NCIS – Recap & Review – Nature of the Beast

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NCIS
Nature of the Beast

Original Air Date: Sep 20, 2011

Maria – Sr. Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com

Gibbs explains to Dr. Rachel Cranston (Kate Todd’s sister) that an Agent was found unconscious, a single bullet wound to the chest. That Agent is Tony DiNozzo, and he’s as clueless as the audience. Rachel aims to coax Tony through the temporary amnesia due to his recent trauma. He was wearing a bulletproof vest, but the force of the shot still caused him to fall and hit his head.

Shots were fired from Tony’s gun as well though. Good for Tony, right? Not so good, because Gibbs finds a bloody NCIS badge amongst Tony’s possessions. And it’s not Tony’s.

Michael Weatherly gives a heart wrenching performance as Tony. It’s clear he’s using humor as a defense mechanism, but Rachel sees straight through that. Could Tony have really shot and possibly killed another NCIS Agent? What happened? This clearly has something to do with the secret case Tony was given by the Secretary of the Navy, Clayton Jarvis, but we never saw who Tony was ordered to handle, and Tony can’t remember.

NCIS is still dealing with the death of Mike Franks and of Agent Levin. EJ Barrett’s team (which only consisted of her and Agent Cade after Levin’s death) was disbanded. Still, work continues and Ducky makes an important discovery: He realizes that Levin’s arm was cut into, and security footage shows that Barrett cut a microchip out of Levin’s arm post-mortem.

Our NCIS Agents know that Tony is working on a special case and Gibbs isn’t too happy so he confronts the Secretary. It’s at that moment a bloodied man, Captain Felix Wright, gets out of his car, trying to talk to the Secretary. Gibbs tries to help but Wright is dead. Wright has an incision in the same place Levin had his!

Tony decides to track down his ex-lover, EJ Barrett. Tony is rather cold to her at first, accusing her of treason, treating her like she was guilty. She explains that Levin wanted her to take out the microchip and give it to Wright, but that she knows nothing more than that. Tony’s manner softens and he is inclined to believe her. Somebody else doesn’t though, and Tony and EJ are shot at but are able to escape. (This time)

We keep cutting back to the present, with Tony struggling to tell the story or Rachel observing something in Tony’s behavior. There’s also an FBI Agent by the name of Casey Stratton who wants to speak with Tony. I don’t trust him one bit so I’m really glad Gibbs doesn’t let him in.

McGee and Abby do make an excellent team. I love seeing these two work together, so it was a delight for exposition-Abby to explain to McGee about the microchips. Abby has deduced that Levin and Wright’s microchips were implanted around the same time. The microchips being ID tags mean that they were probably access chips. Access to what, though?

Perhaps Sean Latham can answer that question. He’s some top secret important dude, I lose track of the particulars, and he helps fill in Gibbs and Vance about an operation. Basically, he’s a director of something called “Watcher” which has this super-smart database helped to combat terrorism, but could be lethal if it fell into the wrong hands. Just whose hands are the right ones though?

Gibbs has been told to find Agent Barrett, but he doesn’t have to look very far because EJ and Tony are hiding out at Gibbs’ house. Gibbs’ conditions are that EJ and Tony cook dinner. The dinner conversation turns to talk of Mike Franks and it’s a beautiful tribute to him but work continues. EJ shows Gibbs the microchip, explaining that she doesn’t know who wants it now that Wright is dead. Gibbs suspects Jarvis. Tony is starting to suspect Agent Cade.

Cutting back to reality: FBI guy Stratton walks in on Rachel and Tony. I may have yelled at my TV screen at this point, telling Tony not to shake hands with the creepy dude. The guy even noted that he wasn’t expecting to find Tony with anybody. I already like Rachel, but I think I fell in love with her the moment she decided to publically start to phone Agent Gibbs, making Stratton leave. That woman is smart!

Tony’s story continues and it’s now September. Tony returns to the NCIS bullpen after being off the grid for weeks. The team is back again. Including Abby, who rushes in having received an urgent video message from Cade. Someone is after him!

Back to the present, and Gibbs has some information that will jog Tony’s memory and help complete the story. There were three types of blood found at the scene where Tony was found. Two other people. Tony remembers now.

He remembers arguing with Jarvis. He remembers the trap. Cade, EJ and Tony are all summoned to the same place. EJ is just happy to see Cade alive, but Tony trains his gun on him. Cade was the person Tony was supposed to handle, yet EJ asks him how he knew to come here. They all received messages from trusted ones. They start to realize it’s a trap but it’s too late. Shots are fired but not by Tony, not whilst Tony was conscious. Cade is dead, but EJ’s body is still missing.

It’s been one hell of an ordeal for Tony, but there’s just more thing he needs to remember. The shooter was Stratton! Jarvis and Latham claim that the bureau has no idea who Stratton is, but the scene afterwards shows a very different story. Stratton is working for Latham! Jarvis is actually clueless about it.

There’s one final twist to the story. Gibbs is looking through Mike Franks’ old cases and notes a photograph in a file listed “Phantom Eight”. The photograph is of Levin, Latham and Stratton. Now Gibbs knows!

I enjoyed this episode and found it a pleasant balance between character and plot. We were reminded about Jimmy Palmer’s upcoming wedding (although he wasn’t in this episode), it was nice to see Ziva happy and in love but I’m not sure how her relationship with CIA Ray will pan out. Stratton and Latham seem interesting enemies and I look forward to see what happens with them in the future.

I’m a little upset about Cade’s death, and the absence of Jimmy, but this episode was such a strong Tony story that I can overlook those and concentrate on the awesomeness that is Michael Weatherly. I thought it was a star performance that highlighted Tony’s more vulnerable side whilst still being capable of his job.

What are your thoughts on Latham and Stratton? Are you sad to see Cade go or did you see it coming? Do you think CIA Ray and Ziva will have a happy ending or could it end in tears? Please, feel free to leave your TwoCents about the first episode of season 9 here or send me a tweet over on @MariaTV101