Rosefern

1.10: "Left for Dead"

by Sammie

Hey...Gibbs fell asleep under his boat. Tony calls up bright and early (he's at work because a boiler blew in his apartment), says a Jane Doe was buried alive and yelling about a bomb on a Navy ship but doesn't remember anymore. Gibbs tells him to send Kate over...and tells Tony he's not allowed to stay at his house. Last time a boiler blew in Tony's apartment, he stayed at Gibbs'...and apparently it didn't work out. Ah, Tony.

Gibbs, Tony, and Ducky are at the buried-alive site, and Gibbs is not happy with Kate - who has bonded with the victim. The girly / high-pitched voice (well, as much as Gibbs would do something like that) he uses is kind of funny: "She hasn't even questioned her yet. 'Her eyes, they just...pleaded for help.'" Tony's still trying to find somewhere to stay.

TONY: Speaking of dates to work from...you know, we've worked together for two years, and I have no idea where you live?
DUCKY: Well, I'd just as well we kept it that way, Tony.

Funny. Kate said the same thing later. But Ducky has to give Tony his address in "Meat Puzzle".

Tony and Abby have a discussion about chastity belts - in particular, hers. Gibbs is going, "SO much more than I needed to know!" Hehe. Stoic and uptight Gibbs, caught with Tony and Abby, who both have a bouncy, no-sense-of-shame attitudes.

Back at the hospital, Kate is trying to ferret out some information about the bomb and about the Jane Doe. Later Gibbs and Tony show up...and Jane Doe is ready to go. She tells her doctor she remembers who she is - Maureen Ingalls of Alexandria. Gibbs is not buying it.

GIBBS. [to Kate] OK, who's Maureen Ingalls?
KATE. How do you know she isn't? My cousin.
TONY. That was a quick fold.

Awww...Kate has a soft heart. Jane Doe is terrified, and Kate thinks that her home would be more conducive to her recovery of her memory. And, of course, Gibbs' glare extracts confessions. Heck, why bother with investigating? Why don't they just have him glare at everyone involved in a case until one confesses? It would most likely take up less time.

OK, maybe Kate isn't so softhearted.

TONY: Whoa, what's with you and Jane Doe?
KATE: She'll be occupying my spare bedroom so I don't have to say no to you.
TONY: Oh! Did I ask? Huh, did I?

Kate tells Jane Doe that she left the Secret Service because NCIS work was more interesting. It seems proper Kate would be less than willing to talk about why she left, but "more interesting"? NCIS might have better-looking agents, at least on this show, but it can't be a whole lot more interesting than flying in Air Force One.

Hey, it's the detective from "Yankee White." There's a dead guy in the Jefferson Hotel.

KOCHOFIS: You're telling me those dudes from Hoover didn't save the man.
TONY: Hell no, it was NCI-us

. Meanwhile, Ducky and the local police ME are fighting over the body. Goes Ducky, "Can you imagine not having a clue, Digger?" Ouch.

The dead man is Walter Richter, head of security for a German firm - BFF, who makes bomb-detecting services for the US Navy. When they report to the head of the firm, Brauer, they also ask about other employees...one of their bomb designers is Suzanne MacNeil. Brauer asks if she's dead, too; "Please tell me Suzanne is not dead."

TONY. Suzanne is not dead.
GIBBS. Whoops.
TONY. Mhm, big whoops.
GIBBS. You look kind of surprised to find out she's alive, Brauer.

Gibbs tells Kate he's sure Brauer was the one who buried their Jane Doe - now identified as Suzanne MacNeil. He suspects Brauer was having an affair with MacNeil.

Brauer states that MacNeil likes to win - and she'd love even to see BFF fail at their Navy trials when they show off their bomb-sniffing machines.

Once there, MacNeil obviously has recovered her memory and is going to blow up both Brauer and herself. While they are talking, Kate suddenly realizes MacNeil has been faking at least part of her memory loss: when they went to see the dead Richter at Ducky's, they saw only his face, not the bashed in back of the head. But Suzanne later said the man's head was bashed in...she wouldn't have known unless she remembered. Kate starts forward, and calls for her not to do it, and MacNeil apologizes to her...then drops the little bomb, her newest invention.

She's sitting alone by the ambulance afterwards, banged up and wrapped in a blanket.

TONY. We oughta do something, boss. (Thank you, Tony.)
GIBBS. Have you ever made a mistake, Tony?
TONY. According to you or me?
GIBBS. You.
TONY. Yeah.
GIBBS. Could anyone make you feel better?
TONY. No.

Gibbs allows Tony to stay at his place, and Tony leaves the scene. The camera pans from Gibbs, turning to look at Kate, and ends on Kate.

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Crazy Credits

Sherilyn Fenn (Suzanne MacNeil/Jane Doe) costarred with Harmon in "Dillinger".
from Harriet: about Kate's apartment resembling the apartment of "JAG"'s Sarah MacKenzie.
I was just informed that it wasn't the same set, as Mac's apartment wasn't available, but it was similar. And, as noted, we do use the same...stages...and Mac's set would have been modified, and not exactly the same, if it were used.
from Kip:
- [Suzanne McNeil/Jane Doe] wasn't faking until she viewed the body in the morgue. At that point it all came back to her and all she wanted was to get back to her lab and kill stefan. The minutes the flash backs in her mind revealed her killing the head of security with the bust of Kennedy it was all back. Up till then it was just bits and pieces.
- As for why Gibbs was sure Brauer buried MacNeil but still didn't trust her: Gibbs is suspicious by nature. He'd give Mother Teresa a jaundiced eye.
- This show is just beginning. Kate's actions in that episode were done not to make her a bleeding heart, but because DPB wanted her to get burned badly. To toughen her. So that down the road if she doesn't let herself get involved with a sympathetic character those who saw this episode will understand why.
  By the way. The real NCIS agent Kate is patterned after loved this episode. Wrote her a long e-mail talking about it. Basically said she had the same thing happen to her and seeing the episode made her sad and mad all over again.