Directed by Terrence O'Hara
Written by John C Kelley
Season 2, Episode 22:
SWAK
NCIS is put into lockdown after receiving a mysterious letter which may contain a deadly bacterial bioweapon.
- Ask a Stupid Question...:
- Gibbs gives Jimmy this order:Gibbs: Requisition replacement cell phones and weapons for my team.
Jimmy: Pistols?
Gibbs: Well, no, Palmer, crossbows, if you think that might work better. - Inverted with Sarah Lowell. When Cassidy asks why she lied about being raped, instead of admitting the embarrassing but harmless truth that she and her boyfriend got drunk and were clowning around, Sarah tearfully responds, "I was tied naked to a bed! What else could I tell my mother?!"
- Gibbs gives Jimmy this order:
- Blood from the Mouth: Tony starts coughing up blood as his infection progresses.
- Celebrity Resemblance: A Running Gag has Walter Reed's Dr. Brad Pitt introducing himself or being referred to by other characters, followed by him or them immediately explaining: 1) yes, that's really his name, and 2) no, he's no relation to the other Brad Pitt. note
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Hannah Lowell goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge because she believes that her daughter Sarah was raped at the Navy Lodge and NCIS covered up the identity of the culprit. As part of this rampage, she sends a biological weapon to NCIS that infects and nearly kills Tony. When Sarah is confronted, she admits that she was never raped; she got drunk and was clowning around with her boyfriend, who tied her naked to the bed and then jokingly left the room, but was killed by a hit-and-run driver and never came back. Sarah tearfully says that claiming to have been raped (but unable to clearly identify her attacker) was preferable to telling her mother the embarrassing truth.
- False Rape Accusation: Subverted. Sarah Lowell lied about being raped, but was careful not to identify anyone who could be accused, or at least convicted, by claiming to have Trauma-Induced Amnesia.
- Hazmat Suit: While Tony and Kate are rushed to the isolation unit at Walter Reed, Gibbs and McGee are confined to Autopsy and told they can't leave until their blood tests come back negative. Unsatisfied with this, Gibbs and McGee both don sealed enviro-suits to allow themselves to visit other areas of NCIS, including Abby's lab.
- Knight Templar Parent / Mama Bear: Hanna Lowell, the pharmaceutical CEO behind the attack, demands that NCIS reopen the unsolved investigation of her daughter's alleged rape by Naval midshipmen. It turns out that her daughter filed a False Rape Accusation; she and her boyfriend had engaged in a little BDSM, and he left her bound to the bed and was killed in an accident before he could return. When she was found still tied to the bed, she claimed that she was raped because she couldn't tell her mother the truth.
- Never Heard That One Before: Whenever Dr. Brad Pitt introduces himself, he immediately follows up with, "yes, that's my real name, and no, we're not related. Wish we were. I'd love to meet Angelina Jolie."
- Oh, Crap!: Ducky is quietly horrified when he reads the message that the powder in the envelope contains Y. pestis — aka plague.
- Remembered Too Late: Played for Drama. Sarah Lowell never had the courage to tell her mother that she wasn't really raped; when she hears that her mother has sent a bioweapon to NCIS to force them to track down the rapist, Sarah rushes to the hospital and tries to tell her the truth, only to be told it is too late: her mother's dementia from her brain tumor has taken over completely, and she believes she is back in The '70s, flashing her breasts to news photographers in protest of The Vietnam War and... bioweapons.
- Signed with a Kiss: At the beginning of the episode, DiNozzo receives a letter sealed with a kiss that turns out to be full of bio-engineered pneumonic plague. The kiss on the envelope helped conceal a wad of aluminum foil that prevented the plague from being destroyed by the ultraviolet light hazmat prevention protocol standard to mail received by the armed forces. This forces the rest of the team to investigate the sender, who turned out to be a bio-engineering CEO and former anti-government activist, who in a combination of derangement caused by a brain tumor and Mama Bear rage, was forcing them to investigate the cold case of her daughter's rape by a Naval officer.
- Synthetic Plague: The office experiences a biological attack in the form of genetically-altered Yersinia pestis
which is resistant to antibiotics, stolen from a pharmaceutical lab. Tony is revealed to have been infected. - Take a Third Option: Gibbs is impatient to open the investigation, but biohazard protocols prohibit him and McGee from leaving quarantine. Their solution is to don HAZMAT suits so that they can move around the building while still in a contained environment.
- Terminally-Ill Criminal: Tony gets infected with Y. pestis sent in the mail by a woman named Hannah Lowell in a desperate attempt to get NCIS to reveal the truth that her daughter Sarah was the rape victim of a midshipman, despite investigations suggesting otherwise and Sarah's Trauma-Induced Amnesia about the incident. If they don't reveal what she believes is the truth, Tony will die without the antidote. Hannah was unafraid of the consequences of her actions due to her dying of an inoperable brain tumor, which made her undergo enough Sanity Slippage to resort to using the bioweapon in the first place, having stolen it from one of the researchers at the pharmaceutical company of which she was the CEO (Ironically, she had once been an activist against the use of bioweapons). Fortunately, Hannah didn't know that the sample was programmed to kill itself off thirty-two hours after infecting the host. This fact, combined with his modern-day immune system, allows Tony to survive. Apparently, after she was arrested, Hannah's tumor made her regress to her activist days during which she had a tendency to flash her breasts alongside her peace slogans. Sarah apologizes to the team for her mother's actions, knowing of her condition but not expecting she would do something that extreme. She also reveals that she faked her amnesia and lied about being raped. What had actually happened was that she was involved with the midshipman, and was consensually tied to his bed. He left to get food for them both but was killed in a car accident and never returned, leaving Sarah tied to the bed panicking and calling for help. She lied to her mother because she couldn't figure out how else to explain the situation of why she would be tied to a bed.
- There Is No Cure: Downplayed. The Y. pestis bioweapon, which has infected Tony, is a mild case. Hannah Lowell promises to provide the cure if NCIS identifies the culprit who raped her daughter, but when Gibbs confronts the scientist responsible for developing it, it turns out there is no cure, and Hannah is either demented from her brain tumor (as the scientist believes) or falsely promising that there is one to induce NCIS to act (as Gibbs believes). Fortunately, the engineered bacteria has a short lifespan and Tony's immune system is strong enough to fight the remaining symptoms off on his own.
- Wham Line: Gibbs confronts the biologist who developed the strain of plague that infected Tony, who says that the plague is designed to go extinct after 32 hours to prevent it from spreading, but Tony will still suffer the full effects.Gibbs: The "subject" is going to die?!
Dr. Pandy: No, not necessarily. He would have the same chances as those infected in plagues of the past, probably better since he would be young and healthy...
Gibbs: What was the survival rate of the past?
Dr. Pandy: People in the past were affected by poor crops, bad nutrition...
Gibbs: Dammit, what was the survival rate?!
Dr. Pandy: [tiny voice] ...Fifteen percent. - You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Hannah Lowell sent a biological weapon to NCIS to coerce them into reopening the investigation into her daughter Sarah's rape at the Navy Lodge hotel. Questioning Sarah, Cassidy's first supposition is that Sarah lied, and she actually did know who her rapist was, but lied because she didn't want him to get in trouble. Breaking down, Sarah admits she wasn't raped at all; her boyfriend tied her naked to the bed as a joke, then left the room, but was killed by a hit-and-run driver and never came back. When Cassidy asks Sarah why she lied, Sarah says, "I was tied naked to a bed! What else could I tell my mother?!" Cassidy, keeping her expression as neutral as possible, trades a look with Gibbs; it is hard to say whether he looks incredulous, exasperated, or just plain tired.
