- Someone shoots and kills the executive officer (XO) of a Naval vessel, a commander, in his own stateroom; Gibbs and company investigate. However, a shrink (a persistent and presumptuous one) arrives to conduct mandatory psychologic evaluations for all members of the gang, and she accompanies them aboard the ship. Ziva recognizes the spent brass as Russian. Word of the murder spreads fast, for seven international journalists are aboard as guests; one reporter makes a confession and reveals a potential powder keg. The team continue, and they eventually find the solution. Meanwhile, the shrink also continues, eliciting a number of flashbacks, mostly related to Kate Todd, a former member and special agent. Eventually Tony and Gibbs realize who the shrink is, then she submits her report to the director.—DocRushing
- A commander dies of a gunshot in his own stateroom aboard his ship; Gibbs and company investigate; a shrink accompanies the gang so that she can conduct mandatory psychologic evaluations for all members of the team. She and the team finish.—DocRushing
- A Naval vessel gets new orders to monitor North Korean activity off the coast. Commander Reynolds doesn't come to the bridge. They find him dead and bloodied in his stateroom.
At NCIS, Dr. Rachel Cranston (Wendy Makkena) reminds Director Vance that his team is overdue for their psych evaluations. She wants to follow them around. She asks who she should start with.
Cut to Tony counting his winnings from a trifecta bet at Pimlico. He's explaining how the horses spoke to him with a series of neighs and whinnies when Vance and Cranston come down the stairs behind him.
In walks Gibbs with the body of the week: dead commander Vincent Reynolds of the USS Colonial. Gibbs doesn't argue with her tagging along.
On the Colonial, Tony tries to explain his horse whispering to Cranston, saying it's his responsibility to lighten the mood.
In the stateroom, they snap photos. Duckie announces the victim was shot at close range. The slug is in the mattress and the shell casing is on the floor. It's a type used by Koreans and Russians.
The captain says there is a group of international journalists on board. McGee checks his smart phone and finds the news is out.
Vance gets an earful from Sec Nav. The ship is on lockdown. They're trying to figure who leaked the story. There are two English reporters, two French and one South Korean. Men Ho Kwan was the only one not with an escort at the time of the shooting.
Vance tells Gibbs that until Cranston is done they're not technically cleared to work in the field. He reminds Gibbs that their record might not be enough.
Victim rundown: Reynolds was 18 months from retirement and was single with no kids. He's friends with Admiral Wayne Hargrove, who's aboard the USS Blueridge.
Gibbs reminds the team that Vance wants them to talk to Cranston. She picks Ziva.
Back on the Colonial, Tony talks to the Korean journalist Kwan, who is not happy at being singled out. Tony tells him he looks nervous.
When Kwan walks away, Petty officer Oliver tells Tony that she saw Kwan arguing with Reynolds last night.
Ziva reluctantly talks to Cranston, angry to be away from work. Cranston asks her about juggling her responsibilities to country and her job.
Flash back to Ziva arguing with her dad and him saying he doesn't know where her loyalties lie. He tells her he expects her loyalty to him -- and only him.
Cranston brings up Kate Todd, who Ziva replaced.
Flash back to Ziva sitting at Kate's desk, trying to fit in.
Cranston asks Ziva about men and says her choices in them in the past have influenced her work.
Flash to Ziva insisting to Tony that her boyfriend Michael Rifkin is not a Mossad operative. Then her taking it out on Tony when he shot Michael.
Cranston asks Ziva what she's looking for. "I want something permanent. Something that can't be taken away," Ziva says.
In MTAC Gibbs talks to Hargrove, who says he and his wife Nancy thought of Reynolds like family. But he wasn't good at politics and tended to speak his mind too freely. Hargrove says Reynolds definitely would have pushed back against an aggressive journalist.
Back on the ship, Gibbs and Tony asks Kwan for an alibi. He doesn't want to give one but finally says he was sending encrypted emails through a sub -- to North Korea. He says they can arrest him for espionage, but he's not a murderer.
Cranston tries to buttonhole Gibbs, by suggesting he has a problem with professional women. Cranston follows Gibbs to Abby in the lab.
She says the weapon was older, a TT 30. She has found 28 dealers who had versions of the gun and is narrowing.
Down in the morgue, Tony complains that Cranston is judging him.
Duckie says the gun was held against Reynolds' chest. He had fractures on his hands. Duckie thinks the gunshot angle should have been higher.
Cranston joins them and Tony leaves. She tells Duckie he's the least of her concern since he seems balanced.
He tells her there are times he feels melancholy. Flash back to him talking to Kate's corpse.
Upstairs, Abby found one name linked to the gun, a seaman named Marcus Leonard. Gibbs suggests he take Cranston with him.
She asks him about working without Tony. McGee admits it's nice sometimes.
She recites his impressive resume, but suggests "something feels stunted." She asks if he'd like to be in a committed relationship.
Flashback to McGee's bad history with women.
At Leonard's house, McGee breaks in. Cranston follows him. Leonard is supposed to be at sea.
They find a room chockfull of guns of every shape and size.
Ziva talks to Leonard on the ship about his beef with Reynolds. Leonard says Reynolds plays favorites. He says he gave his TT 30 to a friend in Ohio.
Tony tries to get something from the vending machine and fails. Cranston observes. Flash back to Tony turning down his own team in Spain. He says we make decisions and live with them.
McGee reports that the victim's brother Peter said Vincent was in a long term relationship with a woman named Nancy. Gibbs wants to talk to Admiral Hargrove's wife.
Cranston visits Abby, who confesses she doesn't want to learn things about herself she might hate. Cranston tells her she works too hard. She asks if she hangs out with her female coworkers. Flashback to Abby going for a weekend with Kate. She says misses Kate.
Cranston suggests she befriend people on the team, and suggests McGee.
Flashback to McGee realizing he slept in and did other things in a coffin at Abby's.
Abby's computer gets a match to the residue on Reynolds' hands: tape adhesive.
Gibbs meets with Nancy Hargrove in a park. She plays coy at first, then says they saw each other for over 20 years. She doesn't think her husband knew. They only get together when Hargrove was away.
Gibbs mentions how Reynolds didn't have anything in his life except the Navy.
Cranston joins Vance in the parking lot, asking if he's spoken to anyone about his recent shooting. Flashback to Vance being told he was never supposed to succeed as director.
Cranston thinks the attack on his life terrified him and now he's second-guessing himself. Gibbs calls for Vance. "Are you sure?" Vance says.
Back on the ship, Gibbs has a list of people he wants to talk to. Tony says he's breaking rule No. 1.
Gibbs and Oliver meet with petty officers Oliver and Howard, who found Reynolds' body. Gibbs tells them Reynolds' father was in WWII and Korea, he carried a gun given to him by a Russian officer. He had it with him on board.
The only DNA on the tape was Reynolds' own. They mention again that Reynolds was near retirement and was about to lose the only thing that mattered to him.
Gibbs suggests Howard and Oliver found him with the gun taped to his hand. They admit they staged the scene. Oliver says Reynolds was a man of honor and deserves to be buried like one.
In the morgue, Tony stands over Reynolds. Cranston asks what he sees. Tony sees a man who dedicated himself to his job his whole life and had nothing to show for it.
She asks how it makes him feel. "Afraid," he says.
She says people know he's a good agent.
Flash back to Tony angry at Kate for not following his lead.
Cranston suggests Kate was hard on him because she knew what he was capable of. She says it's too bad she didn't get a chance to tell him.
"I think I just realized who you are, Rachel," Tony says.
Cut to Gibbs finding a woman asleep on the floor behind her desk. And flashback to him finding Kate there. This time it's Cranston and he brings her coffee.
She reminds him he hasn't talked to her. He says there's no point, he's not changing.
Then he says when she was lying there, she looked just like her sister.
Flashback to Gibbs finding Kate in the pilot and offering her a job. Then getting shot on the rooftop.
Gibbs asks Cranston if she found what she was looking for. She's glad to meet the people closest to Kate when she died. She doesn't think she has closure just yet.
Gibbs takes Cranston to his basement. He tells her to stand in a spot, then tells her she's standing where the man who killed her sister died -- where Ziva shot her own brother. That, he says, is closure. "The rest is just memories," he says.
Flash back to Kate calling her sister to complain about Gibbs. Rachel missed the funeral.
Cranston has a story for Gibbs: A man walks into a bar & asks for a glass of water. The bartender takes out a shotgun and shoots, just missing the man. The man says thank you and leaves a tip. Why the thank you and why the tip? "The guy had the hiccups," Gibbs says.
She says it's all about responses, and if we keep things bottled up, even the harshest response seems appropriate.
Vance reads her report, saying of the team in clinical terms, "they're a disaster." But they do what they have to, when they have to. She warns him eventually it might catch up to him.
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