Hiatus (NCIS)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Hiatus
Colour =
Series = NCIS
Season = 3
Episode = 23 and 24 (Parts 1 and 2 respectively)


Airdate = May 9, 2006 (Part 1) May 16, 2006 (Part 2)
Production = 069 (Part 1) 070 (Part 2)
Writer = Donald Bellisario
Director = Dennis Smith
Guests = Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer Muse Watson as NIS Agent Mike Franks
Episode list = Episode chronology
Prev = Jeopardy
Next = Shalom"Hiatus" is a two-part episode which has been aired separately as the final two episodes of the third season of the drama television series, "NCIS". The first part was originally aired on May 9, 2006 while the second part was aired on May 16, 2006. The episode was written by Donald Bellisario and directed by Dennis Smith.

Summary

Part 1

NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, Special Agent Timothy McGee and Officer Ziva David wait in a car as their boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, contacts an undercover government agent on a suspicious foreign ship. They witness an explosion from the ship which killed the agent and placed Gibbs in a coma. In his comatose state, Gibbs has flashbacks of the murder of his wife and daughter, and his wounding in Desert Storm.

Tony becomes the temporary head of the investigation team as the group attempts to track down Pinpin Pula, a missing crew member of the ship, suspected to be an Abu Sayaaf member. The team confirms the identity of the dead agent to be NCIS Special Agent Abog Galib, with whom Gibbs was supposed to be meeting. Meanwhile, Abby Sciuto is disturbed by Ziva's seeming nonchalance regarding Gibb's serious injuries, causing a fight between the two.

Gibbs awakens from his coma but has no memory of his friend and colleague, Ducky Mallard.

Part 2

Director Jenny Shepard informs the team that Gibbs has regained consciousness but cannot remember anything that happened in the past 15 years. He believes that he has just woken up from his wounding in Desert Storm. DiNozzo worries that Shepard might be trying to take over the investigation, and confronts her about it. She tells him that he was always going to head up the team, but she wanted to see whether he has as much guts as Gibbs.

Shepard contacts Gibbs's NCIS mentor and partner, Mike Frank, in a desperate attempt to help an amnesiac Gibbs regain his memory as only he knows the details to an impending terrorist attack. Frank comes back from Mexico to help his former Probie. This is partly successful as Gibbs remembers working with Frank and learning a tremendous amount from him. The flashbacks suggest a similarity in their relationship to that between Gibbs and DiNozzo. Frank fills him on what has been happening in the world since 1991; hearing about 9/11 causes Gibbs to throw up the steak he has been assaulting with a plastic knife and fork.

Abby and McGee's reconstruction of the explosion shows that Gibbs could not have survived the explosion, as he would have been peppered with shrapnel from the explosion. This leads them to believe that Gibbs knew that he was set-up and had taken cover. It also showed that someone else had posed as Special Agent Abog Galib, who was already dead before the explosion. Ziva's interrogation of the ship's captain reveals that the man Gibbs met with was in fact, Pinpin Pula. Pula is now on a supply ship, posing as Galib, and is the radio operator. He is able to intercept any incoming warnings, so the message doesn't get through.

Ziva visits Gibbs on his last night in the hospital. In her desperation in trying to help regain Gibbs' memory, she grabs Gibbs hand and uses it to slap herself on the back of her head. This, together with her emotional statement that she had killed her own brother for him, lets Gibbs miraculously regain his memory. They both promptly return to their headquarters much to the surprise of the team.

In a live video conference, Washington bureaucrats ignore his warnings about the impending terrorist attack on the naval vessel, because of a fear of negative publicity. As a SEAL team arrives at the ship to find Pinpin Pula, the terrorist detonates the bomb and destroys the ship while the NCIS watch on the large surveillance screen. This prompts Gibbs to resign. He hands his badge to Tony, telling him that he is now in charge of the team and is ready for the responsibility. The episode (and season) finishes with Gibbs arriving at Frank's house in Mexico.

Real life connection

There is a part where DiNozzo says that something is likely as him hooking up with Jessica Alba, which is significant because Michael Weatherly (who plays DiNozzo) was at one time engaged to Jessica Alba.

Response

Both episodes received more than 15 million viewers on their original airdates despite being broadcast in the same timeslot as Fox's "American Idol", which finished first on both nights in viewer ratings. The first part of the Season 3 finale attracted 15.71 million viewers while the second part obtained 16.49 million viewers. [Berman, Marc, " [http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002501269 The Programming Insider] ", "Mediaweek.com", May 11, 2006. Retrieved on September 28, 2007.] [Berman, Marc, " [http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002574677 The Programming Insider] ", "Mediaweek.com", May 24, 2006. Retrieved on September 28, 2007.]

References