A bug (the non-living kind) and Jimmy’s bachelor party set the stage for this NCIS episode. As we near the finale, the action ramps up and the stage is set for an explosive end to the season.
Like Pulling Teeth
Probationary Agent Dorneget is back and getting a tooth implant replaced. Apparently popcorn kernels are no match for implants that are weakened by bugs hidden inside them. Dorneget’s mouth has been acting like a transmitter for the last two weeks since his normal dentist called him in to replace a faulty implant. Guess who has the patent on the bug’s technology? Public enemy number one Harper Dearing. Dorneget was chosen because he’s a floater and talks a lot, but luckily the bug was discovered before he revealed anything important.
The team grills Dearing’s CEO Vincent Maple once again, but he claims ignorance. He does mention that Dearing was kind of talking crazy for a few months before he disappeared.
When Dearing appears onscreen in MTAC during the dentist’s interrogation, he says that what’s happening is all Gibbs’ fault. That seems kind of odd seeing as Gibbs never met him or his son, and there seems to be no link between the two.
Gibbs as Bad Guy
Dearing is trying to get back at the Navy for the death of his sailor son. He thinks that if the Navy had fixed a weakness in their early warning system, his son wouldn’t have been killed aboard his ship by a suicide bomber. The lives he’s taking now are merely necessary sacrifices to get the Navy’s attention. But why is he fixated on Gibbs? Dr. Ryan suggests it’s because every hero needs a bad guy. That seems a little too simple and convenient to me.
The team discovers a Watcher Fleet microchip in the body of one of Dearing’s henchmen. He had access to all of the Navy’s vulnerabilities, and it looks like he’s building something. When his warehouse is searched, nothing is found but a security guard with a briefcase full of cash who says he got a text to deliver it to a limo.
Party Time
Palmer is desperate to find out the details about his bachelor party. After a phone call with Breena discussing the tattoos Abby asked her about, he pleads with Abby to postpone the party. After all, they’re in the middle of a huge crisis. Abby doesn’t give in and tells Jimmy that being surrounded by all that death just means they need to appreciate life. The poor guy is visibly regretting his choice of best man.
He does get somewhat of a reprieve when the team decides to use Jimmy’s bachelor party as a cover for a stakeout. What better way to hang out in the college bar area of town than to fake a bachelor party? Although if the guy acts that wasted on watered down apple juice, maybe it’s for the best that the event didn’t go off as originally planned.
When the team finds Maple in the limo instead of Dearing, they figure out they’ve been misdirected. Why was Dearing trying to distract them?
Suspicious Minds
For the first time, Gibbs seems like he’s seriously questioning Dr. Ryan’s motives. After all, she was the one who came up with the faulty artillery theory that led them on a wild goose chase. Was she really human and just made a mistake, or was it more calculated than that? Gibbs doesn’t get a chance to delve further into the issue, because Tony and McGee inform him that Vance decided to drive himself home, and he never made it there.
The promo for the season finale shows the team running out of the building and warns us not to miss the last two minutes. Are we going to lose another member of the team in the season finale, like we did with Kate? Or is an even bigger bombshell going to be dropped?
Crystal Waters
Contributing Writer
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
