Hello, NCIS fans! I know I’ve been kvetching about this uneven season (and going by my reader mail, y’all are more fed up than I am by a long stretch). So it brings me great joy to soothe your fears that tonight might be more of the same. I only had to hear one word to know that for this week, at least, all is going to be well. And that one word? Fornell.
Joe Spano as Fornell in NCIS. (Photo: Robert Voets, CBS)
Yep. He’s ba-a-a-ck! And I couldn’t be happier about it. And if that’s not enough for you, we also get to spend some time with Ducky. Two-fer!
So, let’s jump right in to the Gibbs-Fornell Goodness, shall we?
We open in prison, with a cuffed man staring out of a window, talking to a woman we presume might be his attorney. Cuffed Guy is pondering how it’s been 10 years since his trial, and how he bets the media is showing a photo of how “he” looked back then and we see a photo of a man in uniform, a Navy lieutenant. I’m assuming the man in uniform is the man Cuffed Guy is serving time for killing. CG goes on to talk about how everyone said Navy Lieutenant was brave, serving his country, good to his mother. CG goes on to reminisce, in stark flashback mode, about how the media would then show Navy Lt. as he was after he died, face down, in uniform, with a big gash out of the back of his head. CG says how he sees that photo every night when he closes his eyes. (As will I now, CG. Gah.) CG goes on, the woman (attorney?) still sitting silently behind him, how they said Navy Lt. was bound and dragged, and how he was hit so hard that the side of his head caved in (all of which we get in graphic, full color, flashback detail. GAH.). CG says how he can see all of it inside his head, every detail. He turns to look at the woman for the first time and says he knows that everyone looks at him and thinks he did that to Navy Lt. Finally, the woman speaks and calmly asks CG if he did do that to Navy Lt. His eyes red-rimmed now, he shakes his head and whispers no. The woman (lawyer, confirmed) pushes a notepad toward him and tells him then he needs to start from the beginning and explain how he ended up in prison. He says he was framed. By NCIS.
And, cue awesome opening theme song and credits!
Our team starts in the Bull Pen of Orangey Goodness with Torres entering in quite the “suns-out-guns-out” happy mood. Seems his biceps have been growing due to all the gym time he’s been putting in, so much so that his shirts are now too tight, and that’s put him in a perky mood. Sloane comes halfway down the stairs and tosses him a self-pedi kit, saying she got one on a BOGO deal and just knew he’d be the guy who could use the spare. He tries to deny he’s the pedicure kinda guy, but when Bishop offers to take it, Torres holds tight.
David McCallum as Ducky in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)
Enter Gibbs who heads straight up to Vance’s office, where he’s introduced to Lady Lawyer, who turns out to be a federal public defender. She says he’d like to forgo the small talk and hopes Gibbs won’t mind. Uh, nope. Definitely doesn’t mind. She tells then she’s repping the guy who was wrongfully accused of Navy Lt.’s murder, to the tune of 10 years served. Vance called in Gibbs because the case was before his time. Gibbs says it wasn’t his case, but he recalls it being a joint case between them and the FBI. Vance says how Lady L thinks they botched the case, and she corrects them, saying she thought they framed CG, but quickly adds, with a smile, that she’s found no evidence of that. Heh. She does point out that the case files are a jumble and that she knows that the point man on the case, the NCIS agent in charge, has since died, five years earlier. She’s not there about him, but about the medical examiner on the case. Gibbs recalls that Ducky was away at the time and the case went to the city examiner, who, Lady L feels, botched the job. So, she’s already gotten permission to exhume Navy Lt.’s body and she’s messengered the original report, and, oh yeah, the body, too, on to Ducky. Just thought you’d want to know.
We shift to our favorite medical examiner-turned-biographer/college professor, who is greeting Palmer and then heading over to a rather ghastly looking 10-year-old corpse, along with Lady L, who is hoping Ducky will hurry, as she’s needed back in court. I decide to stare at my keyboard while Ducky explains how he agrees that blunt-force trauma was the cause of death. However, it turns out that the person who swung the death blow was a lefty, and CG? Yeah, he’s right-handed. Lady L smiles, and we go to a pondering Ducky black and white. (So good to see you, Dr. Mallard!)
We come back to the bull pen and Torres says Sloane told him something that made his day, but it also had to do with Bishop, so he’s not sure he should repeat it. Wha? The conversation is diverted by the stacks and stacks of mismanaged case files for Navy Lt.’s murder, none of which were entered into the system. We learn that Navy Lt. was abducted outside of his home, driven to a bank and forced to withdraw money, then his body was found in the woods the next day. CG was found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder, based largely on circumstantial evidence. He drove a blue van, same as the vehicle reported to have been part of the abduction/bank withdrawal, and he was found with a thousand dollars on him. He also gave a fake alibi, saying he was at a friend’s house, but he was actually in a hunting cabin, near where the body was found. The one eye witness to the abduction couldn’t be found to testify. Torres wants to go back to the forest to see if they missed anything. (Ten years later? Uh … OK.)
We shift to Gibbs and Fornell (yay!) at the diner. Fornell is reminiscing over the case. Turns out he was point man on it for the FBI. Gibbs shares the info from Ducky, about the lefty swing, but while Fornell agrees that the NCIS agent was a slob, he was and is convinced that they arrested the right man. Gibbs comments on how CG only had one prior, and Fornell points out it was for armed robbery.
We leave them doing what they do best, bicker, and hop over to the woods with Torres and McGee. McGee (who is wearing a plaid shirt, no tie and loose-fitting sport coat, which, along with the weird slicked-back hairdo and goatee make him look more like a sloppy professor than an NCIS agent) tells Torres that he heard that at her previous office, Sloane had profiled every single person there. (Why is McGee so freaked out about her profiling him? I mean, it’s possibly TMI for most folks, and mostly stuff they’d rather not dwell on, but why the stress? It’s not like he’s hiding some deep, dark secret.) Torres reveals he made up the thing about Sloane saying something about Bishop to him, mostly just to mess with her. Um, OK.
Then he spies the spot where the body was found and we’re mercifully back on the case. The No Trespassing sign that was nailed to the tree near where the body was found has been pushed out as the tree has grown around it. And, surprise, surprise, McGee spies something tucked behind it. And not just any something … Navy Lt.’s blood-stained driver’s license. (Oh, come on! Seriously?) McGee shrugs off this major discovery, and the fact that no one found it earlier, with the excuse that they only found it due to the growing tree making the sign shift. Sorry, but not only was it a bit unrealistic for Torres to go back and look in the woods 10 years later, as if they’d magically find something after all that time, but wildly unrealistic that not only did they find something, it wasn’t just some arcane clue, but the victim’s driver’s license? Come on, Show. Do better.
Brian Dietzen as Palmer in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)
This writer fumes as we shift to Abby Lab, where she confirms that the blood smear on the license is Navy Lt.’s, but no other traceable evidence remains, and she has no idea why it was shoved behind the sign in the first place. Bishop comes up with an answer to that. She’d typed in basic elements of the murder into the database to see if anything popped that might point to a different killer. She just got four other hits on unsolved murders where the driver’s license was hidden at the scene. So, whoever did kill Navy Lt. is a serial killer. Fade to an Abby black and white.
We’re at HQ with Vance, Fornell and Gibbs. Fornell wants to focus on tying CG to the other four murders, while Gibbs wants to track down the missing eye witness on CG’s case to help them find the real killer. They each decide to proceed their own way. Gibbs and McGee talk to Ducky and Sloane about his profile of the killer. (Ducky and Sloane bond by playing “Name that Profile.” Which is cute, but for some reason, I totally believe Ducky when he tells me that our serial killer is a psychopath who’s focusing on very strong, male victims for a reason. When Sloane tells me stuff, I feel like she’s reading tarot cards or tea leaves. It seems she’s just “intuiting” a LOT. Gibbs brings up the robbery and Ducky says that was involved in all five murders. He explains that the robbery part is the killer’s business, while the murder part is his pleasure. When Gibbs asks Sloane what she’s been doing while Ducky has been doing all the work, she blithely tells him she’s been getting close to Lady L, and that her new friend has invited her to meet with and talk to CG. Gibbs follows right behind her as she turns to leave, saying he’s going with her and … OK. Time out.
So, here’s the thing. I don’t care one way or the other about the show adding new characters. I’m open to liking anyone who comes on the show and always sincerely hope they bring something new and fresh to the NCIS table. If they do? I’m on board. So, while I’m not sure the cast needed yet another new face, I want to like Sloane. I want her to improve upon a somewhat uneven season, thus far. And … she’s OK. Just, OK. Not awful, not great, just … OK. Except for her scenes with Gibbs. Post-kitchen-table-talk when they first met, their time on screen together has been weirdly uneven, bordering on awkward and utterly devoid of any kind of chemistry. I wish it were otherwise (and I would no matter who the new face is). I know it’s early times with her meshing and blending, but so far? She’s not helping us get any closer to that “the gang is back together” feeling.
OK, back at it. McGee witnesses them rolling a huge filing cabinet into Sloane’s office, which he’s certain is proof to the rumor of her profiling all of her co-workers. (Again, I ask, so what if she does?) More banter where Torres is still gaslighting Bishop about Sloane profiling her, also not terribly amusing, and then we mercifully get back to the case. Abby has tested the bags the Missing Witness was carrying and though the particles found on the bag were too small to be traced when the murder occurred, Abby’s continually improved Major Mass Spec is now able to process them and she gets a hit on a particle of rust-resistant paint used on farm equipment. There is only one place selling it that was also in business back when the murder occurred, so off our team goes to continue tracking down Missing Witness.
Off we go to jail, with Sloane and Gibbs as they talk to CG. He’s heartfelt and explains that he didn’t lie about his whereabouts, he simply got confused due to being nervous with the FBI questioning him. He explains his armed robbery as being a stupid kid with a knife trying to steal some beers. When he heard the lead detective got a promotion after his conviction, he assumed the detective had framed him to solve the case, look good in hopes of that promotion. He says he trusts Lady L and if she didn’t find anything, then he realizes that maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sloane comments on how some folks don’t believe in coincidence. Heh. CG talks about how, if he’d been somewhere else that night, he could be out having ice cream right now. When asked why ice cream, he says his dad would take him for ice cream after a baseball game loss, they’d get two scoops of vanilla, and life seemed OK again. Out in the hall she tells Gibbs that she didn’t see any sign of CG being sociopathic, and she asks Gibbs to tell her what his gut says about CG, commenting on how Gibbs’ gut instinct is legend, even all the way out in California. Gibbs smiles but shrugs it off, keeps walking, prompting Sloane to chase after him, tease-begging him to please give her some of his “gut stuff.” They’re trying for that chemistry, so I give them that, but … mmm, just not getting there for me. Not yet.
Joe Spano as Fornell in NCIS. (Photo: Robert Voets, CBS)
Over at the store where the green shopping bags came from, the owner says he’s used the same bags since he opened the place 40 years before. Torres explains that he’s looking for a woman who used to sell fruit and used his bags to put them in a decade ago. Shopkeeper smiles and tells him he knows exactly who the woman is, as she’s the aunt of one of his employees. The young man used to take the bags home for his aunt to use. Shopkeeper calls the young man out from the back to talk to Torres. He shows Nephew his creds then tells him he’s there to ask him about his aunt, and Nephew takes off running out the back door. Torres gives chase. The two get into a fist/knee/headlock fight with Torres and his biceps ending up the winner just as the sirens draw near. He cuffs the now unconscious Nephew as we fade to black and white.
Torres and Nephew go one on one in interrogation. Torres uses their boxing-slash-UFC match as a means to bond with the guy and get him to talk. Turns out his aunt came into some money when a friend died. She moved away, but Nephew has been cashing those checks for himself, saying his boss still pays him like he was a teenager. Torres tells him he doesn’t care about the checks, he wants to know where Nephew’s aunt is. He doesn’t know, but he does tell Torres her name. Mary Smith. So, yeah, that should be easy to track.
Abby is psyched to have a lead and tracks the checks, eventually finding her middle name. Meanwhile, Palmer comes in, sucking on a lollipop (meaning he was in Sloane’s office) and confirms that her big old file cabinet is locked as he just helped her move it. More banter and McGee reveals Torres was just teasing Bishop about Sloane profiling her. Back to Auntie, the team gets to work trying to track her down now that they have a middle name to narrow the list.
We shift to the courtroom and CG. The lawyer opposing Lady L isn’t making CG look so good and Fornell steps out into the hallway to answer his phone. We learn Gibbs is talking to Auntie and Fornell tells her to keep him informed. Over at Auntie’s place, she tells Gibbs she could no longer recall specifics about the man in the van. She tried to sell him fruit, but he told her to move along or she’d regret it. The only thing she could say for sure was that he was a black man, in his 40s. (CG is neither of those things.) Gibbs asked why she didn’t tell anyone that. She said she did, she told the “FBI man” exactly what she told Gibbs, but assumed he must not have believed an old woman selling fruit on the street. Ruh roh. Fornell, you’re in trouuuuuble.
Next, we see Fornell is at Gibbs’ house. It’s dark now and Fornell is all, “What did you want me to say?” Fornell says he was — and is — convinced she was lying to him, that CG had threatened her, and when she disappeared, Fornell said that sealed it for him. Gibbs says he knows that after the case was over, the detective wasn’t the only one who got a promotion. Oh, boy. Fornell swallows hard at that comment, tells Gibbs he was on that case for a full year, that he took Navy Lt.’s mom to dinner every Sunday since her son couldn’t do it anymore, that he promised her justice, and that’s what he gave her. Fornell tells Gibbs that if he reveals the witness, then CG will get off, they’ll be letting a serial killer go free, and they won’t be able to try him again for Navy Lt.’s murder. He also says it will ruin him, his career, his daughter, all of it. Gibbs tells him he has blinders on. (I’ll say.) He tells Fornell he didn’t do his job. Fornell replies by asking if Gibbs never played judge and jury. “Hypocrite doesn’t look good on you.” Wow. I was thinking this would be good times with my favorite bromance duo. Instead, we’re being raced right up to a potentially friendship-ending situation. And it’s dramatic and powerful and all … but come on, why can’t we keep the few nice things we have left? Gibbs shakes his head, then says, “Get out.” When Fornell starts to say something, the steely-eyed Gibbs finally returns (for all the sad reasons) and repeats, quite emphatically, “Tobias. Get out.” Oh, boy. Show, don’t do this. But Fornell leaves, Gibbs shakes his head, and we get a really sad and frustrating fade to black and white.
Emily Wickersham as Bishop in NCIS. (Photo: Bill Inoshita, CBS)
We come back to Gibbs coming into the Bull Pen, barking and biting everyone’s heads off, demanding they find evidence that either exonerates CG or ties him to the other murders. The team tells him that the files are so disorganized and there are so many suspects for the other murders, they just can’t tie anyone directly to anything or anyone else. Enter Lady L, who has found out that Gibbs found Missing Witness and talked to her. She demands to know why he didn’t tell her. Gibbs counters, asking who it was who told her he’d talked to Missing Witness, and Lady L counters that if he won’t talk to her, she’ll call him to the stand to talk, under oath. She stalks off, stage right.
Gibbs bangs his way into Sloane’s office, demanding to know why she told Lady L about them finding Auntie. Sloane closes the door, then tells him he can explain to her what is actually going on and it will never leave the room, or she’ll find out on her own, then all bets are off. He explains that if he tells the truth on the stand, he could ruin the life of a good man, who is both a dad and an old friend. If he doesn’t tell the truth, he could potentially be sentencing an innocent man to death.
In response, Sloane points out her huge, wooden file cabinet, asks him what he thinks. He thinks she’s distracting him with her handmade file cabinet because she doesn’t have an answer to his problem. She tells him about the cabinet, that her father made it for her mother when they were dating, only he was so smitten, he screwed up and made the drawers too tight. The wood swelled, and the drawers won’t open. Dad told Mom he’d fix them, but she said she liked them just like they were. Sloane says that sums up everything anyone needs to know about her mother. She says she likes keeping the file cabinet nearby. The drawers never did open, so it’s empty, but it reminds her that even the best people occasionally screw up. She tells Gibbs that what defines a person is how they react to that. She tosses him her keys, as he did that day he let her in his house, out of the rain, and tells him to lock up when he’s done. She has good screen charisma, and I like her when she gets on a roll … I just wish she had more charisma with Gibbs directly. Or he with her. Or … something.
We shift from Gibbs standing in her office, to Gibbs on the stand in the courtroom the next day. The judge is directing him to answer the question, which Lady L repeats. Did he find the missing witness? Gibbs says he did and proceeds to answer her follow-up questions honestly, as Fornell and CG watch. Lady L asks if he believed Missing Witness, and Gibbs says yes, because she gave the same statement at the time of the murder. Lady L asks who Missing Witness told, and for a moment, I wonder if he’ll say she told the now-deceased detective. After all, his files are a mess, he can’t directly disprove seeing as he’s dead. But Gibbs does the right thing and tells the truth there, too. Which sucks for Fornell, but at the same time, that’s Fornell’s sin to bear, not Gibbs’. The courtroom is all atwitter, and we know that by introducing reasonable doubt, CG will go free. Gibbs doesn’t look at all happy, and of course, neither does Fornell, who just looks defeated.
Mark Harmon as Gibbs and guest star Hilary Ward in NCIS. (Photo: Robert Voets, CBS)
Lady L and CG leave the courtroom into a gaggle of reporters and lead them away to where CG will be making a formal statement. Gibbs remains behind and approaches Fornell, who is seated in a chair farther down the hallway. Gibbs sits down and Fornell tells him he was the one who tipped off Lady L. Because he knew Gibbs would do the right thing. He says he’s been carrying it around for so long, he didn’t know what the right thing was anymore. But he knew Gibbs would. Aw, Tobias. Sad on sad.
Over at the gaggle, CG is thanking his lawyer, and I start to get that creeping dread of … what if he is the killer? What if Fornell’s gut was and is just as good as Gibbs’? I guess they have to tie him to the other four murders. He hasn’t been tried for those yet. But … maybe I’m wrong.
Except … nope, I’m not. CG leaves the gaggle to walk over and thank Gibbs. CG says he doesn’t know where to begin, being on the outside again after 10 years. Gibbs tells him to start small. Maybe have some ice cream. CG nods, smiles and says, yep, two scoops of chocolate, in honor of his dad. Gibbs’ smile fades and he says he thought it was two scoops of vanilla. And ruh roh!! So, the world-at-large is at risk again from a serial killer, but they can salvage Fornell’s career by pinning the other murders on him and proving Fornell was right all along. And we get a long-range story arc again. Winning!
But first, we end this evening watching Gibbs and Sloane staking out a baseball batting box where CG is taking some practice swings. Gibbs comments to Sloane that maybe CG really was just overwhelmed. And Sloane says maybe, but that doesn’t make him a murderer. Gibbs says it does make him a liar. Me, I’m watching CG swing that bat, and just waiting for when he changes positions and shows he’s a switch-hitter. Swinging righty … or lefty. CG puts more coins in the machine and turns to look right at them … as he does just that. Sloane says CG played them. CG looks at Gibbs and smiles. Gibbs squints and says, “Game’s not over.” Fade to a truly NCIS-worthy black and white.
Mea culpa, writers. That is a storyline I can definitely live with. And … we’re back!
Agree? Disagree? I think it finally gives us something to work with. I hope they continue to pursue the storyline. We need a big story arc. In fact, we’re dying for one. CG might not be the Big Bad we’ve had in seasons past, but I’ll take it. For now.
While I’m taking that, I’m also giving, too! I’m giving away a copy of both the first book and the brand-new e-novella release in my Blue Hollow Falls series to one lucky contest entrant. Come on down, Peggie Arnold! Contact me at donna@donnakauffman.com so I can get your prizes out to you.
What’s on tap for this week’s fab giveaway? How about a copy of that brand-new e-novella, The Inn at Blue Hollow Falls, along with an adorable little bookmark charm designed exclusively for the book by Joyce Taber of The Cotton Thistle fame. Want in? Drop me a note to donna@donnakauffman.com with “I want all the Blue Hollow Falls Goodies!” in the subject line, and you’re in! I’ll announce the winner right here at the end of next week’s recap for episode eight, Voices.
See you then!
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: See a fun Down & Dirty interview with Donna and read what she learned while writing Blue Hollow Falls
EVEN MORE: See more of Donna’s NCIS posts