1.15: "Enigma"

by Sammie

Tony loves getting his mail; Kate asks why he now gives out his work address, and it's because of an ex named Michelle. (The same one in "Black Water"?)

TONY. Well, she was under the impression that we were in an exclusive relationship.
KATE. Imagine that. So what happened?
TONY. She broke into my apartment and filled my closet with dog crap.
KATE. Ha! Really? I knew there was a reason I liked her.
TONY. I still have her number. Maybe you two can get together and boil rabbits or something. [Aw, not the cute bunny. No, Kate wouldn't boil the bunny. She'd boil you, but not the rabbit.]
KATE. Not my style, Tony. I would just shoot you.
GIBBS. And that would be the reason for rule number twelve.
KATE. Rule twelve?
GIBBS. Never date a co-worker.

Gibbs got a package, which Tony, of course, has to nose into and shake and smell - he'd most likely X-ray it if he had the time. Which he doesn't, because Gibbs is standing right behind him as he wonders aloud. (Tony's like a kid before Christmas!) Gibbs snatches it from him.

The head out to Ryan's house - it's shot up, lock forced open, and a dead guy tied up in a chair. They're still wondering about that when Gibbs hears a ticker thing. (This guy's blind as a bat...and with a hearing as good as one.) He looks under the bed...there's ticking bomb there.

Our team goes running out of the house, Tony screaming at the top of his lungs. Gibbs dives over the hood of the car onto the other side, and they wait for the explosion.

And wait.

And wait.

And a long, long time later, Tony is still peeking curiously over the hood of the car at the house, Gibbs is carving a piece of wood, and Kate is sitting cross-legged in between them, working on her PDA.

TONY. You sure it was a bomb, Gibbs? [Haha.]
GIBBS. Yes, DiNozzo. For the last time, yes, I'm sure it was a bomb.
TONY. If you say so. ...
{cut}
DUCKY. ... FBI take over our crime scene again?
KATE. Gibbs thought he saw a bomb.
GIBBS. What do you mean, though?
KATE. Do I really have to say it?
GIBBS. Say what?
DUCKY. Yes, Kate. Say what?
KATE. You need glasses, Gibbs. Are you happy?
EXPLOSION
GIBBS: I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that last part?

Gibbs gets a call from Ryan to meet him at a local bar; he realizes he's being followed...he buys an umbrella - cut to the two FBI agents following him (Hey! One is Agent Charles, in "The Bone Yard") who run BAM into a glass door. Hehe. Cut to Gibbs, on the other side of the door - grinning as he walks away, his umbrella hooked into the double door handlebars like a bar. I love Gibbs.

Ryan is again talking to his companion, Lt. Cameron, who doesn't seem to want to trust Gibbs. When Gibbs arrives, Ryan tells him that the accounting for the money going out of Iraq has been futzed with...something's not right.

Kate is wondering if Col. Ryan could possibly be guilty; Tony just keeps repeating that Gibbs doesn't think so. Kate retorts, "You don't always have to follow his lead, you know." The FBI arrives - Fornell wants information, but he also brought breakfast as a "peace offering". Gibbs is pissed, to say the least...and then they find out the body in Ryan's house was Fornell's Agent Crawson. Fornell tells Gibbs he helps Ryan anymore, he's going to get nailed as an accessory to the crime.

Once they all leave, Kate worries about Gibbs; Tony is frustrated that Gibbs doesn't trust them. Ducky can't believe what he's hearing - Gibbs is protecting them from being accessories themselves. Kate wants to know what else they can do.... And they hatch up a plan which begins with Abby calling up Gibbs, telling him she's got evidence. It's a bit piece - Kate and Tony enlisted her help to get Gibbs down there. They confront him - they know he was out with Ryan the night before because they lifted his cell phone. Gibbs fixates on the cell phone while they keep on track, after him, telling them that he just needs to ask for them to help.

They head up to look at the tapes; Ryan keeps talking to Lt. Cameron. Gibbs tells them Lt. Cameron died 14 years ago.

Abby has finally cleaned up Ryan's video-taped interrogation of Agent Crawson, and they have a shooter: Reserve Army Colonel Mike Granger, who left Iraq a few months ago. He tried to kill Col. Ryan and Crawson got caught in the middle. He's got a business now that is subcontracted in Iraq. Kate gives an address. While Gibbs is trying to bring Ryan in when the FBI show up and start shooting; while Gibbs is yelling for them to stop, Ryan escapes.

Turns out there is no government conspiracy; Granger was just embezzling some of the money for himself. Gibbs slowly talks Ryan out of it - and part of it has to be to remind him that Cameron is dead. We see Cameron fade away - and finally, we realize that we've been seeing him from Ryan's viewpoint. He was never there (which is why Gibbs never talks to him. Watch for it.) Ryan's paranoid schizophrenic.

Kate asks Gibbs why Ryan fixated on Cameron - seems that Lt. Cameron died saving Gibbs' life and died in his arms.
 

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Crazy Credits

• Terry O'Quinn (Col. Will Ryan), now of "Lost", also played the older male mentor to the male lead of "JAG". There, Quinn's character was a Navy man.

• After the explosion scene, Ducky has a bandage on his forehead (when they are all in autopsy). The story goes that during a rehearsal, Harmon passed out bandages to all the actors, and they all wore theirs during that scene - but MacCallum didn't notice.

• In Season 3, Gibbs has a flask which was a gift from his wife and his daughter, and this is often viewed as a blooper. The difference, however, is easily explained. Two flasks are shown in "Enigma": one is a gift to Ryan from Gibbs and one says "[SMUDGE; "Jethro"?] For good luck / Your loving [BULLETHOLE; "wife"]".

  Since the first obviously has a gigantic hole in it and is unusuable, his wife replaced it with a new one.