Episode: Seek, Episode 10.18.
Air Date: March 19, 2013.
The Victim: Sgt. Ted Lemere, USMC.
Emotionally Traumatized, But Ultimately Irrelevant, Witness Who Finds the Body: We’re in a village in Afghanistan and a couple of men in camouflage are talking. Looks like one of them is trying to make the other one a job offer. The second man, Teddy, is working with a K-9 unit bomb-sniffer dog, Dex. Teddy doesn’t want a job. Teddy just wants to go home and see his wife.
That’s usually a bad sign in any type of fiction.
A kid kicks a soccer ball outside the village perimeter and goes after it. The dog starts barking. Teddy yells for the kid to stop and, sure enough, the soccer ball hits a landmine and sets off an explosion. The kid hunkers down. His mom freaks. Teddy tells his associate to restrain the mom and then he sprints to the kid.
Dex, with instructions from Teddy to “Seek,” goes into action. He finds one landmine and the duo navigate around it to reach the kid. He tells the kid to stay right behind him and retraces his steps through the “safe” zone. It’s tense as hell, but they make it, and the kids runs back over to rejoin his anxious mother. While we wait for the other shoe to drop.
And drop it does. While Teddy and his bud are congratulating Dex for being such a good boy, sniper fire kills Teddy. For extra pathos. The camera makes sure to record Dex looking scared and helpless as his master dies. The other man takes cover while calling for help. The dog stays with his dead master as an aerial shot pans upward away from them.
That was an effective opening.
Plot Recap: Vance and a woman arrive in the squad room. She asks if his children will be joining them, but Vance calls it a preliminary chat as he leads the woman to the conference room. The agents are either impressed or horrified that Vance is into his twelfth nanny interview.
Then, a woman appears and is looking for help. She’s attractive enough that Tony takes honors. She’s also taken. She is Ruby Lemere and she is the widow of Teddy, henceforth Sgt. Ted Lemere, USMC, whom we met, however briefly, in the opening.
Gibbs arrives and now that Tony knows Ruby is a grieving widow, he has no objection to letting Gibbs field this one. Ruby tells Gibbs about Sgt. Lemere’s death. The official COD was enemy fire from the Taliban. But Sgt. Lemere sent Ruby a video from a couple days before his death., and now she’s not so sure. Gibbs offers Ruby his condolences and has McGee display the video. On screen, Sgt. Lemere says he did something stupid and got mixed up with something that will piss people off. And he’s going to have to blow the whistle to extricate himself. Justifiably, Ruby thinks Sgt. Lemere was murdered by “friendly fire.”
In autopsy, Ducky is working on Sgt. Lemere and lecturing him on canine participation in historic wars. Gibbs arrives. Ducky says COD is a sniper wound to the head, high caliber, armor piercing round. As to distance, Gibbs the sniper would have a better estimate. But then Ducky finds something in Sgt. Lemere’s helmet. The helmet didn’t stop the bullet, but it caused something small and metallic to be left behind.
Over to Abby. She says the shard is made of tungsten carbide, which is primarily manufactured in…she shuts down…and then says it’s an American made bullet. Now, the Taliban does buy ordnance off the black market all the time, but Gibbs thinks the domestic nature of the bullet gives more credence to Ruby’s theory.
In the squad room, Gibbs breaks up Tony’s Bogart impression to get some background on Sgt. Lemere. Sgt. Lemere is married with no kids, serving his final tour, spotless record, numerous commendations, his dog Dex is being evaluated at Pax River Naval Station before being re-assigned to another handler for another tour.
McGee identifies Sgt. Lemere’s pal from the opening as James Virgil, a civilian contractor (which explains certain things, like why he ran for cover and left Sgt. Lemere exposed). Virgil’s company is a facilities management outfit that maintains US facilities while rebuilding Afghani infrastructure. The bullet that killed Sgt. Lemere is of the type used by US servicemembers, but they lost track of a number of clips in a recent firefight.
Gibbs tells the agents to go talk to Virgil. So they do, in MTAC. Virgil is horrified by what happened. He claims the shot came from 200 yards in the hills. Virgil was not a friend of Sgt. Lemere’s per se, but he was a fan of Sgt. Lemere’s work to protect them. Virgil catches on and gets defensive when McGee and Ziva ask if Sgt. Lemere had any enemies. He accuses them of trying to dig up dirt on a war hero. And the servicemember in the background pipes in and says they all have enemies: the Taliban. Virgil says Sgt. Lemere wasn’t perfect but he was good enough that Virgil offered him a job right before he died. He admits that all Sgt. Lemere wanted to do was get home. He suggests that if there was trouble, maybe it was at home, because it sure wasn’t where Sgt. Lemere was stationed.
Gibbs visits Ruby, who is now keeping Dex for a day or two until he gets re-assigned. They talk and Ruby wonders why Gibbs cares about problems at home if Sgt. Lemere was killed abroad. But Gibbs is just covering the bases. Ruby says they had arguments like any couple, but Gibbs is asking about work troubles. Ruby can’t think of anything. She describes Sgt. Lemere as easygoing but then hesitates. Gibbs presses and she tells him about a scrap Sgt. Lemere had at the base six months back with one of the trainers, a guy nicknamed Pitt. Sgt. Lemere thought Pitt was a little rough with Dex and they went at it. Both of them got written up. Ruby talks about how she and Sgt. Lemere got Dex as a puppy and raised him in “this” house. Gibbs thinks it’s a shame Dex can’t stay longer. But Ruby says he has more tours left in him and that duty calls.
Vance is chatting with a British lady about his nanny job. He has finally noticed the agents paying undue attention to his nanny search. But he tables it when Gibbs arrives and asks for an update on Sgt. Lemere’s case. McGee says they spoke to Pitt, Norman Pittorino. Pitt is a civilian contractor working as a consultant, and the military’s in-house dog whisperer both at home and abroad. And Pitt just returned from Kabul a few days prior. The flight home took off three hours after Sgt. Lemere’s death. The incident from six months back involved punches being thrown and threats being made. Both were given a light reprimand and ordered to steer clear of each other. This looks like motive to Vance, so Gibbs sends Tony and McGee.
At Pitt’s house, Tony ribs McGee about his bad luck with dogs. They see a kid unloading bags from a truck and he taciturnly directs them to Pitt. Pitt appears and is a super jerk to the “useless” kid he identifies as his nephew. Then he tells Tony and McGee they have four seconds. Tony doesn’t catch on. McGee does, as Pitt releases the hounds. Doberman hounds. Fortune favors the less bold as McGee both makes it to the car and locks the door, to prevent Tony from letting a dog inside while trying to enter himself. A more subtle version of using the oar to whack panicked swimmers away from a lifeboat. Fortunately, there’s a sunroof and Tony leaps onto the car and enters it head first. Also fortunately, the dogs don’t climb the car and start biting his ass.
We break while they decide whether to shoot the dogs before hauling Pitt in on charges of assaulting federal officers.
Pitt is unsurprisingly in interrogation when we return. Pitt claims he thought they were with the bank, which doesn’t make trying to turn them into dinner any more legal or justifiable, but let’s move on. The boys ask about Sgt. Lemere. Pitt says he saw the sergeant briefly in Afghanistan and then expresses irritation at the Taliban for killing the sergeant. Pitt says Sgt. Lemere was overprotective with Dex. So Tony asks about the fight and whether they left things unresolved. Pitt describes his differences with Sgt. Lemere as philosophical, but he had no bad blood and recommended him for the outpost. While Pitt thought Sgt. Lemere coddled Dex, he claims to have no issue with him as a Marine and is complimentary of his work. The boys leave him to sit while they test his story. Since they can hold him for siccing his dogs on them.
Vance is still interviewing nannies in perhaps one of the least compelling subplots this show has ever embarked upon. Gibbs interrupts, but Vance is happy to see him and shows the latest dud the door. Vance vents about not being able to pull the trigger on a nanny. Gibbs sidesteps this one for lack of expertise and hands off a case update that Vance can send the Marine Corps Commandant. Vance is unimpressed by the lack of detail, but Gibbs says they don’t have anything else at present. He’s optimistic, though.
Ruby has Dex in the squad room. Ziva loves him very much. Tony and McGee are keeping their distance.
Gibbs wanders in and also greets the dog. Ruby tells him she got something in the mail from her husband and it’s a very nice, almost museum-like necklace. She is fine with leaving the gift with the agents. Ziva offers to take it to Abby.
Abby and Ziva chat in the lab. Abby misses her. Ziva says she has been busy. She does ask Abby about helping Vance’s daughter Kayla with her science project (Prime Suspect, Episode 10.17). Abby reports an A+ and wonders why she’s not being asked to help out with the nanny search. The computer beeps and interrupts. The necklace is solid gold with real emeralds, and the trace elements indicate that it’s from a desert climate. As to design, well, Abby will need all night to figure that out and asks if Ziva wants to help. Ziva claims to be busy, so Abby will draft McGee.
Gibbs has given Ruby a ride home. She thanks him for believing her and not dismissing her as a paranoid grieving widow. Ruby goes inside and Gibbs heads back to his car. We follow Ruby, which means there’s trouble. Dex certainly senses something amiss and starts growling. Then he takes off at a sound of something being knocked over. Ruby follows and sees Dex attacking a man dressed all in black and wearing a mask. The man is half in and half out of her bedroom window. She screams and Gibbs hears and enters the home with his gun. The burglar, meanwhile, has managed to tear his shirt sleeve and escape Dex. We hear a motorcycle roar away as Gibbs points his gun out the window.
Ruby is looking at the contents of a jewelry box dumped out on her bed and is thankful to find her grandmother’s ring was not stolen. Gibbs know that’s not what he was after. He gloves up and retrieves the scrap of cloth from Dex’s mouth.
The next morning, McGee reports that the necklace is the family crest of a wealthy Afghani family. The family now lives in Pakistan. Abby arrives and suggests that Sgt. Lemere and Dex stumbled across a treasure trove while searching for bombs. She says it was not uncommon for wealthy Afghanis fleeing the Taliban to hide their loot.
Gibbs asks about the shirt sleeve. Abby got some human hair, so she will run DNA.
McGee reports that the necklace alone is worth over $4,000.00. The emeralds are another $5,000.00. That’s a lot, but worth breaking in? And how did the perp know it was there? Gibbs sets Tony and Ziva to work on answering those questions. He and McGee are going to Afghanistan.
Well, first they’re going to Vance’s office. Vance and McGee are both skeptical as to whether thi field trip will yield anything. But Vance is on board. Even when Gibbs asks for three seats, so they can bring Dex.
And now we’re in Afghanistan. Gibbs is driving a truck as part of a convoy. They exit, and Gibbs is handling Dex. Captain Dale Martens greets them. He already knows Dex. Captain Martens was Sgt. Lemere’s CO. He says they’re re-assigning Dex as long as he’s there since they have a need. Gibbs pours out some poor Marine’s coffee and makes Dex a water dish. Captain Martens reports they caught the sniper, but he’s not saying much. They rounded up eight hostiles after Sgt. Lemere died, and one of them, Khalid Al-Khatan, tried to escape. One of Virgil’s men took the shot. Captain Martens calls it a bit “trigger happy,” especially since the guy was unarmed, but he’s not too busted up about it. Gibbs draws the obvious conclusion that Captain Martens doesn’t know Al-Khatan is the sniper. Captain Martens says the other hostiles rolled on their dead buddy. Convenient. Captain Martens is fine with it, though and thinks it fits with the current politics on the ground.
Gibbs has heard enough and asks where to find the contractors.
Ahhhh…Ziva is busy indeed. She is at her desk, looking at surveillance footage of Ilan Bodnar, the man who masterminded the killing of her father (and Jackie Vance as collateral damage). Shabbat Shalom, Episode 10.11. Vance approaches and Ziva closes the window. She claims she’s in early, catching up on work. Vance still stressing nanny interviews. Ziva stands and takes a moment to describe how the two of them are bound by recent events. Then she suggests that this perspective allows her to help him with his nanny problem. She asks what he’s looking for. When he says “the basics,” she wonders why he can’t pull the lever on any of a number of women who can at least do that much. Ziva suggests that he’s afraid of something. Vance lowers his briefcase and sits on her desk. Then he tells her that, when he comes to her to ask about what it is she’s supposedly “catching up” on, she will be as forthcoming as he is about to be.
Harsh. For a super-secret assassin-y agent, Ziva is not so slick.
But that’s in the future. For now, she promises she’ll try. Vance says he’s not scared, but he’s worried that the act of hiring a nanny means he’s moving on. And if he’s moving on, then Jackie’s death will feel like…“It’s a bit more final,” she finishes. Vance nods. Ziva suggests he take his time, then, and not let anyone tell him when he’s ready to be move on. “That is entirely up to you.” Vance thinks she’s on to something. She says she has experience.
In Afghanistan, Gibbs is examining the crime scene and not liking the set-up. Being a sniper, he thinks this sniper would have targeted the dog first. The dog saves the lives. He’s talking out loud and then we see he’s talking to Dex. Gibbs wonders, “Why am I telling you this?”
McGee joins and introduces Virgil. Virgil greets Dex. Gibbs asks about the killing of the insurgent and suspected sniper, and Chet Tyber, the head of security says they were all firing, so he’s not sure if he or one of the other contractors killed the guy. Tyber and Virgil smirk at the idea that Captain Martens disclaimed all responsibility. Virgil says their rules of engagement have more freedom as contractors and it creates low-grade resentment among actual military personnel. Captain Martens sticks to the book, per Virgil, and if he has to explain anything off-books, he blames Virgil’s crew.
Gibbs asks where the sniper was found and Virgil says Captain Martens’s team rounded up the suspects, from behind the mountain, where the shot that killed Sgt. Lemere came from. Virgil describes hearing the shot, and it being like a thunderclap. Gibbs asks about the direction in which Sgt. Lemere was facing. Virgil describes the scene and walks Gibbs over to the spot where Sgt. Lemere died. Gibbs says if that’s the case, the shot didn’t come from the mountain. What Virgil heard was the echo. Gibbs points to a nearby building and thinks it was the best nest. Based on the angle of the shot and the bullet hole in the helmet, it had to come from there. Tyber can’t dispute it since he wasn’t present. Which means they nailed the wrong guys.
(Well, wrong for this very specific crime- they didn’t round up a sewing circle).
Back home, Tony is still doing Bogart, to Ziva’s chagrin. They visit Abby. She has an issue with the hairs that were on the sleeve of Ruby’s attacker, but she’s still working on it. The computer beeps during more discussion about Vance’s nanny candidates, and Abby reports that there were two sets of dog hairs on the sleeve, and only one belonged to Dex. The breed is…Doberman.
In Afghanistan, McGee is on the phone with a buddy who has access to satellite imagery. He’s checking footage from the day Sgt. Lemere was shot. The footage is of the building Gibbs identified as the sniper nest. Gibbs is feeding Dex people food. Captain Martens enters. He shows Gibbs photos of the dead Taliban suspect and the through and through bullet holes in his body. He’s also pissed about the debate over who took the shot.
Gibbs gets a call, and Ziva reports the Doberman evidence. She and Tony are in observation. They discuss the obvious link to Pitt, but it turns out the agents hauled the nephew, Marty Hagen, in. Marty is in interrogation confessing (to someone) that he was using his uncle’s business as cover to smuggle in Afghani valuables. Crooks in Afghanistan stashed the loot in Pitt’s baggage for the nephew to unload and store until they got back stateside. Hagen won’t name names without a deal, though. Gibbs yells at them and tells them to get him names, and then hangs up in exasperation.
Corporal Ryan reports to take over Dex. He wants to get to know Dex in the field, which is irregular. But apparently, the need is significant, Cpl. Ryan needs the training, and Virgil needs some buildings sniffed out before his company starts renovating. Gibbs smells a rat. And countermands Cpl. Ryan.
Gibbs, leading Dex, and McGee accompany Corporal Ryan to the site. Virgil isn’t happy, but McGee figures they should see what he’s renovating next. Virgil is defensive now. But Gibbs accuses Virgil of using Sgt. Lemere to clear bombs out of buildings Virgil and friends were looting. When Sgt. Lemere found out what was going on, Virgil tried to buy him off with the necklace. The same one Virgil had Marty try to steal back to cover his tracks. Gibbs bluffs that Marty is spilling his guts in DC. Virgil takes issue with the term “looting.” More like finders/keepers. And he even offered Sgt. Lemere a job. And killed him when he didn’t accept, Gibbs concludes.
But now Virgil looks confused. And Gibbs wasn’t talking to Virgil anyway. He looks at Tyber and Tyber challenges Gibbs to prove it. Dex growls. Gibbs is confident he’ll make the case. The background check already identified Tyber as a Special Forces marksman, top of his class. Tyber loses his cool and goes for his gun. Gibbs lets Dex’s leash go and Dex attacks. Tyber misfires and Gibbs headshots him. Dex took a hit too, though, and Gibbs moves to comfort him as McGee secures the scene.
Back home, Vance is on the phone with Kayla and says he’s on his way to pick her up from her friend’s. Before he can leave, he encounters Lara Morgan, who is there for an interview about the nanny job. Vance thought he’d cancelled them all and tells her that he is no longer in the market. Lara does something bold here and calls Vance out for wasting the time of so many girls at the agency with his infinite interviews. Vance assures Lara he was serious at the time. She figures the women who needed the job were serious too. Vance, uncharacteristically back on his heels, says he’s not ready. She sympathizes and says she has seen this before, and oh, why am I even writing about this? She literally lectures him on thinking about nannies as a void filler. And makes clear that she would feed and clothe his kids, but never try to replace their mother, or let them forget their mother. Vance falls for this internet meme of a “How I got the job” speech and offers to at least let Lara meet his kids.
And now we’re at Sgt. Lemere’s funeral. The Corps hand Ruby the flag. She cries as they walk away in formation. Gibbs approaches as the other funeral guests leave. They sit by the coffin. Gibbs offers condolences again. Ruby at least takes comfort in knowing the bad guys didn’t get away with it. And she says Sgt. Lemere would be happy to know that Dex helped. She’s also happy, in a bittersweet way, that Dex is doing what he loves and what he was trained for. She hopes he got a good handler. Gibbs says that Dex isn’t serving anymore and hands Ruby a medal.
Ruby starts sobbing and asks if Dex is OK. Gibbs gestures. We look over and see Tony and Ziva and McGee, and lo and behold, McGee is the one holding the leash. He lets Dex go, and the hero dog runs over to Ruby. He has a bandage wrapped around his midsection. It’s enough to officially retire him. And now he can go home with Ruby. She thanks the team through tears and hugs and kisses her dog. Tony says he’s been thinking about getting a dog.
“That’s not a dog,” Gibbs says. “That’s a Marine.”
We black and white on Dex standing at attention in front of Sgt. Lemere’s coffin, with Ruby sitting quietly behind him.
Quotables: Nothing of note.
Ziva-propisms: Nothing again.
Tony Awards: Tony makes three movie nanny references in one sentence: Mrs. Doubtfire (`993), Mary Poppins (1964), and The Sound of Music (1965). Then he follows up with the comparatively modern Nanny McPhee (2005). He compares Ruby to a “dame” in a Bogart movie and goes off on an extended Bogart impression. He compares Abby’s treasure cave theory to Aladdin (1992).
Dex is named after Poindexter from Revenge of the Nerds (1984)
Abby Road: Abby knows so many good nannies. So many.
McNicknames: McPhee.
Ducky Tales: Ducky holds forth on using dogs in war.
The Rest of the Story:
-Vance’s wife, Jackie, died in Shabbat Shalom, Episode 10.11. He has been juggling work and child care for the last few episodes and is not afraid to ask his employees to pitch in (well, minus Gibbs).
-McGee has had bad luck with dogs. See dog Tags, Episode 5.13.
We last saw the Marine Corps Commandant in Engaged, Part Two, Episode 9.9.
-Lara Morgan actually does reappear.
-Come on, you didn’t really think they killed the dog?
Casting Call: Nobody I recognize. I’ll defer to the comments section.
Man, This Show Is Old: Nothing I noticed in this category.
MVP: Gibbs with the kill shot. Dex with the assist.
Rating: This one is sort of unremarkable in terms of the caper, but has a good victim story. A lot of times the victim gets lost in the shuffle, but here, the grieving widow was essential and, while I’m not a pet guy, Dex really did add value. The ending, including the funeral, is top-notch. It’d be worth a seven…
…except I’m deducting a Palmer for the Vance subplot. There are less cheesy ways to depict his grieving process than a nanny search. Particularly with a nanny who kicks him in his balls in his own office and tells him to man-up. That’s too contrived.
Six Palmers.
Next Time: Admiral McGee’s Dad makes his first appearance. And I abuse the hell out of a McBit.
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Alex Barfield is an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. When not practicing law or writing about NCIS, he chases his children around, volunteers at his church, grumbles about exults over Atlanta sports (Go Dawgs! Go Braves!), and looks for other television shows to obsess over. He can be reached at albarfie@hotmail.com or on Twitter at @AlexBarfield1 or on Facebook.
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