NCIS – NCIS S14 E3 Privileged Information – Review: “Secrets, Secrets, Are No Fun!”
14.3 – “Privileged Information”
Directed by Edward Ornelas
Writers: George Schenck & Frank Cardea
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount
We open to a peaceful yoga class practicing tree pose when a Marine Sargent falls through the awning of the yoga studio. That’s not very Zen!
We cut over to the NCIS office where Torres is trying to find a reasonably priced place to live in Washington D.C. Good luck, dude!
Gibbs walks through the door looking exactly like he did ten seasons ago (Seriously, does this man age? I believe the answer is no.) and announces that they have a case. A Marine Sargent has fallen from the roof of an apartment and is in critical condition at Walter Reed Hospital.
Once they get up to the roof, they talk to the building manager. All of the tenants have keys to the roof and it’s used frequently. Luckily for the team, there are cameras on the roof.
Gibbs and Quinn head over to the hospital. The victim’s condition is not looking good; she has serious irreversible damage. Her sister is a wreck and not a good candidate to be interviewed at the moment. Gibbs and Quinn decide to come back later, but before they can get out the door, Dr. Grace, who is a psychiatrist, walks through and announces that she is the victim’s doctor.
Dr. Grace won’t share any details on her patient’s health; however, she does say that they should investigate this case as an attempted murder. Dun, dunnn, dunnnnnn!
Back at NCIS HQ, Gibbs and the team talk about Erin Kendall Hills. Her parents were both killed in a car accident when she was a child. She went to live with her older sister Devin at the age of nine in Washington D.C. and she joined the Marines directly after graduating.
Sargent Hills has a Purple Heart as well as many other awards. She also selflessly protected her fellow Marines while on active duty, putting herself in the way of shrapnel in order to keep them safe.
Erin’s psychiatrist is at HQ and while she agrees that while she had “issues,” she says that suicide isn’t the first road the team should consider for her patient.
McGee and Quinn head up to Quantico to talk to the victim’s Commander while Torres and Bishop head to Erin and her sister’s apartment.
Torres is wondering about the cost of the apartments in the area while looking through the victim’s drawers for clues. He asks Ellie about her move, to which she responds that she moved because she got divorced. Torres wants her to fill him in on the dating scene in Washington D.C. Ellie says dating isn’t her thing. I wonder if that is a little foreshadowing that she and Torres are going to hook up at some point? What do you think?
Torres is distracted by the Marine Sargent’s underwear.
Bishop asks if Torres if he has ever been married, to which he responds, “Not really.” What the heck does that mean?
Torres finds Erin’s phone. She missed a call around the time of her murder. The call is from Afghanistan.
The maintenance man knocks on the door. He has downloaded the security camera footage onto a flash drive. He is starting to give off a suspicious vibe… What do you think?
Torres can’t help himself and he asks for a tour of an apartment that is for rent in the building. Doesn’t seem super professional to me… He tells Bishop not to solve the case while he’s gone.
McGee and Quinn are talking to the victim’s Commander. He said that he isn’t surprised about what happened and that she seemed distracted. He thinks she had a traumatic experience in Afghanistan and admits that she was seeing a psychiatrist.
Gibbs comes home to lit candles, a fire in the fireplace, and dinner on the table. It is the work of Fornell, who happens to be wearing Gibb’s clothing. Fornell doesn’t want Gibbs to turn on the lights and ruin the mood, to which Gibbs asks if Fornell wants to make out with him. I’m weak! They are such a funny/Odd Couple! Seriously, Gibbs and Fornell are hilarious! This is easily going to be the best scene in the show.
Uh oh… the electricity is out. Fornell tried to fix the washing machine and he blew the fuse box. They are out of power and out of luck for at least a day of two.
Gibbs heads down to Abby’s lab with a CAF POW! He’s surprised to find Abby and Jimmy talking to a bird named Juan. Turns out the parrot belongs to Abby’s brother, who is out of town. Abby can’t leave Juan at home because he makes too much noise and her neighbors complained. Gibbs isn’t pleased, but it’s Abby, so you know he really doesn’t mind. She promises he’ll never see the bird again (after her brother gets back). Somehow I think the bird is going to be a new fixture at NCIS, don’t you?
Abby has analyzed the video footage. It appears that the victim was alone on the roof at the time of her fall.
I think the maintenance man was up there with her and pushed her off.
Torres traces the victim’s missed call from a defense contractor in Afghanistan. They call Mr. Dorn, the defense contractor, who acts strange. Says that the call was personal. Torres tells Dorn that the victim was injured. Dorn admits that he wanted Erin to come work for him after her term was up in the military.
Bishop and McGee talk to Erin’s sister. She knew about the defense contractor offering Erin a lucrative position. Erin’s sister wants to know why NCIS is investigating her sister’s death. She said that Erin always went to the roof to think and that she’s surprised she would commit suicide from there. The scene ends as the victim codes.
Ducky and Abby are pouring over the evidence. Abby wants Dr. Mallard to give her insight on the victim’s body language. They are looking for signs that it isn’t a suicide.
Dr. Mallard knows all kinds of interesting stuff about parrots. Of course he does! Can you imagine that man on Jeopardy? He would slay it!
Hmmmm… How shocking, Abby’s brother has missed his flight and is delayed from coming home. Juan the Parrot gets to hang out for one more day. Jimmy says, “Don’t tell Gibbs,” to which the parrot repeats, “Don’t tell Gibbs.” That silly parrot!
Quinn found out that Sargent Hill was very well liked in Afghanistan. No one knew that she was considering a job as a contractor. Interesting.
Update on Sargent Hill’s health, she went into cardiac arrest, but has been resuscitated. Quinn sympathizes with the Erin’s sister. Interesting this point was emphasized. Makes me think that the sister the murderer. Maybe Sargent Hill and the maintenance man where having an affair behind the sister’s back? What do you think?
Torres just got off the phone with the leasing agent from the victim’s apartment complex, because that’s appropriate, said no one ever! He said he’s not sure if he wants to lease the apartment because the previous tenant died in there and that is creepy. I think he’s creepy he’s looking for an apartment where he’s investigating a scene, but that’s just me. If it was a murder, wouldn’t he be concerned that the murderer is still out there?
That said, Brenda Leigh Johnson from The Closer found her first place to live in LA after investigating a dead body, so perhaps that’s just how these things work?
McGee is looking really thin. Hope he’s okay.
Fornell and Gibbs are hanging out again. Fornell is looking through Gibb’s classified file on the case. Gibbs tells him to go back to work. Turns out they won’t sign off on Fornell’s return to duty yet. Looks like the Odd Couple is here to say for a bit longer! Yippeeee! Seriously, they are the best!
Looks like the party is at Gibbs’ place! The psychiatrist stops by for a beer. She tells Gibbs that Erin Hill passed away. That’s sad. Also, confidentially ends with death, so she shares that Erin Hill was involved in covering up a murder. Yikes! That’s a big bomb to drop!
Sargent Hill was ordered by her Commanding Officer to go to therapy. She didn’t want to implicate anyone in the cover up, so the psychiatrist doesn’t have much information to share on the victim.
Quinn goes to the morgue and wants to make a connection with the victim. Dr. Mallard says that it doesn’t sound strange. Seems strange to me, but my degrees are in teaching and Early Childhood Special Education, so what do I know?
Quinn has her moment with the victim’s corpse. She brings up the sister thing again.
Torres, McGee, and the Gibbs are talking about the cover up. They are trying to figure out if the murder Sargent Hill was part of covering up was in Afghanistan or if it was at home in the United States. That is when Torres says that her 92-year-old neighbor recently died in an apartment in her building. It could be connected.
Fornell crashes the office wearing Gibbs’ clothing, because, Fornell. He finds out that the security contractor trying to hire Sargent Hill formerly worked for the CIA.
Gibbs tells McGee to escort Fornell out of the building and says that he can use his weapon if he tries to resist. Ha ha ha! These two!
Bishop and Torres meet with the police officer who was first on the scene of the 92-year-old’s death. Turns out Erin’s sister, Devon, was the person who reported it. Interesting! She said that she checked on the man every morning before work and when he didn’t answer one morning, she called the maintenance man to let her in. When they entered the apartment, they found the old man in a pool of his own blood with his walker nearby. The cop said it looked like the man fell, hit his head on a sharp corner, and bled out. He’s way too nonchalant about the death. Someone died, show some emotion!
The officer said that there didn’t appears to be foul play and that according to the coroner, the man died sometime the night before.
Jimmy and Dr. Mallard are in the morgue. They are about to cut into Sargent Hill’s body. Before they can, Gibbs pops down and wants Ducky to follow up on the 92-year-old man’s death five weeks ago. Ducky is friends with the medical examiner and Gibbs wants details on the man’s death.
Gibbs heads over to Abby’s lab while Jimmy starts the autopsy and Ducky calls his ME (medical examiner friend).
Ha ha ha! Abby tried to hide Juan the parrot from Gibbs, but he says, “Don’t tell Gibbs! Don’t tell Gibbs!” Abby says that her brother is stuck in Chattanooga. True life story, my parents were stuck in Chattanooga not too long ago. Small world, or something like that!
Anyways, Abby has found something, because, Abby is a genius! The video showing Sargent Hill on the roof shows her wearing a watch with a leather band; however, when she hit the pavement, she was wearing a watch with a stainless steel bracelet. Interesting! So, unless she managed to change her watch mid-fall, the video the maintenance man gave to the team is from another day. Told you he was suspicious!
Abby doesn’t age either. What the heck is in the water on the NCIS set and can they bottle it and sell it to the general public?
The team is in the office and sharing everything they know about Greg Abell, the building maintenance man. He graduated with a degree in computer science. He was convicted of computer hacking and internet fraud. He also spent time in jail and is still on probation. This explains why he doesn’t have a job in his field and how he could have easily manipulated the timestamp on the videos from the apartment building.
Abell isn’t at the apartment complex, which is unusual. Team thinks he might be on the run.
Did Sargent Hill cover up for her sister and the maintenance guy? Did Sargent Hill’s sister kill her for some reason? Was she worried that her sister wouldn’t keep the murder of the old man a secret? What is happening in this episode!
Gibbs wants the sister brought in for questioning.
Ducky has the 92-year-old man’s body in the morgue. He hadn’t had an autopsy yet and his body hadn’t been claimed, so it was essentially on hold in the ME’s office.
Turns out he didn’t fall and hit his head, he was hit with something instead. Ducky has found glass in his head wound.
Jimmy says that Erin Hill was roofied, which was made evident by a blood test. Although this is super inappropriate, I think it’s a bit ironic that she was roofied before being pushed off the roof. *insert awkward face*
Torres appears to be out flirting with girls from the yoga studio as McGee waits impatiently for his burger from inside the car. They are waiting outside of the victim’s apartment building, hoping Greg Abell, the maintenance man comes back soon.
Torres says that he was on the clock working and that he has the name of the apartment building’s main source of gossip. Turns out Abell and Erin Hill’s sister have been hooking up. CALLED IT!
Torres wants an apology from McGee. McGee apologizes, but quickly realizes he shouldn’t have when Torres shows him the number he also scored from the lady at the yoga studio. Does Torres really think that he needs help from Bishop with the dating scene?
McGee and Torres get excited when the postman shows up. McGee says that the postman knows a lot about people by the type of mail they receive. Interesting!
The post office held the elderly man’s mail for five weeks, as they were waiting for the next of kin to come forward. They found a letter from a precious coin and rare gem dealer. They wanted to know if he wanted to sell his collection.
Uh oh! Juan is on the loose! Gibbs is going to be pissed!
The 92-year-old man had lived through the Great Depression and he didn’t believe in banks. His collection, which should be hidden in the house somewhere, is missing and the precious coin and rare gem dealer has an appointment with someone claiming to represent the deceased man’s estate tomorrow. Who wants to bet that it’s the maintenance man, Abell?
Gibbs tells Erin’s sister that she had been drugged and that he thinks that Erin was murdered. He knows that she (the sister) and Greg Abell were having relationships. Gibbs tells Devon, Erin’s sister, that he thinks that Abell altered the timestamps on the videos and was involved in the murder of the 92-year-old man in their building,
Devon’s sister looks guilllllllllty!
McGee interrupts the interrogation; this must be important!
Uh oh! Gibbs wants to know about the gold and the missing coins. Devon says that the man showed her his coin collection and that she mistakenly told Greg about the coins. He “convinced” her that since he had dementia and no heirs, that he wouldn’t miss the money, so they began to steal form him. What horrible people!
Devon admits that the elderly man caught Greg stealing from him. Greg hit him over the head with a vase. Devon made it look like he fell and hit his head. Again, what horrible people!
Devon claims that she nor Greg had anything to do with her sister’s fall and death. I wonder if this is true or not?
Bishop and McGee are in the car. Bishop tells McGee about Torres’ weird answer when she asked if he had ever been married before. Bishop’s eyebrows are really dark. I find this distracting
Anyways, Abell is on his way to the “dealer” which is actually Gibbs and Quinn.
In the midst of the set up to catch Abell, a man starts washing Bishop and McGee’s window. When he won’t stop, Bishop flashes her badge. The guy loudly proclaims, “OH! You guys are cops!” This tips off Abell who takes off with Gibbs, Quinn, Bishop, McGee, and Torres close on his heels.
Torres tackles the man and all of the gold coins and bars go flying.
We cut over to Fornell and the psychiatrist, Grace, are on Gibbs’ couch. Turns out Abell murdered Erin because he was afraid that she would convince her sister to go to the police about the cover up.
Grace asks Tobias (Fornell) how he’s feeling. Fornell thinks that Grace is “shrinking him.” Ha ha! She tells him that she doesn’t think that it’s healthy for him to be living three feet from where he was shot and almost killed.
Listen here, Grace! Fornell and Gibbs living together is the comedic relief of the show and quite possibly my favorite part, especially since Michael Weatherly’s departure from the show... Don’t blow this for me!
Gibbs comes home to find his buddies on the couch. This is like an episode of Friends. Fornell thinks that Gibbs told Grace to come over and convince him to move out. Gibbs invites Grace downstairs, a place Fornell conveniently can’t get on his own, yet! Ha ha! Those silly kids!
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Oh no! How sad! Gary Glasberg, the NCIS showrunner and executive producer died. He has been in the business for quite some time and has worked on everything from NCIS to Recess to Bones. RIP, Gary!
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My Thoughts: This was a pretty good episode, although I think I called it pretty early on that the maintenance man the sister were involved in Sargent Hill’s murder. Did you see that coming too?
Gibbs and Fornell were definitely the much needed comic relief.
I want to see more Abby, she wasn’t in this episode very much!
What did you think of the episode? Leave a comment with your thoughts below!
