In one of the most tightly written episodes of the NCIS 2012 season, agency is pitted against agency, with NCIS “still fighting for recognition.” David well remembers incidents in Chicago where at three o’clock a.m., the only cars he and other Federal agents were suprised to see during surveillance were those of other government agencies. Mark Harmon, portraying Leroy Jethro Gibbs, teams up with Director Vance to squeeze the defense lawyer (that brings back good memories for “someone” too) who was representing a drug-dealing Petty Officer who died of a rapid heartbeat by remote control. Whew!
Dave chuckled when McGee finally had a chance to turn the tables on a new probie. Rookie Special Agents always had to get the car washed, run for take-out lunch, and collect evidence at messy crime scenes. “Need to Know” offered some truly amazing scenes. The writers managed to keep Tony DiNozzo away from the beautiful model, who turned out to be a Russian spy. Dave saw it coming when the probie, armed only with handcuffs, let Ava use the bathroom at the filling station. David opined, “Dornagun is going to end up handcuffed to the toilet.” He was right.
This episode reminds us of the inter-agency intrigue we featured in our fifth novel, “Redeeming Liberty.” Many of our readers were shocked and offended to find there is not better coordination between Federal agencies. But as demonstrated in this episode, sometimes there can’t be coordination, because highly classified information is closely held, unless there is a “Need to Know.” Think about it. Even today, we see highly classified information about our military’s plans in Iraq and Afghanistan on the nightly news because someone is leaking to the media information which should be more highly protected as in “Need to Know.”
On a sad note, we do pray for Mark Harmon as his mother recently passed away. Elyse Knox was a former actress and fashion designer. In 1944, she married Mark’s father, Tom Harmon, in a wedding dress she made from the silk parachute that saved Tom’s life when his plane was shot down over China in WWII.
Be Blessed,
Diane and David