photo: cbs
Baltimore
Original Air Date: May 03, 2011
Maria – Sr. Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com
It starts with a man, (played by the wonderful Scott Grimes) being poisoned and murdered inside his own home. The NCIS agents are then alerted to a dead body, wrapped and tied up, just like the Port to Port serial killings. He was also dressed up far beyond his role and rank, with an obscure fortune cookie left as a clue. It looks like the P2P killer has struck again, but EJ and her team have left town to follow a lead so it’s up to our NCIS agents to solve the case. It’s a personal case for Tony DiNozzo because as soon as the victim’s face is revealed, Tony recognizes it as his old Baltimore PD partner: Danny Price!
This episode is very Tony-centric, and we finally get to see how Tony joined NCIS. I think how much a person will enjoy this episode will be partly down to how much they like Tony and how much they like flashbacks. The flashbacks show how DiNozzo was even cockier in his youth, so it’s a good way to chart his character development, but apart from that he appears mostly the same: Movie-quoting, loud, but with a poorer dress-sense and in a serious relationship with his ex-high school music teacher, actually engaged! Wonder what happened there.
The plot for this episode revolves around Danny Price’s murder. The NCIS agents track down the enigmatic clue: the fortune cookie. It was traced back to Dao Huang Fortune Cookie Company but when Ziva and McGee ask questions, it turns out that the company had been robbed and some of the baking trays were stolen.
It does seem like more time is spent in flashbacks than in the present, but that is forgivable as it helps to flesh out the victim and make us care. It also introduces us to Gibbs from ten years ago. DiNozzo first met him by arresting him when he was undercover. Mark Harmon does an amazing job of acting ten years younger, it’s really believable. DiNozzo shows real distain towards “Navy Cops”, so what happened for him to become one?
It’s revealed that Danny Price was the victim of a Copycat and not the Port to Port killer because Ducky got an email pointing out that the original victims were tied with a double constrictor knot, however, Palmer omitted the phrase “double” when he was typing up Ducky’s notes. Danny Price was tied up using a single knot. This information was sent out to all law enforcement agencies by EJ before she left. How did the copycat killer get hold of it?
There is one suspect: a fantasist with computer skills, but he has an alibi. The robber who stole the trays from Dao Huang Fortune Cookie Company also has an alibi. The NCIS agents are rapidly running out of suspects.
The key to Price’s murder revolves around the case Price and DiNozzo were working in 2001. It was a money-laundering scheme. However, it turned from money-laundering to homicide. They eventually track down a man named Floyd in the money-laundering scheme and he looks betrayed to find Danny Price arresting him. Tony digs around some more and uncovers the fact that Danny and Floyd had exchanged fifteen phonecalls in three months. Danny admits to being in on the money-laundering but he tells Tony he honestly didn’t think Floyd was a killer. Tony walked away from his bent partner, but he couldn’t report him.
Ten years later and Tony is left listening to a phone message Danny left on his phone a couple of days ago, except Tony didn’t know that because he’d left his phone at EJ’s (Yes! We know he’s in a relationship with EJ. Thanks for reminding me!). Danny uncovered something and whilst looking at a photograph from back in the day, Tony realizes that someone else was involved in the money-laundering scam: their boss, Police Major Frank Raimey. Raimey was the real murderer and he murdered Price to cover it up.
The copycat killer has been caught but they’re still no closer to catching the Port to Port killer. Gibbs threw away McGee’s technical report at the beginning of the episode so poor Timothy had to put it into layman’s terms: the eyeball sent to Tony three episodes ago is definitely in MTAC’s database but the name is classified. It’s also revealed that the Port to Port killer sent Ducky the email pointing out the omission about the constrictor knot, not Abby. Just who on Earth is the P2P killer?
There are some very nice touches to the episode but I find myself a little impatient to get to the Port to Port killer storyline. Because the episode focussed on Danny Price and Anthony DiNozzo, it left little time for the rest of the team and Vance and Palmer weren’t shown whilst EJ and her team were written out of this episode. The acting was sublime and I adored Agent Pacci’s cameo (although the comment about his stomach being the death of him made me cringe) but I can’t wait for the next episode!
What are your thoughts on the episode? Did it keep your attention? Are you a Tony fan or would you have preferred to have an episode which focussed on a different character? Any more theories about the Port to Port killer? Please, let me know your TwoCents by clicking a reply to this recap and review or by tweeting me over on @MariaTV101.
TheTwoCents 
It wasn’t a bad episode, but I was mostly distracted by Tony’s dyed hair and eyebrows in the flashbacks.