Two boys find a Marine’s body dressed as a scarecrow in a cornfield. The Marine worked for a government think tank, where he’d recently been asked to keep an eye on Angela Kelp, one of several gifted children in a program intended to benefit the U.S. military.
As a fan of NBC’s The Pretender, I found this episode’s main plot appealing. Angela proved to be very guarded. Couple this with her intellect, and she was able to stymie Gibbs and Ducky’s attempts to get at why her Marine bodyguard was killed. Eventually, Abby found messages hidden in the artwork in Angela’s room. One message pointed to stolen military secrets, and the other pointed to a murder Angela witnessed. There were several good suspects at the think tank who may have taken advantage of Angela to sell the secrets: Krista Dalton, the head of the think tank; Krista’s sister Deborah, who worked for a defense firm; Angela’s mother, who may have wanted money, just to name a few.
I liked that for all the team’s work on the case, Angela broke away from them, but still smartly led them to the killer, making sure he wouldn’t get away. The killer’s path itself was mundane: killing Deborah after she broke up with him, being seen by Angela and having to kill Angela’s bodyguard after she told him what she saw. Hidden well by a scared Angela, it still made for good suspense.
This episode could have easily leaped to dialogue comparing Angela to Gibbs’s murdered daughter Kelly. I’m glad the leap wasn’t made. It was enough to see Gibbs take extra care questioning Angela. Given how personal recent episodes have been, to come out and mention Kelly might have turned a moving episode maudlin.
The B plot involved Ducky inviting everyone for Thanksgiving dinner on short notice. Everyone said they had other plans, all of which fell through thanks to the case, but they still enjoyed gathering. Even Gibbs showed up, for the first time in nine years. I would have liked some hint as to what Gibbs had done for Thanksgiving in those years, but it wasn’t crucial to know.
Summing up, this was a well-executed episode with just enough emotional weight, as fans have come to expect from NCIS.
It was mentioned that Ari’s father was Benjamin Weinstein, yet over and over references are made that Ari & Ziva’s father is Eli David. I’m confused, please clarify.
Didn’t you find it odd that a group working on government projects were able to sell the information the kids supplied as video games? C’mon they’re working for the government, nothing should have left the building in any form. Other than that small glitch, I loved the show.