NCIS – Recap & Review – Need to Know

photo: cbs

NCIS
Need to Know

Original Air Date: Feb 28, 2012

Maria – Sr. Reviewer
maria@thetwocentscorp.com

Gibbs goes to meet with a naval officer, Leland Wiley, and his lawyer. Wiley is claiming he has confidential information about an arms deal and is willing to talk in exchange for a plea bargain about his drug possession charge. Unfortunately, Wiley dies before he can talk. I sense foul play. Thankfully, Gibbs is on the case. Probationary Agent Ned Dorneget is also willing to help… if he’s given a chance.

Ducky and Abby are able to confirm that Wiley was murdered (after Ducky has explained his assistant Palmer’s absence and reluctantly bought a wedding gift off his online list). Wiley had a pacemaker fitted because of a slow heart rate, but somebody hacked the pacemaker and made his heart beat too fast. Both Abby and McGee are unable to track where the signal came from, but Abby knows a guy so it’s just a question of time.

Abby knows a lot of guys actually, and McGee is distracted to learn that Dorneget left his gloves at Abby’s place. Usually, I think the McGee and Abby jealousy has been drawn out too long, but this was slightly more subtle and I like Dorneget’s character enough for it to be kind of adorable. Poor Dorneget.

Back to the case; before I get distracted by how nervous Dorneget is around Gibbs, how Ziva is only human and a little preoccupied about a talk she has to give at a school, and how McGee has apparently been forging DiNozzo’s signature for years. Wiley’s lawyer dropped the name “Agah Bayar” to get Gibbs interested. So what is the connection?

Vance calls Gibbs to his office, where he debriefs Gibbs on Agah Bayar. Bayar is a tricky one, because he’s smart and slimy, just legitimate enough to get away with a lot. Even Vance is questioning why no one has arrested him yet, and none of the other agencies are talking to him.

Due to Wiley’s pacemaker, he was reduced to working behind a desk but his top security clearance allowed him access to a lot of data. It becomes apparent that he took schematics on how drones and stealth aircraft communicate with each other and put them on a flashdrive. Tony and Ziva also found a lot of cash in Wiley’s apartment. It looks like he was selling government technology.

In tracking Agah Bayar’s recent movements, McGee has been able to link him to an Ava Baransky, a British model who has dated movie stars and even partied with Prince Harry. Ava is now seemingly dating Bayar. She could be a valuable witness, and with Tony drooling over just her picture and with Ziva having to give a talk, Gibbs sends McGee and Dorneget to collect her.

That’s when things get complicated, because Abby has just heard back from her guy, her sixteen year old genius guy who wants a bunch of NCIS stuff for his trouble. The signal which gave Wiley his heart attack is traced back to a Michael Reardon. Reardon looks like he’s about sixteen too, although he is older, about twenty, but that’s still pretty young. Tony and Ziva chase him down and Reardon outruns them before Gibbs hits him from with his car.

I understand Reardon is a killer, I understand he has an authority problem and I understand he may have become a little disassociated from reality, making it easier for him to kill without thinking. I don’t understand Gibbs and Ducky’s behavior. Even though Reardon is a killer, I lose a lot of respect for Gibbs’ treatment of the kid, manhandling him after hitting him with the car, dragging him to autopsy, threatening to let him die, showing him numerous bodies in the morgue. Ducky and Tony permitted him, assisted him. That scene really distressed me.

I’ll try to get past that, because Reardon says that it was a Russian woman who paid him. Baransky is a Russian name. She’s not a witness. She’s the buyer and Bayar is the middle man. And Dorneget and McGee are alone with her. She’s managed to escape with her handbag and the flashdrive disguised as a lipstick, leaving Dorneget tied up. Ouch!
McGee berates Dorneget, saying he was distracted because of the girl. I think McGee is just jealous because of the whole Dorneget and Abby relationship. Dorneget tells McGee that he wasn’t distracted, the woman wasn’t his type, he’s gay! McGee is fine with it, better than fine probably, because he’s not going to make a move of Abby. There is still the matter of telling Gibbs that their prime suspect escaped though.

However, things are not as bad as they fear, because Gibbs then calls them to tell them to let her go free. The government wanted her to have that information, because it’s actually a Trojan Horse of sorts. That’s how Wiley knew Bayar, because Bayar works for the Government, but he also works for the enemy. Bayar works for whoever pays the highest, so it wouldn’t surprise me if we see him again.

I liked a lot of this episode. I enjoyed seeing Ziva nervous about public speaking, and so enthused after giving her speech. As much as I love Jimmy Palmer, I enjoy seeing how they explain his absence for the episodes which don’t contain him, and this one made me smile. I absolutely adore Ned Dorneget, and his probieness, so eager to get onto the team and be a field agent. I hope Dorneget sticks around for a long time.

What I didn’t like about this episode was the fact that Tony is still a little childish. How many times does he have to learn to grow up before the lesson actually sticks? I also didn’t like Gibbs’ behavior towards Reardon. It genuinely distresses me to see anybody being abused, even a killer, especially when it’s law enforcement officers committing the physical or mental abuse.

What are your TwoCents about this episode? Were you interested by the case? Did you suspect Baransky or did it catch you by surprise? What are your thoughts on Dorneget? Do you think Tony is still too childish? What do you make of Abby and Tim’s relationship? Would you like Bayar to become a recurring character? Please, feel free to leave a comment about this episode. I’d love to read your TwoCents.