A Weak Link (18 May 2004)
"NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service" A Weak Link (original title)

A Seal is killed in an apparent accident while training for a highly classified mission. NCIS investigates is discovers that it wasn't an accident. NCIS must quickly determine who killed him, or the mission will have to be aborted.

Director:

Alan J. Levi

Writers:

Donald P. Bellisario (creator), Don McGill (creator),

Stars:

Mark Harmon, Sasha Alexander, Michael Weatherly

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Mark Harmon	...	Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Sasha Alexander	...	Agent Caitlin Todd
Michael Weatherly	...	Anthony DiNozzo
Pauley Perrette	...	Abby Sciuto
David McCallum	...	Dr. Donald Mallard
Adam Baldwin	...	Cmdr. Michael Rainer
Julie Benz	...	Denise Johnson
Sean Murray	...	Timothy McGee
Doug Savant	...	Father Larry Clannon
Johnny Sneed	...	CIA Agent Andrew Kramer
Matt Battaglia	...	Petty Officer Porcaro
Ross Gibby	...	Petty Officer Vengal
Robert Joseph	...	Lt. Commander Folsom
Brian Dietzen	...	Jimmy Palmer
Kathryn Gordon	...	Young Pregnant Woman

Storyline

US Navy SEAL Lieutenant Rick Johnson falls to his death in an apparent accident while repelling from a cliff at the end of four months training for a highly classified mission for the CIA. Abby discovers that his equipment was elaborately tampered with, replacing with a weaker alloy: murder by sabotage. NCIS must quickly determine who killed him, or the mission is aborted. They investigate the victim's wife, whose fingerprints are found, the other team members as their were various potential motives and even Father Larry Clannon, Johnson's long-standing best friend. Meanwhile McGee cracks Rick's secret e-mail account...

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Plot Keywords:

mountaineering | cia | sabotage | navy sea air and land force | washington d.c. | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

18 May 2004 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Paramount Network Television, Belisarius Productions

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

When leaving the victim's house the second time, Gibbs puts away his notebook twice in succession.

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Quotes

Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs: [to a suspect] Your track record for the truth is unimpressive.

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Connections

References Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

User Reviews

Sasha is the weak link

They killed Kate (Sasha Alexander) off after two seasons of NCIS, and it is nice to see her back in the TV saddle as 1/2 of "Rizzoli & Isles" after five years of being away from acting as the wife of Sophia Loren's son Edoardo. But looking back at this recently aired early episode it is clear that like the title, she was the weakest link in the series.

Of course hindsight is 20/20 and her replacement Cote de Pablo is a dream -adding so much to the show. But THE WEAK LINK points up other fumbling around that occurred before Harmon & co. hit their Nielsen chart-topping stride.

The romantic banter and confusion between Pauley Perette and Sean Murray is clumsy in this segment, with latter not yet in command of his pivotal comic relief character. But it is the Michael Weatherly/Sasha relationship that stands out as faulty. As DiNozzo he razzes her in a way that is unappealing. My guess is that De Pablo's acting and her forceful physical appearance & personality can easily weather any taunting from Weatherly, while Sasha simply does not play off him well.

As a result, this episode seems remarkably thin, stuck with a rather perfunctory story of a secret mission led by always-reliable guest star Adam Baldwin in peril as the team investigates the death of one of his navy seals. I found the ending wholly unsatisfactory and the relentlessly inverted-red herring dangling into the plot of a priest (smarmily played by Doug Savant) quite annoying.

But Sasha as Kate just doesn't fit in. Her interactions with Harmon are almost ludicrously one-sided, as if the team's (and show's) boss can't stand her. I'm glad everybody lived happily ever after in her absence.