Directed by Michael Zinberg
Written by Scott Williams, Scott J Jarrett, & Matthew R Jarrett
The team’s holiday plans are put on hold when the murder investigation of a homeless Navy veteran includes the discovery of a newborn baby boy who has no identification and no apparent ties to a family. Bishop and Torres decide to take care of the baby until they can find where he belongs. Meanwhile, Kasie finds herself finding a personal connection with the murder victim.
- Brutal Honesty: When Jack and Gibbs find the birth mother, Tanya, at a motel and tell her that the baby's safe in NCIS custody, Tanya thinks it's a sign that she can take care of him after all. Jack bluntly tells Tanya that even if she does have the money now, she's still a homeless teenager recovering from drug addiction, and trying to be a single mom will only make it harder for her to climb out of that hole. This helps convince Tanya to allow him to be adopted.
- Christmas Miracle: At the end of the episode, on Christmas Eve, the agents and a representative of the adoption agency Tanya was using give the baby to the couple who was originally supposed to adopt him before Viscious got involved.
- New father: This is a miracle, right? It's gotta be a miracle.
- Cuteness Proximity: This is implied to be the main reason why Team Gibbs is willing to put their holiday plans on hold to help out the baby boy.Torres: So you came all the way back for the case, or the baby?
Jack: Oh, come on. Who doesn't love a baby? - The Diaper Change: When this inevitably comes, Torres and Bishop tries to get McGee to do it, but he refuses because NCIS watching over the baby was their idea. They end up getting Palmer to do it.
- Double-Meaning Title: "What Child Is This?" is the title of a popular Chistmas hymn, which is appropriate given this is a Christmas Episode. The title also refers to the quest to discover the baby's origins and any possible family he may have.
- Give Him a Normal Life:
- Jack convinces Tanya that the best way to get her son the best life he could have is to allow him to be adopted by the couple the adoption agency was originally planning on giving him to.
- It's implied that Jack also gave birth to a baby she gave up for adoption for the same reasons.
- Happily Adopted: At the end of the episode, the baby is adopted by the couple who was originally supposed to adopt him in the first place.
- Killing in Self-Defense: The violent drug dealer who murders the vet grabs a gun and shoots at Bishop with it, leaving her, Gibbs, and Torres no choice but to shoot back.
- Meaningful Name: The bad-tempered drug-dealer's nick-name, Viscious, is well-earned.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Tanya, the birth mother of the baby, regrets selling him to the drug dealer for the black-market adoption, both shown in the security camera footage of the when the deal went down (especially when the Victim of the Week is seen calling her out on what she did) and when Gibbs and Jack manage to find her. She only went through with it because the adoption agency she was originally intending to give her baby to didn't pay birth mothers for the babies they give up and she desperately needed money. She's relieved when Gibbs and Jack reveal that he's safe in NCIS custody.
- No Name Given: The baby boy goes through several names the agents choose for him as they're trying to find any family, but at the end, they decide to allow the couple who's adopting him to name him.
- Parting-Words Regret: This turns out to be the real reason why Kasie doesn't want to return home for Christmas; during the previous one, she and her dad had a falling out because Kasie was considering dropping out of graduate school. Shortly afterward, he died of a sudden heart attack, so she never got to reconcile with him.
- Sequel Hook: This episode reveals that Jack had given birth to a girl that she gave up for adoption for currently unknown reasons, and that she may show up in future episodes.
- Spanner in the Works: If the Victim of the Week didn't witness Tanya selling her baby to Vicious, then Vicious wouldn't have killed him, and then Team Gibbs wouldn't have found the baby and brought him to the couple who wanted to adopt hum legitimately.
- Three-Month-Old Newborn: The baby is consistently described as a newborn, but as standard for TV shows, the baby is portayed by an older baby who's already capable of smiling.
- Wham Line: When Kasie and Palmer are visiting the veteran's homeless shelter to try to find his Purple Heart, they discover that there's more to the murder than just a violent stabbing.V.A. Home resident: Is it true what I just heard? That Viscious killed Jerome?
Jimmy: That appears to be the case, yeah.
Resident: So Jerome did it. He went and ratted Viscious out to the cops.
