- While investigating the death of a retired Marine Master Sergeant, Gibbs and the NCIS team discover there is a possibility that his death may be connected to another Marine who was MIA from the Vietnam War.
- After investigating the murder of a retired Master Sergeant, the NCIS team uncovers a fraudulent charity that preys on those searching for missing military personnel. Meanwhile, Bishop agonizes over the results of her probation evaluation, and Tony contemplates adopting stray cat that followed him home.
- Retired Marine Master Sergeant George Hawkins was murdered at home, grasping the dog tag of fellow Vietnam vet Kent, his unit commander, still 'missing in action'. The team finds he was being scammed by travel agent Todd Price and his fired employee Henry Caldwell, who faked dog tags to sell missing vet research services. Lonely Tony is meanwhile excited about a wandered-in stray cat, which alas chooses freedom again. Furthermore, a Vietnamese orphan plays a surprisingly crucial part in missing Kent's final chapter.—KGF Vissers
- When a retired Marine is found dead in his home, the team goes to investigate. They find a dog tag in his hand. They check out the name and learn that the dog tag is of a man who was reportedly killed in Vietnam. It seems like the Marine and the man served in Vietnam and after he was killed, the other would spend his time looking after the other man's daughter and was trying to find his remains. They learn that the dog tag is a fake. So someone was trying to pull a scam on him. they try to find out who. And Bishop is worried about her final evaluation.—rcs0411@yahoo.com
- Gibbs has issues in tonight's episode. One involves that gravest of sins, someone taking advantage of a Marine. The other involves a piece of haunting furniture. And Ellie Bishop gets good news that turns out to be bad news that turns out to be a reason to be angsty and make determined faces the whole hour. Finally, Tony is left to pick up the emotional pieces when his latest relationship runs out on him.
But we begin, as we always do, with the discovery of the body.
Two young boys sneak into Old Man Hawkins' garage looking for something to resell and find it full of war stuff -- and also the dead body of Old Man Hawkins. Stealing is wrong, kids.
In the office, Tony shares that a cat that has made itself at home in his apartment. Ellie Bishop is scared to open her nine month probie eval from Gibbs. To help her manage her expectations, McGee tells her he got 63 out of 100, Tony got a 58.
Bishop gets an 82, and some shocked looks.
Gibbs interrupts with the body of the week. Hawkins was a retired career Marine. On the scene, he's holding dog tags in his hand belonging to Sgt. Charles J Kent, who was killed in the Vietnam War.
Back at the office, Bishop's 82 has gone to her head.
Update time. Kent was KIA in Vietnam in 1969, he was Hawkins' squad leader when they were ambushed. Kent's remains have never been found and there's no record anyone recovered his dog tags, making it quite a puzzle how they ended up in Hawkins' hands. Phone records show Hawkins has been talking to Kent's daughter, Alice Kent Staley.
In the conference room, Alice tells Gibbs that "Hawk" looked out for her ever since he came back from the war, and was focused on trying to find her dad's remains. But she didn't know he had his dog tags. Hawkins held Kent as he died and could never accept that Kent's body disappeared. Hawk was making videos about Kent for Alice's eight-year-old daughter, Greta.
Down in the morgue, Duckie tells Ellie that Hawkins was dying of pancreatic cancer. He was shot by a .38 special. Before Bishop leaves, Duckie and Palmer give her an unsolicited pep talk about her probie score -- not knowing that she already knows it. They explain that Gibbs gives low scores to push people he sees have potential. And if she got a high score? "Then I'd advise you to turn in your badge," Duckie jokes.
Ellie's doubt cycle begins.
In Hawkins' garage, McGee finds Hawkins spent boatloads on search firms to find Kent's remains. Tony is distracted with thoughts of the cat he has decided to keep. And named: Rick Blaine after Bogart's character in "Casablanca" because the cat has a "fur tuxedo."
Down in the lab, Abby announces to Gibbs that the dog tag was a fake and even had the wrong blood type on it, so Hawkins would have known it was fake. The blood trail on the floor of the garage shows that Hawkins dragged himself to the table to grab the dog tag -- to send them a message.
The next day, Tony is late because Rick Blaine sat on his alarm. McGee is going through the PIs, charities and for-profits that Hawkins worked with to find Kent.
Gibbs puts Ellie on finding Kent's remains, nevermind that it's a decades long fruitless search. Ellie chats with Col. Maya Leland in MTAC about a search two years ago that turned up objects, including a necklace and water bottles, but nothing related to Kent. They think the Vietcong might have moved the body.
After pouring through Hawkins' extensive collection of stuff, Abby has found a plain white envelope that contained the fake dog tags. She's traced the torn partial logo to BST travel agency, which McGee and Tony visit. When they notice handwriting matching the envelope Hawkins had, the boss, Todd Price, tells them he recently fired a guy named Henry Caldwell for stealing from petty cash. He has two convictions for fraud.
Gibbs and Bishop head to his place, but when he sees them out front he runs through the pizza shop below. Gibbs sends Bishop to cover the back, but she runs in when she hears a crash, and the distraction of falling pans lets Caldwell escape.
Back at the office, they find that Caldwell was targeting people who contacted a legit charity that helped locate MIA and KIA soldiers and claiming to have their dog tags, then asking for money. Tony and McGee leave to stake out a pharmacy where Caldwell's insulin prescription for his diabetes is waiting.
Gibbs lets Bishop off the hook about letting Caldwell go, but tells her to keep looking for Kent's remains. She's upset not to get yelled at.
Ellie watches one of Hawkins' videos down in the morgue, in which he describes Kent ordering their unit to stop and help a crying Vietnamese boy bury his parents. After a pep talk from Duckie, Ellie looks at the photo of the boy in the video and recognizes a necklace recovered on Leland's search mission two years ago.
After an all-nighter staking out the pharmacy waiting for Caldwell, Tony is despondent when he gets a call from his cleaning lady that Rick Blaine escaped. They finally see Caldwell come in.
Back at NCIS in interrogation, Caldwell turns on the charm for Gibbs but is stunned when he says Hawkins is dead. Gibbs presses and Caldwell gives up his travel agent boss, Todd Price, as his partner.
The team gets Price's revolver and Abby confirms it as the murder weapon, but Price is long gone to Vietnam. As Gibbs and Tony prepare to fly there, Ellie makes her case to go along and track down the boy from the photo with the idea he might have moved Kent's remains. She wants a chance to prove herself, asking Gibbs what else she's supposed to do when he doesn't believe in her. They get into it and she finally accuses him of going easy on her since she started.
In Vietnam, Gibbs and Tony meet with Sgt. Leland.
Back in the morgue, Abby and McGee piece together the other reason Price kept returning to Vietnam and get a location for his girlfriend.
Gibbs and Tony track down Price and arrest him.
Leland calls Gibbs to meet with Ky Van Tu, the young boy from the photo. He tells Gibbs about following Kent to thank him and seeing him killed. He got his cart and brought Kent's body back and buried him next to his parents, to honor him.
Leland and her team unearth Kent's remains and Gibbs brings the dog tags back to his daughter.
Late at night with Bishop hunkered down on the floor with her laptop, Gibbs admits to Bishop that he was going easy on her, but not why she thinks. It's about the desk. He blames himself for losing two good people who sat there. Bishop ends up giving him a pep talk, saying that the job is hard, but that doesn't mean his way of teaching is wrong. "I'm asking you to push me to be like you," she says.
"Ok, back to the old way," Gibbs says, then barks at her to get off the floor.
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