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Recap / NCISS 14 E 11

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Directed by Tony Wharmby

Written by Gina Lucita Monreal

After months of planning and preparation, Operation Willoughby begins, only to fail at the first hurdle, as the target destroys his own plane, injuring Agent Reeves in the process. The team must now piece together what went wrong before the terror attack they were attempting to prevent occurs.

Tropes:

  • The Aloner: Why Reeves joined what was basically a suicide mission — he would have been trapped alone on a plane with a terrorist and his two henchmen if the op was successful — he didn't want anyone "with a family" to put themselves at risk. While we only know for certain he knows of Ellie's family situation (and clearly doesn't know Gibbs') he's aware the team considers themselves True Companions.
    • Loners Are Freaks: Ellie is disturbed that Reeves apparently has no friends since his partner betrayed him.
  • Commonality Connection: How Reeves bonded with the pilot: they both had no real family and grew up in the foster care system.
  • Driven to Suicide: Given the choice of betraying a very, very clever terrorist or death, most of Chen's associates chose death.
    • The pilot overdoses on his own painkillers so his family won't be killed.
    • Ate His Gun: Chen's right hand man goes out this way rather than be interrogated by NCIS.
  • Disposable Significant Other: In only his second appearance as Ellie's boyfriend the Afghani interpreter is shot to (brain)death after Chen learns he's broken his code.
  • The Faceless: Not quite, but the only photo of Chen's face is 15 years old and he isn't seen in person.
  • Greed / Only in It for the Money: Possibly a first for a terrorist, Chen's MO is to cause deadly incidents purely to manipulate the stock market and make loads of cash. Even his associates are only interested in money (and trying not to get themselves and their loved ones killed by Chen).
  • Memento MacGuffin / Very Recent Orphan's Plot Trinket: The souvenir charms the pilot gets for his daughter happen to line up with all of Chen's recent trips.
  • The Mole: Two unidentified callers have been speaking in code regarding Willoughby, to the point the target knew about the op from its inception.
    • Frame-Up: One mole tried to frame the pilot by faking a cell phone call using a frequency that was used for Operation Willoughby which was traced back to the team member from Belgium.

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