Life Before His Eyes - Recap

The scene opens with Gibbs driving to a diner. The lady at the counter informs him about an accident that took place. As they continued with their idle chatter; a man, whose face we don’t see, walks in and pulls out a gun at Gibbs and a fire is shot. Next shown is the condensation of Gibbs’ life, followed by hypnologic images of him seeing his dead father, his team, his late mentor Mike Franks in the diner. Mike and Gibbs are shown talking, where Mike questions Gibbs about the choices he made. Frank tells him that people want to give him a “closure”. They want to show him all the good he did. Ari (Ziva’s dead brother) walks in. Next is shown the previous day. 24 hours earlier, it's shown that while the federal agents are having their small talk about the changed computer angle; Gibbs arrives with the body of the week, a dead petty officer on the USS Gentry, which has been dry docked for weeks for repair. Onboard, they examine the body in the control room, and it is seen that she has a gun in her hand.

Following a trail of blood, Gibbs and Ziva enter a cargo bay nearby. They find a man who has been shot but alive. Back in the supernal diner, Franks tells Gibbs that he “earned” the replay. Ari is shown playing chess with Leon Vance. Senior agent Fornell is there too. Franks takes Gibbs back to the office and tells him that one decision can change everything. On a desk, he see a picture of Tony with Kate. Gibbs flashes back to the day Kate was shot on the roof by Ari. Franks says “this time” Gibbs saw Ari and stopped him. He tells him that if Kate hadn’t died, things could have been different. Next, it is shown that Tony walks into the hospital, frantic from being undercover, worrying that he missed it. Kate had just delivered his baby. Frank tells Gibbs that if Kate would have lived, Ziva would have stayed Mossad. Next, Tony is shown interrogating Ziva. Franks tells Gibbs that there was more to the case yesterday than Gibbs saw coming.

In the office, they learn that the dead Petty officer, Janet McCaffrey had an unsullied record but had made two deposits of $30,000 in the last week. The man who had been shot, was a civilian named Peter Germaine and he is still in the ICU. He worked for a ship building company which was absorbed by a Hong Kong company. McGee states that they are some security concerns about a foreign country doing work on US ships. In the lab, Abby informs Gibbs that the two bullets from the McCaffrey’s body and the one from Germaine’s body were from the gun left in McCaffrey’s hand, making it look like Germaine did it. There was a partial print found, which belonged to a freelance system analyst, who works with the Navy Intel, Michael Rose. All three had clearance to be on board. At the ethereal diner, a waitress serves Gibbs pie with chocolate sauce, just like his mom used to. He recognizes his mom, Anne.

She tells him that she is proud of him and that he gets to go home eventually. “Just ask Michael Rose”, she says. Back at the office, McGee informs Gibbs that Michael Rose is a divorced system analyst, who is facing foreclosure on his home. He has a 17 year old son, Stephen. Gibbs also learns that Rose deposited $20000, 48 hours ago and his coworkers haven’t seen him. He had made two phone calls to secure diplomatic lines in DC. Gibbs assumes that he was calling the Chinese Embassy. Back on the ship, Tony badgers McGee, until he tells him that Vance has offered him to head the cyber crimes unit at Okinawa. McGee tells Tony that he finds his sincerity disconcerting. Tony tells him to trust his gut. Next, it is shown that Ziva is waiting for Stephen Rose. On approaching him, he swings his lacrosse stick at her.

He later explains that his dad asked him to be careful and protect himself from the Chinese as they could have trouble. Back at the diner, Anne tells Gibbs that he hasn’t made up his mind yet. Gibbs is shown holding a newspaper with a headline which reads, “NCIS Agent kills suspect.” But Gibbs hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. Next, we see dead NCIS Agent Riley McAlister join Gibbs in a booth, who Gibbs thinks of to be a crook and a murderer. Riley tells Gibbs that he is there because Gibbs needs him. He reminds Gibbs of Mexico and Pedro Hernandez, the man Gibbs killed to avenge the deaths of his wife and daughter. Gibbs imagines what would have happened if he hadn’t killed Hernandez. He wanted to know. In the next scene, 24 hours earlier, Gibbs is shown sitting with Stephen Rose. Gibbs tells him that his dad was selling secrets to the Chinese. Hearing this, Stephen says that his dad was a good man and he just got pulled in with some bad people.

He also informs Gibbs that his father called him last night and sounded scared. Stephen asks Gibbs to help him. At the diner counter, Gibbs sees Hernandez and fixates on him. Franks says that if Gibbs had not killed Hernandez, it would eat Gibbs up. Next, a fat, out of shape Gibbs is shown in his basement, gobbling from a bottle. Just then his team comes to check on him as they have not seen him for months. He says that he just wants to be left alone. He is brusque. He tells them that he doesn’t want them to stay. When Duckie tells him to stop thinking about himself and think about his loved ones, he asks them to get out as he does not want their pity. Back at the diner Franks tells Gibbs that folks do the wrong thing for the right reasons and that probably Gibbs isn’t so different from Michael Rose. Back on the ship, Gibbs, McGee, Stephen and Tony are shown looking for Michael Rose.

They reach a door, at which the search dog barks. Stephen tries talking to his dad and tells him that they just want to help. Michael comes out of the room with his hands held up in the air, agreeing to tell them everything. At the diner, Gibbs picks up a bullet off the floor. He sees his daughter Kelly, who takes him to his late wife. She tells him that they have been waiting for him. Back in the interrogation, Gibbs informs Michael that Germaine died in the ICU. Rose confesses that he thought it would be easy. They had a plan. He tells Gibbs that Germaine had connections with the Chinese and that rose was supposed to do the download. However, Rose said he decided to walk out of the plan as he was worried about his honor and the lives he would be putting at risk. He says he tried to call the Embassy, but that night when he went to the ship to erase all the data on the hard drive, it was too late. They were there. He says that he killed them in self-defense. At the diner Gibbs tells his wife that he regrets letting her testify.

His wife tells him, that if they weren’t killed, he wouldn’t have joined the NCIS and stayed a Marine and they would have been on the other side of the situation. His wife tells him, he doesn’t get it both ways. Back at the office, Gibbs tells Stephen to go home. Stephen asks for help and says that his dad was trying to do what was right. Gibbs tells Stephan that killing two people wasn’t right. Stephen realizes that Gibbs will not help. Next, at the diner, from the moment Gibbs first walks in, he sits for coffee. The gunman walks towards him and pulls the gun. Gibbs draws his, but he pauses. Stephan is the shooter. He fires, scraping Gibbs in the shoulder. Two men from the counter pin down Stephen. Just then Gibbs sees Franks, who concludes that, seemingly Gibbs isn’t finished yet. Back at the office, McGee announces that he is not taking up the job in Okinawa. Gibbs, all healed, comes in announcing a dead Marine. He is ready to head out. The episode ends with Gibbs saying, “My choice, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” The episode ends.

Written By David Sibert

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