NCIS – Recap & Review – Restless

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NCIS
Restless

Original Air Date: Sep 27, 2011

Maria – Sr. Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com

Tony is back, but he’s been in a little bit of a mood lately. So much so, that Tim and Ziva have got him little gifts to cheer him up: two tickets to watch female mud wrestling. Each. Unfortunately, Tony is sulking due to some life choices. Mud wrestling tickets may not help. But he’s not giving them back. Gibbs interrupts the banter with a case. A Marine arrived at his homecoming party, and promptly died.

Marine Tommy Hill was returning to his adoptive family, the McCormicks. Nathan was serving alcohol but not drinking it as he’s underage. He’s “taking it slow” with the McCormick’s 17 year old daughter, who was eagerly waiting her brother’s return. Tommy Hill returned, and then fell down dead due to a stab wound. Ducky and Jimmy arrive at the scene, and Jimmy is the one to deliver the tangential rant on Homecoming. Tony reminisces about his Homecoming, where he strung a boy up a flagpole by his underwear. McGee and Ziva check out the trail of blood drops. It leads to a cellphone, which is soon swallowed up by a road sweeper.

Tony, Tim and Ziva are all sifting through the dirt when Abby comes down to help… by giving them masks, not by helping with the dirt. Gibbs comes down to listen to the briefing on the case. McGee isn’t allowed to listen; he needs to keep sifting through the dust and filth. He come up with the cellphone though, a cellphone which Abby is able to determine as belonging to the killer.

Abby has also been able to process the victim’s laptop. Tommy Hill spent the last three days of his life trying to hack into the Virginia State website. Hill never succeeded, but Abby found something else interesting about the laptop. It never left the village apart from one time where it was taken to the middle of nowhere. McGee and Tony check that area out and find $50,000 buried in the ground. A good find, but Tony is busy soul-searching too. He’s starting to feel guilty about the boy he strung up all those years ago.

Ducky’s preliminary examination of Hill’s body has uncovered a puncture mark from a syringe. The syringe was full of sedative and he was injected before he was stabbed, but the drug didn’t affect him as much as it should have because the tip of the syringe had broken off. There is evidence that it was actually a kidnapping gone wrong. Still, we still need a suspect. The hunt is on for the rest of that syringe.

McGee and Ziva go to see the McCormicks and ask a few questions, but they don’t like the questions our NCIS Agents are asking. A few of Tommy Hill’s friends then start picking on Tim. Tim is still worried about their comments about his appearance (possibly an allusion to some of the negative comments from fans when Sean Murray lost a little weight) when he and Ziva return to the bullpen, successful in their hunt. Abby is running fingerprints from the syringe.

Tony is still fixated on that kid he remembers stringing up: Stinky John. Tony engages McGee’s help to track him down. Ziva forces Tony to admit that he wants to apologize and not mock him. Tim agrees to help, but Gibbs enters and it’s back to work. The McCormicks were in debt with their mortgage payments until it was suddenly paid off. But for now another lead rears its head: the fingerprints from the syringe belong to Curtis Beane.

Seems Curtis works at a taco place which only employs convicted felons. The owner insists Curtis must be innocent, but he hasn’t seen him for a couple of days. He seems too likely of a suspect though, I think.

Abby has managed to crack into the cellphone found at the crime scene. It contains surveillance photos. Not of Tommy Hill though, of his adopted sister, Lindsey. Gibbs is watching over Lindsey when her friend, Nathan, tries to get in, just to check on her. He sees a file on Curtis Beane and recognises the man. Seems like Curtis recognised somebody too.

Our Agents are able to track Curtis down to the taco place but he is on the roof. They’re able to prevent him from falling, but he dies of an overdose. Very convenient. He was also found with the murder weapon on him. Gibbs isn’t happy and won’t rest until he understands the motive, which Abby may have come up with in part.

Lindsey is not what she appears to be. She’s actually 27 and not 17, has had multiple identities in the past with the same M.O of posing as a 16-year-old, staying with adoptive parents for just under a couple of years and leaving before her 18th birthday. Lindsey also tried to help the McCormicks by paying off their mortgage and forging a letter from the bank saying the bank was reducing how much the McCormicks had to pay. How did Lindsey get the money? Ducky does not suspect the scam is malicious though, merely an addiction to a youth that was taken violently from her. Gibbs leaves after Ducky shows him images of the scars “Lindsey” gained growing up. Gibbs has seen that pattern before.

It’s the owner of the Taco shop who is to blame, he’s Lindsey’s uncle! He used the ex-cons he hired to scout out potential victims when they delivered. It was a nice operation he had going until one of his pawns accidentally came across the girl who took his money from it when she ran away. Tommy was trying to protect his sister. He died a hero.

Lindsey doesn’t want to face the McCormicks again, but Gibbs pushes her. She needs to pick up her things before attending a psych evaluation. The McCormicks accept her with open arms. I’m really glad she found a loving family at last.

Lindsey isn’t the only one who has had to relive a lie in order to live. Tony went to apologise to Stinky John, he even wrote a card and everything, only to learn that it was John who strung Tony up by his underwear. Tony admits to Gibbs that he’s been telling the story for so long, he doesn’t know when he flipped it. Tony also isn’t looking forward to telling McGee the truth. Gibbs points out that Tony doesn’t have to say anything, but Tony is still going to. I love Tony’s respect for McGee and their friendship. I’m so proud of Tony!

I really enjoyed this episode. Although the comparisons between Lindsey and Tony weren’t exactly subtle, they did succeed in some emotional development from Tony. Even though Tommy Hill was murdered, it was Lindsey who is the real victim of the story, which I felt was a little unfair to Tommy but I utterly sympathise with Lindsey. I do hope Tony’s epiphany isn’t forgotten next week, because it seems like a lot of episodes have had moments where Tony might mature, yet he reverts back to his jock persona because it’s easier for him (and possibly the writers) do deal with.

What are your thoughts on Tony’s self-discovery? Did you suspect the owner of the Taco shop? What are your feelings about Lindsey? Please leave a comment; I’d love to read your TwoCents about this episode and about NCIS in general.