A Year of NCIS, Day 195: Engaged, Part Two (Episode 9.9)

Episode: Engaged, Part Two, Episode 9.9.

Air Date: November 15, 2011.

The Victim: Let’s save that for the end.

Emotionally Traumatized, But Ultimately Irrelevant, Witness Who Finds the Body: This is a Part Two, so we start with a recap of last episode.  Specifically, a military cargo plane carrying Marines who were KIA in Afghanistan crashed.  NCIS processed the scene, ran piles of DNA, and determined that one of the supposedly dead Marines, Lt. Gabriela Flores, could not be accounted for.  The subsequent investigation determined that Lt. Flores was tasked with interfacing with girls’ schools in Afghanistan on account of Afghani women being culturally hesitant about speaking directly to strange males.  The school Lt. Flores was helping to rebuild was attacked by insurgents for daring to educate girls.  Lt. Flores was unaccounted for after the attack; but satellite footage obtained by NCIS showed Lt. Flores escaping with two girls, but then getting intercepted by insurgents.  The episode ended with Gibbs headed to Afghanistan because Marines don’t leave other Marines behind.    

Now we join Mr. Flores, Lt. Flores’s father, in a chapel.  He in turn is joined by Chaplain Burke, the Navy chaplain from last episode.  She sits next to Mr. Flores and tells him to speak to God.  Mr. Flores isn’t feeling God’s love.  Chaplain Burke thinks Lt. Flores’s actions to try and educate women in a country full of misogynists, and in trying to save two young girls from an Afghani insurgent rocket attack on a school, speaks greatly of God’s influence in her life.  Lt. Flores could have gone back to base when things got scary, but she showed courage and helped others.

Mr. Flores asks if Gibbs can possibly save his daughter.  Chaplain Burke gives as much comfort as she can and is sure Gibbs and team will find Lt. Flores.  But will she be alive, her father wonders. 

At that moment, Tony enters the back of the church.  Mr. Flores has hope and fear on his face.  Chaplain Burke formally asks “Agent DiNozzo” the purpose of his visit.

Then we cut to a scene of a flag-draped coffin on a military transport plane.  Gibbs sits nearby, strapped in, keeping vigil.

Powerful.

Plot Recap: We’re in Helmand Province Afghanistan, and it’s now 48 hours earlier.  Captain Quincy, Lt. Flores’s CO, greets Gibbs’s and Ziva’s arrival.  Capt. Quincy has done some homework, and now locals have changed their story and they admit Lt. Flores and the girls she was rescuing were captured by insurgents.  Said locals have not volunteered to commit suicide by giving up names, however.  Ziva wonders why the insurgents would keep Lt. Flores alive.  They speculate that the lieutenant is a good source of information for where additional girls’ schools are being built. 

The good news is the girls Lt. Flores saved have been found.  They’re in bad shape, and were clearly tortured.  But they are alive and they’re being transported to the base for treatment.  Captain Quincy warns Ziva that she might not like what she sees.  But Ziva says she grew up in the region and she’s rock hard.  Captain Quincy is clearly impressed.

Gibbs meet with Staff Sergeant Littleton, who was present with Lt. Flores at the school.  She is also a female liaison between the Marines and the locals, like Lt. Flores.  Sergeant Littleton is strangely reticent about talking to Gibbs and says she already gave a report.  Their evacuation during the attack was expectedly disorganized and she thought everyone was together in the transport.  She wishes she’d checked better, or at least stayed with Lt. Flores.  But Gibbs allows Sgt. Littleton might be dead if she’d stayed.  He shows Sgt. Littleton the picture of Lt. Flores with a woman in a Burka.  Gibbs got the picture from Mr. Flores last episode.  Sgt. Littleton identifies the woman as Soraya.  She calls her “fortunate” and says she wasn’t at the school that day.  She was visiting family.  Sgt. Littleton says she hasn’t seen her since.  Per the investigation last episode, Gibbs suggests that Soraya was a double agent.

Back in the States, Ducky and Chaplain Burke are debating the finer points of teaching literacy amidst religious prohibitions.  Well, Ducky is.  Chaplain Burke isn’t getting to talk much.  They stroll through the squad room, and Tony likens them to a couple of co-eds.  You can tell Chaplain Burke finds his insinuations annoying, although if Ducky is working game, he’s to be commended for getting back on the horse so quickly after his experience with Dr. Mary Courtney.  Thirst, Episode 9.6. 

McGee hangs up his phone.  He reports that Jaysh El Mo’mineen, the terror organization suspected of attacking the Afghani girls school, have links to terror cells in several other countries.  McGee thinks they should try and encourage the other cells to flip on Jaysh El Mo’mineen, figuring there isn’t a lot of trust between these organizations and the US intelligence services can exploit that.  Chaplain Burke checks in with Tony and the conversation turns towards his current existential crisis from last episode and the things he’s afraid of.  We don’t get much out of it for now.

Instead, we head to MTAC where Gibbs and Vance are conversing over the monitor.  SecNav Jarvis, Tony, and McGee are there too.  Things seem to be thawing between Gibbs and SecNav.  Gibbs notes, it being nighttime, that if SecNav keeps working late, people will think he cares.  SecNav smiles and compliments Gibbs’s desert scarf.  Gibbs laughs a genuine laugh and asks for an update.  Tony gives the background on Soraya, who grew up in Afghanistan.  Her parents were killed by the Russians.  She has two brothers, one dead of an IED two years back and the other, coincidence of coincidences, is in the US attending law school in DC on a student visa.  Gibbs says to interview him. 

Off to college.  Tony is ogling co-eds.  McGee just wants coffee.  It’s like they never left.  They head to the library to intercept Asa, Soraya’s brother.  But they don’t need to get all the way there.  He’s walking down the sidewalk reading a law book (dork).  Or is he is until Tony announces.  Then Asa runs, toppling a girl, and tripping himself up by smashing uncontrollably into a dolly filled with boxes.  He still has a good lead until Tony cuts him off, leaps off a bench and takes Asa down with what looks like a wrestling move.  Now Asa wants to claim he did nothing wrong.  Tony says Asa owes him another coffee.  He also sees on Asa’s finger a tattoo similar to the one Gibbs saw last episode in the picture of Soraya.

In interrogation, Asa is cocky.  Tony attacks him over the hypocrisy of a young man getting an American education while his clown friends deny it to women at home.  He calls Asa a close-minded radical parasite who likes to prey on innocent children, and I am here for it.  Asa calls him ignorant and amusing.  Tony is amused at the idea of Asa in an orange jumpsuit crying for his mommy.  Asa is confident he won’t spend a moment in prison.  Tony asks for names.  Asa is not trying to hide his connections.  He says they are few, but strong and they will not be defeated.  Tony smirks.

Tony is updating Gibbs via a shitty MTAC connection.  Gibbs knows they have Asa and Asa isn’t talking yet, but that’s all he gets.  He looks over to see a female Marine loading a truck and sighs.  Then he flashes back to being young Gibbs, newly minted Marine cadet.  Young Gibbs, continuing last episode’s flashback, walks over to where Private Joan Matteson is working on a jeep engine.  Pvt. Matteson is very independent and doesn’t need Gibbs’s help.  And, sure enough, after a try, the engine starts.  Gibbs asks if she’s being assigned to Camp Pendleton.  She says she’s headed to Okinawa.  Pvt. Matteson tells Gibbs he should look her up if he’s ever in Japan.  And even if he doesn’t, she’ll be around, and he should give her call.  Gibbs says he’d like that. 

Ziva beaks up Gibbs’s reverie.  She reports that the girls Lt. Flores saved have arrived.  They exit a jeep.  One has eyes covered with a blindfold and has to be led around.  They are 10 and 13, Captain Quincy reports later.  They are both orphans.  Hot grease was thrown in the older one’s face and the younger one is covered in cigarette burns.  Their names are Kinah and Lala.  Lala has a teddy bear.  Ziva speaks Pashtu and gets to work asking questions.  Both girls smile when they hear “Gabby” for Lt. Flores.  They say she’s still “there” and asks Ziva, “You go bring?”  Kinah says “They’re not done yet,” meaning Lt. Flores is still alive, but likely still being tortured.  Gibbs tells Captain Quincy to notify the Marine Commandant, who, per last episode, has taken a personal interest in the case, that the operation is a go.

Gibbs tells both girls that they are safe.  Kinah says the men hurt Lt. Flores, but she didn’t cry.  They say that the place where they went smelled like cars and the ground was black.  The girls have oil or tarmac residue on their feet.  Gibbs tells Ziva to get a sample, presumably for Abby to process, and then tells Ziva to get the girls whatever they want. He kisses them on the head.  And he tells them to never stop smiling.

What?  I’m not crying.

At the lab, McGee asks after the sample analysis.  Abby had to work off what the Marines did locally, but she determined that the oil is from a very specific area.  And since there was no oil where the girls were found, it’s likely that Lt. Flores and her captors are in the area. 

Tony is looking for Chaplain Burke in the chapel from the opening.  Not finding her, he begins speaking out loud to God.  He talks about having gotten his head scrambled a few months back (Nature of the Beast, Episode 9.1) but figures God is a busy guy and Tony hasn’t exactly been reaching out.  He picks up a Bible, and says he’s doing the best he can do…for a DiNozzo.  He asks God about their bargain.  Then he asks after a plan, or for a sign that he’s on the right track, or that he’s not talking to himself.  Then he quotes movies.  Finally, Chaplain Burke arrives before Tony becomes either discouraged or blasphemous at not getting a response from The Lord.  Tony says for her to tell Mr. Flores the latest.  Then he exits in a hurry, and whether he retreats from frustration with God or embarrassment at being caught praying (in a sense) is left to individual interpretation.

In MTAC, Vance and SecNav are watching the start of the operation on the monitor.  SecNav wishes everyone luck.  The Marine Commandant, General Ellison thinks luck is for the unprepared, but SecNav would rather have it than not.

The operation commences.  Gibbs, Ziva, Captain Quincy and a platoon approach.  It’s daylight.  Captain Quincy reports that air support is on standby.  Thermals show five hostiles and a sixth person, maybe Lt. Flores, on the ground.  The scene shifts from Afghanistan to the MTAC monitor and back.  The rescue force takes fire and Captain Quincy goes down.  Gibbs moves to tend to him while the rest of the Marines advance.  Ziva lays down machine gun cover.  Gibbs says, “You hang in there Marine,” as he applies pressure to the wound and Captain Quincy struggles to breathe.  The medic relieves Gibbs and now he and Ziva advance as well.  The Marines move from cover to cover, taking out one terrorist, then another.  Ziva gets a perp, but he doesn’t die.  She subdues him.  Gibbs switches his rifle for a sidearm and kicks in a door.  Lt. Flores is there, alive, but being held at gunpoint by Soraya. 

In MTAC, Vance confirms, “That’s her.”  General Ellison, on a separate monitor, looks on grimly from his own office.

Gibbs asks, and Lt. Flores, cool as the gun barrel to her head, says, “Fine, sir.”  Ziva enters and draws a bead on Soraya as well.  Gibbs dares Soraya to give him a reason.  Gibbs lays out some options for Soraya.  Ziva smiles like a woman who wants another MVP.  Soraya stares back through the eye holes in her burka.  It’s tense in MTAC, and on the scene.  Nothing happens for a few seconds…and then Soraya releases her captive and gently lowers her gun.  Then she removes her burka. 

Gibbs cuffs Soraya and the Marines lead her away.  On the ground, Captain Quincy is shaking, and he asks how he’s doing.  Ziva tells him he’s doing great and to hang on.  The medic needs more blood and lidocaine.  The medevac is on the way and the medic tells Ziva to step back.  But Captain Quincy asks Ziva not to go.  So Ziva stays.  And yells when the medic tries to press the issue.  Lt. Flores looks on, disturbed.  And even Soraya seems affected.  Ziva encourages the captain.  But he knows what’s coming.  He says to tell his parents he’s sorry.  They live in Maryland and own the small motel by the bay.  He tells Ziva to tell them that he loves them, and she promises she will tell them everything.  Then he dies.  Ziva sags.  We hear the helicopter, too late. 

“We’ll get you home,” she says. 

What?  I said I’m not crying.

Gibbs looks at Soraya.  She stares back, impassive now.

Then we flash forward to the chapel where we begin.  Chaplain Burke asks again about Tony’s news.  “We got her, sir.”  “God bless you” he breathes in complete relief.  He hugs the chaplain and begins crying.

But no crying here.  No, sir.

Ahem.

Back in Afghanistan, Gibbs joins Lt. Flores and gives her more water.  He tells her how happy her dad is.  She’s anxious to see him.  But she feels a bit of survivor’s guilt over Captain Quincy.  Gibbs says that the captain died doing his job.  He was her CO, and she was his responsibility.  Gibbs asks why she did it- disobeyed orders to protect the girls.  Lt. Flores says that she had no choice.  Kinah and Lala would have died without her.  Gibbs doesn’t press.  He switches to Soraya.  He asks what Lt. Flores thinks should happen to her.  Lt. Flores demurs at first, but then says that Soraya should be held accountable.  But Lt. Flores doesn’t want vengeance.  She wants Soraya to have to see Kinah and Lala change the world in positive ways that she never imagined.  Gibbs doesn’t think that’s a punishment.  Lt. Flores calls it a gift.  The punishment is Soraya knowing she could have done the same.  Gibbs calls Lt. Flores “rare,” and tells her, “Let’s go home.”

Tony and Chaplain Burke are in the elevator.  She says she is intrigued by Tony.  When something is broken, she wants to fix it.  Which was probably the last Tony-related thought of at least 75% of the DiNozzo Discarded Girl pile, but Chaplain Burke probably means it more professionally.  Regardless, Tony powers up his defense mechanisms and asks if he intrigues her in a naughty Catholic schoolgirl kind of way.  She rolls her eyes.  But steps around it.  She says she doesn’t believe he’s spiritually rock solid.  And she says that when he is ready to face his fears, she’ll be there.

On the transport plane, Gibbs, Ziva and Lt. Flores sit around Captain Quincy’s coffin.  Lt. Flores still feels bad and thinks that it should be her in the box.  Ziva comforts her as having saved the girls.  Then she looks at Gibbs, who is now someplace else entirely.

The past, in fact.  A bunch of Marines are looking at a bulletin board.  Young Gibbs runs up to learn that a helo went down and six Marines died.  In Okinawa, Japan.  One of them was Pvt. Matteson. 

Gibbs returns to the present courtesy of some turbulence and grimaces.  He and Ziva, neither one a stranger to death or sorrow, nod at each other.

The plane lands, and we see the Marines march Capt. Quincy’s body down the plank.  General Ellison is there and salutes.  We see Capt. Quincy’s parents holding each other.  And we see Lt. Flores, her father behind her, also saluting.  The Marines load the captain into a waiting vehicle.  Salutes lower.  And Mr. Flores takes his daughter’s now free hand.

Back at HQ, in the interrogation room, Gibbs has broken Rule #1 and let suspects be together.  Soraya and her douchey brother are praying.  Gibbs says, “Welcome to my classroom.”  Soraya has nothing to say.  He asks if they last saw each other at a terrorist convention in Toledo.  She ignores the mockery and says she was teaching the younger generation not to be influenced by American histrionic lies.  Gibbs calls education a privilege.  The terrorist twins call American college students rich spoiled brats.  Can’t both be true? 

Regardless, Gibbs has the high ground because he has pictures of maimed children, and he calls both of his prisoners radicals.  Soraya says they don’t do it for themselves.  She claims that westerners come to their villages with their disgusting ideals and teach their children to question their heritage, to rely on the internet instead of the Qu’ran.  She tells Gibbs he’ll see.  After all, Gibbs is here, Lt. Flores is here, the terrorist twins are here, and, as Asa, perhaps improvidently, points out, “Our older brother is here too.”  Soraya tries to shush him, but Gibbs is all ears.  He thought the older brother was dead.  Asa simply says that the fight has just begun. 

Ziva returns to work.  Not exactly upbeat.  She pins a photo of Captain Quincy to her bulletin board.  Gibbs asks about the older brother, whose name is Osman.  McGee says he fought with the Mujahedeen against the Russians and was a war hero until he joined the Taliban.  And brought his brother and sister with him.  Osman was allegedly killed in an apartment complex raid in Afghanistan two years prior.  The raid set off a gas line explosion.  Gibbs believes the siblings when they say Osman isn’t dead.  He tells his team to run him down.  Tony puts out a BOLO, McGee alerts LEOs and will pull Asa’s phone records.  Ziva will check with DHS.  Gibbs will check…his desk.  Where he appears to have lost a knife.  Tony figures he must have one in his pocket (Rule #9: Always carry a knife), but Gibbs says this one is different.  Gibbs leaves.

Gibbs rejoins Asa.  He also shuts off the recording devices and deactivates the two-way mirror.  He says he doesn’t need a record of this conversation.  He shows Asa pictures of the cigarette-burned Lala.  And he brought some sharp surgical objects wrapped up in a cloth.  Also, some cigarettes.  He offers Asa a smoke.  Asa says it’s against Allah’s wishes.  Gibbs says it’s against fire regs too, but if he wants one, he can go nuts.  Asa accepts. 

Gibbs returns to the pictures of Lala.  Asa looks away.  So, Gibbs swipes the cigarette and headlocks Asa’s face over the photos and says, “Look at it, you son of a bitch.”  Then he presses the cigarette towards Asa’s eye as Asa struggles back.  Vance enters the room and yells for Gibbs to stop before he breaks over a dozen international laws.  If you’ve been watching this show for a while, this scene is exciting, but in a fun way, not a tense way.  Although this is more intense than usual, Vance and Gibbs run game like this all the time.  Gibbs says Asa deserves it.  Vance says it’s not worth it because the FBI killed Osman in a raid twenty minutes prior.  Gibbs relents.  Vance says they tried to inform Soraya but it was too late.  She committed suicide by hanging herself in her cell.  Asa, suckers being born every seven minutes even in Afghanistan, is so sad that his family is gone that he angrily stumbles into confession mode.  He describes a bomb that he created.  But before Gibbs can get the whereabouts, Asa’s brain catches up with his mouth and he realizes Gibbs and Vance are full of shit.

Still, it’s something.  Gibbs returns to the squad room and asks about jobs Osman had.  He was a mechanic.  Gibbs goes for buses and wants every school trip scheduled for that day.  In DC?!  Tony understandably thinks it’s insane, but Gibbs isn’t feeling reasonable.  But, sometimes it’s just a matter of picking the juiciest fruit on the tree.  And a girls’ school convention is in town and meeting at the science museum.  Everybody gears up. 

At the museum, Osman is under a bus, rigging his bomb.  Some Catholic girls board.  Osman rolls out from underneath and walks off.  He pulls out a flip phone and begins fingering keys.  Until he gets a gun in his face.  Gibbs approaches with Ziva behind him and asks for the phone.  Tony and McGee appear with their guns.  Osman tells them to put the guns down or he hits the last number.  Gibbs tells Ziva to get the kids off the bus nice and easy.  Gibbs and Osman measure.  Gibbs promises to kill Osman if he sets off the bomb.  Osman is fine with martyrdom.  Gibbs says, “McGee?” and McGee confirms, “Got it, boss.”  Osman smiles, holds up the phone like an amateur (since the theatrical movement would have earned him multiple head shots if he were still a threat), and screams with joy while pressing the button.  And exactly nothing happens.  He presses it again.  McGee holds up his signal jammer.  Gibbs takes the phone.  Osman says they could have killed him.  “Coulda.  Shoulda.  Didn’t” Gibbs responds.  Osman calls him weak.  So, Gibbs one-punches him unconscious.  And says, “No.  Just better.”

Hell yeah.

In his office, Vance is getting off the phone with the Commandant.  Gibbs says the Commandant stills owes him dinner from sixteen years prior.  Vance says he called to thank Gibbs personally.  Gibbs laughs and says it looks like he called to thank Vance personally.  Vance calls it protocol and Gibbs, clearly in a good mood, laughs again.  Then he asks what Vance wants.  Vance tells Gibbs to take some time off and do something fun.  Gibbs’s idea of fun is his job.  He takes a pass.  He says he’s having dinner with Lt. Flores and that will have to do.  Vance lets him leave.  For now.

Tony and Chaplain Burke are somewhere.  Tony is nervous.  Shaking nervous.  But then he gathers himself.  And gives himself a great pep talk (See below).  It’s time to face his fears.  He looks through a window in a door and tells Chaplain Burke to bring it on.  They enter and it’s a day care filled with children from infants to 4-5.  A girl instantly runs over and hugs Tony.  The objects of Tony’s fear are about to have snacks.  Chaplain Burke asks if Tony wants to join them.

Gibbs returns to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where he met Mr. Flores last episode.  Then he heads to Arlington National Cemetery.  Where he puts flowers on PFC Mattesson’s grave.   

Quotables:

(1) Medical Corpsman: Ma’am, I can take it from here.

Captain Quincy: Don’t go, David.

Ziva: I’m not leaving you.

Medical Corpsman: Ma’am, I said I need you…

Ziva: I SAID I’M NOT LEAVING!

                                    -Ziva stays with Captain Quincy.

(2) Tony: Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo doesn’t get scared. I’ve jumped out of airplanes. Dead dropped onto aircraft carriers, and I’ve killed people, sweetheart – lots of them. I’ve gotten the plague. Kissed a transvestite. Been tortured by the best the Middle East has to offer.

Chaplain Burke: And still you’re shaking.

Tony: Okay, it’s time to face my fears. How bad can it be? Bring it on, Chaplain.

                                    -Tony, at a day care center.

Ziva-propisms: Ziva says, “There lies the scratch,” instead of “There lies the rub.”

Tony Awards: Tony does a bit from Cool Hand Luke (1967).  He makes reference to Superman and Lex Luthor, and also paraphrases a line from Apocalypse Now (1979).

Abby Road:  Abby feels guilty about what a spoiled American she is. Guilt is useless in this context, but it’s always a good idea to appreciate one’s blessings.

McNicknames: None.

Ducky Tales: Crusades, Knights Templar, killing in the name of God.

The Rest of the Story:

-Ducky’s reference to Tony’s “bucket list” relates to last episode.  The plane crash and all the dead servicemembers caused Tony to reevaluate his life.  In the most shallow way possible.  Engaged, Part One, Episode 9.8.

-Young Gibbs is flirty with Pvt. Matteson, but, even considering the end of Heartland, Episode 6.4, there’s no reason to think Gibbs and Shannon are anything close to an item at this point on the timeline. 

-Gibbs is extraordinarily good with children.  We get to see it about once per season, and it’s a plot point as old as the show.  Hung Out to Dry, Episode 1.2.

-Allowing Soraya to set foot on US soil creates more problems than it solves.  Should have just taken her to Gitmo.  Her rights are way different now.

-In Tony’s litany of scary things he has done, he did get the plague (SWAK, Episode 2.23); he jumped (fell/was pushed) out of a plane (Hung Out to Dry, Episode 1.2); he dead-dropped onto a carrier (probably a few times, but High Seas, Episode 1.6 will work); he kissed a transgendered person (Dead Man Talking, Episode 1.19); and he was tortured by a terrorist (Truth or Consequences, Episode 7.1).  And he has killed lots of people.  Requiem, Episode 5.7 and Semper Fidelis, Episode 6.24 come to mind, but there are other examples.

-As I said last episode, it’s unexpected that Chaplain Burke never appears again.

Casting Call: Asa was played by Satya Bhabha.  He was CeCe’s betrothed on New Girl.  

Man, This Show Is Old: Ouch.  Tony’s quick line of dialogue referencing his make-out session in Dead Man Talking, Episode 1.19 demonstrated overt transphobia and would never make the final edit today.  If it showed up in the script (or in a Weatherly ad-lib) at all.  Also, “transvestite” is no longer considered an appropriate term (if it ever was).

MVP: Lt. Flores?  Captain Quincy?  Gibbs?  Chaplain Burke?  Ziva?  McGee with his jammer?  Those two little girls?  Man, take your pick.

Rating:  That was exciting.  And heartfelt.  And triumphal.  And it just felt good.  Whether it’s watching a rescue, being inspired by sacrifice, loyalty, and/or basic human kindness, watching our leads sneer at fundamentalism of all stripes, or just seeing the look on an unsuccessful terrorist’s face right before he gets punched unconscious, this episode had it all.

Nine Palmers.  And the only reason it’s not a ten is that both the Private Matteson flashback and Tony’s weird fear of children seemed to not quite fit with the episode’s larger themes.

Next Time: Anthony DiNozzo, Senior returns to lighten the mood a bit.  Well, depending on whether or not he killed somebody.

Alex Barfield is an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. When not practicing law or writing about NCIS, he chases his children around, volunteers at his church, and looks for other television shows to obsess over. He can be reached at albarfie@gmail.com or on Twitter at @AlexBarfield1.