A Year of NCIS, Day 16: Bête Noire (Episode 1.16)

Episode: 1.16, Bête Noire

Air Date: March 2, 2004

The Victim: For the second episode, we ditch the formula. This week, to roam deep in the dark woods.

Emotionally Traumatized, But Ultimately Irrelevant, Witness Who Finds the Body: There’s plenty of trauma, emotional and otherwise, to go around this episode.  But it’s all experienced by our leads.

Plot Summary: A confused Ducky and Gerald arrive in autopsy to examine a foreign Naval officer ostensibly sent over by the Israeli embassy.  Gerald brings in the body and unzips the bag and the viewer can immediately tell something is wrong by the look on Gerald’s face and the shift in the musical score.  Ducky prattles on about world navies, oblivious…until he walks over to the body.  And sees it’s not a body at all.  It’s a live man with a gun pointed at both of them.

The episode never gives us this guy’s name, so I’m just going to call him the Terrorist.  He is very well-informed and methodical.  He tells Ducky to douse the lights, and shoots out the ceiling-mounted video camera.  He asks Ducky how to alert of an infectious autopsy, and when Ducky clowns him, he compliments Ducky’s sense of humor, but makes clear that any lie that Ducky tells will result in Gerald getting a .9mm hollow point in the ball and socket joint of his shoulder.  Ducky asks if he can take the bullet instead, but the Terrorist knows how to make a duck quack, and declines.  Ducky and Gerald put up a lit red sign to alert of infection, and Gerald brings the terrorist infectious autopsy gear to maintain appearances.  Ducky and the terrorist exchange dialogue about an old British train named “Mallard”, and Ducky is clearly noting the Terrorist’s possession of such specific, localized knowledge.

We shift to the agents and learn the team is wrapping up a case involving a terrorist named Qassam.  Tony and Kate have bagged and tagged Qassam’s personal residence, but didn’t find much.  No computer, no bombs, just some toiletries- aspirin, sinus spray, breath freshener.  Gibbs is irritated.  Gitmo intel told them that Qassam was planning an attack on the base at Norfolk, where Qassam was employed in the food court. Bu Qassam is in no shape to tell them about the details as to where, when, or how (which means NCIS shined some daylight on his internal organs). 

Back to autopsy.  They pull Qassam’s body out of the refrigerator.  The Terrorist has forensic pathology knowledge, and begins asking about the autopsy and where the refrigerated blood is stored.  They tell the Terrorist where autopsy is, and Ducky directs him to a stairwell.  This doesn’t go well. The Terrorists intuits that there’s a camera in the stairwell and pulls his gun on Gerald.  Ducky protests that he didn’t lie.  The Terrorists pulls his gun away but informs Ducky that efforts to trick him will also earn Gerald a smoking hole in his shoulder.

Abby gets a call in her lab.  Ducky, terrorist over his shoulder, asks her to return the Qassam evidence.  He’s highly brusque with Abby in a seeming effort to alert her that there’s a problem.  The fact that he also wants the blood is weird enough for her to question, but not so weird that she figures out that Ducky’s under duress.  Because Ducky can’t send Gerald to get the evidence, he asks Abby to bring it down and set it outside the “infectious” autopsy area.  Abby has a (new to the audience) phobia of autopsy and can’t even press the down button on the elevator.  Ducky gets annoyed with her and tells her to have Gibbs bring it.  The Terrorist is skeptical, but Ducky and Gerald manage to sell him on Abby’s phobia being genuine, mainly pointing out that Ducky and Abby aren’t agents, so secret coded conversations aren’t their thing.  The Terrorist does ask who Gibbs is, though, which prompts Ducky to start bobbing and weaving while Gerald is no doubt about to shit in his scrubs.  Ducky says that Gibbs is the only other person who knows about Abby’s phobia and the one she’d turn to for help.  The Terrorist asks if Gibbs is a special agent, and Ducky immediately admits that he is, preserving Gerald’s bodily integrity for now.

Abby puts the evidence in a box, including the blood, but can’t quite bring herself to take it down to autopsy.  So, she takes it upstairs.

The Terrorist engages in banter, making it additionally clear that he has spent time in the British Isles, and maybe received his education at or near Eton.  The terrorist is still suspicious of the Abby conversation.  But Gerald is genuine in his belief that Abby’s phobia is real.  Ducky informs the Terrorist that Aby is goth, and the Terrorist visibly winces. 

Abby brings her box to the agents, and asks for Gibbs.  And then Tony.  Neither are around, so she asks Kate to take it down.  Kate also finds it odd that Ducky needs untested evidence back, but she agrees to take the box to autopsy.  Kate becomes suspicious because Abby mentions the infectious autopsy.  Qassam is the only body in autopsy and Ducky shouldn’t be doing an infectious autopsy if Abby hasn’t tested Qassam’s blood.  She calls Ducky.  Ducky is quick to pick up the phone, say “I knew you could do it,” and refer to Kate as “Abby” before hanging up.  The Terrorist is suspicious of the non-use of the speakerphone.

Director Morrow!  But…why?  I guess so we can have expository dialogue about why Gibbs put two in Qassam’s chest.  After getting their intel from Gitmo, NCIS tried to apprehend Qassam at the Norfolk security gate with a routine trunk check, but Qassam got wise and pulled a weapon.  Gibbs had to kill him.  In this early phase of the show, Gibbs feels like he needs to explain things like killing perps, but Director Morrow is all, “Enh, I’ll read about it later.”  The Director is more concerned about how a terrorist got a job on a Navy base.  They don’t know what he was planning on doing either, so Gibbs and the Director go into MTAC to consult with our old friend Special Agent Paula Cassidy at Gitmo, and another agent, Daniel Snyder, in Bahrain.  They all debate whether Qassam is al Qaeda or Hamas.  But nobody knows what he was planning.  A Hamas attack on U.S. soil seems out of character, but Agent Snyder is positive Qassam was not al Qaeda.

Abby is ranting aloud over her phobia in the hall, and Gibbs finds her.  Gibbs asks about her investigation and Abby tells him Ducky took the evidence back, including the blood.  The fact that Gerald didn’t pick it up is an additional warning sign.  As is the fact that Ducky asked for the evidence to be delivered “Stat.”  Gibbs is immediately in danger mode and tells Tony to pull autopsy up on the plasma.  They see the camera is out.

Kate emerges from the elevator and sees Ducky and Gerald working over a body.  Kate wants Ducky to sign for the evidence and asks about the infection when he says he can’t open the door.  Ducky gives plausible explanations, but Kate is suspicious enough to say, she “beat my phobia.”  Ducky congratulates her and calls her Abby.  Which might have worked perfectly, except that the Terrorist, hiding beside the door, sees Kate’s gun, knows Abby isn’t an agent, and figures out the ruse.  He steps out into the hall and apprehends Kate as well.

Gibbs wants cameras and floorplans.  He then notifies the Director of a possible hostage situation, and requests the Hostage Rescue Team from the FBI. 

In autopsy, Kate gets frisked.  The Terrorist checks out her ID, and asks her if she shot Qassam while he goes through the evidence.  Ducky tells him that Gibbs shot Qassam and Kate tells Ducky not to answer questions.  This next scene is horrifying, but very well done.  The viewer knows Ducky tried to trick the Terrorist earlier, but the interlude with the questioning and the evidence review, gets us hoping that the Terrorist forgot about it.  When Kate then tees up a discussion of the Terrorist’s rules, and why Ducky must answer, it brings attention back to those rules and ratchets up the tension.   Then the Terrorist shifts topics again, downshifting the tension a bit, and questions whether all the evidence is present (Ducky and Gerald believe so).  He then asks Kate whether the agents searched Qassam’s room, and where that evidence is.  When she refuses to answer, the Terrorist asks Ducky to explain the rules, again escalating the tension.  Ducky recapitulates that lying gets Gerald a bullet.  The Terrorist specifies that said bullet goes in a ball and socket joint, and then drops the hammer, telling Ducky that he omitted a condition.  Ducky tells Kate she shouldn’t try to trick the Terrorist either.  The Terrorist tells Kate that her Abby ruse was a trick, and Ducky anxiously interjects that Kate didn’t know the rules.  The Terrorist then calmly advises that Ducky did know the rules, and he participated in the ruse anyway.  And then, true to his word, the Terrorist puts a bullet right in poor Gerald’s shoulder

Ducky tries to minister to Gerald.  Tony has made it to the stairwell outside autopsy, and monitors Kate’s movements inside, while Gibbs reports to the Director in MTAC.  The Director doesn’t react to the identities of the hostages, and one is forced to wonder if he even knows who they are.  Gibbs calls down to autopsy from MTAC.  Ducky answers.  Gibbs plays along for now so as not to alert the Terrorist.  Tony is able to see the Terrorist during the phone call and describes him. 

Ducky gets Gerald’s bleeding stopped.  But the Terrorist points out that Ducky had to clamp an artery.  Which means Gerald will lose the arm if he doesn’t get to a hospital soon.  The Terrorist states that Gerald can get the care he needs as soon as he gets what he wants.  He asks about the Qassam residence evidence again, and Kate tells him it’s in the evidence garage, one level up.

Gibbs puts a scope through the floor and into autopsy to get video feed.  They note one intruder, but the Terrorist immediately sees the scope, grins, and shoots it. 

The Terrorist, knowing he has been discovered, changes back into tactical gear.  He orders Ducky and Kate to put Qassam in a body bag.  The Terrorist almost seems to be flirting with Kate at this point. 

Director Morrow shows the Terrorist’s image to Agents Cassidy and Snyder.  Agent Cassidy doesn’t recognize him.  Agent Snyder reports that the Israeli armed forces are training at Norfolk on hurricane boats.  This creates a Hamas connection.  While Hamas typically does not attack American targets for fear of alienating pro-Arab Americans, a Hamas attack on Israeli trainees would fit their profile.  Gibbs knows what the Terrorist is after: Qassam’s body and blood.  Hamas does not want the U.S. to know they had an infected terrorist serving food to American and Israeli sailors.

Gibbs, Tony, and Abby pull the evidence collected from Qasaam’s room.  Gibbs reasons that whatever infection was being planned didn’t happen or there wouldn’t be a clean-up crew in action trying to run off with the evidence.  Gibbs makes a plan to get duplicates of all of Qassam’s personal items so that they can make a show of returning the evidence to the Terrorist without returning an actual contagion to him.

FBI HRT is communicating with the Terrorist.  The Terrorist gives them ten minutes to deliver the Qassam evidence, and he’ll release Gerald.  Kate gets her hand on a scalpel, but Ducky thinks the Terrorist wants her to try.  She shows the Terrorist the scalpel and says he just wants another excuse to shoot Gerald.  She makes an effort at a kill shot, but the Terrorist blocks her arm.  He has no intention of shooting Gerald again, but says he did want to see if he was right about Kate.  There seems to be a little bit of heat between them, and the Terrorist thinks that’s why Kate wasn’t quick enough. Ducky asks for his turn, but the Terrorist knows better than that.

Abby determines that the contagion is a lower-level smallpox, stored in Qassam’s nose spray.  The Terrorist calls MTAC and asks for Gibbs to bring the evidence.  Tony hands off the fake evidence, and is clearly nervous for Gibbs.  Gibbs assigns him to cover a likely escape route for the Terrorist.  There’s a cute bit where Tony jockeys for compliments and Gibbs smilingly refuses to give them verbally, but nonetheless makes clear how much he depends on Tony.

Gibbs appears in autopsy and confronts the Terrorist.  They have a back and forth, and Gibbs pulls the nasal spray out of the box.  Then he shoots it up his own nose, and tells the Terrorist the real smallpox virus is on its way to CDC.  So, there’s nothing for the Terrorist to pursue now.  The Terrorist asks how far away Gibbs was when he shot Qassam.  The Terrorist is impressed at the answer.  He throws Gibbs a clip and tells him where Kate’s gun is.  Gibbs arms himself, and the Terrorist raises his weapon.  Both fire and take hits, Gibbs in the arm, the Terrorist in the chest.  A flash grenade goes off as HRT enters.

Gibbs wakes up to Tony over him.  His wound is a through and through, with nothing vital hit.  Tony tells Gibbs that the Terrorist had an accomplice in HRT gear in the receiving elevator.  He shot a couple of HRT guys, but Tony killed him.  Kate and Ducky are rescued from body coolers.  They examine the Terrorist’s body, but it’s Qassam’s body, dressed in tactical gear.  The Terrorist escaped. 

The scene shifts back to the cubicles, and Tony postgames the Terrorist’s escape for the audience Kate.  The Terrorist needed someone to shoot him in the chest to trigger the assault so he could escape in the confusion.  Based on Qassam’s COD, the knowledge that Gibbs made the shot, and Gibbs’s own statements about the range of the shot, the Terrorist felt sure Gibbs would hit his bulletproof vest and not his face.  Kate confirms the vest, and Tony inquires as to how close she got.  Kate says, “Close enough to stab him with a knife in my hand.”  Tony questions why that didn’t happen.  Kate says you can’t get Stockholm syndrome in an hour, but Tony likens it to falling in love, and leaves Kate to continue to wonder.

Ducky closes down autopsy with a seemingly out of place smile, but we see why when the camera moves to Abby, laying on an autopsy table in the dark, smiling. Plot necessity resolved, Abby is now cured.

Cut to Gibbs’s basement.  He’s sitting on a work table in a sling, looking at his gun.  He fires with one hand, and two bullets hit a photo of the smiling terrorist right between the eyes.  Gibbs won’t be hitting a vest next time.       

Quotables:

(1) “McGee teaches you.  You teach me.  It’s backwards!” -Gibbs stresses over being behind the curve (and even Tony) with respect to technology.

(2) “I can’t wait to weigh your liver.” -Ducky lets the terrorist know that this isn’t over.

Time Until Sexual Harassment: Unless you count the Terrorist hitting on Kate (poor Kate, even taken hostage, nobody respects her), there isn’t any.  This wasn’t the episode for it.

Ducky Tales: This episode doesn’t stay jaunty long enough for too many Ducky Tales, but he gets off one about British Navy officers staring down the barrel of a gun…right as he begins staring down the barrel of a gun.

The Rest of the Story:

-Tony tells some more stories about his childhood.  His dad drank.  His mom told him bedtime stories.

-Gibbs claims he does crosswords.  Which makes no sense.  His lack of any pop culture knowledge after the advent of the Reagan administration would be fatal to such endeavors.

-This is the first we’ve heard of Abby’s phobia of autopsy.  It may have been invented to either fill a hole in the script or accommodate a late-minute change.  But the plot point would have been more effective and less obtrusive if it had appeared in a prior episode.

-Oh Abby.  You’ll regret the decision to send Kate down to autopsy because of your phobia.  Things might have worked out the way they worked out anyway.  But that’s the question, isn’t it?

-That’s Special Agent Paula Cassidy from Minimum Security (Episode 1.8) on the MTAC screen.  The end of Minimum Security made it seem as if Agent Cassidy lost her assignment at Gitmo, but she’s still there in this episode. She doesn’t come off that well. Gibbs specifically compliments her Bahrain counterpart, Agent Snyder, to the Director, but says nothing about Paula. And then the script actually has her do an almost hubba-hubba reaction to the Terrorist’s photo, to the displeasure of the Director.

-Gibbs expresses anti-Hamas sentiment.  It’s not wrong or out of character, and he supports his statement with legitimate reasons.  But it’s an aggressive real-world stance for the main character on a major network TV show, and not really necessary for the plot.  Kudos to the showrunners for going there.

-NCIS Special Agent Chris Pacci appears.  He’ll be seen again this season.

-The image the video scope takes of the smiling Terrorist will re-appear throughout the next several episodes, as Gibbs and the team continue to try to identify him.

-The Terrorist doesn’t think of himself as a Terrorist.  There’s something to that, but his back story shifts quite a bit as the show goes on.

-Oh Kate.  You’ll regret the decision not to kill that guy.

-Gibbs and the terrorist have a dialogue about how Gibbs killed Qassam.  We already knew Gibbs was a good shot, but this dialogue establishes that Gibbs is an extraordinary shot.

-Tony spends a lot of this episode joking through the crisis.  It makes you appreciate him more.  This is a guy who, even when all hell is breaking loose, keeps his cool and is completely reliable.

-The shows continual undermining of Kate continues.  Her ability to see positives in people isn’t always a detriment, but when it has consequences, it has big consequences, be it letting Suzanne McNeil blow up an office, or letting a Terrorist maintain the structural integrity of his jugular.  Day-to-day, Kate’s a seemingly competent agent.  But when the stakes are high, she whiffs.  Another example, if Kate was suspicious enough to strap on her gun to take the evidence to autopsy (the agents don’t wear guns in the office), why not at least tell Tony, even if she can’t find Gibbs?

-Gerald will appear in a two-parter in Season 3, but his time with the NCIS team is over.  Which is a shame.  He never had that much to do, but he provided a wry, likable presence, and his lines were always chuckle-worthy.

-In that vein, this episode had consequences for seasons. And, as you might expect, we’re not done seeing the Terrorist.

Casting Call: Rudolf Martin plays the terrorist. I don’t know him from anything else.

Man, This Show is Old: Reference is made to a Gameboy.  Other gaming devices are referenced as well, but I’m not a gamer, so I don’t know which other ones are obsolete.  PS2, is an older model, right?  Additional references are made to PDAs and Palm Pilots.

VIP: Director Morrow.  Haha, just kidding.  Does that guy ever do anything? 

This was hardly a win.  The bad guy shot one of the good guys and got away, even if he didn’t get what he wanted.  Tony got a kill, but it was a secondary perp and it happened off screen.  Gibbs, however, instantly recognized what was happening when all the weird happenings were finally brought to his attention, took charge of the rescue scenario, came up with a plan to frustrate the terrorist’s end goal, and put himself in danger to help his people.  We’ll give VIP honors to Gibbs.

Rating: This episode was incredibly well done, especially for an episode in a freshman season.  The pacing is tense, and the entire atmosphere of the episode, especially taking place in a darkened autopsy, is profoundly disturbing.  The sequence leading up to Gerald getting shot is one of the most fraught that I’ve seen on network TV.  I think this episode is great, but I generally avoid watching it all the same because it’s so emotionally draining. 

The terrorist is threatening, but also charming in his way, and has a lot more dimension than the usual NCIS antagonist.  The interplay between Rudolf Martin, who plays the terrorist, and David McCallum as Ducky should have won one or both an award. 

The leads are in real danger.  A second-level character suffers real consequences.  The good guys win in a practical sense, but lose badly in an emotional sense.  And at least a few people have hard questions to answer.  Was it worth it to Ducky to try and trick the terrorist when Kate came down to autopsy, given what it cost Gerald?  How does Kate feel about hesitating when she had the opportunity to kill the guy?  Abby’s wholly irrational phobia of autopsy (and sort of an out-of-nowhere plot contrivance) directly put Kate in danger, and may have indirectly caused Gerald to be maimed- does that keep her awake at night?

These questions would be compelling even if the show were a one-off and/or Gibbs managed to kill the terrorist.  Given that this episode will continue to reverberate, not just over the next few episodes, but season after season after season, it is easily one of, if not the most consequential episode in the series.  And only 16 episodes in.  That’s amazing.  Ten Palmers.