1.17: "The Truth is Out There"

by Sammie

Aw. Tony tries to take Kate's find off that terrorist from the previous epi. Asking about cereal is not the way to do it, but it's a cute attempt. Like that Jif commercial where the little boy tries to solve his mom's tax problems by making a peanut-butter sandwich.

KATE. Look at Gibbs. OK, he's been growling like a wounded bear since that night.
TONY. Well, he is wounded. And he always growls like a bear. It's his way of never letting anyone know when he's hurting. Yours is to be moody.
KATE. I'm not moody.
TONY. Well, what do you call it? I feel sorry for whatever his name is.
KATE. Sorry?

PO Gordon has multiple trauma injuries and was dressed after death and put in the bar's basement ceiling. In the parking lot, Tony identifies the tire marks as accelerating (and hitting Gordon), not braking. And the bar? Run by a seventeen-year-old. When they search Gordon's quarters, they find $40,000. Abby finds Gordon was wearing baby powder and rubber right before he died.

Tony won't tell Kate how much he makes. I had the same reaction Kate did - he shares every intimate detail about his dates. What's a salary?! Is this a guy thing?!

The four guys who hang out with Gordon said they went up to the party and left Gordon there since he hit it off with a girl. They ask what kind of cars they drive; Wong drives a Taurus, one of the kinds of car that uses the type of tire which left the marks.

To Gibbs, the story seems too rehearsed. They're protecting someone...so to find it, "Follow the money, honey." Tony figures the $100 bills have to have come from a bank. Gambling, drugs - it wouldn't all be hundreds. Meantime, Abby's confirmed - the car which hit Gordon was a Taurus or a Mercury Sable.

Tony's found a phone card with lots of phone calls to a Bartex Corporation - who does lots of stuff - including with defense. They got a design contract for carrier fighter jets for the Navy. Since Gordon wasn't high enough up, they figure that Gordon caught his boss taking kickbacks from Bartex and blackmailed him; so his boss ran him over. When they check the car, nada.

Gibbs is taking this VERY personally, as though not finding Gordon's killer is akin to not finding the hostage-taker from the previous epi. Tony says the last time Gibbs got like this, he was stuck at the office for a week. As they search the parking lot of the bar again, they find some evidence - but Gibbs isn't talking about what he's thinking.

KATE: Dammit, Gibbs, if you know what happened, tell us.
GIBBS: Patience, Kate. Patience.

They get the four kids in there, and they find out it was a planned prank - Gordon's - on PO Wong to get him back for something he did. Gordon dressed up as an alien to scare Wong. The other three are regretful about their friends' death, but Gibbs presses - and we discover that Wong recognized Gordon. The girl he was with talks - it was definite murder.

Tony asks Kate if she wants to grab some Chinese from the new place; she agrees and asks him to ask Gibbs. Tony doesn't: "He's busy." Gibbs is still watching the database run through the search for the hostage taker.
 

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Crazy Credits

• The episode title isn't the only "X-Files" reference.
  • Brian Thompson (Master Chief Vince Nutter, Gordon's boss) also played the recurring character the "Alien Bounty Hunter" on the "X-Files".
  • One petty officer has the first name "Chris"; another, the last name "Carter".
  • The bar owner's name is Darin Spotnitz. Frank Spotnitz was a writer-producer for "X-Files".