Devil's Triad
Directed by Arvin Brown
Written by Steven D Binder
The team investigate the death of a Marine and discover a link between the victim and the current boyfriend of Diane Sterling, Gibbs and Tobias Fornell's ex-wife; NSA agent Ellie Bishop struggles to adjust to being a member of the NCIS team.
Tropes in this episode:
- Call-Back: The team discovers a phone on the victim receiving calls and Tony realizes it's from the hotel Dinozzo Sr. always stays at whenever he's in town, before clarifying Senior is not here at the moment.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Gibbs has Emily hiding in his closet, her digital watch suddenly goes off. When she's kidnapped later, she plants it in Elijah's bag so the team could track him down when he's on the run (turns out it's Bluetooth enabled).
- Cut Your Heart Out With A Spoon: Fornell tells his daughter's kidnapper that if he so much as touches a hair on her head...Fornell: I will find you and I will rip your eyes out of your face and shove them so far down your throat you'll need a proctologist to read the evening paper.
- I Have Your Wife: After Eddie reveals that he's a Secret Service member working undercover for money launderer Elijah Banner, Fornell receives a call from Elijah telling him he has Emily and will release her if the team gives him the money found in the storage unit back.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: When Fornell bursts into Abby's lab to read Diane's "juicy" text messages to her ex-boyfriend (followed shortly by Diane herself, desperate to keep him from doing so), Tony has to be elsewhere, fast:Tony: I can't hear you, I have a sinus infection, I need to go get my Neti pot...
- It's Personal: After Elijah delivers his ransom call, McGee asks Gibbs what their next move is. Gibbs says no, Fornell's daughter is the one being held hostage, which means Fornell calls the shots, and Gibbs and the team follow his lead, no questions.
- Offscreen Breakup: Diane mentions she and Victor are planning to divorce soon.
- Papa Wolf: When Elijah kidnaps Emily, Fornell wastes no time in threatening bodily harm in the ransom call if he lays one finger on his daughter. When Elijah is arrested later, he starts insulting Emily, prompting Fornell to apologize to Gibbs as he punches Elijah in the face.
