Directed by William Webb
Written by Jeffrey A Kirkpatrick, John C Kelley, Laurence Walsh, & Christopher Silber
Season 3, Episode 3
Mind Games
Gibbs again questions a condemned serial killer whom he arrested 10 years before. The killer, three days from execution, has offered to reveal the locations of the bodies if he gets to talk with Gibbs. The gang solve that and much more.
Tropes in this Episode:
- Amoral Attorney: An Exaggerated Trope. Boone's lawyer is carrying on his client's "work", both For the Evulz and as part of a scheme, not to give his client a stay of execution, but actually to continue his client's legacy as a killer. This is lampshaded further by the lawyer himself as he intends to kill more victims to further taunt Gibbs even after Boone is dead.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Boone's defense lawyer is the picture of mild-mannered professionalism. Turns out he's Boone's accomplice and has been kidnapping and murdering women in the same manner as his client.
- Dope Slap: Gibbs slaps Tony for letting Cassidy get to him. Tony slaps McGee for ignoring Abby.
- I Know You're Watching Me: The interrogation room camera shows Kyle Boone staring at the observation mirror. As soon as Gibbs is viewing the feed from the bullpen plasma, Boone tilts his head toward the camera. Happens again when Gibbs is in the observation room, and they have a staring contest.
- Jack the Ripoff: On Boone's dumping grounds, Team Gibbs finds a body dead for less than a week. The imprisoned Boone's lawyer had been carrying on the Georgetown Killer's legacy.
- Matricide: Boone's first kill was his own mother when he was 12 years old.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Paula Cassidy is caught by Boone's attorney, who binds her hands behind her back. The scene cuts away as he menaces her with a knife. At the end of the episode we learn that she killed him in the ensuing fight.
- Red Herring: The team, and the audience, are both led to believe that the sleazy tabloid reporter following them around is the Copycat Killer, given his obsession with Boone. Turns out it's Boone's own defense lawyer.
- Serial Killer: Kyle Thomas Boone killed over 20 women. Popped up on NCIS' radar when he killed a Navy petty officer. As for the lawyer, he killed four women, with Cassidy almost becoming his fifth victim.
- Silver Fox: Abby describes Gibbs as this to try and get McGee's attention.
- Son of a Whore: Boone's mother was a prostitute who disappeared when he was 12, presumably abandoning him. In reality, Boone actually murdered his mother, marking it as his first kill.
- Strike Me Down: Upon Boone taunting out Gibbs over Cassidy's supposed fate, Gibbs loses it and attempts to shoot him inside the interrogation room. However, Boone doesn't care and orders Gibbs to shoot him, knowing that such an action would land Gibbs in big trouble. At the moment when Gibbs pulls the trigger, it turns out that the gun wasn't loaded, which made Boone realize that Gibbs actually deduced of what he's planning.Boone: Shoot! (Gibbs pulls the trigger on Boone, but nothing comes out) Shoot me, you're supposed to shoot me, you idiot!
Gibbs: That the big plan you spend 10 years working on: get me to murder you and ruin my own life? (chuckles) Wow.... - Theme Serial Killer: He killed women, cut out their tongues and left their bodies to rot.
- Underestimating Badassery: Sociopathic Serial Killer though he was, Boone's plan for having his lawyer continue on his rampage and getting his revenge on Gibbs was very, very well-done, and came within a whisker of success, even willing to forsake his own life in Gibbs' wrath to ensure of it. But then again, Boone only made one mistake: he underestimated Agent Cassidy's badass unarmed-combat skills.
- Villainous Breakdown: Boone has two: first, a minor one, when Gibbs "shoots" him with an unloaded gun instead of actually killing him in cold blood. The second is his real breakdown. It happens when he uses one last psychological attack to rattle Gibbs and put a stay of his execution. It has to do with an agent working under Gibbs (Cassidy) who Boone has his lawyer/protege abduct, torture, and kill. The breakdown at the end of the exchange:Boone: Hey, do you think she screamed, when he cut out her tongue, Jethro?
Gibbs: I don't know. Why don't you ask her yourself?
*cue Agent Cassidy walking out of the next room and Boone's giant grin melting into shock*
Cassidy: I'm afraid your lawyer's going to miss your execution tomorrow.
Tony: He's kinda dead.
Gibbs: Enjoy hell.
Boone: *enraged as he is dragged away to death row* No!!! NOOO!!! NOOO!!!! NOOOOO!!!!! - Who's Laughing Now?: Boone thinks he's in control and he's sickeningly smug about it, right up until Gibbs produces Cassidy, alive and well, tells him his accomplice is dead, and there is nothing left that Boone can do to put off his own execution. Boone's speechlessness turns into incoherent screaming as he is dragged away, as the team watches with profound satisfaction.
