This recap and review contains spoilers for the S16 E11 Toil and Trouble.
I always LOVE seeing Deputy Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), or U.S. Secretary of Defense Crawford in this instance, out here grilling McGee and Nick for hacking classified records, and is playing no games about them going to prison.
A dead body is found in a hotel where Nick and Ellie are attending a conference. When they discover the lungs have disintegrated, they find exposure to toxic chlorine gas. Tons of the gas was developed during the cold war. Though slowly being destroyed, the stock pile still exists.
When they call in a suspect who is exposed to the gas he starts coughing up blood, then, THEN, has the nerve to say “I’ll be dead before you can get me to talk.”
The team is ordered to stand down but of course they can’t follow orders, I wonder if this stuff happens in real life. McGee hacks the pentagon, with Gibbs’ permission. They download video footage of the victim and the suspect in a truck with what appear to be the gas.
The suspect admits the victim was killed by accident, he opened the wrong box. The suspect sent the gas to “freedom fighters” to help defend themselves. I’m confused about why he never thought the gas would kill someone else on the way or it might be intercepted. They need more information before this man dies! Nick “mistakenly” holds the Secretary of Defense hostage, a major miscommunication with McGee.
To get the suspect to talk NCIS fakes a news report, leading the man to believe the gas fell into the wrong hands and there is an incident in the U.S. He finally speaks up and they are able to secure the gas before it leaves the country.
A behind the scenes story line is Nick and Ellie. I cannot be the only one getting a vibe. In the first half of the season we can see the two getting closer and in this episode Nick takes Ellie’s phone and cancels her date. He obviously has developed some feelings for her and I can’t say that it doesn’t go both ways, but it looks as if Ellie is choosing not to pursue anything personal with Nick. This has to be resolved on a future episode, they can’t keep doing the longing looks, and unspoken words in moments of silence.
A tech company named Splendifida sends McGee a box of free goodies, he seems surprised to have received the package. He shares the box with Kasie, saying “I don’t need all this stuff.” In her attempts to receive her own box she finds out the company only sends the free gift boxes to prospective employees. Turns out they are offering McGee a lot of money and he’s considering it. I suspect it has something to do with the little kiddies he has at home.
The Secretary of Defense meets with the CIA officer who, I haven’t forgotten, has been tracking Leon! He asks for everything they have on Leon but doesn’t explain why. The surveillance still hasn’t been explained. Do they suspect Leon was turned when he was kidnapped or is there another reason they’ve taken an interest in him? Seems like this will be a juicy story line.
NCIS airs Tuesdays on CBS.