NCIS- is Gibbs Dead?

Bullets flying, bodies dragged up from the water, and it's straight into a life and death episode that leaves Gibbs dead on the dock. Or is he? Not if Tony has anything to say about it.

The episode jolts back to twenty four hours earlier where Gibbs finds a friend from the past waiting to talk to him, or rather a friend of his daughters, Kelly. A young woman, Maddie Tyler, with more than a few problems in the form of a 'crazy' guy. Uncertain of where to turn she looks at Gibbs for help. Sgt Hass, a Marine fresh back from Iraq who won't leave a woman alone and apparently won't take no for an answer. The sight of the bruises on Maddie's arm is enough to persuade Gibbs to return with her to her apartment where he can talk to the Marine where he has no problem in putting the scare on the Marine. But is all as it appears to be?

With the Marine gone Gibbs joins Maddie for coffee in her apartment and a photo album brings back memories of his now dead daughter, Kelly. Sharing the memories with Maddie about his daughter allowed the audience, for a brief moment, to see into the other side of Gibbs, the father who lost his daughter far too early. A side he would otherwise keep buried. But when he leaves the apartment the Marine is still there, on the phone in his car and drives away when he sees Gibbs.

When Gibbs returns to NCIS he orders a background check on the Marine, but the early check comes back clean, adding further confusion to the situation. Just why is he so focused on Maddie, and what is going on?

The talk with Maddie allowed Gibbs a glimpse into the past, one that he follows up on by returning to his home and digging up a small child's suitcase that his daughter buried. Something he hadn't even known about until Maddie told him. Though no age is given to Kelly in this episode she was, at a rough guess, barely more than 9 or 10 when she died. And it's made clear that she died whilst Gibbs was away on a tour of duty. As he sits holding the case the memories of the last time that he saw his daughter return, leaving him shaken and on the verge of crying. What father wouldn't be upset by the fact he lost his child at such a young age.

But Maddie's call for help pulls him out of his memories, and a mad dash to the young woman's apartment has him arriving moments too late. From the upstairs window he witnesses Maddie being pushed into a car by what appears to be Sgt Hass who has been, according to Maddie, stalking her.

He hurries back to NCIS and puts the crew to work. The Marine, Sgt Hass has been assigned to Quantico as a trainer, but hasn't checked in yet, and the team is left scrambling, trying to track him down. But without a clear view Gibbs can't even identify Sgt Hass clearly. He can only identify the car. Background checks show that Hass was possibly being headhunted by a security firm and Gibbs goes to investigate further. Hass turned down the job, even at $1000 a day he turned down the job.

Further investigations trace back to a building, a factory, where Hass worked prior to being a marine. The calls all trace back to that location, but the business is no longer there. As the team go in, flies, far more than there should be, give an ominous warning and lead to a dead body, pinned to the floor of an elevator shaft by nails, leaving him in a crucified position. Just how long has he been dead? And if he's dead, who has Maddie?

Ducky is called in to examine the body. Small cuts and nicks, bruising and more recent wounds. Though one set of bruises is from when Gibbs grabbed him earlier. The nailing to the floor, to stop him from moving when he was tortured, the time of death? Twelve hours earlier, making it impossible for him to be the one behind Maddie's abduction.

Magee finds a GPS transmitter in Hass's car, making it clear that the stalker was being stalked himself in return, or at least tracked. Whoever was behind that has to be the one who then trashed Maddie's apartment and snatched her. With the abduction already six hours old there's a strong possibility that she's already dead. A fact Gibbs doesn't want to discuss as yet. Further probes of the body show he died of anaphylaxis shock, an allergic reaction which would have resulted in death within minutes without medical help.

Tracking the sale of the GPS leads back to the company that tried to offer Hass a job. Making the head of the company officially a suspect in the death and abduction, but when the head of the company asks to make a phone call, not to a lawyer, but to the Pentagon, things take an interesting turn. Money is missing, and Hass was involved in the investigation. Two weeks earlier two men involved in the missing money approached Hass to smuggle the money out. But he got greedy, and that's when problems truly began. The other two men are missing, the tracking methods have failed. Hass didn't have a lot of time to organize just where to send the money, and when it turns out that the military were well aware of the investigation and let Maddie be snatched, Gibbs barely keeps control of his emotions.

The Director gets enough of a lead to tell Gibbs to head to the old dock area, and Tony quickly follows him. But is it going to be enough to prevent all hell from breaking loose? When Magee finds Gibbs shield and identification left behind in Gibb's desk drawer the tension wracks up a notch. He wasn't there to save his daughter, but he's going to do everything he can to save Maddie. Even if it means his career, or life.

For Maddie to be abducted they have to believe she knows where the money is. The money was the reason she was being stalked, but it wasn't stalking. Hass was waiting for the mail. He'd arranged for the money to be shipped to Maddie's apartment as, unlike Quantico, her apartment has a street address so could take real deliveries. Something his quarters at Quantico couldn't do. Gibbs had figured it out and is at the apartment when the money is delivered, or rather a slip of paper that fills in the details. The money was shipped out as the personal effects of a dead marine. Abby adds another layer of information, the spikes that were used to crucify Hass were used for Blue Fin Tuna, and that traces back to South Western Marine. Not only that but they were probably the kick for Hass's allergic reaction.

Gibbs collects the money and heads for the meeting. Maddie is alive and in one piece. In a swift move he distracts the kidnappers by throwing the car keys up in the air and the two dart for the car, bullets flying. Its here, in the escape attempt, that the car ends up in the water and Tony races to try and help both Maddie and Gibbs, killing the two men before he dives into the water. He pulls Maddie out, after getting the windshield off, but Gibbs is stuck behind the steering wheel. By the time Tony gets him onto the dock Gibbs is no longer breathing.

In that moment between life and death Gibbs sees his daughter again, telling him to go back, that she loves him and it's all right to go back. When Maddie reaches out and touches his hand, he pulls through. Taking that much needed first breath of air.

When he's finally recovered Gibbs returns to his home and reburies the child's suitcase, unopened in his garden, returning the time capsule to its safe resting place once more.

I loved this episode. It gave Gibbs a chance of saying goodbye to his daughter and come to terms with losing his daughter. It was beautifully handled and well written.