Donna Kauffman recaps 'NCIS': Another loss for the gang

Finally, we're continuing. Last week we were left hanging in the first of a three-part season finale. Tonight, we pick up where we left off, with an episode titled The Lost Boys.

We open on the bus where our young, misguided terrorist-in-training blew himself up to close last week's episode. McGee and Bishop are on the bus, collecting any evidence they can find. Bishop talks about how getting there 10 minutes sooner might have saved him. McGee thinks even five minutes might have done it. We get an awful eyeful of our blown-up kid. At least we see Gibbs is OK. Bandaged hand, but OK.

Tony asks Gibbs if he thinks the kid was telling the truth about not being the murderer. Gibbs says it's some maniac filling kids' heads with crazy ideas and barks that he wants to get the guy behind it all, and he wants him now. He goes to Ducky, who is looking at the body — more gore, but I get why it's important to the story this time, bringing home exactly what is going on when kids are recruited like that. With the headlines these days, this rings all too true and is, therefore, even more stark. Ducky finds marks on the kid's arm and will investigate.

Meanwhile, Tony is doing crowd control, and Gibbs sees a kid in the crowd who gets his attention. He gives chase, but loses him. Tony catches up, asks Gibbs what he saw, but he says he doesn't know. Cue awesome theme song. I think we're in for a hard night.

Back at HQ, Awesomely Cute Agent Dorneget is about to head into MTAC for his first report, which he will be leading. McGee and Tony give him a bit of a hard time about how scary it is, but Dornie is remarkably calm. He tells them in stressful situations, he adopts an alter ego. In this case, that would be Gilroy Libbs. Heh. He then does the eye scan, enters smooth as you please, surprising both Tony and McGee. Inside MTAC, he reports that he's discovered the cell that is behind the kid recruitment. They are named The Calling. On the screen, we have leaders in Cairo, Paris and Madrid, all contributing their knowledge of the cell.

With Gibbs and Vance next to him, Dornie says The Calling is using all means — games, social media, chat rooms and the like — to recruit kids, and the younger the better. Gibbs adds that younger children don't look dangerous, so are desired recruits. Dornie says the cell casts themselves as underdogs, fighting against their oppressors, and operates much like Peter Pan assembling his troop of Lost Boys. The Paris agent breaks in with news that a Calling operative named Matthew Rousseau has been putting the word out, looking for German S Mines.

Back in Abby Lab, she tells Gibbs they are shrapnel explosives, and whoever is hunting them must have some dark scary friends in order to get them. Gibbs wants to know how to track who is selling them and she says she hoped he had an idea. Then she realizes he does have an idea. He says no, he has a scary friend. Abby gets her kiss on the cheek and off he goes.

We shift to Gibbs' favorite diner, where he is meeting none other than Agah Bayar, who we've met in various episodes dating back to at least 2010. Bayar greets him by saying Gibbs looks as "handsomely tortured as ever" in his deep, rumbling, slightly British voice. Handsomely tortured, indeed. Gibbs in a nutshell. Bayar says he had his heart set on a wine list. Gibbs recommends the fries. Heh. He tells Gibbs to call him Agah, that Gibbs hurt his feelings last time they crossed paths, but he forgives him. Lots of knowing half smiles being shared. Gibbs wants Bayar to find out who is behind the hunt for the S Mines. Bayar says that once he asks those questions, he can't take them back, and won't be responsible for any fallout. Gibbs tells him he'll get a fair deal, paid the same as the last time he worked for the DIA. Bayar smiles and asks, "Are you making a deal with the devil, or am I?" Fade to black and white.

Back from commercial, we're down in Ducky's Digs, with Abby and Abby's "lab jam" music playing. We even get a brief little Ducky boogie. Ha! Abby offers to make Gibbs his own lab jam, but off goes the music, and Abby opts to "dazzle" him instead. She discovered that the marks on the kid's arm were self-drawn, made with a marker. Ducky then brings up the Army specialist and two other Americans who tried to kill the visiting imam (which happened earlier this season.) Army Specialist Randall White killed himself with a 3D-printer-made plastic gun, and our young bus bomber made his bomb with a 3D printer, as well. Ducky thinks they were all recruits of The Calling. Gibbs asks where the other two Americans are who were involved in that aborted killing attempt, and is told one is dead, and the other very much alive in jail. You might recall Sara Goode from earlier this season. Gibbs wants her brought to NCIS for questioning.

We shift to Director Vance's office, where he is telling McGee and Dornie that Interpol is assembling a think tank and he wants McGee and Dornie to represent the U.S. at the next summit in Cairo. Plane leaves in a few hours. Gibbs enters the office as Dornie is all klutzy in his enthusiasm for the new assignment, knocking pens off of Vance's desk. "I should have been more Gilroy Libbs," he murmurs to McGee. "Who is Gilroy Libbs?" Gibbs asks. "No one," says an always adorable Dornie. McGee and Dornie leave, and Vance tells Gibbs that they can't use Bayar, that the DIA is already using him. You can imagine how well that goes over with Gibbs. And you'd be right.

In interrogation, Bishop and Tony are chatting with the still murderous Sara Goode. She is disappointed that they connected her to The Calling. She tells them that it was the same group she joined in Syria, but that they've since splintered off, pushed aside their original religious doctrine, and now only wish to reject authority and paralyze the system. She wants them stopped, too, but won't give up names she knows in case they are young people who have "found their way home." Lovely lass. They show her printouts of the chat rooms and she does point out a screen name: SS Builder 48. She says he is a brilliant engineer, child prodigy, real name Sadiq Samar. His screen name comes from the fact that he is a bomb builder. She tells them, quite chillingly, "If you find him, end him."

We move back to the bullpen and the Screen of All Knowing. We learn that Samar got his master's in engineering at 19, was arrested two years ago in a protest, but that his last known address is now owned by a young married couple. Bishop then gets a hit. She finds a building bought by a guy named Sal Roberts, using funds from Samar's bank account. Off Gibbs, Bishop and Tony go. Place turns out to be worse than a dump, it's essentially uninhabitable, no electricity, and such. Using flashlights, guns out, they find what looks like the bayonet used in the murder, with blood on it, meaning the kid had been telling the truth. They hear a sound, go searching behind a curtain, only to find a young kid with a gun. Gibbs talks calmly to him, much as he did the kid on the bus. This one starts to raise the gun, but Gibbs keeps going closer, still talking to him, and finally takes the gun. Tony tells Bishop to use zip ties on the kid as his wrists are too small for handcuffs.

Now we're in HQ's conference room with Gibbs and latest wannabe terrorist kid, with someone presumably from family services standing in the background. Gibbs asks the kid why he was in the building, notes that his parents reported him missing last night, then asks about Samar. The kid simply looks away. "I don't like to talk either," Gibbs tells him, "but if you don't speak up, I can't help you." Gibbs tells him he can help the kid turn it around. To think for yourself. Make a choice. The kid looks at Gibbs, then chooses to turn away.

Bishop is at the Screen of All Knowing, revealing that Abby confirmed the bayonet was the murder weapon. Tony comments that Samar/Screen Name Builder has added murder to his résumé. We learn the kid with the gun is named Luke Harris, and see a photo of him looking like a happy youngster. Clearly things have changed. He has adoptive parents, who have had him since birth. Luke's actual parents are from Iraq. Abby is on another assignment, so she's given her report to Tony and Bishop to give to Gibbs. Gibbs tells them to get on with it, and Tony, reading the report, starts with the classic Abby-Five-Gibbs. I laugh, Gibbs rolls his eyes. We learn Luke was communicating with Samar on the dark Web, then, per report, Bishop clicks on the big screen and we get a chart showing who is accessing the chat room. Gibbs tells them to "skip to the part I care about," which makes them laugh, as they show Gibbs that Abby has typed the report like a script and has Gibbs saying that exact line, word for word. (The levity is a welcome respite, and, I fear, will make only brief appearances in these season-ending eps.) Bishop clicks the screen and we go to chat room dialogue that shows Luke found out about the bus bombing from Builder and that's why he was there. They also learn Luke was told to go to that building where Gibbs and company found him to wait for "his brothers." Bishop realizes this means that Luke likely knows exactly how to contact Samar/Builder.

Back in Abby Lab, she has Poppy the Parasol in her hand, but detours from that topic to tell Gibbs about her friend Emilio with the perfectly symmetrical features, who works for a historical society and has access to all kinds of historical documents. One of which is the blueprint of the plans for the building that Samar bought. It has a hidden bunker in it, which would make a great storage room. She twirls her parasol, the one she always takes with her when she leaves the building, and Gibbs correctly guesses she'd like to go investigate the secret room. We get a brief smile from Gibbs and the chance to bask in the glow of their adorable relationship for a moment.

Then we're whisked away to Cairo, where Dornie and McGee have arrived at the summit hotel. Dornie surprises McGee by speaking in Arabic — something he picked up on the plane — but we shift almost immediately to them meeting the Paris agent from before, who has managed to capture Rousseau, the guy who was trying to stockpile the S Mines. He was captured in Bordeaux and is on an aircraft carrier being transported to the U.S. for questioning as a suspect in the bombing of a post office in 2005. She comments that he will need an escort and that said escort will likely get first dibs on questioning him. McGee already has his phone out, volunteering for the job.

Back in Samar's building with Tony, Bishop and Abby, as Abby waits impatiently for Tony to bust his way into the secret room. Tony goes in first, clears the room, then she comes in. They find shrapnel embedded everywhere and blown apart dummies. Abby says they blew up two of the S Mines, and that a scrap of paper they find shows that Samar is trying to figure out how to link the bombs together to make one huge bomb. Meaning he likely already has more of the S Mines stockpiled somewhere.

We shift to Gibbs talking to Luke's adoptive parents, who tell him that Luke's troubles started two years ago, almost overnight. Kids in school found out he was Middle Eastern and started bullying him. Dad was concerned enough that he looked on Luke's laptop, saw who he was talking to, found that Samar was telling him he was paying the price for pretending to be an American. He said he came home from school early the day he went missing because kids sprayed stuff on his locker. They didn't realize he wasn't in his room. They said he wrecked his room before leaving, the police had already processed it, but they had found some things under the bed that were missed. Gibbs asked them what Luke was like before he changed, so he would know what to look for. His mom just wants her son back, the son she had before he changed.

Cut to Gibbs at his home, with Luke. It's dark out, they are having cereal for dinner. He makes small talk, tells Luke he's not good with pancakes. Luke asks him if this is his house, then wants to know why Gibbs would bring him there when he almost shot him. "Did you?" Gibbs asks, sounding doubtful, then adds, "Lots of people who wanted to shoot me have been in this house." Heh. Great line. So true. Then he shifts and gets serious, telling Luke if he's not going to eat, the milk goes back in the fridge. Gibbs walks to the kitchen, opens the fridge, then barks that he's not going to ask again. Luke does as he's told. Then Gibbs surprises us all, or at least me, anyway, and talks about his daughter, Kelly. He tells Luke he had a daughter who sat where he'd sat at the table. He tells him how she took his pocket knife from him once, even though she knew it wasn't a toy. She climbed up on the counter and carved her initials in the cabinet, which he shows to Luke. He tells Luke she lost his pocket knife, too. Luke asks what happened and Gibbs tells him he scolded her, grounded her. Then he forgave her. Luke loses it, screams, "I'm nothing! Everyone hates me!" He runs for the back door, but Gibbs catches him. Luke cries, "Kill me, that's what they want, that's what I want!" Fade to black and white.

Is the pacing relentless or what? Now we're in the conference room, with Vance showing a clip on how six S Mines can be linked together, encrypted via Wi-Fi, and set off with a laser trip wire. Gibbs tells him Luke is back in holding and Vance wants him to get Luke to tell them how to contact Samar. Gibbs says it will take time, but Vance counters that they have no time. Samar is stockpiling the mines and they need every lead followed. Gibbs wants Bayar back and says he found out Bayar's mother is living nearby, so they can use their knowledge of her to blackmail into helping them and the heck with the DIA. They'll never know. Vance isn't happy with that, but, in the end, tells Gibbs to just "not get caught." Gibbs sends Bishop and Tony to meet with Bayar. He tells Tony that Bayar will not like him, and to let Bishop lead the talk.

We're in the diner once again, and, true to Gibbs prediction, Bayar only has eyes for Bishop, who is regarding him with a steady frown, despite his asking her to call him Agah. She simply says, "We're here to discuss your mother." That turns Bayar's smile upside down. He says they had an agreement, but figures out the DIA quashed that. He explains to them that he already looked into the S Mines. He says, "My mother is flawed, but my own, and if you ever threaten her again, my response won't be civil." He then tells them he'll help them and would have even without blackmail or payment. "Women and children — an absolute rule we always agree upon. When babies are used in the wars of men, God help us all." (He delivers every line so well. Can we have that voice on the show more often please? Just sayin'.)

Back in Ducky's Digs, he's trying to profile the second manipulated boy in two days. He tells Gibbs that every young person is prone to rebellion, and that The Calling twists that rebellion into terror. Gibbs needs to reach Luke and Ducky gives him a handbook he found in this box of things the parents found. It's from Samar, essentially a recruitment guide, detailing that loyalty means giving up your old life, condemning those not in line with The Calling, especially those closest to you. Like his parents, Gibbs says. Ducky gives him a notebook with a letter that Luke started to his parents. He says it's very ugly, but that the important thing is, he didn't finish it He couldn't finish it. Ducky says the darkness is undeniable, but beneath it all is a child who still loves his parents.

Back in the conference room, Gibbs tosses the notebook with the letter to Luke. He asks them if he wants to finish it before he gives it to his parents. Luke finally falls apart, doesn't want them to see it, says he doesn't want to hurt them. You can see Gibbs' eyes are a little glassy, even as hard and flinty as they are. It's breaking his heart, watching what they've done to this kid. He asks Luke how they can contact Samar.

Because the pedal is to the metal in this episode, we go right to Abby Lab where she is telling Bishop that Luke talked to Gibbs, said he was in the building to meet his "brothers." Samar feared they'd track him down after the bus bomb, so he cleared out everyone else, but left Luke behind, who was supposed to kill whoever came in. Abby finds Samar's latest chat room online and sees that Samar knows that Luke didn't do his job. He considers Luke a traitor, which means he is in danger.

Gibbs is presently taking him to see his parents, which he agreed to do if Luke talked to him. As they pull in, he sees the front door open, tells Luke to stay in the car. He goes into the house as the soundtrack switches to rammer jammer music and we know this is not going to go well. As it happens, it goes about as tragically as it could. Both of Luke's parents have been killed, which Luke sees as he comes into the house behind Gibbs. Gibbs grabs him, even as he screams for his mom and his dad, and drags him out.

Seriously, we don't get to breathe in this episode.

We don't even have time to process what kind of number that just did on Luke, because we're already on the aircraft carrier, with McGee talking to Rousseau. He claims to know nothing about the mines, so McGee gets up to leave, insults Rousseau saying he didn't know he was just a lackey, not a leader. Rousseau smiles, says when throwing a big party, it's discussed over many lines, and you can't keep everything secret. Then he says, "You left the party today to come talk to me. Sorry you will miss all the fun." McGee immediately starts banging on the bars to be let out. We switch to Dornie as he takes the call from McGee. He is outside the hotel in Cairo, and when McGee tells him the hotel is rigged, he immediately starts to evacuate everyone. He's doing a good job, then looks up the stone steps at a young man who is just standing there, smiling. He sees him light up the laser trip wire at the bottom of the steps. Another man races out of the building, fleeing, and before Dornie can stop him, he trips the wire. S Mines buried in planters all around the hotel grounds blow up. Shrapnel everywhere. Dornie is hit multiple times, falls to the ground, smoke billows upward, and then it's all over. Dornie is dead.

I'm out of breath and I'm just sitting here.

Back at HQ we've got bombing news on several screens. We hear it happened now 40 minutes ago. Tony and Bishop are trying to get an update on Dornie and we hear he was taken to a hospital. So, not dead? That would be wonderful if true, but I don't think so. Gibbs enters and hands off Luke to special services, telling them Luke needs someone with him every minute. We learn that Rousseau is coming to the U.S., but McGee has gone back to the hotel in Cairo for follow-up. Gibbs is demanding answers the team doesn't have. He blows up, slams his desk, just as Bishop gets confirmation. Agent Ned Dorneget didn't make it after all. He is dead. Silence.

Bayar wants to meet, has info, so Tony and Bishop go to him. It's dark, Tony is telling Bayar that Bishop is on the phone and he'll have to talk to him. When Bayar stalls, Tony loses patience, says it hasn't been a good day, he knows Bayar doesn't like him, but he needs to get over it so they can move on. Bayar smiles, says, "Two shining stallions in one tiny area, the world's stables are knocked off balance." (Seriously, only this guy can make dialogue like that work — and, boy, he works it so well.) He has identified three people buying up the mines. He tells them that Cairo was a test run. They are planning a coordinated attack to go off in major cities worldwide. Tony wants more, but Bayar says pro bono only feels good for so long … right as a black SUV careens around the corner and opens fire. Bayar is hit, Bishop ducks down with him as Tony returns fire, then calls for an ambulance.

We leap to Vance and Gibbs and learn Bayar is in surgery, prognosis good. While Vance talks, Gibbs sees a pen still lying on the floor, half under Vance's desk, one that Dornie knocked over earlier. Vance notices his distraction, tell Gibbs, "I need you with me." Gibbs says, "I'm here," and Vance tells him that SecNav reported to him that Dornie was the one who started the last-minute evacuation and saved a lot of lives by doing so. Vance smiles and says, "He would have wanted you to know that." Gibbs asks about Dornie's family and finds out he only has a mother, who was traveling overseas, but is heading home. Gibbs asks if there is anything they can do for her, and is told she won't make it back in time to meet the plane carrying her son's body. Gibbs tells Vance that they'll meet the plane, then reaches down and gets the pen off the floor, and tucks it in his pocket.

We shift to the tarmac as the flag-draped coffin is being carried off the plane. The entire team is there. Ducky quotes FDR: "We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can build our youths for the future." Gibbs, with a bit of red rimming his eyes, looks past the casket, sees Dornie on the tarmac, along with a row of others, the images shimmering. They're gone a moment later. Gibbs' expression is bleak. They cover their hearts as the flag is raised and marched by. Then an SUV rolls up, and it's Dornie's mother, played by none other than Mimi Rogers. So, this isn't some walk-on role then.

She walks to the casket, lays her hand on the flag, then crosses to Vance, who shakes her hand. He introduces her to Gibbs as CIA officer Joanna Teague, aka Dornie's mom. She tells Vance that Ned would have appreciated all the pomp and circumstance, then looks at Gibbs and says, "My son is dead and his killers are still out there. I'd say we have some work to do."

To be continued.

Now breathe.

Not so easy to do, I know. There is no right way to segue into the whole "woo hoo, it's giveaway time!" segment of our weekly recap. Yep, it's just a TV show, but what they are fictionalizing here rings all too true with what is going on in the world today. Well done, Gary Glasberg, well done. (But did it have to be Dornie? Sob.)

OK. Dabbing eyes. A sincere thanks to all for the enthusiasm for my upcoming release, Sea Glass Sunrise, out on May 26. Winner of the signed advance copy is Deb Carter! Deb, drop me an e-mail to dmkauffman1@gmail.com with an address and your prize will go right out to you.

Only one episode to go! And one giveaway to give. I've got one last advance copy of Sea Glass Sunrise to hand out. Want it? Drop me an e-mail to dmkauffman1@gmail.com with "I need something to smile about. Because that's how we win" in the subject line. I'll draw one name from the stack and announce the winner here next week, at the end of what promises to be one hell of a finish to a very good season.

In the meantime, drop by my Facebook Fan Page for all the day-to-day goings-on. More giveaways, and the like. Until next week … breathe.