NCIS In Review - Sub Rosa (Episode 1.7)
NCIS In Review - Sub Rosa (Episode 1.7)
An unfortunate hazardous materials specialist is maneuvering barrels using a forklift when some of them become unbalanced, and a decomposed sailor falls out of a container of hydrochloric acid.
Episode: 1.7, Sub Rosa.
Air Date: November 18, 2003.
Victim: Petty Officer (identity will be revealed surprisingly, check the Plot Summary)
An unfortunate hazardous materials specialist is maneuvering barrels using a forklift when some of them become unbalanced, and a decomposed sailor falls out of a container of hydrochloric acid.
McGee! Tony starts the episode by dialoguing over the phone with Special Agent Timothy McGee in Norfolk. He comments to Kate about McGee's apparent inexperience.
Oh, Kate spills Gibbs's coffee. The moment seems to freeze, and Tony and Kate appear genuinely apprehensive. Tony notes that he has never witnessed Gibbs without his morning coffee, and Gibbs emanates a threatening aura without exaggeration. The scene is skillfully played out.
Ducky examines the corpse. He discovers that the body was recently submerged in acid, within the last twenty-four hours. Traces of clothing indicate that the individual was a member of the military crew, and a mark is present on his arm. Additionally, there are no identifiable traces, and Gibbs notes that the DNA profile is significantly delayed, providing little help in this area.
Gibbs interacts with the base security team and deduces that the deceased must have been killed within the base facilities, as it would be extremely difficult to introduce a body into the premises. They spend a few minutes observing nearby protesters who are furiously demonstrating against the alleged harm caused to whales by Navy SONAR tests.
Ducky takes some photographs of the corpse to allow Abby to use computer software to create a facial reconstruction based on the bone structure. He informs Gibbs that the death was caused by a blunt force impact to the head, and Abby also concludes that the mark on the victim's arm was a tattoo associated with submariners. McGee's records show that all submariners are present and accounted for, including those assigned to the recently departed USS Philadelphia. Gibbs deduces that if a submariner is dead under circumstances that obscure identification and none are missing, it's possible that an impostor has infiltrated the USS Philadelphia.
Gibbs has a conversation with Captain Veitch, in charge of submarine operations, and persuades him to allow his investigation aboard the USS Philadelphia. Gibbs and Kate embark on a sequence of planes, trains, and vehicles to reach the submarine. First, they fly back to the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier from the previous episode (a brief pause for these individuals), then a helicopter, followed by a patrol ship, and finally, the submarine. The submarine commander is not pleased with the distraction caused by NCIS's presence during the upcoming war exercises, in which he has a vodka bet at stake. However, he reluctantly cooperates.
Gibbs and Kate begin interviewing the five new submariners who can't be ruled out as impostors by other means (dental records, ethnicity). The interviews don't provide definitive conclusions. The submarine commander wants NCIS to leave, but Gibbs makes it clear that he will depart when he deems it appropriate. However, the submarine commander's perspective is understandable, as Gibbs's impostor theory sounds somewhat absurd. Yet, Gibbs's position is also understandable, given the submarine commander's extreme confidence in a crew of 15 newly arrived sailors he only met the day before.
Fingerprints collected aboard the boat don't match. However, this leads Gibbs to consider the possibility that if the prints match personnel records, perhaps the impostor worked in the personnel office on the base and altered records or had an accomplice. Gibbs chooses to contact NCIS headquarters, thus undoing the commander's war plans (and vodka bet). He dispatches Tony to investigate the personnel office angle.
Tony takes McGee with him, and McGee surprises Tony by asking if any personnel office member has recently left the service. After obtaining a potential suspect's address, Tony and McGee find an isolated cabin and conduct a notably illegal search. Or, to be more precise, they break into the place. Inside the cabin, they find a hidden compartment and conclude that the occupant is an environmental activist with deep hostility towards the Navy, motivated by whale protection. By accessing the suspect's computer, they discover his plan to introduce sarin gas into the USS Philadelphia's air conditioning system as revenge for the harm caused to whales. Additionally, they locate a gas release device.
Tony alerts the submarine, and it quickly surfaces from the water. An impactful scene depicts the submarine emerging from the aquatic surface.
Meanwhile, Abby and Ducky come up with the idea of comparing the suspects' photographs with independent image sources. They decide to use photos from previous deployment crews. However, this is unsuccessful because a suspect, Petty Officer Drew, lost his last crew photo. Yet, Abby finds his image in a ship's bulletin, and the image matches the facial reconstruction (although it's not addressed that only one suspect lost his photo, which could have been used through an elimination process). The impostor is identified as Petty Officer Drew, who, upon returning to the submarine, realizes he's about to be discovered and requests to make a phone call. Gibbs receives the information from the coast, tracks down "Drew" to his bunk, and discovers that he has committed suicide by covering his head with a plastic bag. Checking the fingerprints, it's revealed that "Drew" is, in fact, a former sailor, former Petty Officer Shawn Travis, who served as a SONAR operator before his dishonorable discharge.
Abby determines that the gas release device found by Tony and McGee is triggered by very low temperatures. Back on the submarine, Gibbs can't understand Travis's suicide, as he would have died when the gas was released, regardless of the plan. Later, a petty officer appears with ice creams for Gibbs and Kate. To make room for Travis's body, the crew had to remove the ice creams from the freezer, but they don't want them to melt. This aligns with standard operating procedure on a submarine, and Gibbs realizes that Travis would have been aware of this. The suicide was a contingency plan for Travis to cool his body enough to activate the gas device. They locate Travis's body in the freezer, and the gas has already been released, inflating his belly. It will be a lengthy process for him to float to the surface, so Gibbs and the Chief of the Boat (COB) take the body to the torpedo room and eject it from the submarine. The scene is impressive, made even more impactful by COB's detailed instructions on the ejection procedure, accompanied by NCIS's action music.
Finally safe from the sarin gas, Gibbs and the COB discuss, agreeing that the priority is to ensure that the ice cream is returned to the freezer before it melts.
While there are minor plot imperfections when rigorously examined, overall, this is a well-constructed mystery and a mostly clever plot (though it might not be plausible even two years later). Gibbs has notable moments, the guest cast exceeds the average, and it's intriguing to see the young McGee in his first appearance.
For this episode I give seven Abby´s
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