'NCIS' recap- 'Lost in Translation'

NCIS opened with a man coming to meet up with his friend, Landis, to go for a run. When he hears a loud thump, he looks in the window and sees his friend bound and bloody. He makes his way inside to check on him, only to be accosted by a masked assailant. The man tries to stop him, but he ends up being stabbed and the unknown man runs out of the house.

Tim and Ellie are looking at a brochure and she is congratulating him when Tony walks in with a tailored suit on. He talks about his tailor for the stars before asking them what they were talking about. Tim tells him that word got around the building that he was a natural at being a model and he was asked to be the new face of NCIS on their brochure. Tony sees the brochure and is stunned, even slapping himself to see if he is dreaming. He’s upset at being passed over a second time (the first time being for Gibbs) and Tim goes to sit down. Gibbs comes in to tell them about the victim.

The team looks over the body of Marine Captain David Landis, who is tied up in a way that would cause him to be strangled if he tried to move his hands or legs. The man who found him, Joseph Wilks, is being looked over outside by EMTs. Outside, a witness tells Tony and Bishop that the assailant was a young guy in his 20s and was Middle Eastern. Gibbs interviews Wilks, who tells him that Landis was one of his best friends and they had known each other for years. He feels guilty for letting the killer get away.

Abby is in her lab trying to make things appear calm with low lights and tea from Ducky for Gibbs. He isn’t budging, however, so she tells him he will have wished he had the tea before she tells him what she found. She found prints on the chair with one belonging to Landis and the other belonging to Qasim Naamir, a man from Afghanistan who is tied to the Taliban.

Tim is standing beside a cutout cardboard poster of himself while Jimmy and Ellie compliment him on his modeling and looks. Tony is clearly annoyed and after Jimmy tells Tim that he has a perfect body shape, he reminds them they have work to do. Jimmy makes a crack about him being like Gibbs soon when the man walks in and merely looks at the poster before asking for an update. Landis had served in Afghanistan and was recently given a post as a Marine Candidate Instructor. He had no access to classified information. Naamir has an older brother also tied to the Taliban named Rasheed and they try to find a connection between them while Gibbs also asks for files from the CIA on the brothers. As they all leave, Gibbs comes back over to Tim to tell him the “Bad boy look works for you” while Tony lets out a groan.

Ducky tells Gibbs that in the autopsy, he found Landis had been stabbed seven times in both his arms and legs and his torso and they were all deliberately done as a means of torture. The final stab wound was to the neck right as Wilks had come to the door.

Tony and Tim are trying to find Wilks when Tony sees Tim in a posed position. He tells him that and Tim tries to appear comforting and telling him he’s going to give it his best try, making Tony think he is quoting Zoolander. He begins ranting when Tim sees Qasim. They run after him with Tony going through the alley, but he isn’t able to get over the fence before Tim has Qasim in custody.

Qasim is in interrogation with Tim and Tony, but he isn’t very forthcoming. He claims not to have any knowledge of the crime he was arrested for and when they mention his brother’s terrorism, he says he had nothing to do with what his brother did. They ask how he got into the U.S., but he refuses to talk. Gibbs leaves the observation room as Ellie comes in with what she found from the CIA. She tells him that there were no files on the brothers before 2011 and she found that there were two brothers named Qasim and Rasheed Mattar whose parents were murdered by the Taliban. They took the brothers to train them and while Rasheed rose up as a terrorist, Qasim stayed behind. She doesn’t believe he turned to terrorism and that he could be hiding from the group.

Abby calls Gibbs urgently and goes up to the bullpen when he doesn’t answer. She tells him the prints on the knife found with Qasim don’t match him, but someone else. Before she can say who, Wilks comes in to admit it is his knife. He admits that he and Landis had met him in Afghanistan and brought him into the country. Wilks also tells them that Qasim is “one of us.”

Wilks shows the team a video of an incident in 2013 when he and Landis were hit by an IED. Qasim had saved them and since them, he was used as a translator for the group. Because locals who helped soldiers were targeted, they helped get him out of the country, which Gibbs knows will get Wilks into a lot of trouble. Ellie goes Gibbs a message from Martinez about some new intel. Wilks asks to see Qasim before he is taken since Landis had wanted to give something to him.

Martinez is the one who helped on a previous terror case and when she comes to meet Ellie and Tony, she gets into a discussion on Skyfall with Tony. Ellie gets them back on track and Martinez gives them a bounty that she received from a contact in Pakistan. Rasheed Naamir had found out his brother was helping troops and put a bounty on his head. Ellie goes to call Gibbs while Tony shows Martinez a brochure to ask what she thinks of Tim. Her reply earns an “Et tu?” from Tony.

Gibbs and Wilks go to talk to Qasim, who is shocked to see the latter. They tell him about the bounty, but he is not surprised since anything Rasheed does no longer surprises him. He tells them his parents always wanted peace, but his brother had killed them since he was already under control. Qasim tried to get him back, but nothing worked, so he fled and helped the soldiers because he wanted to be able to fight back. He tells them Landis was more of a brother than Rasheed was and Wilks gives him Landis’ dog tags.

Vance sends a message to Gibbs to meet him so he can show him a ransom video Rasheed made. He took a Marine Corporal Collins hostage in exchange for his brother and they have 48 hours to give him Qasim so he can stand trial in Kabul. Gibbs finds out the State Department ordered them to do so and Gibbs and Vance are not happy about this since both lives are on the line.

Qasim is in the helipad with Ellie and Gibbs, who appears to be sleeping. She goes to talk to Qasim, who is ready for what he is facing. But Ellie isn’t feeling good about this since she already saw so much bloodshed when she was working for the NSA in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Qasim can tell she lost someone and she admits it was a coworker, but she really hasn’t dealt with it. Gibbs opens his eyes as he has heard the conversation.

Abby is with Tim drinking her Caf Pow, waiting for his Gibbs glare before telling him what she found. Landis was stabbed using a Ka-Bar Becker Eskabar knife. She had matched the threads that were found at the scene and she tells him they had been sold to military and defense companies.

Gibbs, Abby, and Qasim arrive to Kabul where marines excitedly greet Qasim. The colonel comes to talk to Gibbs and Ellie. He doesn’t want to turn Qasim over either, but they know that scouts have already informed Rasheed of his brother’s arrival.

Tony and Tim are frustrated after being unable to narrow down leads on their suspect. Tim suggests the interrogation techniques could be useful then Tony gets an idea before he takes the knife and stabs the poster cutout, even slicing the neck off (poor Tim). Tony realizes the person who tortured Landis knew Qasim had been in the house and described him perfectly to them wanted him to be found. The witness from earlier, Ken Ashmore, is in their suspect pool and was stationed at one time in Afghanistan.

They bring Ken Ashmore in and tell him they found the knife he used to kill Landis in his home along with other weapons. Tony called a friend at ATF to talk to him and he tells them he was a patriot because Landis was protecting a terrorist. They tell him that Qasim is not a terrorist but found e-mails indicating Ken was working with Rasheed. He got a deposit in his account after Qasim was in custody. Tony gives him ten seconds to tell them where Rasheed is holding Collins, but he tells them he doesn’t know and that Rasheed is dangerous to anyone who tries to stop him.

Gibbs and Ellie talk to the colonel as they try to figure out where Rasheed is holding their marine. They believe he could be working with a faction and in a populated area but small enough for him to be hiding. Another soldier comes to tell them one of their vehicles made an unauthorized exit and the only person missing is Qasim. Gibbs realizes he’s turning himself over to save Collins.

They go to a trail where the vehicle is located, damaged after a grenade explosion. They believe Qasim was taken before the explosion. Ellie calls them over when she finds Qasim’s gear with a bullet hole in it.

Tony, Tim, and Vance are in MTAC where they tell Vance about a Taliban safe house that was previously empty, but with infrared satelitte, they found five heat signatures, along with four other lookouts.

The colonel is ready to send a team to strike, but Gibbs knows if they do that then the marine will be killed. He suggests having one vehicle go in with an occupant who is not a marine. Ellie is stunned when she realizes he means her and she tries to tell him she’s only an analyst but Gibbs reminds her she is a field agent. He tells her to stop hiding behind what she already knows and mentions her answers are out in the field. She knows Gibbs read her old file about her friend, Taj, and that she couldn’t help him after being pulled out. Gibbs makes sure she knows he has her back.

Vance asks Tim for a status report as they keep an eye on the vehicle Ellie is driving. Tony mentions he hates not being there to back up his team, a feeling Vance knows well. Tim tells them they have her on screen.

In the vehicle, Ellie tries to remain calm as an insurgent, Kareem, stops her with a gun. He asks who she is and she replies she is a doctor. Someone comes over his recorder and asks who is there. When he says it is a humanitarian vehicle, he is told to take care of it. Ellie looks ahead as the man points his weapon.

Rasheed talks to Qasim, who is wounded. He stopped the bleeding so he could kill him himself. Rasheed talks about Qasim betraying him even though he took care of them, but his brother retorts that they were his family, not the Taliban. He asks about Collins, but Rasheed refuses to answer. They hear someone say the doctor is there, but Rasheed is confused since he told Kareem to deal with it. A man walks in and throws Ellie down. We see the man has bright blue eyes and it’s actually Gibbs in disguise. He immediately shoots Rasheed and when an insurgent comes in, Ellie shoots him. The marines come in and rescue both Collins and Qasim.

In the squad room, Tony is giving Jimmy money because he helped to repair the poster he cut up. Tim walks in and Tony apologizes for not being supportive. Tim is appreciative and goes to leave when he tells Tony “Happy April Fool’s.” Tony is shocked to discover that Tim is not actually the face of NCIS and it was a prank that he and Jimmy came up with on April Fool’s but took time to work on. They both leave as Tony tells them that it is not over and then he mutters with pride that he “taught them well.”

Ellie and Qasim talk as they put their things in a vehicle. She gives her condolences for his brother and he tells her that his brother made the choices he made. He hopes one day when he dies, he will see who his brother used to be. Ellie gives him back the dog tags he had left behind. He knows he is not likely leaving with them and when Gibbs comes over, he asks them to thank Tim and Tony for finding Landis’ killer. However, they inform him that the Secretary of the Navy was convinced to give him a Special Immigrant Visa Application, but he will have to work at a translation post in DC. Gibbs tells him it is with NCIS and he is excited to go with them.

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