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Meltdown
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| Original air date: April 29, 2003 Summary: NCIS Agent Gibbs continues his investigation on the terrorist, Amad Bin Atwa to avert another attack on a Navy ship. Harm is court-martialed for the murder of Lt. Singer. The second part of the cliffhanger, the NCIS team continues to investigate the death of a JAG following leads that stretch to Moscow, Russia. |
| Episode recap: The episode opens with a 2.5 minute recap of the previous episode and then the JAG opening credits roll. Faith Coleman arrives from San Diego to be Harm's legal team. To say she is very organized would be to understate the case. Harm wants to know more about her background before he is willing to let her take his case. Coleman answers all his questions, but doesn't feel he has any confidence in her so she starts to pack up. Harm stops her because "I don't think I could bear watching you rearrange that" indicating her highly organized briefcase. Out on the firing range, Gibbs meets with the man who will be prosecuting the case, Major McBurney. McBurney offers to set up a target for Gibbs, but Gibbs wants to get down to business. He needs to know how long the case is going to last because he has other business to attend to. Gibbs tells McBurney it's need to know and he doesn't, but we all ready know, Gibbs needs to question Bin Atwa. They discuss the case as McBurney walks out to see how he shot. Gibbs feels Harm is a smart lawyer and they only nailed him because he made stupid mistakes. Gibbs has concerns about the case, McBurney does not. Looking at McBurney's target, Gibbs asks if he always aims for the head. "Cuts down on appeals" McBurney responds. At the JAG office, Admiral Chegwidden is speaking to McBurney and Coleman, talking about the sensitivity of the case they are working on. Coleman tells the admiral that all JAG officiers, including him, need to stay at arm's length. McBurney agrees, saying that they want no one in the JAG office compromising their case. The admiral protests he has no intentions of interfering. Since they are short on space, Coleman goes in Manetti's office and McBurney goes in Harm's. "I've never had the office of a man I'm trying to send to Leavenworth, sir" is McBurney's response. The admiral says he'll just have to make do. The admiral is annoyed with both of them, makes them stand there for a bit while he shuffles papers and then dismisses them. In the JAG squad room, Bud tells the admiral he has some ideas and is told to do nothing. Next, Manetti approaches the admiral and is given an emphatic No. Mac approaches and the admiral doesn't even let her speak. They are all given a lecture on staying as far away from the case as they can, given that they are all witnesses for the prosecution. McBurney enters Harm's office, which is pretty empty except for the boxes stacked in the corner. He sits down and takes stock of what isn't there. Meanwhile Coleman is in Manetti's office making it her own with everything sorted, stacked, and color coded. She brought all her own office supplies with her, McBurney brought nothing. McBurney sees Manetti outside his office and approaches her. She tells him she is not supposed to have contact with him, but all he wants are some office supplies. Manetti guess she can do that much. Coleman is diagramming and making flow charts with lots of lines and boxes using a ruler to make sure everything is just so. McBurney has a bunch of index cards and is sticking them to the window of his office. The two lawyers' styles could not be more different. Up in MTAC the director is watching video of the ongoing interrogation of Bin Atwa. Gibbs comes in and is told that the CIA has taken over the questioning. Gibbs knows they will break him, the question is how long will that take. The director reviews the facts they have, Bin Atwa was the money man and they lost him between Cairo and Nice so they don't know exactly where the transfer of funds took place. Gibbs needs to find out where he was during those 10 days so they can trace the money. The director wants the JAG case wrapped up ASAP so that he can send Gibbs to get the information they need. Gibbs meets Viv on the staircase and sends her back to the FBI to get whatever they have on Bin Atwa and he means everything. Viv says it will take her weeks, Gibbs gives her 2 days. Coleman has brought in Chinese take-out for Harm. She wants to know exactly what happened at Benzinger's. They met in the bar, they fought, she left, he followed her outside, they fought some more, he was in her car, they fought some more. Harm called his brother because he wanted to be there when Sergei was told it wasn't his baby. Harm wanted to look in Singer's eyes because he didn't believe her. Harm didn't tell Gibbs his story because he was protecting Sergei. By the time he realized that Sergei couldn't have done it, because Singer was murdered in January, it was too late, Harm looked guilty. Harm is trusting in Navy justice, not Navy cops. Harm feels there are enough holes in the case to raise reasonable doubt. Coleman reminds him there is enough circumstantial evidence to convict him, including the testimony of Harm's colleagues. Harm says it could be worse. "How?" asks Coleman. Harm could not have an alibi. Coleman looks surprised and hopeful as she asks "You have an alibi?" Those hopes are dashed instantly as Harm replies "No." McBurney is in Abby's lab admiring her wall art. He calls it Martha Stewart on Acid. McBurney notices that the picture of the duodenum is upside down since it is heading north. That's how the body was found, but Abby is impressed that a lawyer would know that. Abby definitely has the date nailed on the airline ticket but she is still working on the cover they found. She has an ID tag and is trying to raise something off of that. She holds it up and points at the blotch of ink, saying she sees a butterfly. All McBurney sees is more work to be done. He wants everything airtight so they can put Harm with Singer on the night she was killed. "Well, duh" Abby says and immediately corrects that to "Definitely." As with everyone of Abby's court appearances, her wardrobe is a problem. McBurney wants her in a suit. And it cannot be a black suit. She must wear her hair down to hide the tat on her neck, and she needs glasses. Abby protests that she doesn't wear glasses, but McBurney wants them. He tells her it isn't about her, it's what he needs to win the case. Abby is starting to clench up and she confesses that she gets very nervous in court with all those military uniforms looking at her. McBurney suggests the old trick of imagining them naked. "Including you?" Abby wonders. McBurney just gives her a grin. Cut to Abby in glasses and a bluish grey suit, with her hair down. McBurney is questioning her about the evidence. Abby's answers are being given twice, once as Abby would normally speak and then she immediately corrects herself to a more formal version of those answers. Abby is talking very fast and giving all the information she has. McBurney stops her and asks her to wait for the question. Abby is trying very hard to be professional, but her true Abby-ness keeps shining through. You cannot question the evidence, though. That's solid. Coleman begins her cross-examination by making it clear that Abby does not need her glasses. The judge suggests that Abby could do without the glasses. Abby pushes them up on the top of her head, brushing her hair out of the way, and exposing the tat on her neck. Coleman comments on it and Abby almost offers to show her more of her body art but catches herself in time. Coleman asks her question using all of Abby's not so professional terminology. "Miss Sciuto, the decedent's body was in the river for months. How can you be sure that your findings regarding the stomach content are accurate. Couldn't the vic have been whacked way later than 2 hours after sucking pretzels at Benzinger's?" Abby responds in kind, explaining how that is not possible. "She got popped and turned popsicle in 2 hours." Despite Abby's claims that they can nail the window pretty tight, Coleman still sees room for reasonable doubt. Viv is back in the NCIS squad room with everything the FBI has on Bin Atwa and it only took a day. However, it isn't what Gibbs wanted. It's just his background. Gibbs wants to know about the man. Viv doesn't see what there is to know beyond the fact that he's a terrorist. Gibbs wants to know what kind of food and wine he enjoys. Viv says he's a Muslim, he doesn't drink. "He eats, he drinks, he cheats. That's how we caught him in Nice." is Gibbs response. Viv is going back to the FBI. Ducky is on the stand. He testifies as to the time of death and the fact that she is pregnant. Singer suffered from a blunt force trauma to the back of the head and numerous fractures as she went over Great Falls. However, that was not the cause of death. She drowned. Singer was definitely alive when she went into the water. Asked if he found anything else, Ducky expounds on the tattoo of a stalking leopard that he found on her left buttock, "majestic, brilliant, I've only ever seen one like it on a tango dancer in Buenos Aires who died of dehydration." And Ducky is off! McBurney tries to rein Ducky in and bring him back to the case at hand, but Ducky says that Lt. Singer wasn't in Buenos Aires. Ducky catches himself and moves on to the metallic sliver found in the wound in the back of Singer's head. On cross, Coleman wonders if Singer's injuries couldn't have been the result of an accident. "Well, the railing is very high. It's quite unlikely. Unless the lieutenant's unconscious body levitated and dropped over the side. I've heard . . ." but Coleman cuts off Ducky's response. Gibbs is back talking to Harm. Gibbs wants to know why Harm didn't call Sergei after he found out about Singer's death. Harm tells him that's what phone booths are for. Gibbs and Harm look eyes and you can see that Gibbs still has questions and is starting to wonder about Harm's guilt. Gibbs is on the stand, testifying as to where they found the body, the car, and the prints in the car. They hit the highlights of why Harm was the suspect, including the fact that Harm was uncooperative during the investigation. Coleman uses her cross to establish that there is no direct evidence against Harm, just circumstantial evidence. Coleman knows that Gibbs asked for Harm's DNA profile, McBurney did not. Gibbs says that his request was denied and Coleman makes a dig "The ACLU still might have a problem." When asked what the purpose was, Gibbs says he "believed at the time" that Harm was the killer and his intent was justice. Harm wants Coleman to pursue something in her cross. He has written a note and wants her to read it, but she is diligently ignoring him. Coleman asks Gibbs if he believes now that Harm is the killer. McBurney objects to the question. Gibbs is directed to answer. "Going with my gut, I'd say no, the commander is not the killer." Outside the courtroom Tony asks Gibbs if he really thinks Harm is innocent. Gibbs does. But Gibbs has to interrogate Bin Atwa. Tony is the ranking team member on the case and it is up to him to take up the investigation. McBurney approaches Gibbs and is upset that he asked about Harm's DNA profile. The request was illegal but Gibbs thinks the law is wrong. McBurney is very unhappy with Gibbs saying he can handle circumstantial cases, but not screw-ups and flip-flopping witnesses. Coleman joins in, thanking Gibbs for his honesty on the stand. She wants the charges dismissed. Right then McBurney's phone rings and it is Abby. Gibbs is not pleased that Abby has contacted McBurney and not him. McBurney invites Coleman to join them in Abby's lab, "You should come and partake of the waters of science." In Abby's lab she is reporting on the cover that was found. There are prints on it, but she hasn't found a match in AFIS yet. She did manage to pull up something from the tag found with the cover and it is in Harm's handwriting. McBurney wants everything in evidence so that the court sees the originals. McBurney doesn't accept Coleman's offer of a dismissal. "If the hat does fit, you can't acquit" says Abby. Coleman and McBurney leave, but Gibbs stays behind. Gibbs tells Abby "good job" but he also warns her not to call anyone but him again. In the NCIS squadroom, Gibbs is on the move. Tony is giving him his flight information and Viv shows up with the personal information on Bin Atwa that Gibbs requested, names of his wives, mistresses, favorite restaurants, wines, etc. Viv wants to go with Gibbs but he tells her no. On board the ship where they are keeping Bin Atwa, Gibbs checks in and meets the CIA agent in charge. The CIA man is concerned that Gibbs is going to give Bin Atwa booze; he doesn't want any impaired testimony being tossed out of court. Gibbs isn't interested in court which puzzles the agent. Back at NCIS headquarters, Tony is standing staring at a map of the Potomac on the plasma as Viv walks in. She wonders what he's doing since that investigation is wrapped up. Tony's not so sure. Things were just too perfect. Harm's cover was found way up stream as opposed to the body. Viv says it got caught up in some branches, so what. Tony isn't convinced. Bud is testifying now. Bud really doesn't want to testify against Harm, but he has to. We see a flashback (from Complications, Season 8, Episode 12 of JAG) of Harm trying to convince Singer to go out to dinner with him. When she tries to walk away, Harm grabs her by the arm to detain her. The question is does Harm often grab junior officers by the arm like that. Bud tries to do minimal damage, but the bottom line is that Harm was angry with her and grabbed her by the arm. Coleman has no questions for him and is busily sharpening her pencil. The NCIS director is in MTAC watching Gibbs interrogate Bin Atwa. Gibbs has provided him with a nice meal and a good bottle of wine and they are having a conversation as if friends about cuisine and good restaurants. It wasn't the food that drew Bin Atwa to Nice, in Nice it's the women. Then Bin Atwa tells Gibbs about a great restaurant in Toulon. Gibbs says he ate there last summer and the food was bad. Perhaps they changed the chef because the food Bin Atwa had there last week was incredible. In MTAC Tony says he knew Gibbs could get it. Viv doesn't understand but the director explains that now they know where the money exchange took place: Toulon. The director turns from the screen and asks Tony and Viv why they're still standing there. "Get on it." Gibbs leaves Bin Atwa and meets the CIA agent in the ship's passageway. Gibbs tells him that Bin Atwa is all his. "What did you get out of him?" "A good restaurant in Toulon." The CIA agent still doesn't get it. Back at court, Coates is on the stand now. She was in the next booth at Benzinger's on the night Harm and Singer had their fight there. Coates testifies that Harm knew Singer was pregnant and Harm thought Sergei was the father. Harm wanted Singer to call Sergei to give him a say in the child's future. Singer told Harm the baby wasn't Sergei's, but Harm didn't believe her. Singer also told Harm that she was putting the baby up for adoption. Singer left and Harm followed her out. On cross, Coleman asked whether Harm had ever displayed anger or threatened Coates or put a hand on her. "No." On redirect, McBurney asked Coates if she had ever seen a man strike a woman in anger. Yes, she saw her father strike her mother. Was Harm that angry at Singer? Coleman objects but is overruled. "Yes, sir" Coates responds reluctantly. Gibbs is still aboard ship in their communications room talking to MTAC. The director is giving Gibbs an update on the money trail. It looks like Gibbs is going to Tunis. NCIS doesn't have any assets in Tunis, but the CIA does. Gibbs isn't concerned about credit. The director says he'll remember that at the next appropriations hearing, but he agrees with Gibbs. It's about stopping the terrorists before they do any damage. Tony and Viv are in Abby's lab talking about the cover. It seems that the cover wasn't out in the elements as long as someone would like them to think. The cover was planted and Gibbs' gut was right. They've got the wrong man. The CIA agent is out on deck as Gibbs comes out of the ship. He tells Gibbs that he loves Naples and if Gibbs is looking for a restaurant . . . Gibbs cuts him off to tell him that a Grey Hall attack is coming out of Tunis. The agent realizes Gibbs needs something, their agents. Once he's assured the CIA will get credit, all complications fall away. Gibbs is informed he has another call and goes back inside. Tony tells Gibbs that the cover was definitely a plant. Also, Sergei has the same blood type as Harm, so he isn't the father either. Going through Singer's credit card history, they discovered she had a standing date on Wednesdays. After checking around, they found a waiter who remembered an argument and they have a sketch. Gibbs tells them to check the JAG security logs and find out how this person got Harm's cover. Gibbs tells Tony to wrap this up, fast, because he needs him in Tunis. "Alone?" asks Tony. "Bring whoever you need" replies Gibbs. Tony, Viv, and McBurney are talking with Harm with Coleman present. Coleman is against it, but Harm has agreed. They tell him his cover was planted and that they did some checking into Singer's love life. Singer was seen having dinner with a sandy haired man, older than Sergei and not at Benzinger's. They checked the security logs and have a suspect. They need Harm to let them know if he had an opportunity to take the cover. Harm picks up the photo of the suspect and we see a flashback (from Fortunate Son, Season 8, Episode 18 of JAG) of someone taking Harm's cover. He did it right in front of Harm. Harm is off the hook. "Tell Gibbs I owe him." Tony is in the interrogation room unpacking evidence onto the table and telling a story about his days on the Baltimore PD. The suspect is Commander Teddy Lindsey. Tony's story is all about a stripper and a gynecologist; Tony apologizes for it sounding so much like a bad joke. Lindsey tells Tony he's really not one for jokes. Tony switches tactics and starts naming off restaurants. Lindsey claims to not know any of them. The transcripts of Lindsey's interviews of JAG personnel show that Lindsey had an unusual interest in Lt. Singer. Lindsey says he was just doing his job. Lindsey cashed a $5,000 check the day Lt. Singer died and he deposited it back in his account the next day. Lindsey demands to know why they were looking at his bank statements and if they had a warrant. Tony assures him he had a warrant. "Did she need cash for an abortion?" Tony asks. "Oh wait, you're a family man." Tony asks if it was hush money. Lindsey wants to know if the joke is over because it wasn't very funny. Tony goes back to telling his story about the stripper and the gynecologist. The gynecologist had the stripper whacked but he couldn't leave well enough alone and planted evidence framing a rival doctor. Tony explains about Harm's cover and how it was supposed to be out in the elements for 4 months but the forensics show it was only outside for 4 weeks. Tony tells him about the security logs and that they know that Lindsey was in Harm's office. Technology has improved so that they can pick up latent prints that a year ago would have gone undetected. Tony always catches the doctors and the lawyers. They overthink. "End of joke" says Tony. Tony tells Lindsey he knows Lindsey knows his Article 31 rights, but Tony just likes to read them. Lindsey interrupts him to tell his side of the story. It was all an accident. She threatened him, his family. They argued, she turned to go, he grabbed her, they struggled she fell. She fell over the railing. He would have called for help except it was too late, the river had taken her away, and he was too scared. Tony points out the small flaws in Lindsey's story, including the fact that she wasn't dead when he threw her over the railing. Oh, and by the way, he isn't the baby's father either. Tony leaves Lindsey sitting in the interrogation room with a completely stunned look on his face. On board the ship, Gibbs and the CIA agent are exchanging information. They have discovered who got the money. Viv and Tony have arrived and they're a little jet-lagged. Tony give Gibbs the final disposition on the JAG case: Lindsey pled out and got 8 years in Leavenworth, they don't know who the baby's father was, and the destination on the airplane ticket was not San Diego, but Shannon, Ireland. They don't know why she was going there but since they got the killer, Gibbs doesn't care. The NCIS director is on the screen telling them about an oceanographic institute in Tunis who just bought a $5 million unmanned underwater submersible and took delivery 58 hours ago in Sorrento. Gibbs asks for a list of all ports with US Naval assets within the 58 hour sailing perimeter from Sorrento. Naples and Cannes are too secure. The 30-year-old fishing boat, the only other asset of the oceanographic institute, can't tow the submersible so Gibbs asks for a list of all research vessels leased in the last year, 90 tons or more. They find it and check to see if they submitted a navigational plan. They did and they're going to Cadiz, which is near Rota. A carrier pulled into Rota this morning on its way home from the Gulf. "How's your Spanish?" Gibbs asks Viv. On board the leased ship, we see the terrorists arming and loading weapons into the submersible. Gibbs and Viv pull up in the truck. Viv has the camera and instructions to take pictures of everyone until they have a match. Gibbs gets out of the truck and starts dealing with a fruit vendor in Spanish. Viv's pictures are being relayed to MTAC where the facial recognition software is searching for a match on Hussan Mohammed. They get a match on the ship's captain. Gibbs loads his fruit in the the truck and tells Tony to move in. Tony gets out of another truck and tries to unload his boxes of fruit. There seems to be some miscommunication because the guards pull guns on Tony to stop him. Gibbs is ready to move the whole team in but Viv can't take her eyes off of Mohammed. Gibbs warns her, but it's too late, she's spooked Mohammed. The team swings into action, Tony taking on the guards, Gibbs jumping over and running onto the ship. Mohammed has come back out of the pilot house armed with an automatic weapon, which he starts firing. The ship is being started as the gun battle wages. Tony has the submersible, but Gibbs wants Mohammed as well. Gibbs shoots him, but not before he arms and drops a grenade. Gibbs falls backwards down the ladder just as the explosion takes out the entire pilate house. Viv and Tony are on the dock, armed and surveilling. We see Gibbs walking through the smoke and dust of the explosion. Gibbs is unharmed, but not happy. "I'm sorry. I almost blew it," Viv tells Gibbs. "Almost?" he responds and walks away from her. "I still like you" Tony tells her. The local authorities are rounding up the rest of the terrorists as the credits roll. |
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| Best Lines: Tony: "Rookie panics, empties a full magazine into the body." Gibbs: "You know what I think DiNozzo?" Tony: "Don't tell me it's a myth man 'cause I was there." Gibbs: "I think you were the rookie |
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| lagatita | Ice Queen and Meltdown | 0 | Jul 23 2009, 7:35 PM EDT by lagatita | ||
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Thread started: Jul 23 2009, 7:35 PM EDT
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Does anyone know where can I find the video online for this peisode (the begining of NCIS - 2003, I have search but video have been removed from the website
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