Kill Ari

Infobox Television episode
Title = Kill Ari
Colour =
Series = NCIS
Season = 3
Episode = 1 and 2 (Parts 1 and 2 respectively)


Airdate = September 20, 2005 (Part 1) September 27, 2005 (Part 2)
Production = 048 (Part 1) 049 (Part 2)
Writer = Donald Bellisario
Director = Dennis Smith
Guests = Sasha Alexander as Caitlin Todd; Lauren Holly as Jenny Shepard; Cote de Pablo as Ziva David; Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer; Rudolf Martin as Ari Haswari; Alan Dale as NCIS Director Tom Morrow
Episode list = Episode chronology
Prev = Twilight
Next = Mind Games"Kill Ari" is a 2-part episode which is aired separately as the Season 3 premiere episodes of the drama television series, "NCIS". The first part of the episode was aired on September 20, 2005 and the second part on September 27, 2005. The episode was written by Donald Bellisario and directed by Dennis Smith.

This episode marks the last appearance of Sasha Alexander as Caitlin Todd and the first of new team members Jenny Shepard (played by Lauren Holly) and Ziva David (played by Cote de Pablo), although Holly and de Pablo do not become regular cast members until the tenth and fourth episodes in the season respectively. Alexander is is given a "Special Guest Star" credit in both Part 1 and Part 2.

ummary

Part 1

After Kate's death in "Twilight" the team tries to cope with it, each in their own way, all of them seeing Kate in various dresses and talking to her. Meanwhile, Ari Haswari, is still on the run and Gibbs, certain that Ari was the sniper killing Kate, is determined to catch him, much to the dismay of the new director of NCIS, Jenny Shepard, who, supported by Mossad officer Ziva David (pronounced "da-veed"), is not convinced that Ari is the killer but rather still works as a Mossad agent infiltrating Al-Qaeda. More complications arise from the fact that the new director is Gibbs' former partner and lover.

Meanwhile, Ari tries to assassinate Abby in her lab, making Gibbs realize that Ari is not after him (as he thought before) but rather tries to kill all the other members of Gibbs' team, the women first, to make him suffer (however the pre-credits sequence of the episode reveals that Ari's first target was in fact agent Timothy McGee, whose life was saved when he suddenly moved out of Ari's line of fire to avoid being shot by an unrelated terrorist). Tony on the other hand, is sent to spy on Ziva because Gibbs thinks she is sleeping with Ari.

Part 2

Ari is still on his quest to make Gibbs suffer. After having failed to kill Abby, Gibbs has instated a rule that no one is to leave the building. Yet, Tony is out at a hotel, shadowing Ziva and Ducky is on the way home, when he is led to a quiet street by Ari, who kidnapped Ducky's former assistant Gerald Jackson and is exchanging him with Ducky, who agrees to get Gerald free. With Ducky as a hostage, Ari tries to stop Gibbs from following the trail of Ari's accomplices and also tries to kill Gibbs and Jenny, making Gibbs more angry.

Gibbs finds out that Ziva was (or is) Ari's control officer in Mossad and manages to convince her to help him set up a trap for Ari, promising, that if Ari does not show up, he, Gibbs, will accept that Ari is not the killer. Gibbs returns to the rooftop to place flowers at the site of Kate's death, opening himself up as a target, however Ari does not take the bait. Instead, when Gibbs goes home to retrieve his sniper rifle, Ari is there waiting for him, Gibbs' sniper rifle in hand. About to shoot Gibbs (with the intent of making it look like a suicide), Ari admits having killed Kate and being a terrorist, to see Gibbs suffer one more time before he kills him. Lucky for Gibbs, Ziva, who is Ari's half-sister, was truthful about the trap and shoots Ari before he can kill Gibbs, thus proving that she is indeed on their side.

While Ziva escorts Ari's dead body to Tel Aviv, Gibbs and the team hold the funeral for Kate, sad that she is gone but at least knowing that her death was not unavenged.