'NCIS' season 12: Donna Kauffman recaps episode 6

Our fabulous Season 12 continues! So let's get straight to our Murder of the Week, shall we? We open on a street Somewhere in the D.C. Suburbs, USA, with two youngsters bantering about Halloween costumes (btw, go, Youngster Girl, with your Harry Potter costume!). Dad and Youngster Boy escort YG to her door, then continue on, only for Dad to double back on hearing YG scream. He runs inside her house … and finds our YG sitting in every child's worst nightmare, next to the lifeless body of her mom. Yeah. Just when you think NCIS can't possibly find a new way to reach down into your gut and give it a good yank, they do.

Cue awesome opening theme song and credits … and instead of being right at the crime scene, we're opening in the Very Special Agent Bullpen with Tony entering to an argument between Bishop and McGee. Oooh, it's our Halloween Special Episode, which means party at Abby's place! Bishop was thinking about ditching the costume portion of the festivities, a plan of action both Tony and McGee immediately disabuse her of taking. Then Tony waxes all Faux Lonely Guy as he ruminates that he would be the only one attending Minus One instead of Plus One. Which is when we learn that he's been something of a dating machine over the previous fortnight or three, dating six different women, by Bishop's count, in the past month alone. "I'm back, baby," Tony says, grinning. Only … I don't think he's grinning on the inside. You? Right on schedule, Gibbs interrupts with news of the murder, and off we go to the crime scene.

As our trio of trusty agents enters the house, Bishop is trying to find Tony a date amongst the rank and file, only apparently he's fished the NCIS pond pretty dry. We shift to Ducky with Poor Dead Mom. Ducky informs Gibbs she died from a single GSW to the back. (Look at me, all hipster cop's daughter. GSW = Gun Shot Wound. See, now you can be all pretend hipster cop's daughter, too. Thanks, Dad!) Died between midnight and two in the morning, which makes me wonder why YG didn't see her in the morning when she left for school, only now I recall the sleeping bag she had with her … so guess she was sleepovering with Dad and YB. No forced entry, no murder weapon, nothing taken. Doesn't look like a burglary gone horribly wrong. Turns out PDM is a doctor, wife to a Navy commander.

Indeed, it turns out, according to YB's dad, that YG was sleepovering with his son, a fellow classmate of YG's, because PDM had to work late. He says her dad wasn't around much and wonders what will happen to her now. We shift to YG, sitting in her fort out back, blood on her clothes and hands, dry-eyed, which is how Gibbs finds her. A more poignant setup they couldn't possibly conjure, given Gibbs' own past. She asks if Gibbs has found her dad, then begs him not to make her leave, saying that her fort is her safe place, that nothing bad can happen to her there if they come back. Gibbs naturally wants to know who they are. "The people trying to kill my dad," says our 10-year-old YG, dry-eyed and as serious as it's possible to be. Picture Gibbs' compassionate face as we go to black and white.

Back at the Very Special Agent Bullpen, Bishop is running through her couples Halloween costume ideas, all of which get shot down by Tony, who wants her to step out of her "preppy librarian, hot-for-teacher comfort zone." Heh. They offer up choices, which she glares into submission. Gibbs enters and we all scoot over to the Screen of All Knowing, where Bishop gives us the info dump on PDM and Commander Daddy. No one has any knowledge of her having personal issues, but turns out Commander Daddy was part of the team who took down last season's Big Bad, Benham Parsa. Turns out that the team's info was leaked and now they're all on a terrorist jihad hit list. He's currently in off-the-grid training but has been notified and called back home. Gibbs wants his crew to dig into the website where the jihad list was posted, find out who owns it, runs it, then goes to see YG, who is parentless at the moment, and with a social services worker in the NCIS conference room.

We, however, go to the Halloween-tricked-out Abby Lab. McGee has tracked the website host to Algeria, who won't give them anything, but Abs saves the day by cracking the mainframe and finding out that the original coding was sent from an IP address in Silver Spring, Maryland. (Home to my late grandmama, so get it right, writers!) Webmaster was dishonorably discharged from the Army and gone to the disgruntled and disenfranchised dark side. They decide to infiltrate the message boards on the site to set up a meet with the site master, prompting McGee to instantly come up with a full-on wannabe terrorist persona. Remember, he's the mystery writer, so makes sense he'd pull that out of his, um, hat. To our collective glee, Abby sadly informs Timmy that no way is he a mercenary named Dylan, so HA! Bishop comes up with his disgruntled IT potential-jihadist profile, and we're off!

Now we get to the conference room, which appears to be empty when Gibbs comes in with two cups of hot chocolate and two bags of popcorn. He sits and tears into a bag, then invites YG to come out from her new fort, under the conference table. We're relieved to see she's been scrubbed clean as she sits and accepts his popcorn invite. She tells him he doesn't look like the hot chocolate type (heh) and he tells her about his mom's awesome hot chocolate, with cinnamon as the secret ingredient. He shares that he lost his mom when he was about the same age as YG and how it's natural to want to be strong, but it's OK to be sad. She says she's not sad, she's mad. Gibbs says it wasn't her mom's fault, but YG insists that it was, that Commander Daddy trained them on what to do if the Bad Men ever came back. She swears she was on alert and didn't see anything suspicious and Gibbs assures her she did good. She wants her dad and she wants to go back to her fort, to her safe place. Gibbs tosses a blanket over the conference table and tells her they'll build her a new fort, a new safe place. Together. Aww. He promises nothing bad will happen to her. "Do you keep your promises?" YG wants to know. "Always," he assures her. We're seeing all the best of Gibbs this season. I'm a big fan of that.

Down at Ducky's, Tony is in for an update on PDM. We learn she died instantly, but Ducky has found a fractured cheekbone and eye socket injury, dating back at least 10 years. No record of it in her medical history. Bishop comes in to tell Tony that they got the meeting with the Webmaster. Tony lights up at the thought of undercover work, and the next we see is the two of them at the meeting place — a park — doing yoga, led quite proficiently by Tony. Yes, you read that right. Amusing Tim-Tony banter ensues, while Gibbs, parked at a nearby picnic bench, points out their target entering the park. Tony continues his soft yoga commands with "and lower to the weapon." Heh. They pull their guns from under their yoga mats and wait until McGee opens the bag he's carrying for the Webmaster, then they move in, guns drawn, Which is when "Flo Jo," as Tony later calls her, flies in and tackles McGee to the ground as Webmaster also raises his gun. Flo Jo gets up, hears Tony and pauses. "Spider?" To which Tony responds, "Keates?" Turns out they know each other from their Philly PD days. Can I just say that while I love that they're taking Tony back into the world of romance, I'm also very relieved to see that we're not going to be sticking with Agent SAP from a few weeks back as The Love Interest. I'm already seeing sparks here, and we just said hello. Hello! Turns out she's now Special Agent Zoe Keates with the ATF. "Now, you want to get that gun out of my face and come give me a hug?" In fact, I do! Gibbs, however, has other plans that include nobody moving until he says so. Turns out the Webmaster is another ATF agent, and Keates is actually the Webmaster they came to see. Or was playing one on TV, anyway.

Back from commercial, we find out that Keates was after the real Webmaster for recruiting guys who like to blow things up. She also lets them know he can't be the guy they want for their murder, as they actually already have the Webmaster in custody. They kept it on the down low as they continued to keep his site up and running, hoping to use it to gather intel and round up anybody else they deemed a threat. Bishop wants to know why they kept the hit list up on the Parsa take-out team and she claims for authenticity, that if any of the guys or their fams were in danger, she'd have stepped in. Gibbs is all, "You missed your cue," and she's all, "Listen, John Wayne," as she launches into her own defense. Seriously, she needs to stay. Much to Gibbs' low-key amusement and Tony's stumbling effort to back her off. Gibbs asks her professional opinion on the PDM hit, and she tells him it's not a terrorist. "Your murder's too quiet," she tells him, thinking he's going down the wrong path as his phone rings. "I agree," he says, as he takes the call and walks off.

This leaves Keates, McGee, Bishop and "Spider" to banter a bit. Turns out, Tony and Keates were rookie cops together, briefly, before he headed to Baltimore. The Spider nickname came from the movie Goodfellas and wasn't a flattering one. "It's a wonder I didn't stay," he says, wry grin firmly in place. Add in her remark about his challenges with commitment, oooh, we're just getting right into it here. Gibbs rounds them up, leaving Tony and Keates in a stare-off, then he flips up her badge, lets it drop. "It's a good look on you, Keates," he says, as he walks away. Oh, yeah, we're SO not done with that storyline yet.

We jump from steam heat to cold morgue as Commander Daddy has returned and is being shown his dead wife for confirmation. Wow, Show. Nothing like letting us have even a puff off the proverbial cigarette before lowering the buzzkill. Gibbs is sorry for his loss as Commander D slams hands on table and tries to keep it together. He talks about putting himself in danger, but not his family. Gibbs thinks it might not be his life that did this to her, but something in hers. Commander D is surprised by this and can't imagine what or who would want to kill his wife. He admits to being a good SEAL but lousy husband and father given he's away 10 months of the year, then, jaw clenched, tells Gibbs to catch the baddie before he does. Gibbs quietly tells him that his focus needs to be on his daughter, let them catch the killer. Wise words. Will Commander D listen?

We shift to Abby Lab and Abs tossing McGee an aromatherapy heating pad. At his questioning look, she says, "I heard Tony's blast from the past took you down pretty hard." Ha! Not a Dylan indeed. He asks about the dummies they have set up, but rather than be for the case, Abby is actually re-enacting the park scene with Tony and Keates, and is thinking there is something important there. McGee has to agree, saying that while Tony has never mentioned her, he'd never seen him act that way with anyone but … and he drifts off, as we fill in, "Ziva." I knew it! SAP was such a red romance herring. Too obvious. Abby encourages Bishop and McGee to nudge Tony in Keates' direction, then we're back on the case, and the bullet fragments from PDM. Abby is all gleaming scientist girl as she imagines putting the pieces back together and running a ballistics match on it.

We cut to the lobby as Gibbs escorts Commander D and YG to the elevator. He asks YG if she wants her fort, and she leans into her dad and shakes her head. She has him, that's all she needs. Gibbs smiles, and our hearts go out a little, as we think about the daughter he no longer has. "A promise is a promise," he tells her as the doors slide closed and they wave goodbye.

Back in the bullpen, we find out that Tony has tracked down who was responsible for PDM's facial fractures. Turns out, it was a serial killer cannibal who, as Tony puts it, could make Hannibal Lecter shake in his straitjacket. Turns out that PDM was a forensic psychiatrist at the place where this Hannibal was incarcerated for his pretrial eval. He got loose and almost killed her. Currently, he's serving a life sentence, so not our guy. Or is he? He's still incarcerated in a psych ward, but turns out PDM went to see him two weeks prior. This after cutting off all communication with him after the attack 15 years ago. Gibbs and Tony decide to pay him a visit. He's all smarmy cuckoo and after Tony introduces himself, smiles and says, "Well, I do love Italian." Cree-pee! Gibbs shows him his badge, and from this, Hannibal is all, "Oh, did she die?" He assumes they are talking about PDM, which naturally makes them — and us — wonder how he put that two plus nothing together.

After telling the pair how much he respected her and would never have hurt her — his attack on her was to help his insanity plea, you see — he explains that PDM came to see him to ask him some questions as she was concerned that a current patient was exhibiting certain behaviors that she'd seen in her work with him. We spend a few more seriously slimy moments with Hannibal, and learn she was working with a probable sociopath who likely saw her talk with Hannibal as a betrayal and killed her to keep her from telling anyone what she thought she knew about her patient. Hannibal doesn't know the patient's name, but reveals PDM was scared. "More scared than she ever was with me."

We return to the Very Special Agent Bullpen where Bishop and McGee are cross-eyed from poring over PDM's patient files and not finding anything. Bishop claims that the source wasn't exactly reliable, only to be contradicted by the entering Keates, who is carrying the elixir of life on NCIS … a tray of coffee. She tells them some of her best informants are also the scummiest folks on the planet. She also confirms that her contacts have no chatter on the terrorist front and McGee concurs, and they bring her up to speed on their new path, including the six patients they currently have on the list they're compiling. These would be the ones with any past or potential future dangerous activity listed in their chart. All have alibis. Keates warns them to focus on the under-the-radar types. "The quietest mouse always gets the cheese." Now … a little aside here. Oftentimes the folks who discover the dead body in the opening are never seen or heard from again. But is anyone else starting to wonder about Sleepover Daddy? He's a new neighbor of a few months, just started to be in her orbit when their kids ended up in the same class. Just sayin' … Could be totally off base, but … who else have we met in her life?

In the meantime, working on the Get Tony A Girlfriend front, Bishop tries to get some personal info from Keates, who mistakes it for a personal come-on. Heh. Then we go to Abby Lab where she quarantines Tony in her lab and hugs him. She tells him to remember that hug, then dives into The Talk. The one they've never had since Ziva left. Tony's not keen on having it now, either, but Abby presses. She says she sees past the happy guy façade, prompting Tony to go all Patented Tony Happy Guy to prove her wrong, which she ends with a Gibbs head slap. HA! But things get serious when she tells him that they all see through his Random Acts of Dating, they know he's lonely. She says it's because of Ziva — a name no one has uttered on this show this season — and prompts him to say it. He dodges, she pushes, and he finally says it. Then he assures her he has moved on, that he has dealt with it. "She said no. She didn't want to come back. That's that. I have moved on from it." And Abby says he hasn't moved on from her, that he can't put his life on hold for her, that she won't be coming back. He says he knows, smiles, but that it doesn't make it any easier. "The truth is, I miss my friend." Aww. Abs reminds him he has friends right there, and he acknowledges that, just as her computer beeps that it's found a match to her reconstructed bullet. Aaaaand, bonus round to the writer! Ding ding ding, it's the neighbor!

We cut to interrogation with Gibbs and McGee and Sleepover Daddy, who is indignant that it wasn't him. "Well, it was your gun." He says he hasn't seen the gun in over a year, that he hadn't since the day he left the courthouse from his divorce. We hear that the "accidental discharge inside a private home" that put his gun and bullet in the system was no accident. Sleepover Daddy attempted to kill himself but the gun misfired. He went to PDM for help, but because they were friends, she set him up with a colleague of hers instead. Hmm … not looking like the neighbor. So …? He didn't trust himself with the gun, so it was actually being stored at PDM's house, in Commander D's safe. He'd forgotten all about it. McGee pumps him, saying maybe he'd also forgotten the heated exchange he and PDM had a few weeks ago and he tells them he saw bruises on YG and was trying to get her to talk to him about whatever was going on between her and Commander D. Apparently PDM had been uptight about the times when Commander Daddy was home with YG. Ruh roh. So were the sociopath signs she was seeing in her own husband? Is that why they aren't finding it in her patient files? And oh, by the way, guess where YG is righthisverysecond!! You promised, Gibbs!

Bishop pulls Gibbs out of the room to tell him that they've actually found a window of time unaccounted for during Commander D's off-the-grid training stint. Also, turns out he wasn't that off the grid. In fact, the forest where they were training was a mere 12 miles from home. Well, crap. Now, we have to rush to save YG and all, that's coming, but what's also coming is she's about to lose both of her parents. Leave my gut alone, Show!

Tony and Bishop go to the hotel to bring in Commander D and there's an amusing moment where Tony lets Bishop "take the door," which she tries to kick in, only he reminds her of the key card they gave her at the front desk. "G.I. Jane." Ha, but would you hurry up and get YG back already? I want my gut back. Big Bang Theory is playing, but nobody is home. Doesn't look like they ever were. Because of course he's all off-the-grid Commander SEAL Daddy and this wasn't going to be that easy now, was it?

We're back in the Special Agent Bullpen, trying to track Commander D and eventually do so by getting a ping from YG's cell phone. They are at a rest stop on 95, which is where we go to, as do Gibbs and Company, who approach, guns drawn, toward Commander D who is seated at an outside table, arm around his crying daughter. A daughter who will need serious help moving on from all this. Yowza. But first, we need to save her from Commander Sociopath Daddy. Surprisingly, he stands, moves his gun away, and puts his hands behind his head. He admits to killing his wife, cries as he apologies to his crying daughter, now safely with Bishop. Yeah. This is all way too easy. I mean, when I said I wanted my gut back, I expected a few more hard tugs first. I know. I'm fickle like that.

I also note we still have a chunk of show left to watch, so … where are we headed now? Back to Ducky's lab, as it turns out, where he and Gibbs have an after-hours chat. About YG's long history of injuries suffered from abuse. And … oooh, boy. You know, this occurred to me back when we talked about Sleepover Dad, but I was all, noooo, it couldn't be. So … could it be? Did Commander D just take the fall for his daughter? Really? Except she ran in the house to find her mom dead and screamed … which she could have done earlier and faked the scream, but dayum. Even for a sociopath, she's 10 years old, for goodness sake. In comparing charts, they figure out that the abuser couldn't have been dear old Commander Daddy. Which means PDM was the culprit there? Might explain dry-eyed daughter in the fort shortly afterward, but … I dunno.

So … here we go. Gibbs and YG in interrogation. Aw, Show, this isn't where either we or Gibbs needs to be. I was liking the direction we were taking this season. Don't torture Daddy Gibbs like this. Pretty chilling performance by YG, I must say. Turns out, PDM wanted to put YG in a facility to get help. A word she hates, saying her mom made her feel broken. And all those injuries? YG did that to herself so her father would come home. She was hoping to frame her mom to get her out of the picture before she could send YG away, only that wasn't working, so, well, you know what happened. All of this is being observed behind the glass by Commander D. OK, OK, so consider my gut twisted! I'll never doubt you again, Show. Never! But please, make Creepy YG stop. We end that scene with Gibbs staring her down and … yeah. Shudder!

Fortunately, we're not going to end on that note. Oh thank goodness for some Very Special Agent Frivolity. Back in the Bullpen, Tony has on a tux as McGee enters and becomes immediately incensed. Apparently Tony was supposed to be going to Abby's party as Batman. Tony says he is, as Bruce Wayne. McGee waves his Robin costume, not amused. "I'll be the only one at the party in spandex." Turns out, not so much. Enter Bishop, fully decked out in her finest Sandy from Grease getup, and wow … she's very, uh, gotten up.

Exit McGee and Bishop, while Tony slips back behind his desk. He opens the drawer to take out his watch, then pauses to look at the Star of David on a chain, folded carefully on a velvet box in the same drawer. The one from Ziva. He frowns as he picks it up, and we're not sure if he's surprised to find it there, or just that it's out of the velvet box, or … what, exactly. But he puts it back as Keates comes in. She takes a second look at him. "Rough day?" He holds her gaze, then says, "Rough year." He tells her it's a long story, she says she has time. He deflects with wanting to know why she'd been in D.C. for five years without a single call. She reminds him that she had no idea where he went. That he was there on the beat with her one day, then poof, gone the next. He tells her it wasn't her, and she nods, knowing that. "I never faulted you. You needed to find your own way." Then adds, "But I deserved better." Don't we all, sister girlfriend. Don't we all. Tony nods, agrees, and sincerely apologizes. She says she's glad he'd found what he was looking for. When asked if she has, she says she's still a work in progress. "Aren't we all," Tony replies. Indeed, Batman. Indeed.

We end with the two heading out for a walk and a talk. "You clean up nicely, Spider," she tells him as they step into the elevator. "Any chance we can leave that nickname in the past?" She smiles. "None whatsoever." Yeah. We like her. "Just like old times," he says, then gives her a jaunty back kick to the rear as the doors close.

Nicely done, Show. Very nicely done.

Deep sigh. So, our Mark Harmon Moment might be over for the week, but we still have our Recap Giveaway winners to announce! Last week I put audiobooks of each my current Bachelors of Blueberry Cove series up for grabs. Thank you for all the great notes and the enthusiasm for my "other job" as an author. Winners this week are: For Pelican Point, come on down, Charlene Ashton! Half Moon Harbor goes out to Debbie Kitzke! And the audiobook of Sandpiper Island goes out to Sharon Sommer! Drop an e-mail to donna@donnakauffman.com and I'll send instructions on how to get your free audiobook!

Let's keep the good times rolling with the swag we've got going out this week! How about a copy of my current release, Sandpiper Island,?? along with a beautiful bookmark charm designed exclusively for the Blueberry Cove series by the talented Joyce Taber of The Cotton Thistle. I know! She's amazing. There's a full collection of Blueberry Cove goodies at her shop. Check it out!) Want to win this goodie and a signed copy of the book it was designed for? Drop an e-mail to donna@donnakauffman.com with "Sandpiper Island & Bookmark Charm? Pick me!" in the subject line. I'll announce THREE winners right here in the next recap, which is two weeks from now! Boo! Don't forget to check back to see if it's your name up in digital lights.

In the meantime, drop by my Facebook Fan Page for the daily frivolity and additional chances to win some swag! Want to know more about my books? Check out my website, www.donnakauffman.com.