'NCIS' recap- '16 Years'

Last night’s episode of NCIS introduced another side to Ducky that was not so surprising and, yet, completely in line with what we know of him. When the episode began, two boys playing with their respective fathers came across a dead body. Before the team got the case, Tony was in the middle of teasing Tim over getting a manicure, which his girlfriend fully supported, and they moved on to Ellie to see how she was doing.

All Ellie will say is that Jake is safe and well after a traumatic event, but they wonder how she is as well. She simply tells them she wants a quiet day and they warn her about jinxing them. Ellie scoffs, thinking they won’t have a case, until Gibbs comes in. As he walks by Tim, he tells him “Nice manicure.”

The team goes out to investigate and Ducky has Palmer deduce how long the victim had been deceased. He determines that the victim has been dead between 48-72 hours. Because wildlife had eaten away at any chance of identification, the only hope is they can see if an abandoned car belongs to the victim. Ellie also looks into his background by checking out a ship he may have been stationed on because of his unique tattoo.

Tony thinks it’s possible he committed suicide and they look for evidence. Finding a bullet in a tree, Tony tries to dig it out, but ends up giving himself a splinter. Ellie comes back to tell them the victim is a retired Lieutenant Commander named Runyan Hayes. When Ducky finds out his identity, he tells Gibbs he has to recuse himself from the case.

Ducky talks to the commander’s body as Gibbs comes in. He informs Gibbs that the victim died of a gunshot wound, which was a through and through, and that a person of interest he should speak to is fireman Todd Bennett. Gibbs wants to know why he can’t be on the case, so Ducky tells him about a group of detectives who work to solve cold cases. Gibbs is floored as Ducky tells him he joined the group since he was lonely. He finds out from Ducky that Hayes felt his son, Michael, was wrongly convicted of murder and thought Bennett was a suspect.

Tony, who has a banana peel wrapped around his finger courtesy of Abby, tells the team about Runyan Hayes and his son, Michael, who was convicted in 1999 in the murder of Lieutenant Swannie, his division officer. Bennett was another suspect, but hairs on the victim’s body were a match to Michael. When Tony has a hard time with the clicker, Ellie takes his place. Abby comes in and tells Gibbs the bullet in the tree had no human DNA on it and was not the one that killed Runyan.

Gibbs tells Ellie to come with him to talk to Bennett while Tony and Tim should go to the scene. Abby comes to Tony to see if her remedy for the splinter worked and then apologizes to the tree on Tony’s behalf for attacking it with his knife.

Tony reluctantly apologizes to the tree after Abby tells him too and he and Tim follow the bullet’s trajectory where they find the original crime scene where Hayes was shot. But when they find the tree that was shot, no bullet is inside. Tony doesn’t believe Tim that it’s not there and he sticks his pinky inside, only to get yet another splinter.

Ellie and Gibbs talk to Bennett at his work, but he denies having killed anyone. When they find out he knows about Hayes’ death, he tells them about the private detective who came to talk to him. It turns out to be Judith Knight, one of the women from Ducky’s mystery detectives group, the Sherlock Consortium for Investigation.

Ducky tells Gibbs he will question the detectives, but Gibbs refuses. He wants to talk to them himself so Ducky takes both Gibbs and Ellie to meet Walt Osorio, Judith McKnight, and Lyle, last name unknown. They are not happy that Ducky brought company, who apologizes and tells them he warned them that it would be possible his work would interfere. Ellie tries to take documents that Lyle had somehow found, but he tries to prevent her from taking them. She arrests him and Judith goes to Gibbs with her hands out, flirting with him in the process.

Tony, Ellie, and Tim discuss the wackos they found. Walt is a former police officer, Judith is an author who Tim is a fan of, and Lyle is unknown except for being a fan of pizza. Gibbs tells the three of them to do the interview.

Gibbs goes to see Hayes; granddaughter Makaela, who is with the Tuppermans’, family friends who are taking her in. The husband, Jason, had been best friends with Michael. Makaela receives her grandfather’s wallet, which contains personal family photos. Tupperman wants to talk to Gibbs privately and he tells him that he doesn’t believe Michael is guilty in Swannie’s murder. He tells Gibbs that a lot of people didn’t like him. As they talk, Gibbs gets a call from Tim that Michael may actually have been wrongly convicted.

Going back to the interview room, Gibbs finds out that hair analysis done in Michael’s case had been discovered to be fraudulent and led to the FBI looking over thousands of cases in which flawed hair analysis could have sent innocent people to prison. One of the cases was Michael’s and at first, Gibbs doesn’t think it involves them, until Tim informs him the forensic specialist on the case was none other than Abby.

Abby is in her lab with Tony and Tim, fretting over the possibility that she sent innocent people to prison. Grabbing a lock of Tony’s hair, she places it under a microscope and tells them she did that analysis on 12 cases. Now she is worried that it is her fault that this happened. She tells Tony to look at the hair and Tim does as well. At first, they think the hairs they see are the same, but she tells them she had grabbed Tim’s hair off his jacket and that they were looking at two different samples.

Jason goes with Ellie to tell Michael about Hayes’ murder. Michael is heartbroken, but doesn’t trust NCIS to do the investigation. He talks to Ellie and tells her to stay away from his family. She assures him they will do what they can and he asks if they can let him hold his daughter again.

Gibbs is at home icing his knee when the detective brigade come in. He is thoroughly annoyed and warns them they have two minutes as McKnight continues to flirt. They want to work with NCIS on the case and tell Gibbs that Bennett has a history of violence. However, Gibbs responds back that Bennett has an alibi for the murder. After Lyle and Walt leave, McKnight stays briefly to try and sidle up to Gibbs, much to his bemusement.

Tim, Ellie, and Tony are at the diner and the guys are blaming Ellie for what Tony calls “Armageddon,” since they have wackos on their case, Abby is distraught, and Tony has a splinter. Ellie tells them that is not her fault, but they tell her Tony can blame her. She asks what she can do if there is actually a curse. Gibbs comes in and they show him evidence that Tony and Tim got from making a mold of the bullet hole. Someone had used a key to dig the bullet out. He finds out Abby locked herself in her lab and are wondering if they can run hair analysis on Michael now since it would take the FBI two weeks to get to it. Gibbs tells them to go to the prison.

Gibbs goes back to NCIS to talk to Abby. She is going through all her cases to see if she made any mistakes in her work and she is feeling awful about what happened. Even though Abby knows it is possible that Michael is guilty, she feels like she can’t breathe. Gibbs hugs her to bring some comfort.

When Ellie and Tony arrive, they find out that Michael’s parents are there. A confused Ellie tells the officer that both his parents died, and he tells them he was aware which was why they were in holding and had a weapon. They had brought scissors to cut Michael’s hair. It turns out to be Judith and Walt.

Ducky scolds Walt and Judith for almost wrecking their case. Lyle wonders if he is in trouble too and Ducky tells him to be quiet. Gibbs tells Ducky they were still trying to do the right thing and Ducky simply leaves. Lyle begins talking about peanut butter and when Gibbs asks, he tells him about seeing tree sap on Tony and Tim’s shoes and how it can be removed with peanut butter. Gibbs tells Lyle he just solved the case and rushes out.

Gibbs goes to Abby, who has just run the hair analysis and found out Michael was wrongly convicted. He asks if she can identify a tree from sawdust and she says yes, with a sample. Gibbs pulls out his knife and runs out.

A stunned Tony looks at his bandaged finger after Gibbs has pulled out his splinter. Tim and Tony look at Ellie to make things right, who begrudgingly gets on top of her desk and tells everyone at NCIS she is wishing for a bad day. After everyone applauds, Jason walks in and tells them Gibbs needed to see him. Ellie offers him a drink of water and then Tim asks about the crowded lot. When the valet is mentioned, Gibbs and Palmer come in with his car keys. There was no valet.

After listening to the tape of Tupperman confessing to the 1999 murder, Ducky tells Walt, Judith, and Lyle how Gibbs had figured out who the killer was. It turns out that Gibbs had seen the same stains on Tupperman’s shoes that Lyle saw on Tony and Tim’s feet, but he didn’t think much of it at the time. Then he was able to match the sawdust from Tupperman’s car keys to the splinter found in Tony’s finger. After informing them of the findings, he tells them he is resigning, but has found a replacement. It turns out to be Jimmy.

Michael is escorted out of prison a free man and he has an emotional reunion with Makaela as Gibbs and Abby look on. He thanks them and then Abby tells him who she is. He tells her that she is the reason he’s out and she hugs him.