NCIS Recap: Did Gibbs Get His Badge Back? Plus, Grade Gary Cole’s Debut
This week on NCIS, the proverbial band got back together to help “dead” Gibbs hunt a killer, while Gary Cole made his debut as a person of surprising interest.
Convening at Thelma and Virgil’s barn, which Jimmy somewhat unwittingly converted into a mirror of HQ (using bales of hay for desks), McGee, Torres and Knight met up with Gibbs to dive into the serial killer case and the latest discovered victim. Vance, having found Kasie at an otherwise vacant office, showed up at the barn not so much to shut down the off-book investigation, but to offer Gibbs his gun and badge back. Gibbs, though, respectfully declined and instead opted to keep playing “dead,” given that the terms for his reinstatement (an apology to the dog killer) would likely be the same.
Using the GPS on the latest victim’s running watch, the team found where the killer has been taking his targets, though the renter managed to elude capture. Working off a photo from the landlady, Kasie found the suspect on multiple street cams — and, it was realized, a strange, masked man was often in the background. That led to a stakeout, where Fornell quietly reunited with Gibbs inside his truck, and the two got to catching up on Tobias’ grief group, the “club” they now both belong to, Marcie, and whether Gibbs should be filling the void in his life with crimesolving. When the masked man surfaced, Torres gave chase and caught him (with help from McGee and Knight).
With his face and prints matching nothing on any database, the man proved to be most evasive in interrogation — until McGee threatened to plaster his face on the news, in connection with the serial killer case. That is when the POI revealed himself to be Alden Parker, an FBI Special Agent tracking the same killer.
Street cams again spotted prime suspect “Tommy,” but Gibbs got to him first, inside a columbarium. The men got into a scuffle, but Gibbs (though still wounded) gave as good as he got. After getting the upper hand in “Tommy,” Gibbs trained his gun on the man who had tried to blow him up, and it took many requests from his arriving NCIS pals to make Boss stand down. Afterwards, Gibbs paid Marcie a visit, only to see that, with the serial killer caught, she was heading out of town to a remote cabin with her friend “Mitch” — as in Michelle. Marcie gave Gibbs a warm hug goodbye, noting that she thought they worked well together.
At HQ, “Tommy” aka Paul Lemere held firm in his request for a (long-deceased) lawyer, while Kasie’s cracking of a thumb drive in his go bag revealed that he had been paid $50K after each kill, through a mysterious “NAVIS” corporation — meaning he was in fact a contract killer. Inside the interrogation room, Lemere nearly KO’d Knight by violently pinning her between the one-way glass and a shoved table, and then dove through the shattered glass to escape via the observation room. Torres gave chase through HQ, until Lemere grabbed Kasie and held a letter opener to her throat in the main room. Though several had their guns trained on skittish Lemere, the standoff came to an abrupt end when a shot rang out from Gibbs’ gun, as he emerged from the elevator — as Vance and Gibbs’ rather stunned team looked on.
What did you think of Gibbs’ “return” to the team, Marcie’s goodbye, and the introduction of Agent Parker?
The final minutes elevated the episode. Well done Gibbs! Now, will shooting a suspect on NCIS property while still on suspension and /or “dead” create another hurdle in Gibbs’ reinstatement?
Matt – no disrespect intended, but given next week’s promo, pretty sure Lemere isn’t dead haha. (Assuming you prob wrote recap before the promo was available)
Screeners don’t have promos. I will take your word for it!
My Sister-In-Law played the woman that rented the apartment to the serial killer.
Very cool!
That scene when Tommy/Paul suddenly slammed Knight into the mirror was very well done and unexpected (even though it required suspension of disbelief that he was allowed to be sitting in interrogation at that point without being hand-cuffed to the chair or table). Season’s off to a good start!
Yes, that was definitely a great scene!
Except, [not to nit pick] if she’d been slammed into a wall by a metal table she’d be in a hospital with internal injuries. Also, the mirror glass in interrogation rooms is bulletproof, so her head would have broken, not the glass. Just sayin’.
Entertainment value and appreciation of a shot being well-done sometimes requires to temporarily be willing to suspend disbelief!
Forgot to mention that tables in interrogation rooms are generally fastened to the floor.
Discussion between Gibbs and Fornelle was awesome.
Gary Cole is awesome. If Harmon is being phased out (by his own request), Cole’s a really good choice for a replacement. Liked his character.
An excellent start to the season in the first two episodes. For every question answered, others are asked. I think Parker is going to be an interesting “frenemy,” and I’m looking forward to his interactions with Gibbs and with McGee. Always a pleasure to have Fornell. I hope we see “Mindy”… I mean Marcie, again (it was great when Fornell called Marcie “Mindy.”
Noticed that too (the Mindy reference)- it was great
lol Yes it was. And I’m looking forward to more interactions with the team too.
This was my favorite part!!
I laughed out loud when Fornell called Marcie Mindy! How many takes did they need to get it just right? A big shout-out to the writer of this episode! It was such a quick line, my husband didn’t catch it. I’m still laughing!
I loved the bantering between Gibbs and Fornell, it had me laughing! Cole’s character Parker will be interesting to see how he plays off of the others. I love how we’ve seen Palmer grow and Kacie has some serious spunk that I really like. McGee has really stepped into his role as team leader with Gibbs’ suspension. Knight is going to have her hands full dealing with Torres and his desire to push all things Bishop away.
I like Gary cole.
Did anyone notice the similar entrance of Gibbs meeting DiNozzo and the new Gary Cole character???
tbh I didn’t think they were all that similar myself
Fornell knew Parker and it would be interesting to see Parker and Fornell interact with each other. Will Parker look down on Fornell for the way he was fired from the FBI or think he got a raw deal?
Loved it. Cole great, looking forward to him being a part of the team
I liked the episode (diving through that glass was a bit of an eye-roller, however. I’m pretty sure that glass is very thick, and even if he could do it, he’d be cut up pretty badly), and enjoyed the new character played by Gary Cole. Looking forward to more from him.
Great episode. Fornell always lifts things a notch. Gary Cole was better than I expected, but he does look overly polished to be quite believable. After getting knocked about in his “capture,” there wasn’t a hair out of place when he got to the interrogation room. One thing keeps nagging me: how could a case such as this be in NCIS’s purview legally? There’s no military connection, much less a Naval one. Wouldn’t it be a matter for local and/or state police?
Not sure. Was one of the victims in the Navy?
When the boat that was exploded had been found to be Gibbs’ with the possibility it was homicide and a previous homicide victim found it brought it in jurisdiction of NCIS to investigate all crimes involving both past and present Naval /NCIS employees .In RL NCIS often work co-operatively with local/state/national and international LEOs on cases.
But weren’t they already investigating the killer which is why he targeted Gibbs?
No,Marcie recruited Gibbs to help her with her independent investigation of the serial killer.
I’ll gladly take Gary Cole over Mark Harmon any day/any time!
I’m loving the new character replacement, Knight, and the actress playing her! It took me a long time to accept Bishop, she was just so odd at first and different. Knight’s addition is wonderful – love the character and the actress!
The conversations between Gibbs and Fornell, kind of felt, like it was setting up a Gibbs exit. I suspect this may be Harmon’s last year on the show, especially if the viewers continue to take to the new characters.
I was thinking what others have said about the glass in the interrogation room, too. They’d at least have the glass with wire in it to prevent perforation if not an outright bulletproof pane.
Glass with wire wouldn’t work because the window is used to observe interrogations without being seen by the suspect. Bulletproof is unnecessary because there are no guns in interrogation . And really, there’s no need to have a reenforced window because there’s no where for the suspect to actually go – anytime a suspect is in holding there is always someone watching the room.
It was so good to see Mark and Pam working together. Even though their characters aren’t together, you can see the reallove between the actors.
How funny was it when Knight kept saying that Marcie wasn’t Gibbs type? Then doubled down on it when Gibbs heard her and she said, “ Well she’s not!”
NCIS continues to show why it continues to be top of the charts on regular TV dramas… With all the turnover, it continues to be top notch… BTW… no mention of Ducky even though DM still in main credits… Why would Ducky stick around if Gibbs is gone in the first place..
Isn’t Ducky still supposed to be the NCIS Historian? I’m guessing they would write him into any episode David McCallum wants to be in. But David is 88 now, so would naturally be slowing down.
This is my all time favorite show…may Gibbs be the team BOSS forever!!! Cannot imagine this show without him. Much like Jeopardy! Alex was Jeopardy…like Leroy Jethro Gibbs IS NCIS! Thank You.
New female agent poor choice.