NCIS – Recap & Review – Royals & Loyals

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NCIS
Royals & Loyals

Original Air Date: Oct 12, 2010

Sara M. – Sr. Reviewer
sara@thetwocentscorp.com

NCIS has dealt with their fair share of strange cases, but this week’s case is the definition of perplexing. When the body of a petty officer is found in the hot tub of a foreclosed house, the team is called in. The man has not only been drowned, but also shot and had his abdomen and stomach slit open. Why shoot a man who is already dead? Will they even be allowed to finish investigating the case? And why is Tony so interested in Ziva’s email?

Tony is nosey. I think everyone is aware of that at this point in time. Now he’s much bolder, trying to hack into Ziva’s email account to find out about her Miami man. However, he is unaware of the security system McGee set up, including a computer camera to record Tony sitting at the computer, trying to get in. The squabbling is interrupted by Gibbs, a dead petty officer in Norfolk is much more important. The man is identified as 1st Class Petty Officer Edward Bick. Aside from his name, there is no other information that can be supplied at the scene. Ducky can’t assess the time of death or the cause until he gets him on the table. Poor McGee has to climb into the horribly disgusting hot tub to pull the body out. Once on the ground Ducky can assume that the slit in the man’s abdomen was a contributing factor in his death.

Ziva and Tony speak to Bick’s widow, Tara. She’s upset, but not surprised that her husband is dead. Another man arrives, Jason, who served with Bick and was close with both him and Tara. Bick was working on a special assignment; he wasn’t where the log in sheet claims. Over the past weeks he was more and more concerned that there was somebody following him. Ducky is performing the autopsy when Gibbs arrives. He has been able to deduce that Bick was violently drowned before being shot. Palmer is working through the lung, looking for a suspected allergen that caused irritation in the organ. There’s also an impression in the side of Bick’s temple and something impacted between his molars, a scrap of a 100-dollar bill.

Gibbs moves on to Abby’s lab only to find her stuck under her desk. Once pried free, she is able to shed some light on the case. Bick was drowned in both salt and fresh water, which one might find in the hull of a ship. The gun used to kill him was an English Webley Revolver. While the rest of the team is unable to find anything, Abby manages to match the imprint on Bick’s temple to a steam control valve found on British ships. And the only British ship in Norfolk at the moment is the Sparrow Hawk. This is good news, but at the same time a set back, the ship is technically British soil, restricting NCIS’s jurisdiction. When has that ever stopped Gibbs?

They are able to confirm that Bick was working on a classified project with the CIA. This serves to create another roadblock in the investigation. When Gibbs seeks to gain access to the Sparrow Hawk, Major Peter Malloy is sent in. He doesn’t care that a murder was committed there, the ship is supposed to sail and it’s a critical mission. Gibbs is not happy to hear this and throws down a bit, when Malloy tells him to remember that they’re allies. Gibbs tells him to “act like one.” Peter Malloy is a charming man and turns it on when he meets with Ziva. McGee and Tony remain a bit weary of him. NCIS is given permission to board the Sparrow Hawk.

Abby has had another breakthrough. She has discovered an ultraviolet powder on the scrap of money found in Bick’s mouth. The substance leaves traces on the hands of anyone who comes into contact with it and also emits a radio frequency so that it can be tracked. However, as they only have a small piece of the bill they can’t track the cash. But it is now clear; this is why Bick’s stomach was sliced open. Gibbs goes to see Loretta Tennison, the CIA agent on Norfolk. She tries to avoid his questions and play stupid, but eventually admits that the coated money is used to pay war leaders in Afghanistan. According to her, the mission was scrubbed and the money never made it onto the ship, so Bick couldn’t have been killed for the cash.

Malloy meanwhile is trying to get permission for the ship to set sail. It’s granted, but Ziva talks him into a “quickie” investigation. Just as she and Tony find the room where Bick was murdered, Malloy arrives to tell them that they are about to set sail. Within moments an alarm goes off, something wrong with the turbines. Gibbs appears with an innocent expression and a wrench hidden behind his back. Back in the room, Tony uses the black light to discover that the money was indeed in that room and that there is enough water present to drown someone.

Again Gibbs goes to meet with Loretta. She tells him that only three people knew that the money was on the ship; herself, Bick, and Malloy. A helicopter is sent to pick Malloy up from the ship and brought back for interrogation. The general evidence is rather damning. Malloy owns a Webley, his flat in England is in foreclosure, and they can trace his cell to 4 blocks away from the crime scene on the night of the murder. Abby gets Malloy’s fingerprint and discovers that he’s actually Elston Harkin, a member of MI6. Before Gibbs can question him further, he’s already gone. McGee tracks past calls and locates a hotel room at the Drake. Everything is gone from the room, but there are traces of the powder on the bed.

The CIA is less than cooperative and Vance is trying to avoid an international incident. Gibbs returns home only to find Malloy there waiting for him. He claims that someone is trying to frame him. He gives Gibbs $10,000 of the coated money so that they can track the frequency. Abby is again successful, tracking down the allergen found in Bick’s lung. It’s a rare bit of pollen from the Diego Garcia Air Force Base in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where Bick has never been. The only person they can trace to the site is Loretta Tennison. She is headed for a ship to meet with a new contact so that she can exchange the coated money for clean money. When she arrives, Malloy is waiting to greet her. After she confesses to killing Bick and that she’s willing to do the same to him, Gibbs appears behind her waiting with cuffs.

A great episode, they caught me a little off guard, I was fairly sure that Malloy was guilty. I don’t pay much attention to the Tiva-ship, but the scene at the end with Ziva and Tony was cute. Thoughts on the episode? Getting antsy for a bigger plot line to develop? Is McGee getting too skinny? What is the deal with Ziva’s mystery fellah? Share your Two Cents below.

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