Mind Games (NCIS)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Mind Games
Colour =
Series = NCIS
Season = 3
Episode = 3


Airdate = October 4, 2005
Production = 3x03
Writer = George Schenck Frank Cardea
Director = William Webb
Guests = Chad E. Donella as John Briggs Tom Wright as Warden Sam Kelleher Scott Williamson as Virginia Governor Charles Norin Christopher Shyer as Kyle Boone Lawrence Monoson as Adam O'Neill
Episode list = Episode chronology
Prev = Kill Ari (Part 2)
Next = Silver War

Mind Games is the 3^rd episode in the third season of the television series "NCIS".

Plot

Gibbs is ordered to re-interview a serial killer, Kyle Boone, who is on death row and about to be executed. Two of Boone's victims have been found, but he claims to have killed 22; he now claims to want to reveal the location of the other bodies, but only to Gibbs.

Gibbs detests Boone, and it is suggested that Gibbs' then-wife left him because of his obsession with the Boone case. In fact, Ducky says that Boone's mind games changed Gibbs; prior to this case, Gibbs acted more like DiNozzo.

Also appearing in this episode is Special Agent Cassidy, who is working with the team for a week. She is not allowed to sit at Kate's desk because, according to DiNozzo, it is "still Kate's desk".

While interviewing Boone, Gibbs meets Boone's lawyer, O'Neill, and Briggs, a man who is writing Boone's biography. Boone is not in a rush to tell Gibbs where the bodies are, even though Gibbs tells him he only has 2 minutes to talk. Boone instead asks about Gibbs' (ex-)wife and Kate. Finally, Gibbs learns that Boone had a scrapbook containing photos of his victims, which the team finds inside the chimney of his family's old farmhouse. Boone, excited about this development, asks to see his scrapbook again, but Gibbs refuses.

By analyzing the photographs of the numerous young women in the pictures - there are more than 22 - Abby and McGee are able to ascertain the location of Boone's dumping ground. McGee, DiNozzo, and Cassidy head there, finding a clearing amongst trees with no cell phone reception. When McGee finds a skull and Cassidy finds a new body with Boone's signature (a heart shape cut into the victim's back), Cassidy runs to the truck to call Gibbs. Gibbs is able to hear her despite some static, but after the call, Cassidy is knocked unconscious by a shovel and thrown into the trunk of a car. The kidnapper took a Polaroid of her and left the photo on the NCIS van, which DiNozzo and McGee are dismayed to see.

The team now believes that there is a copycat killer working with Boone who has killed the 4 most recent victims in Boone's scrapbook. Therefore, they search the record of Boone's visitors at the prison and find a likely suspect - Briggs, the man who is writing Boone's biography. The team finds his location by tracking the GPS chip in his cell phone and intercept his car. Unfortunately, Cassidy is not in his trunk. Instead, she is in an abandoned farmhouse with O'Neill, Boone's lawyer. When Cassidy asks him how Boone convinced his lawyer to become his replacement, he laughs and says that he sought Boone out so that he could learn from him. O'Neill lunges at Cassidy with a knife, but she dodges his blade and attempts to fight.

In the NCIS interrogation room, Gibbs threatens to burn Boone's scrapbook unless he reveals the location of Cassidy. At first, Boone appears extremely distraught, but he then laughs and says that he does not need the scrapbook because he has the images in his mind. Gibbs, in an apparent rage, puts a gun to Boone's head and pulls the trigger; however, he has worked out that Boone's plan all along was to get Gibbs to murder him so that Gibbs' life would be ruined. As a result, the gun is not loaded, and instead of harming Boone, Gibbs orders that Boone be taken back to prison. Boone taunts Gibbs as he is being led away, saying that the copycat killer is cutting out Cassidy's tongue at that very moment. However, Gibbs surprises Boone by showing him that Cassidy is alive and well in the NCIS office (unlike O'Neill who has been killed), albeit bruised and with her arm in a sling. Upon seeing this, Boone begins to scream and tries to break free, but he is unsuccessful. Gibbs closes by telling him to enjoy Hell.

External links

[http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis/ NCIS on CBS] - official show site on CBS [http://www.ncis.navy.mil/ United States NCIS] - official site of the United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service