'NCIS' busts up one bad hospital operation
Abby is so in demand that the FBI take her from her "NCIS" lab to deal with a missing lab rat's project. If that lab hadn't been chock-full of the latest and greatest technology, there's the chance this could have turned into one God-awful inter-government mess. Then again, Abby's never been shy to take charge when it's been needed.
The Spoilers wish they had a kick-ass lab full of cool toys to play with.
I would have thought baby monitor technology would have advanced past the stage of airing random distress calls. Since it hasn't, the gang is on the case of our Dead Soldier of the Week: Marine PFC Marco Riggs. Ducky and Jimmy (traveling together more and more it seems) determine the guy was stunned, which lead to his stumbling around before he finally stroked out.
Meanwhile, Abby leaves the dentist with a clean bill of health only to have the FBI whisk her away. Jordan Jones of the local VA hospital is missing the head of a department charged with finding a cure for a sexy, new syndrome plaguing those returning from war zones. The project is so top secret, even Jordan doesn't know what Dr. Phillip Heller was working on... that's for Abby to find out. When Gibbs catches wind of the situation, he angrily videoconferences Jordan, but eases off the growling when Abby shows up stoked over the new toys she gets to play with.
What she didn't expect the lab to come with was its own resident veteran. Retired Marine Sergeant Major Robert King insists on continuing what he started with Dr. Heller: an intense game of chess. Good thing she's distracted as McGee (acting as temporary head of her lab), along with DiNozzo and Jimmy are ensuring its slow destruction. Upon further examination of PFC Riggs' car, the gang determines he wasn't the target for death. Instead, he was out to kill Heller himself.
Gibbs and DiNozzo start by quizzing the wife, who's holding a yard sale to rid herself of many bad memories from a seemingly bad marriage. Heller left, but never came back. Tracing credit card receipts lead to a girl on the side... which leads to Dr. Heller. The good doctor had no intention of killing Riggs because he was acting in self-defense. Of course, he also reveals Jordan wasn't using him to find a cure; he was being used to develop a weapon. Nifty.
Abby and King share more tender moments, only being interrupted by that darned Nurse Ratchet (Hannah). When she takes the chess board up to his room to continue a game, she finds that King is no longer with the hospital. The gang arrives at that very moment to take her back to NCIS, only to discover a lot went down while they were gone: Afghanistan War Syndrome doesn't exist, the nurse (who was later found strangled) was in cahoots with Jordan... (who herself was later found strangled), and most importantly... Jordan broke Rule Number One.
Once in the interrogation room, Jordan cops to embezzling from the sweet government contract, but denies any knowledge of the weaponizing of the enzyme or Robert King. Abby wants to be mad at him, yet she wisely channels that anger toward the really really bad guy. The gang corners King at a restaurant. Check and mate, Sergeant. Later, Abby exacts her revenge on the boys by having them clean her lab.
Happy belated birthday and congrats on the wedding, Pauley!
NCIS is totally comfort food to me. I still think it's cute that Ziva messes up her colloquialisms ("smells like fish") and hearing that Abby has named her teeth is just part of her charm. Not a lot of Gibbs this week, but hey, ev1 needs a break, I'm sure.
Still love "NCIS"; in fact, I DVR "Idol" while I watch "NCIS."
If I could, with apologies, suggest that the sentence "Afghanistan War Syndrome doesn't exist, the nurse was in cahoots with Jordan (who herself was later found strangled)..." would make more sense if written "Afghanistan War Syndrome doesn't exist, the nurse (who was later found strangled) was in cahoots with Jordan..."
I loved two parts in last nights episode- Tony with his back scratcher and the then when Tony and McGee realize Gibbs doesn't know how to email.
Very nice episode, lots of NCIS brand humor. Comfort food is a nice way of considering this series, although the occasional episode can contain some fantastic ****es.
Ok - I don't normally nitpick or criticize the recappers - but do you actually watch the entire show or just bits and pieces?
"when Abby shows up stoked over the new toys she gets to play with"
The way you write it infers that Abby decided to stay because of the fully equipped lab BUT she had been on her way out the door (after already meeting the sargent) until she was told that the people (including the sarge) were going to die unless she helped. That's what made her choose to stay. This might seem like a small point, but its actually huge when it comes to the character of Abby!!!!!!
Tony saves yet another NCIS episode.
Long live the king.
It was nice to see them let Abby grow up a bit. After all, Ms Perrette turned 40 last month and the short skirts and pony tails are looking a bit out of place on her.
Disagree with Mike - the short skirts and pony tails - not to mention the knee socks - look GRRRREAT on Abby - even if she did turn 40 last month. It's just typical Abby - it makes her HER. And this was another GREAT episode. They're all good, but some are better than others, and this one is one of the BETTER ones. Love it that they finally gave Abby her episode, you know - where SHE is the Main Event. Also liked the Twist at the end - didn't see that coming. Still one of my Favorite shows... GREAT writing - GREAT Team - Just wish they'd get rid of Leon Vance - replace him with someone more compatible with the Team, like Jenny was. They should've kept Jenny - why kill off a limb when it's not cancerous..?? Don't like Leon.
I agree with toomuchtv. I know recapping is tougher than it seems, but each week Brandon misses more and more points or plotlines of the show. Abby's reason for staying in the new lab is just one example. Another:
He says "Afghanistan War Syndrome doesn't exist, the nurse (who was later found strangled) was in cahoots with Jordan..."
She wasn't in cahoots with JORDAN, she was in cahoots with KING/sarge/whatever his real name was. Now, maybe Brandon meant AT THAT POINT they THOUGHT she was in cahoots with Jordan, but if that's the case he never makes it clear that it was the nurse and the sarge who were in cahoots.
He also fails to mention what they were in cahoots about - that Heller and Abby and inadvertently developed a weapon that would allow bad guys to use a person's DNA to kill them through such means as poisoning water supplies - without hurting anyone else. And they were trying to sell that weapon to the highest bidder. Or at least sarge was, after killing the nurse.
Anyway, it's just annoying.
Anybody know where that back scratcher Tony uses came from? The tongue scraping was a little over the top but I've never seen a back scratcher that looked like that. Looked cool!