NCIS – Recap & Review – Two-Faced

photo: cbs

NCIS
Tell-All

Original Air Date: Apr 5, 2011

Maria – Sr. Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com

The episode starts with Ziva walking in, talking on the phone to her boyfriend, clearly very happy. She openly admits that she misses him too before hanging up. McGee and DiNozzo have overheard most of that and McGee seems happy for her. DiNozzo looks to have a blush upon his cheeks, especially when Ziva mentions his “special somebody”. The romantic interrogation is cut short by a classic Gibbs entrance, where he sneaks up behind DiNozzo whilst DiNozzo talks ad nauseum about the man. There’s a dead body to investigate.

The body is dressed to appear a different rank from what the Marine actually is. There’s also a carefully placed Metro card in the lapel and the victim’s eyeballs have been physically adjusted, all pointing towards DC.

This is the part where I struggle to maintain coherency, because Enrique Murciano (from Without a Trace fame) enters the story as Ziva’s boyfriend Ray. There’s a classic Zivaism where she calls him creepy, but actually means sneaky. Was she right the first time though? It’s revealed that he’s actually CIA, which earns him a DiNozzo naming of CIRay. Ziva starts to withdraw because she did not know that about him.

During the autopsy, which gives nothing away much except for the fact the killer is meticulous; Vance actually puts in an appearance. There’s some humor brought to the situation, by Palmer apologizing for parking in the Director’s space however, the situation is far more serious than that and the humor dissipates rapidly.

Tony and Gibbs check out the victim’s apartment and find everything as it should be, apart from a mostly empty fridge which only has ice in it and one of the ice cubes contains a flower. That’s when Special Agent E.J. Barrett. She explains that she’s been tracking the killer for the past nine months: three dead men in three different ports. There’s a serial killer loose.

Vance briefs Gibbs on the Port to Port killer and tells him that E.J. is running the lead because she was running the case first. Meanwhile, E.J. and Tony have a discussion about their relationship, working versus personal. They soon decide to put aside their differences in favor of continuing their romantic relationship.

E.J. is very much the outsider to the NCIS family, but she stands up for herself. She has a job to do and does not apologize for it. Even when a suspect is brought in and Gibbs starts intimidating her and not the suspect, she still stands her ground. The NCIS writers are a clever bunch because they understand that some fans may resist change and so they address that in the show. Poor Abby feels itchy because of change so in a touching moment, Gibbs soothes her and assures her that nothing is going to change. I’m fairly sure he’s lying but I still feel reassured.

CIRay is gazing lovingly into Ziva’s eyes as she rants about work. He’s already told Tony that he loves her, before telling Tony that Ziva thinks of him like a brother. Ouch! This is a honeymoon period as later, E.J bumps into CIRay. She knows CIRay as he was their CIA liaison. Another secret CIRay kept. Ziva looks devastated. Despite Ziva ending her personal relationship with Ray, she still trusts him when he tells her the suspect they have in custody is not the killer.

Gibbs goes through the evidence again, looking at the photos of the body found just outside of DC and this time he spots something. According the decorations he should also have pilot wings but they’re missing. This leads the team to cross-reference all the ports with the murders, all the airports and all the staff who were in the cities where the murders occurred over those times. Basically, McGee comes up with one name…

… which leads to another body, wrapped up in a freezer with flowers placed on top. No more leads though, so Vance gives Gibbs and E.J. a lecture. You’d think that would be a chance for Gibbs and E.J. to bond but then Gibbs turns on E.J. and pretty much asks her to stop sleeping with Tony. I think Tony is just as much to blame for that one, Gibbs.

The episode ends with Tony and Ziva at a bar. Tony plays devil’s advocate, actually defending CIRay but Ziva insists it is over. Tony then confesses that things are working with EJ, that he understands her. It’s another touching moment, but the moment soon comes to an end when Tony gets a drink from a mysterious stranger. A drink with a human eyeball in one of the ice cubes and, according to Pauley Perrette (Abby), the eyeball belongs to someone we know!

So, do you think CIRay could be the Port to Port killer or does he genuinely care for Ziva? What are your feelings about E.J.? Who do you think the eyeball belongs to? How excited are you for the next episode? Please, send it any thoughts you have about this episode by hitting that reply button and giving us your TwoCents.

Or, if you want to chat about this episode on Twitter, my TwoCents Twitter is @MariaTV101