Controversial and popular Beltway blogger Matt Burns falls to his death shortly before he planned to prove an NCIS cover-up in the death of Lt. Rod Arnett. Gibbs and his team re-examine the lieutenant’s death while looking into Burns’s death. They also have to dodge DC metro police, who are investigating the possibility of an NCIS cover-up.
NCIS had determined Arnett’s death was a simple car accident, but Burns’s allegations that Arnett engaged in insider trading forced them to re-examine their findings (giving Ducky more screen time, I was glad to see). Arnett did have the inside track on a company that was awarded a lucrative defense contract, but the only person who struck it rich when the company’s stock shot up was sandwich shop owner Will Sutton—who apparently had no connection to Arnett. The team had to distinguish what Arnett might have done from what Burns might have done with an eye toward promoting his blog.
With the involvement of blogs, I was afraid this episode would be gimmicky. Given how fleshed out NCIS‘s regulars are by now, the writers could have easily relied on their chemistry and given the plot short shrift. Instead, this was the latest take on a classic mystery plot, recognized, of course, by movie buff DiNozzo.
At the same time, the plot was well integrated into the characters’ day-to-day lives. McGee came up with the solution while re-taking his annual polygraph test. Still not cleared for fieldwork, Ziva decided to resign from Mossad and present Gibbs with her application to become an NCIS Special Agent—which leads into next week’s episode.
I suspected Will Sutton early only because Wille Sutton was a notorious U.S. bank robber. That bit of knowledge didn’t tell me how Sutton and Arnett were connected. I hit on the connection along with McGee.
Lastly, I want to mention three guest actors whose performances stood out to me. The imposing Jack Conley as DC Metro Det. Sportelli is one of few actors to match Mark Harmon’s presence as Gibbs. McGee fretted about having to retake his polygraph test for most of the episode, but as soon as I saw Jackie Geary as polygraph tech Susan Grady, I knew she was attracted to McGee and had made an excuse to spend more time with him. Finally, veteran Hawaiian actor Clyde Kusatsu as SEC rep Benjamin Franklin added humor to what might have otherwise been a dry interview scene.
