenting that they should just think of their little cruise as a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater. The dinner guests appear less than amused. Oh, Tony.
We shift to Ziva and McGee interviewing Handsome Marine’s family. His uncle and sister are the only family HM had left, the dinner was a welcome home celebration for the young soldier who had just finished a tour of duty in Afghanistan. His uncle laments on how HM survived his tour only to be gunned down at home. Sister gets a text and discovers that the paparazzi have arrived. Turns out she’s famous.
Before we can learn exactly how, we move to Borin photographing HM. She comments that HM appeared to be trying to take cover, only it was too late. She tells Gibbs that he seemed like a nice guy, and that it must be true what they say, that all the good ones are taken. “Or dead,” Gibbs adds. He gets “the look” again, and she adds that HM wasn’t her type anyway. “What, rich and famous?” This from Ziva, who has appeared and is taking notes. She informs Borin that HM was the son of the late Jack Nolan, who was worth millions. Turns out HM walked away from the family business and signed up with the military instead. “Guess he was one of the good ones,” Borin says. Fade to black and white.
Sean Murray as McGee and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in the NCIS episode Ships in the Night. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)
Back from commercial, Gibbs finds McGee dozing in the boat lounge area. After he springs to attention, he wonders how it is that, after pulling an all-nighter, Gibbs and Borin are still so … “Peppy?” Gibbs interjects. Heh. McGee merely says that Gibbs and Borin have a lot in common. As Gibbs questions how, Borin (now in a pantsuit – heh) enters with a tray of coffee. Black, no cream, no sugar. McGee takes a swig, then blanches and splutters, as the other two down a long slug and sigh in contentment. We’re brought up to speed (McGee on his smartphone, Borin with her old-school printouts – heh) learning that when HM left the family company to serve his country, daddy dearest cut him off and cut him out of the will. The two never spoke again. Nice. HM entered the military where he racked up commendations “like cordwood.” Daddy D died six months prior from a heart attack, started the family biz in his backyard. The company manufactures radar systems that supply most of the aviation industry. McGee adds that on top of that, then Daddy D’s only daughter went viral. “What did she have?” Gibbs wants to know. Oh, Gibbs. Turns out, it was a Kardashianesque sex tape. McGee proffers his smartphone if they want to see it. That’s met with a resounding no. (So glad we started with one of the classic grin and giggle episodes.)
We move back to the bar where Tony and Ziva are talking to Lothario Larry, who is going on and on about how well he and Borin were hitting it off, and now wants to know if he can “hit the head.” He exits, and Tony dryly comments how lucky Borin is, adding that Ziva shouldn’t worry, she’ll meet her own LL one day. “If you do, run,” Borin instructs Ziva as she enters the room. They give her the rundown of their interviews, the crux of which is that no one tested positive for gunpowder residue, meaning the killer wore gloves and changed clothes, and the only lead they have is a couple who saw a man in a uniform having an argument with one of the wait staff about 10 minutes before the gunshots rang out. She heads off to talk to that couple, telling Tony and Ziva that as long as they have contact info on all the rest of the guests, they can be let go. Her exit is cut off by the return of LL, who wants to know if he can drive her home. Some guys …
Over in Ducky’s Digs, he’s waxing rhapsodic about Olympians, comparing them to returning war heroes, while sliding long tubes under the HM’s skin where the bullets went in, for trajectory purposes, I’m guessing, which is when I become overly interested in examining my keyboard and keeping my eyes to the computer screen. Gah. Ducky complains that we’re a world that has gone from Socrates to Snooky. HA! He admires our HM for distancing himself from that. Gibbs enters, and we learn that from the angle of entry, the bullets were fired from a low position, possibly meaning the shooter was crouching. “Lying in wait,” Gibbs opines. The shots were fired from at least 20 feet away. No exit wounds. They were low-velocity rounds, which made hitting HM’s chest not once, but twice, quite the feat. Gibbs says it might be military training. Ducky tells Gibbs about the greatest marksman in history also being a champion duck caller. Gibbs shrugs, says he has no idea who that is, then exits, telling our medical examiner that if he finds anything else, “Duck, call.” Ha!
We move to interrogation where Tony is questioning Wait Staff Guy who argued with HM before he was shot. Turns out WSG is a former Marine who received a dishonorable discharge for striking a superior officer. He claims that doesn’t mean he killed anyone and Tony points out that he also happens to own a 9 mm, which is the same used in the shooting. Tony keeps probing and poking in his smooth, dryly mocking, Tony-licious kind of way, and finally provokes WSG to snap. WSG cops to recognizing HM and calling him out for being a glory hound, that his military service was a stunt. Then he walked out. He was on the opposite side of the boat when he heard the gunshots. Tony says then WSG won’t mind if test his gun. WSG angrily says he didn’t do it, and Tony stands up, heads out, saying he hoped HM left him a big tip.
In Abby Lab, she welcomes Gibbs and Borin, the latter with a condolence card. We learn that one of the shipboard Coast Guard mascots died recently, and that it’s a tradition for the CG to have mascots on board. Fun fact: Turns out the mascots are so beloved, they’re actually enlisted and sometimes even have their own bunk. Abby knows this as she’s on an e-mail list for military service animals. I know this because I checked … and it’s real! (Want some great, heart-warming stories? Google CG Mascot Service Animals.) Abby has determined that the angle of the bullet trajectory means there was no point on the boat where they could have been fired at that distance. Meaning the shooter wasn’t on the boat. They were on a second boat, down on the water, shooting up at their target on the bigger boat. Fade to black and white.
Sean Murray as McGee, Mark Harmon as Gibbs and Diane Neal as CGIS Special Agent Abigail Borin in the NCIS episode Ships in the Night. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)
We come back to the Bull Pen and Agent Borin castigating herself for not seeing the other boat. McGee reminds her she was tending to a dying Marine at the time. She shakes her head, says, “Never make excuses. Rule No. 1.” And that McGee should write that down. He says he can’t, because rule No. 1 has already been taken. Twice. Heh. She asks who the people are in the photos behind Gibbs desks, wondering if they’re friends. McGee is all how Gibbs doesn’t have any friends, other than maybe Mike Franks. Gibbs enters, barks at McGee to butt out, then instructs Borin to get her butt off his desk. Ah, these were the good days! Borin tells Gibbs that the boat captain didn’t see any other boat, and McGee wonders how someone on another boat could know HM would be on the deck at that time. They wonder if perhaps HM wasn’t the target. Then McGee finds an assault report filed against HM just three days after his return to the States. The charges were dropped the next day. Gibbs makes a note of who HM had as his attorney. Turns out it was a family attorney. So much for cutting all ties.
And off we go to see the attorney! Ziva and Tony meet with the CFO in the well-appointed conference room, with Tony wondering how the Nolan’s company severance package compares to the one they get from NCIS. Ziva asks if they could talk about his package later. Ha. Turns out the CFO has been with the company since he was a teenager working in the warehouse. Nolan Sr. took him under his wing. He goes on to say he admired HM and would have done anything for him. Tony asks if that included getting his assault charges dropped, but Dear Uncle comes in then and says that he was the one who took care of that. So, the story is that when HM was at Princeton, he and another guy, who CFO angrily labels a bully, got into it, were never the best of friends. Turns out while HM was overseas, Bully started dating HM’s virally famous sister. CFO heatedly says how HM was the only one who stood up for his sister — but then breaks off as the much calmer Dear Uncle gives him the side eye. He goes on to say that Bully slapped Viral Sister around, and when HM got back and saw some tabloid photos about it, he confronted Bully. HM threw a single punch, they had the charges dropped. Ziva asks if it’s possible Bully retaliated by shooting HM, but Dear Uncle demurs, saying they’d have to ask Bully about that.
Back in Abby Lab, she’s going through all the photos taken on the cellphones confiscated from the dinner cruise guests. (And even though this was filmed in 2011 … boy, have we come a long way with our smartphones. They’re tiny!) In the background of one photo is the visible fly deck of another boat down on the water. Abby is able to identify the make and model of a fast-moving sport fishing boat. Borin already has her crew pulling all the registrations for that type of boat in the D.C. area. Gibbs hands Abby a huge Caf-Pow and Abigail a coffee, saying, “Abs’, good work.” Ha.
Cote de Pablo as Ziva in the NCIS episode Ships in the Night. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)
Tony and Ziva enter an exclusive dance club to have a chat with Bully. Turns out Bully and Viral Sister are having a little to-do, with Bully in her face, calling her a bitch. The to-do starts to turn physical, resulting in Ziva taking Bully’s hand off of Sister’s arm and twisting it in a rather uncomfortable manner until Bully backs off. They ask Sister if she needs any help, she shakily says no and slides out of the booth. The other person at the booth is also dismissed, so Tony and Diva can talk to smug douc—er, Bully, alone. After a little Tony-style dressing down, they show Bully a photo of the fishing boat, ask if he has one like it. He says no, but Tony asks if a rich guy like him could get his hands on anything, as Ziva asks his whereabouts for the previous night. Bully clues in they are investigating HM’s murder as he snaps his fingers at a waitress, making us all want to snap his little fingers. He stands, but Ziva jerks him right back into his seat. Heh. Bully says he didn’t do it and asks them to leave before he gets his very expensive lawyers involved. He tells them where he was, then says if they want proof, to ask the paparazzi outside where he was, seeing as they follow him around 24/7.
Back at HQ, Gibbs and Borin enter to McGee telling them he has 396 boat titles, and Gibbs is all, well, start tracking them down. Tony and Ziva are trying to track down the paparazzi who might have photos of Bully from the night before. Abby comes in and says there were two blood types on one of the swabs used on HM, and Gibbs tells her to try to figure out who belongs to the other blood type. Borin takes a call and tells Gibbs that the Coast Guard just pulled another body out of the Potomac. Fade to black and white.
In Ducky’s Digs with Ducky and Borin, Ducky is examining the body for gunshot residue. We learn the body was wrapped in an almost waterproof tarp, that the water was about 40 degrees, so the body was essentially refrigerated. He says the time of death was right after HM was shot. Cause of death, Borin wants to know. Ducky hands her a container with the bullet he removed from the victim’s head, saying that was a likely candidate. Heh. Gibbs enters as Borin notes that the bullet is different than the one used to kill HM. Gibbs notes that he was shot in the back of the head, execution style. Body was weighted down with barbell plates, but the bow used to tie them was loose, body popped up, drifted downstream. Ducky found two 9 mm casings in the man’s clothing. Borin and Gibbs both agree that it’s likely the man was a pro, hired to shoot HM, then he “got a bullet, instead of a bonus.”
It’s another late night in the Bull Pen, and as Tony spies Ziva dozing, he tosses a pen, javelin-style, toward her desk. She catches it in her fist with lightning reflexes, stunning Tony who wonders if she uses sonar or something. She smiles, says that’s why they call it a bat nap, then shoots it back, barely skimming past Tony’s ear, before burying itself in the cork board behind him, pen end still quivering. Tony comments that with all the overtime they’re putting in, they might be able to retire early. Gibbs and Borin enter, with Gibbs telling Tony he might be able to arrange that! We get an update and learn that the dead guy in the water was from West Virginia with an assault and battery rap sheet. He was also investigated by the FBI for possible murder-for-hire jobs. Gibbs prods a tired McGee to chime in with his part, about the Potomac and the body drifting, only Borin steps in to take that on, earning the side eye from all four NCIS agents. What? She’s Coast Guard. If anyone understands water drift and tidal movement, it would be her. She explains that they can tell where the body was dumped from where the body washed up, and narrows it down to the National Harbor. A pouty McGee cross-references that with the titles on the sport fishing boat and finds three in that area. And, bingo, one of them is registered to a holding company owned by Bully’s wealthy family. Gibbs sends Tony and Ziva, with McGee shouting after them that according to Bully’s last tweet, he’s still “krunk at the club.” HA.
We go back to the nightclub, still in full swing, with Bully in a booth, a blonde lying all over him. He’s clearly pretty wasted at this point, and wonders if they’re going to have a problem. “Looks like it, Gossip Guy,” Tony tells him, right before Bully takes a swing. Tony ducks and lays him out with one punch, while Ziva single-handedly takes on all comers. In interrogation, Bully is living up to his name telling they to ask him whatever they want while they still have a job. They say they can’t until he sobers up, but he offers to waive that condition, saying he has nothing to hide. He does wonder, however, what Ziva might be hiding under her coat. Tony sits on the table, blocking his view, and wonders aloud, “What is this? Reverse Darwinism? You rich guys, ‘cause you don’t have to hunt and gather, your brain atrophies?” Ah, yes. Classic indeed. Undaunted, Bully asks Ziva what she’s doing next week. “Testifying at your hearing.” Heh.
They tell Bully that they can’t find anyone to corroborate his whereabouts for the night of the murder, that it seems he slipped the paparazzi for four hours. Then McGee interrupts and tells them that the reason they couldn’t find any footage is because the photographer following Bully that night just sold it to a TMZ-like outlet for a big payout. Turns out, it’s footage of Bully heading into a building with a senator’s underage daughter. Photog waited until Bully came back out, got that footage, too, so that confirms his whereabouts during both murders. Ziva cuffs him, and he’s all, “I have an alibi,” and she’s all, “Yeah, you also had sex with an underage minor.” Or, you know, words to that effect. Fade to black and white.
We head into our final quarter with our team still nodding off as the wee hours continue. Gibbs and Borin enter for a sitrep and Tony tells them that the footage is “too legit to quit.” Ziva finds nothing to connect Bully to the hit for hire either. An impatient Gibbs wants them to find something, just as McGee gets an incoming e-mail telling him something. “My guys never do that,” Borin mutters. “Get some new guys,” says Gibbs. Heh. We learn that the probate on Daddy D just came through, and surprise, surprise, the whole kit and caboodle went, posthumously, to HM, the one who was supposedly cut out of the will entirely. Apparently, Daddy D had a change of heart just before he died, and HM was going to convert the family holdings into a charitable foundation. Borin wonders who stood to lose the most if that had happened.
Down in Abby Lab, Gibbs and Borin bring Abs another Caf-Pow, and Borin notes the alarmingly large number of empties already littering her table top. She asks if that’s a record and Abby says no, that they don’t talk about the record. “It got ugly.” I can only imagine. Abby tells them that Dear Uncle once defended our dead hit man back in his early lawyer days, and she also has a print putting CFO guy on the boat used by the hit man as well. And, Viral Sister is out of a six-figure-a-year salary as a board member. So … lots of suspects. No hits yet on the other blood found on HM and results on that are looking pretty slim. Borin says without evidence they need a confession. Killer isn’t likely to confess. Gibbs agrees. She asks what they can do. Gibbs tells her they’re going to break Rule No. 1. “Never make excuses?” He shakes his head. “Never put suspects together.”
We move back to the cushy conference room at the family company headquarters. Gibbs has assembled Dear Uncle, CFO Guy and Viral Sister. He tosses an evidence bag on the table, orders CFO to pick it up. Borin explains to CFO that the bag contains the key to the boat the killer used to kill HM. The blood on the key belongs to the killer. Fingerprint in the blood belongs to CFO. He says that’s impossible, then asks where they found it. Dear Uncle barks for him to not say another word, and asks for the key. Gibbs grabs it, tosses it to Dear Uncle, who says he will be legal counsel for the two others in the room, and to direct their questions to him. Gibbs asks him to explain his connection to hit man, and Borin asks him how much he paid the guy. Dear Uncle goes to get up, but Borin gently pushes him back into his seat.
Gibbs notes that Viral Sister is being awfully quiet, considering they just accused the other two men in the room of killing her brother. Does she want to say anything? Gibbs pours her water. She says she’s fine. He notes that she still has her fur coat on, clearly she must be chilly. Gibbs tells her to pick up the glass, she wants to know why, a little back and forth ensues and Gibbs lays his hand on her shoulder, making her flinch in pain. Gibbs yanks her coat down to reveal a bandage over the spot where a bullet nicked her shoulder. Sister turns to Uncle Dear and demands he do something. Gibbs leans in close, tells her she was standing next to her brother when he was shot, that she saw the bullet tear into his body. How it must have been hard to watch her brother die. She crumbles, says she didn’t want to do it, but the other two threatened her. Said if she didn’t get HM out on the deck, they would kill her.
Diane Neal as CGIS Special Agent Abigail Borin and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in the NCIS episode Ships in the Night. (Photo: Cliff Lipson, CBS)
CFO leaps up, calls her a liar, says Uncle Dear arranged the hit man. For his part, Uncle Dear says it was CFO who put the bullet in the hit man’s head. He shoots back, “Prove it!” Gibbs shares a look with Borin, saying, “Family.” Whaddya gonna do? Dear Uncle says, “Fine,” then reaches inside his jacket. Gibbs stops him. Uncle merely slides out a cellphone. Turns out he has all of their plotting conversations on tape. Looks like they were all in on it. Lovely. Uncle Dear tells Gibbs as he’s being cuffed that he wants to talk to the prosecutor right away. Viral Sister is all, “Go ahead, cut your deal.” And how she’s the only one in HM’s will. Borin cuffs CFO and Gibbs is none too gentle in pulling Sister to her feet by her bad arm.
Back in HQ, Borin and Gibbs stroll in with a tray of coffee. Gibbs looks at his tired crew, asks what is wrong, mentions that it’s 8 o’clock. “Staring time.” McGee reminds him that they haven’t been to sleep yet. He’s all, “Well, hell. Go home.” Borin is all, “Sleep. It’s way, way overrated. Don’t you think, Gibbs?” He agrees as Borin takes a call from her own team. Seems she has another case. She directs her team over the phone much the same as Gibbs would, tells them she’ll meet them at the scene in 30. “Same time next year, Gibbs?” she asks. He says they’ll see, and she smiles, turns to head out. Gibbs calls out to her. She turns. He thanks her. As she leaves, another Marine enters, looking for the person in charge of HM’s murder investigation. Gibbs says that would be him. The man hands Gibbs an envelope, saying it might contain documents pertinent to the investigation. Gibbs slides out a document with a photo of HM and the Marine captain standing in front of Gibbs, clearly taken overseas. Seems that HM had the captain draft him a new will while they were serving together in Kandahar. Gibbs asks Captain if he’s a lawyer. The man says he has a successful firm in Chicago, but he can still serve his country. Gibbs shakes his hand as Captain tells him that he and HM grew to be good friends. He says the company was already legally being turned into a non-profit, and that it might prove to be motive. He hopes Gibbs catches the killer. The Captain turns to leave, and Gibbs calls out behind him that they did.
Gibbs takes a seat behind his desk as Tony crumples up his comp time sheet. Ziva wonders if the Captain’s sacrifice had him changing his mind. Tony says no, that he realized he already has three weeks of comp time coming to him and he can’t take that kind of time off. Someone else would be assigned to his desk, and then makes a Bledsoe-Brady comparison, and how Brady has Gisele Bundchen now. Heh. Gibbs kicks them all out to go home and get some rest. Then he looks at the photo of HM and the Captain, before turning and adding it to the other photos on the board behind his desk.
Fade to black and white.
And so we have it! An enjoyable episode all around, the team camaraderie at peak form.
Now, about that free stuff I mentioned back at the start. During the regular season I offered up autographed copies of my various book titles, and on occasion, offered a canvas tote bag to go with. And boy, y’all love your tote bags, let me tell you! So what better way to launch our summer of classic NCIS fun than putting up a signed copy of my brand spankin’ new release, Starfish Moon, and a Blueberry Cove canvas tote bag to go with! Want in? Simple! Drop me an e-mail to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Yeah I want a tote bag! And, OK, the book, too!” in the subject line. That’s it! Of course, if you want to add your thoughts about this week’s episode, please do! I love the NCIS dish you all serve up every week. The giveaway winner will be announced in next Wednesday’s recap. Don’t forget to check back to find out if you’re the big winner. Yes, it could too be you!
What’s on tap next week? I’ll be going allll the way back to season one (I know!) to recap episode 12, My Other Left Foot. Yep, we get to spend some time with the original crew, including Special Agent Caitlin Todd. You can find the episode on Cloo at 6 p.m. ET or 10 p.m. ET this Thursday, May 26. (Or you can watch on CBS All Access, or Amazon Prime Video or, you know, dig out that season one DVD you have buried in the DVD vault!)
I look forward to hanging out on the recap couch again with you next week. In the meantime, come on over to my FB page and hang out a spell. We have a good time over there, including extra chances to win free stuff, and our weekly Mark Harmon Moment. Don’t miss out!
Donna Kauffman is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over 50 titles. (Yes, really!) Born in Washington, D.C., she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains in southern Virginia surrounded by wildlife that thankfully no longer has anything to do with what’s going on in our nation’s capital. Her career is no ship passing in the night (we crack ourselves up!) which you can check out for yourself at www.donnakauffman.com. She loves to hear from her readers. Yes, even you.
MORE ON HEA: Read more of Donna’s NCIS recaps