Chimera (NCIS)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Chimera
Colour =
Series = NCIS
Season = 5
Episode = 06


Caption = The team arrives on the abandoned ship.
Airdate = October 30, 2007
Production = 100
Writer = Dan E. Fesman
Director = Terrence O'Hara
Guests = Steven Culp as Navy Cmdr. William Skinner Bill Heck as Cory Mitas James O'Shea as Navy Lt. Sean Ferris
Episode list = Episode chronology
Prev = Leap of Faith
Next = Requiem"Chimera" is the 100^th episode of the drama television series "NCIS" and the sixth episode of its fifth season.

ummary

Gibbs' team is sent to investigate a death aboard "USNS Chimera", a top-secret naval research ship sailing in the middle of the ocean. However, they suspect that they are not alone. Their investigation is further complicated by the Navy's reluctance to share information regarding the research which took place on Chimera.

Upon reaching the naval vessel, the entire ship appears to be empty. The crew and lifeboats were missing and evidence showed that they left in a hurry, as seen from a still-playing iPod. They discover a lab filled with various equipment and rat cages indicating non-humanitarian research.

Searching the ship, they discover the body of the dead marine in the freezer and Ducky's preliminary diagnosis was that he asphyxiated on his own vomit, although later it was discovered to be due to a viral hemorrhagic fever which threatens the lives of the team by possible exposure to the virus.

Back at NCIS headquarters, the director and commander argue over the classified information which results in the director winning the argument and the commander reading her in to the operation.

Being short staffed, DiNozzo has to help Ducky with the various lab analysis with the help of Abby. However, when putting a drop of diseased blood onto a microscopic slide, he foolishly sniffs it and spends the rest of the episode believing he may have contracted the virus until told that the virus was injected into Takada, the dead naval scientist.

As DiNozzo, Ziva and McGee search the ship, they come across the ship's cook who had been ordered to stay behind because of possible risk of exposure to the same disease that killed Takada. According to the cook, there was someone else on board who knocked him out and that person was still on board. His words are confirmed as the camera cuts to the external of the ships were someone is seen using a flashing light to signal someone.

The someone else turned out to be the radio officer, Ferris. He was signaling a Russian black ops team who have boarded the ship. With the Russian team on board, the team silently sneak out and steal the Russian boat while the Russians are distracted by a "dead" Ferris, who is merely knocked out and fake blood has been placed on him.

As the team leaves, we discover that the naval vessel had been holding Russian nuclear weapons. The entire episode is neatly summed up by McGee:

"So pirates, who weren't really pirates, were actually Russian sailors, who were on a covert mission to steal a navy research ship, that wasn't actually a navy research ship, in order to get back nuclear weapons that we thought they didn't think we had retrieved?"

The team have barely left the ship when it is destroyed by a missile attack. The US navy, it seems, didn't want anyone to know of the ship's existence and was willing to kill the NCIS team to cover it up.

Reception

On the episode's original airdate, "NCIS" was the most-watched program in its 8:00 pm ET timeslot, attracting approximately 16.3 million viewers in total with 3.3% rating and 9% share in the 18 to 49 years old demographics. [Kissell, Rick, " [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975096.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 Fox, ABC top Tuesday] ", "Variety", October 31, 2007. Retrieved on November 1, 2007.]

References

External links

* [http://www.tv.com/ncis/chimera/episode/1136278/summary.html NCIS: Chimera] - TV.com