We’re back on the summer classic recap couch! This week we’re traveling back to season none and an episode that gives us a peek into the Life of Abby. Let’s watch Enemy on the Hill.
Pauley Perrette as Abby in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)
We open with a Desperate Housewives-looking reporter sprucing herself up before she goes live on camera in front of the Capitol Building. She does a short piece with a passerby (who says she would have to ask hubby what her opinion is on military spending because that’s a “husband question” … oy). Denied a juicy back-and-forth, the reporter then shifts her cameraman toward a gentleman standing a few yards away taking photos. As she races over to ask him a question, Photo Guy panics, yells at them not to film him, then dashes into the street to get away … and is promptly mowed down by a bus. The reporter races over to Photo Guy, now lying dead in the road, as she calls out for help. We see that in addition to his camera rig, he’s also wearing a gun. A rather large one, in fact.
Cue awesome opening credits and theme song! Hi, Ziva! Hi, Tony! We miss you both!
Enter Abby with a five-Gibbs hello. She’s all excited because it turns out she’s a match and needs to get to the hospital right away. Gibbs asks if she’s donating bone marrow again, but nope, a kidney. A kidney?! Turns out a young man at her church needs a kidney, and no one in his family was a match. So, naturally, Abby had to do something! Tony is stunned she’s willing to donate her kidney to a stranger, and Ziva calls it noble. McGee is worried about her recovery time. Gibbs has said nothing, as yet.
This latest development is interrupted as a man Gibbs recognizes as Detective Sportelli enters the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness. Abby takes off for her meeting and Gibbs tells her not to commit to anything. Then he’s back talking to Sportelli, saying it’s been a long time, asking what’s up. Sportelli tells them he arrested “The Cooler.” He then explains to their blank expressions that The Cooler was on the FBI’s most-wanted list. Says how it’s a career-making bust. McGee knows about the case, saying how the only thing tying the victims together are the slugs taken from the victim’s bodies. They had no name or photo of the killer. Until now. Turns out Cooler has been living the suburban high life in Woodbridge, Virginia. (Really? The high life? In Woodbridge? No hate mail, now! I love Woodbridge! But if they wanted a stashy suburb, they could have gone with Annapolis, or even Potomac.)
We learn that The Cooler is Photo Guy, and we also learn he’s not dead, just close to it. He’s in critical condition. Turns out the gun Cooler was carrying matched the slugs from some of the victims. Tony gives Sportelli a hard time about “chasing down” a man who’d been hit by a bus, but Sportelli tells them he’s there to offer his help. Turns out the photos and additional info found in Cooler’s car showed he was targeting a Navy lieutenant as his next hit. He hands over the info, and the team gets to work.
Jack Conley as Danny Sportelli, Mark Harmon as Gibbs and David McCallum as Ducky in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)
We learn Lieutenant Target is an academy grad and Top Gun who flew F18’s in Afghanistan and Iraq. He’s a folk hero due to being shot down and managing to survive on bark and bugs for two weeks before the Marines rescued him. LT is currently serving as a legislative fellow to the House’s Armed Services Committee, and that’s where we head next.
As we see Gibbs, Ziva and LT enter his office, we also see framed photos of LT, the divorced dad, with his cutie-patootie daughter, in a wheelchair, on the wall. LT is unimpressed that a known contract killer was after him, namely because he can’t see how he’s a target. He assumes a buddy of his put them up to it, that it’s a prank. Gibbs studies other photos of LT as Top Gun and assures him it’s no joke. LT feels since they caught the guy, he’s in the clear, but Gibbs also assures him that whoever hired Cooler will just hire someone else. They want to put him in protective custody until they learn more, but that’s a no-go for LT. He’s advising the committee due to vote on a large military expenditure bill (the same bill Desperate Housewife Reporter was reporting on) and he can’t be away. Gibbs says they’ll have an agent shadow him, then set him up in the Navy command at night. LT gives Ziva a look, then questions who will be shadowing him. He seems a lot more interested in the idea once he learns it will be her. Flattering if he’s being respectful of her skill set. Otherwise … dude.
Down in Ducky’s Digs, Abby enters to find Ducky working on a model train that bears his name, the Mallard, and we get a Ducky Lesson about that. He chatters on and on until he realizes that Abby isn’t listening. She’s clearly distracted. Concerned, he asks her what’s wrong. She says at her hospital meeting she learned there had been a second match, and the hospital coordinator told Abby she was pleased to see both a brother and a sister willing to donate. The problem is, Abby has talked to her only brother, Luka, and he’s not the brother in question. So … who is? She explains their DNA was a 99.9% match, but when she pressed the coordinator, the woman clammed up, knowing she’d said too much already. So Abby has no other leads on the guy. She wonders if her parents could have had given a child up for adoption. Both she and Luka can’t fathom that is the case. Ducky says that given both her parents had passed away, was there perhaps someone else she might ask? That seems to trigger an idea. Abby gives him a peck on the cheek and heads out.
Meanwhile, Tony and McGee go to the hospital to be on hand when Cooler is able to talk. Only Sportelli is there to tell them that the Cooler just died. Fade to a disappointed black and white.
We return to the Bull Pen where we learn that Cooler was a mild-mannered furniture salesman by day and looked the part. Hardly the appearance of a hardened killer. They have no leads on who hired The Cooler. McGee is trying to figure out who wants LT dead, but as a decorated war hero, he’s well-liked. We shift to LT and Ziva as he is going about his day. He comments on how he’s never been in the company of a woman carrying a gun, right before she strong-arms a man she sees approaching LT while slipping his hand in his pocket. Turns out he’s a lobbyist known to LT. The two set up a later meeting, and Ziva and LT move on. He dryly thanks her for being discreet and receives a smug smile in return.
We shift to Tony, who has been rather bombastic this episode, bragging about his madd interrogating skillz and giving McGee a harder time than usual. I forgot how much I disliked it when the writers of any given episode decided he needed to go the goofy route instead of the wry, witty route. Big difference. I don’t miss this Tony. Anyhoo, Tony seems to be measuring the outside of Cooler’s house using his wingspan as reference. Neither Gibbs nor Sportelli know what he’s doing, but we learn that the FBI is coming to take over the case, so Gibbs might want to question Cooler’s wife before they get there. Sportelli isn’t happy about the “glory hounds” taking the case from him, and Gibbs tells Sportelli he’d rather work with him. Then Tony calls Gibbs over, so we can find out what the wingspan thing was all about. Turns out he was measuring the house and the garage and has figured out that there is a hidden room between the two. He also finds power cords leading into the hidden space. After poking around, Gibbs finds the hidden switch that opens the door to a gun closet, hidden behind the tool wall. There is also a laptop, which Gibbs would like to have. Sportelli lets him take it on the promise he reports back with whatever he finds.
We shift to Abby Lab where McGee is trying to clone Cooler’s hard drive while Abby is on the phone trying to question an older auntie who apparently isn’t all there any longer in the memory department. She ends the call and joins McGee. He notices the locket she’s looking at, which contains a photo of her mom and a lock of hair. McGee finds a rather large payment made to Cooler the day before he was hit by the truck, and he has the name of the person who sent the money. Abby comments distractedly on it, but walks back into the other room, leaving McGee still talking about the new lead.
Brett Tucker as Geoffrey Brett and Cote de Pablo as Ziva in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)
Back with LT and Ziva, they are arriving back at NCIS, and LT is on the phone with his daughter, regretfully telling her she can’t come to spend the night, that he has to stay in D.C. He says he’ll work something out for the weekend, then hangs up. Ziva asks about her, and we learn her name is Tilly and she’s 8 years old. He shares a photo, saying she has special needs, but it doesn’t slow her down. He’s clearly very proud of her. Enter Gibbs, who asks LT if he recognizes the name of the money man who paid Cooler to whack him. LT doesn’t recognize the name and gets worked up that a guy he doesn’t know wants to kill him. Gibbs says they’re still trying to track Money Man down. LT worries that his daughter might be in danger and calls his ex, who wanted to take their daughter out of town. He tells her to go ahead and do it.
We shift to the less-than-stellar apartment building where Money Man keeps an apartment. The landlady lets them in and is less than thrilled with Tony calling the place a dive. There are no clothes, no food, and she hasn’t seen him since he rented the place. Money Man’s business manager sends a check every month. She considers him her best tenant. I guess so. Tony questions how a guy who lives in a dump like that has a business manager, earning the side-eye from Land Lady. Gibbs asks her for the name and address of the business manager, and she invites him to come with her down to her apartment to get it. Gibbs smiles politely, says he’ll wait where he is. Tony, on the other hand, makes a crass turkey-vulture joke that seems a bit rude, even for him.
Meanwhile, over at the Capitol, LT and Ziva are finally calling it a night. They are walking down the empty halls, and he’s lamenting having to bunk at the Navy Yard. He decides to take the stairs and opens the door, then waits for Ziva to go first. As soon as she’s through the door, he closes it between them, then crooks two fingers and says, “Buh-bye!” Yeah, so far I’m not loving the … I hesitate to say misogynistic, because that term is so often overused, so let’s just say the less-than-flattering slant of this particular episode. Fade to a disgruntled Ziva and me black and white.
The following morning, we’re in the Bull Pen with a still-peeved Ziva. Gibbs tells her it’s hard to protect someone who doesn’t want protecting. LT hasn’t responded to their attempts to reach him, and no luck yet nabbing Money Man. They review LT’s schedule to see when they have the best chance of intercepting him. Tony comes up with Money Man’s Social Security number, thanks to a talk with the man who handled his stock portfolio. That man also never met Money Man, but dealt with the same business manager. Business Manager has power of attorney, so he handles all of Money Man’s business, including preparing his tax returns. Gibbs sends them out to talk to this Business Manager.
McGee and Tony ring the bell of a very nice-looking home. A beautiful young woman answers. Turns out she’s Business Manager. Tony is excited by this. Oh boy. She’s busy, takes a call, needs to run. Tony comments on how it must be nice, working from home. She smiles, says she’s never late to work. (I can vouch for that particular perk.) She doesn’t know Money Manager well, though she has met him and describes him. She hasn’t heard of LT. She agrees to come to NCIS and talk to a sketch artist after she’s done with her meeting.
Over at the Capitol, Gibbs and Ziva intercept LT. He’s still not buying that he’s in danger, and he explains he ditched Ziva because he was spending the night with a woman. He adds that the woman is single, no jealous ex, then he heads off down the hall, assuring them he can take care of himself. Gibbs mutters that he’s glad this isn’t his detail and sends Ziva after LT.
David McCallum as Ducky in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)
In Abby Lab, Abby is searching the database from where she was born. Gibbs comes in and asks for the results of the fingerprints taken from Money Man’s apartment. She hasn’t done that yet. He asks about the sketch artist, but Business Manager never came in. He asks about something else, and she explains how she’s been distracted. He tells her he needs her and she nods.
Up in the Bull Pen, Tony has learned that Business Manager had taken the call from Money Man and set up the transfer to Cooler, so she lied about not having talked to him since tax season. Tony also learned that before the transaction to Cooler, Money Man also transferred a half million to a gambling site in Costa Rica. Business Manager has power of attorney over Money Man’s accounts, so they think she’s in cahoots with him. Gibbs tells them to bring her in. At her home again, they ring the bell, but no answer. McGee calls Abby to trace Business Manager’s cell, but Tony peeks through the mail slot and tells McGee that won’t be necessary. We see, via the mail slot, her legs dangling from the balcony. She’s been hung. Fade to black and white.
Down in Ducky’s Digs, he’s working on Business Manager (so I am averting my gaze) as Gibbs and Sportelli walk in. Sportelli wants the body, but Gibbs says she’s important to their case. He can’t see how her hanging herself can help them, but Ducky says she was hung after someone strangled her, to make it look like suicide. I make the mistake of looking up when Ducky shows how he cut into her neck to look at the tissue there. Gah.
In the Bull Pen, McGee supposes that maybe Business Manager was actually Money Man and it was all a setup, but there’s no absolute proof of that. Sportelli has had enough of dealing with the case and is happy to let NCIS and the FBI duke it out. He cuts out. Gibbs, Tony and McGee review what facts they do have and how they still don’t know why Money Man wants LT dead. Tony comments that they know some of MM’s money went to pay off gambling debts, and a chunk to hire Cooler, but there is still a million in his brokerage account. Tony heads off to find out where the money came from. McGee says he’ll have Abby look at the bank card signatures with both MM’s and Business Manager’s signatures, to see if maybe they were done by the same person. McGee says he’ll try, but Abby has been distracted. Gibbs says he knows she’s been unable to track down who this new brother is and tasks McGee with seeing if he can find out for her. Aw. Nicely done, Gibbs.
Down in Abby Lab, she tells McGee that the signatures on the bank card were definitely done by two different people. Abby decides to dust the signature card to see if she can find any prints belonging to MM. Enter Tony, who is bouncing around like he’s on some serious pharmaceuticals. (Seriously, who’s idea was it for him to suddenly act like a whack job?) He says he traced the money currently in MM’s account to an account in Geneva. He doesn’t know who owns that account yet, but he’s going to find out. The whole time he’s talking, he’s bobbing and weaving about like a boxer or something. McGee comments on the strange behavior, but that doesn’t make it OK. Much less amusing. I want my Tony back!
LT has his meeting with the lobbyist that Ziva roughed up earlier. Lobbyist is surprised to see she’s still shadowing LT, but LT shrugs it off, says they’re mistaken about him needing protection and he’s sure it will all be sorted out soon. Back at the Bull Pen, Tony has tracked four transfers from Geneva to MM’s account. He’s waiting to hear from an agent in Geneva who is trying to learn who authorized the transfers.
Jack Conley as Danny Sportelli and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)
Abby comes into the Bull Pen, and she’s got surprising news. There were three sets of fingerprints on the signature card. A bank employee, Business Manager and, lo and behold, LT’s prints were on there, too. What’s more, his handwriting is a match to the handwriting of whoever signed the card for MM. What the what? So … that “lady friend” LT needed to see the night before? Was that Business Manager? Who is now dead? Someone might want to clue in Ziva. But if LT is MM … why would he order a hit on himself? Fade to black and white.
We come back to the Bull Pen and Gibbs saying they need proof that LT knew Business Manager. Tony finally realizes why Money Manager’s name was familiar to him. Turns out it was the fake ID used in the movie North by Northwest. Tony surmises that LT set up the MM persona to hide the money he was getting from Geneva. McGee says Business Manager had to be in on it since she set up the brokerage account and rented the apartment so they’d have the physical mailing address required by the brokerage account. Gibbs tells Tony to call Ziva and fill her in. She’s sitting in LT’s office when she takes the call. Tony fills her in, says Gibbs wants her to keep shadowing LT and not to lose him. She pretends she is talking to her significant other. LT notes this, raises his eyebrows, as if disappointed to hear she’s spoken for.
In the Bull Pen, McGee has tracked down the name and number of the person who was Abby’s DNA match. Gibbs takes the info, says he’ll handle it. He goes down to Abby Lab. She’s hoping for a Caff-Pow as a reward for her work, but instead, he gives her the info McGee dug up. His name is Kyle Davis. Gibbs asks her if she’s going to meet him, and she says yes. He asks her if she wants him to go with her. Aw. She says she needs to do it alone. He takes a call, tells Abby she knows what’s best, gives her a kiss on the cheek and heads out. She looks at the information and her mom’s locket.
Up in MTAC, Gibbs, Tony and McGee talk to the agent in Geneva who tells them that the account sending the money to LT is a firm that builds aircraft carriers. So, essentially, LT is advising the House Arms Committee to purchase the aircraft carriers from the company presently sending him a whole lot of money. Lovely. So much for being a hero. LT hooked up with Business Manager and the two cooked up the scheme to create the Money Man persona so they could launder the money through the brokerage account. McGee finds the link between the two by comparing credit card statements. The two met weekly at a local bar.
Now that we have that solved, barring the actual take-down of LT (which I soooo hope is done by Ziva in a very public way), we shift back to Abby again. She’s walking by a pet-rescue center that has the door propped open. She pauses and watches through the window as a young man is working in the shop. He looks up, spots her, and boy, I don’t know who did this casting, but they absolutely look like brother and sister, from the eyes right down to the smile. It’s wild, really. He picks up a puppy and carries it out to her, saying hello and telling her all the puppy’s wonderful characteristics, clearing hoping maybe she’ll be willing to adopt him. She takes the puppy and he smiles and wonders if they know each other, saying she looks familiar. She smiles nervously, says she doesn’t think so. He guesses the dog park, but she says no, she’s never been there. He’s convinced he’s met her. He asks if she’s interested in adopting the puppy, and she says no, she was just window shopping, but she admires what he’s doing. He admires the dog collar she’s wearing and says they have a pit bull who has one just like it. Big grin from Abby for that. He invites her in to see the dog, saying she’ll get a kick out of it. Seriously, these two are adorable. With a capital A.
Back at NCIS, Ziva and LT are going down the hallway and he’s unhappy at being made to waste time by coming all the way out there. Ziva tells him there’s been a break in the case and he says she could have just told him what it was. She pauses by the door marked Interrogation, and LT pauses, says that doesn’t look good. She opens the door and apologizes, saying she didn’t know it was in use. Gibbs is just leaving and comments to LT that he probably knows the man they’ve been questioning. That lobbyist Ziva roughed up. LT goes a little pale. I smile a little wider. Gibbs opens another door, tells LT they can talk in there. Ziva smiles, crooks two fingers and says, “Buh-bye.” HA! I can live with that.
In that room we learn that Business Manager was using LT’s money to pay off her massive gambling debts. She took the hit out on him, because, with power of attorney, she’d then have all his money. LT says he knew she was the one who put a hit on him the moment they mentioned MM’s name, as she was the only other person who knew about the fake account. LT says he was putting the money away for his daughter, for her future needs. He looks at the symbol on the uniform hat he’s carrying in his hands, then sets it on the table. Looking regretful, he asks to speak to a lawyer.
Brett Tucker as Geoffrey Brett, Cote de Pablo as Ziva and Mark Harmon as Gibbs in NCIS. (Photo: Sonja Flemming, CBS)
Over at Gibbs’ place later that evening, he’s on the couch reading a book (which the show clearly tries to highlight, but I couldn’t make out the title. Anyone?). Abby knocks at the door, and he gets up to answer. She tells Gibbs she met Kyle, but didn’t end up telling him who she was. He’s going to give his kidney and the surgery is the next day, so she couldn’t burden him with such shocking news right then. She tells Gibbs that she has a lot to sort out. They go and sit on the couch and he asks her what needs sorting. She’s been racking her brain trying to figure out how her parents would have ever given up a child, and she knows they couldn’t have done that. What she has realized is that they would adopt a child. She ran DNA on a strand of her mother’s hair she kept in the locket, and it wasn’t a match. She says she doesn’t know who she is anymore, calls herself Little Orphan Abby and says she feels lost. Gibbs puts his arm around her, and they lean back on the couch, with Abby snuggled under his arm. He tells her that family isn’t just DNA, and that her parents are still her parents, as she remembers them to be. She says she needs to come to terms with it all before she tells Luka or Kyle. He presses a kiss to the top of her head and tells her she doesn’t have to work through all of this alone. I’m proud of myself for making it this far before needing to reach for a tissue. Oh, Gibbs! He hugs her close, tells her she has a family, and they will help her through it. Fade to a blurry black and white.
I love the episodes that fill in more of the story of our favorite agents (and forensic scientists!). Sniffle!!
You know what else I love? Giving away stuff! Last week I put a signed copy of my latest release, Blue Hollow Falls, up for grabs along with a beautiful bookmark charm designed exclusively for the book by The Cotton Thistle. Thanks to you ALL for the entries and comments. I love hearing your thoughts on the shows and the recaps. (Yes, even the cranky ones. We all have our likes and dislikes. I find it interesting!) The winner this go around is Amanda Cassity! Amanda, drop me an e-mail to donna@donnakauffman.com with an address and your prize will go right out to ya!
But wait! There’s more! It’s summertime, and who doesn’t need a good beach read? Or a nice beach tote to put it in? I happen to have a signed copy of Blue Hollow Falls and an awesome beach tote up for grabs. Want in? Drop me a note to donna@donnakauffman.com with “I need a beach read! And a tote!” in the subject line, and you’re in. I’ll announce the winner when I’m back in two weeks with the next summer classic recap!
What classic episode gets the recap treatment next? In two weeks, we’re heading back to season seven and an episode called Power Down. When the power grid goes down, leaving everyone functionless without their computers and smart devices, who should come to the rescue? Why, Gibbs, of course! Join me, won’t you?
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 into the maelstrom of Washington, D.C. politics, she now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, thankfully surrounded by a completely different kind of wildlife. You can check that out for yourself and more at www.donnakauffman.com. She loves to hear from her readers (and NCIS viewers!). You can write to her at donna@donnakauffman.com or visit her on Facebook or Instagram.
MORE ON HEA: Read what Donna learned while writing Blue Hollow Falls
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