Episode: 5.15, In the Zone
Air Date: April 29, 2008
The Victim: Captain John Rankin, USMC.
Emotionally Traumatized, But Ultimately Irrelevant, Witness Who Finds the Body: We’re in Iraq. Some Marines are playing a pick-up basketball game. Until a mortar attack. The Marines scatter and, in the aftermath, most of the ballplayers look OK. But their Captain is face down and not moving. They turn him over to reveal a vicious looking abdominal wound.
Plot Recap: Ziva brings McGee coffee and they look at photos on his computer and engage in their hobby of messing with Tony. McGee is getting kisses from someone in the photo and Tony wants to see. McGee puts it on the plasma but it’s just Butch, the dog from Dog Tags, Episode 5.13, that Abby emotionally blackmailed McGee into adopting. Tony is sort of grossed out, but not as grossed out as Nikki Jardine, NCIS’s analyst and resident germ-a-phobe (See Leap of Faith, Episode 5.5). Jardine says she needs to go wash, and Gibbs arrives to break up the party anyway.
The phone rings and Gibbs gets called away. But he leaves on his usual positive note, commenting that at least McGee doesn’t have to pay alimony.
Ducky wants to chat with Gibbs about the new body on his table: Captain John Rankin, from the opening. Ducky explains that strings were pulled to get Capt. Rankin to Ducky instead of a garden variety military ME. Because there’s a bit of a mystery to the captain’s death. Essentially, the shrapnel pattern- injuries to a man crouched, with his back to the blast- is such that the primary wound could not have been caused by the mortar. Also telling is, you know, the bullet Ducky pulled out of the man’s abdomen.
In the squad room, the agents are still playing jokes on each other. Someone rigged Tony’s keyboard to make barking noises when he types. Gibbs appears and wants a report (on tasks he apparently assigned off-screen). McGee pulls up an aerial map of Baghdad. He sets up the crime scene, including the location of the victim, and the likely location of the mortar attack. Clearly, this was a well-coordinated kill. As to motive, Capt. Rankin was extraordinarily wealthy- a reservist who was called up. Tony thinks those folks make enemies, throwing their weight around and trying to get respect from enlisted men. But a woman appears in the squad room and says Capt. Rankin wasn’t like that. Per his wife…or his “Trophy wife” since Tony managed to refer to her in that manner as she walked in the room and gets it thrown back in his face.
In the conference room, Mrs. Rankin says she knew her husband’s death was a murder. She suspects a guy named Kelvin Ridgeway. He’s a person with whom Capt. Rankin had a real estate acquisition deal. It was a done deal when Capt. Rankin went to Iraq, but he never signed the contract. Mrs. Rankin said it was a gut feeling and asks Gibbs if he ever gets those. Gibbs says, “once or twice.”
I guess Shepard was serious about taking time off last episode (Internal Affairs, Episode 5.14), because Gibbs and Assistant Director Leon Vance are in MTAC talking to Capt. Rankin’s CO. The CO says Capt. Rankin was liked and popular, and he also stresses that it’s hard to get into the international zone where the murder took place. Vance calls that a shooter with a security clearance. The CO is oddly blasé about the death, I guess because death happens all the time in Iraq. He says he’ll care more if the sniper who got Capt. Rankin picks off anybody else.
They sign off and Vance tells Gibbs SecNav wants the main team handling the case. He asks Gibbs who he should send to Baghdad.
McGee and Abby discuss the Baghdad trip. McGee wants to go, and Abby isn’t sure why. McGee notes that everyone else on the field team has been in Baghdad at one time or other. He works through a weird logical progression as to why he shouldn’t volunteer if he really wants to go. Something about Tony telling him not to volunteer but assuming Tony lied to him but then doing th opposite of what tony expects. It’s too dumb to get into further. At bottom, McGee figures on improving his chances by not asking to go.
At the other end of the spectrum is Jardine. Ziva finds her in the bathroom (washing her hands, natch) with a list of reasons why she should go to Iraq. Jardine is also dressed in an ensemble that makes her look like a maid, but let’s leave that alone. Ziva must really want to go because she starts telling Jardine about all the germs in a war zone and this is just mean. Jardine still wants to go and makes ready to leave the restroom. Ziva blocks the door and gestures at the napkin Jardine was going to use to open the door. Ziva says she hopes Jardine can handle competition better than she handles…handles. I imagine it’s rare that Jardine wins encounters, but she er, handles this one with dignity and Ziva just looks like she’s punching down. It’s made worse by Ziva, alone in the bathroom, making a snitty face.
Gibbs and Ziva interview Kelvin Ridgeway, the victim’s business partner. He’s arrogant and indifferent. He talks non-stop, says that he and Capt. Rankin got on fine and if they didn’t, it was nothing personal. Ridgeway says that he’s sure Gibbs complains about his co-workers too and launches a stress ball he’s holding at Ziva. She catches it effortlessly. Gibbs laughs and says, “I wouldn’t complain about her.” He leaves and Ziva gleefully returns the stress ball, smashed flat. Ridgeway looks concerned, and rightfully so, but they’re done with him for now.
At the squad room, Vance is looking for Gibbs. Then he gets besieged by Ziva and Jardine, both of whom are lobbying aggressively to go to Iraq. Jardine has lots of contacts. So does Ziva. Jardine’s contacts are still alive. Ziva grimaces, but says most of hers are too. Plus, Ziva speaks Arabic. Jardine speaks Arabic and Kurdish. Ziva is willing to get her hands dirty, and with Jardine, this is not just a figure of speech. Gibbs says he told Vance this as going to happen.
Vance is disappointed that McGee was the only agent who didn’t volunteer. Tony remains impassive as McGee tries to explain and it’s hard not to laugh when Vance says that Tony was the first to volunteer. So smirking Tony gets to go, and Vance is not about to send an Israeli to Baghdad. He tells Tony to bring Jardine back in one piece.
It’s the next day, I assume, since Ziva is dressed differently. McGee and Ziva pretend to not care about staying home and discuss the case. Ziva suspects Ridgeway. McGee has checked Capt. Rankin’s phone records and, other than his wife and Ridgeway, he called a guy named George Stenner the day he died.
In Baghdad, Tony and Jardine are dressed in fatigues and armored up. They are shown to barracks. Jardine is horrified at the lack of privacy. She really wants a shower, but crime scenes don’t wait. And the brown sludge coming out of the sink is a disincentive too. Jardine pulls a pack of sanitary wipes out of her bag and she looks like she’s panicking. But she armors up and gets ready to go. Tony asks why she came, and Jardine says it will look good on her resume. After she leaves, Tony says, “That’s not why she’s here,” but we’re left to wonder if he means something beyond assuming she wants to hook up with him.
Major Varnai takes Tony and Jardine to meet the witnesses to Captain Rankin’s shooting, Sgt. Gilroy, and Hayes, a contract worker. He makes the introductions, shrugs and leaves. Tony notes the brusque manner, but Jardine figures it’s a defense mechanism. Tony interviews the men. They didn’t hear a shot. Sgt. Gilroy says Capt. Rankin was a good officer. Nobody had a grudge. Tony is skeptical of Sgt. Gilroy’s clipped manner of making these generic statements. Hayes, for his part, didn’t know Capt. Rankin so well. They played basketball together. He sets up the scene for Tony, where Capt. Rankin was standing when he went down. Tony assesses the basketball goal, which he is superbly qualified to do as a former NCAA D-1 player. Then he maps out likely sniper nests. One is a hotel and one is a family residence.
Tony asks the major about the mortar attack. It was small stuff, not as deadly as some. A local Haji insurgent mounted the attack, but the local tribal militia killed him. Major Varna likens them to the neighborhood watch with AK-47. Tony is not pleased that the one guy who can tell them who killed Capt. Rankin is six feet under. “Four feet around here,” Major Varnai corrects. Jardine makes a call, but we’ll have to learn more about that later.
Back in the US, Gibbs takes to George Stenner, the other guy in Capt. Rankin’s phone log. Gibbs is at least nice enough to use the conference room and asks a very nervous Stenner about the call from Capt. Rankin. Stenner says Capt. Rankin wanted some soil samples done on a piece of property, and Stenner found heavy metals. Capt. Rankin was angry and wanted to tear up the contract, and was particularly angry at his business partner. Capt. Rankin was the only person who saw the report. Gibbs wants it and Stenner says he’ll email it. Then he asks if he can go to the bathroom and Gibbs says no. But then he says he’s just kidding and lets Stenner go.
In Baghdad, Tony enters the residence overlooking the crime scene and to tries and determine the shot line for the sniper. He confirms it and calls down to the street to summon Jardine. There’s even a shell casing on the floor, which is either intentional or painfully sloppy. We’ll find out which. Jardine arrives and Tony tells her to ask the female resident who had access to the room. The man who lived there died and his brother, Ali, is the only other person with a key. Fortunately, our witness knows where Ali lives.
Back home, McGee confirms Stenner’s findings with Gibbs and wonders if Ridgeway knew about the bad soil and kept it from Capt. Rankin. McGee decides to check Rideway’s phone records.
The Marines raid Ali’s residence. Tony tells Jardine to stay close. The woman there is crying and tells Jardine that they are too late. Ali was beaten and taken away in handcuffs by hooded men. The woman doesn’t think it was the police. She does think that they’re going to execute Ali.
Heh. We segue to a cute bit where there are clothes strewn all over the floor leading to a bed and Tony and Jardine shouting “Yes!” over and over again. They are not having sex, however. They are sending Abby an email and I assume the signal in a war zone sucks so bad that they cheer when it gets through. Tony goes for the high-five but Jardine isn’t about to touch him and walks off. Tony asks why she’s on the mission again, and also wonders why she made a phone call in Arabic. Jardine is nervous, but she says she has a brother who is a Marine. He was wounded in Baghdad two years ago. She wanted to see where it happened.
They’re interrupted by the signal going through to NCIS. Abby, Ziva, and McGee are in the lab. Abby asks if “Neat Nut Nikki” is driving Tony crazy and Jardine steps in the picture and waves. Abby backpedals awkwardly. Until Jardine calls her off. We stay on tangents because Abby wants to know why Tony and Jardine appear to be sharing a room and now Ziva is grinding her teeth with jealous rage while Abby tries not to laugh. Tony tries to refocus everybody on the shell casing. Abby ran it through a database and makes her report while Ziva continues to glare daggers at the screen. The military fingerprints everyone living in the International Zone and, as Tony suspected, the prints on the casing belong to Ali, who is 25-years old, works in the International Zone as a maintenance guy and is part of the Al-Shamar tribe. Jardine says it’s one of the more prominent tribes. Ali had a brother killed recently in cross-fire and Capt. Rankin’s squad was involved. So that’s motive.
Major Varnai has arrived in the barracks and is dismissive of Tony’s efforts. Tony wonders why the major doesn’t want to find out who killed one of his men. Major Varnai is not indifferent to the investigation, but he claims to have bigger priorities. Jardine has a contact who is a member of the Al-Shamar tribe, so she reaches out via cell phone. She gets a guy who knows the people who took Ali and where they took him. Tony wants to go now, but Major Varnia points out, not unreasonably, that driving after dark is asking to be the victim of a sniper or an IED. And while Major Varnai is fine if “weekend warriors” like Tony and Jardine get killed, he wants to return to his family. He says he’ll pick them up at first light and leaves.
Back in the states, McGee has pulled up Ridgeway’s phone records. Ridgeway and Capt. Rankin talked a good bit and, if Capt. Rankin was pulling out of a deal Ridgeway wanted, Ridgeway had ample time to arrange a hit. Gibbs wants him brought in.
In Iraq, a convoy goes on the hunt for Ali. Major Varnai describes them as being in a particularly dangerous area. Which is why it’s good and strange when Jardine hops out of the vehicle. Major Varnai orders his men to secure the area. Jardine appears to be in some weird fugue state and is ignoring everyone around her. An Iraqi man approaches, and the Marines hold him back at gunpoint. Jardine calls them off and begins speaking to man in Kurdish. He speaks in English and says it’s good to meet Jardine, so she introduces him to Tony and the major as “Jameel.”
Tony is rightly furious and demands to know what the hell is going on. Jardine says this is where her brother was shot and Jameel’s family helped her brother. But they’re here because Jameel will help them find Ali. Jameel introduces his sister, whom he is teaching English. Jameel goes with the convoy.
At NCIS, in interrogation, Ridgeway is annoyed. McGee reveals the soil test and NCIS’s theory of the case that Capt. Rankin found out about the soil, and backed out of the deal and Ridgeway had him killed in retaliation. Ridgeway calls it speculation and says when they find the shooter in Iraq, he’ll say Ridgeway had nothing to do with the killing. Gibbs says agents in Iraq are en route to the killer and he’s sure Ridgeway won’t mind waiting for their report.
The convoy arrives and encounters an angry man with a gun. Jameel asks the man about Ali and lots of people speak in either Arabic or Kurdish. The man lets the agents proceed. Tony enters a building, rifle drawn, and tells someone we can’t see to wake up.
Back in interrogation, Gibbs’s phone rings. Tony says the team has a problem. Their suspect isn’t going to talk because his tongue has been cut out. And we see a dead guy lying on a bed.
Tony processes the scene, without much help from Jardine, since she’s an analyst. Jardine says the guard hadn’t checked on Ali since last night and while Tony doesn’t believe him, Jameel, and by extension, Jardine does. The guard brought Ali dinner and later heard him yelling but didn’t check on him. Jardine says that cutting out a tongue is not an MO for the Al-Shamar tribe and that whoever did it didn’t know the customs that and figured NCIS wouldn’t either. Tony wonders if the Major is involved and he figures establishing TOD will help.
Ducky coaches Tony through figuring out TOD. Major Varnai is pushing them to leave. Tony suddenly gets inspired by A Few Good Men, and says he’ll call Ducky back after he talks to someone. Jardine says not to hang up- she can cut into the body and get the liver temp necessary for a COD. Tony seems doubtful, but he has bigger fish to fry.
Tony walks out to the convoy and suggests Major Varnai never liked Captain Rankin because the Captain was a reservist and reservists are soft and put the men in danger. “Like you,” Major Varnai responds. Tony notes that the major didn’t want them to come out to where Ali was being held and has stonewalled the investigation. Tony accuses Major Varnai of understanding Arabic, hearing Ali’s location during Jardine’s call, and heading out at night to murder Ali before Tony got to him. Major Varnai says, “Semper fi,” gets in Tony’s face and says he would never hurt another Marine, even a reservist. Backing him up is Jardine who probably should have done this another time. But she says Ali was killed four hours ago, when Major Varnai was with them. Tony weakly says, “Sorry about that, just doing my job.” Major Varnai smirks and walks off.
Jardine is looking a little rough so Tony asks if it’s because of the body. But she’s hyper-sensitive to the odor of turpentine. It’s typically associated with construction and was all over the room where Ali was killed, and she also reacted to it when Tony was interviewing witnesses the day before.
And one of those guys was a construction worker.
Tony calls McGee and asks him to background Allen Hayes. Hayes has a record for petty theft and aggravated assault and is currently working for a construction company in Baghdad. Hayes is also under investigation for paying bribes in the International Zone, including to Ali. Gibbs call it a hit fee, not a bribe. Gibbs wants Tony to grab Hayes, but Hayes is already en route to the U.S. via plane. He lands at Dulles at 1800. Gibbs tells Tony and Jardine to get home.
Gibbs wants to know if Hayes acted alone, and McGee looks back at Ridgeway’s phone records. Ridgeway called Stenner numerous times even though he claimed not to know about the soil testing. Gibbs wants to look at Capt. Rankin’s personal effects.
In Iraq, Major Varnai comes to collect the agents. Tony asks and Major Varnai when he’s headed home. He has five months. Jardine asks for a favor. Which involves a convoy and a dangerous area of Baghdad. And suddenly I’m having some trepidation for the major, even though he has been a major asshole (yeah?). Jardine too, because she’s kind of a red shirt.
Tony is unimpressed too. But Jardine tells her story. When her brother was shot, he should have died but a local man ran out and started giving him CPR. More Marines arrived, mistook the Samaritan as an insurgent, and killed him. It was Jameel’s father, and while Jardine can never repay the debt, she can make it easier for Jameel to communicate with the outside world. Tony gets it. Major Varnai is too jaded and I don’t know why he agreed to this, to be honest. They arrive at the location from the previous day, and Jardine and Jameel chat in his language. She hands him a laptop. He shows it off to his sister. The sister hugs Jardine and that may be the first hug our germ-a-phobe has allowed in a long time.
Back in the squad room, the team gets the files from Capt. Rankin’s personal effects. Not only is the signed contract with Ridgeway missing, but the soil report is different. Capt. Rankin did his own due diligence, including some title searches, and determined there was an old ceramic factory on the site in the 1920s. Which means metal contamination, usually.
Gibbs takes McGee to the airport and they find George Stenner meeting Hayes. They arrest both men and we get another instance of two guys blaming each other vie confession. Ridgeway paid Stenner to rig the metals report so that Capt. Rankin wouldn’t get out of the deal. But Capt. Rankin got wise anyway. Stenner figured he’d be ruined if Capt. Rankin had him investigated so he called an old buddy, Hayes, and Hayes contracted to have Ali kill Capt. Rankin. Then Hayes killed Ali. The final step was to get a signed contract in Ridgeway’s hands. But, alas, now, that contract is evidence (and unenforceable against the Rankin estate for fraud).
Kind of a lackluster scheme.
We end the episode on Jardine. She visits her brother at a rehab hospital. He’s still comatose. She tells him about meeting Jameel and plays a CD for him. She holds his hand as we conclude.
Quotables:
Tony: Major, a man in your unit was murdered! Is there a reason you don’t want to know who did it?
Major Varnai: Sure I do. I’d also like the war to end, the electricity to work, and for all the tribes to get along.
Ziva-propisms: She says, “throw us out” versus “throw us off.”
Tony Awards: Tony references A Few Good Men (1992), and it inspires him to make a fool of himself.
Abby Road: Abby doesn’t have much to do this episode.
McNicknames: McRomeo.
Ducky Tales: Ducky was almost killed by a mortar once, during a military demonstration.
The Rest of the Story:
-Abby re-named McGee’s now-dog Jethro. I thought that was stupid, so I used Butch, its real name, throughout the post on Dog Tags, Episode 5.13. But Jethro apparently stuck, so I’ll course correct as we move forward. If Jethro/Butch ever appears again.
-If Gibbs is truly paying, or had to pay, alimony on a government agent’s salary, then he represented himself in the divorce. Never represent yourself in a divorce.
-Tony stayed in a Sadaam Hussein palace after the fall of Iraq. Ziva before. One wonders what the latter assignment involved.
-It’s amusing that Shepard takes leave and does not leave Gibbs in charge again. See Trojan Horse, Episode 4.23.
-Nikki Jardine is all done after this episode.
Casting Call: Josh Stamberg played Major Varnai. He had recurring roles on Parenthood and Nashville. Ridgeway is Rick Hoffman, who is probably best known for his role on Suits.
Man, This Show Is Old: Having troops in Iraq is a background for a lot of stories on this show, but actually delving into the conditions on the ground very much makes this a post-surge 2008 kind of episode.
MVP: Jardine for the win. She will never be seen again, but she gets a trophy as she heads out the door. If she’d stayed, they would have red-shirted her anyway, and that has a very different meaning in TV action dramas than it does in college athletics.
Rating: It’s fine. The scheme is dull but seeing the agents out of their comfort zone is always fun and we got a good look at conditions on the ground in Baghdad. As well as another look at the toll on our warriors five years into this damn war. It was an educational episode in that regard if very much a creature of its time.
Six Palmers.
Next Time: One of the worst episodes the entire run up to this point as Ziva has some kind of breakdown and makes all manner of bad decisions.
A Year of NCIS 