NCIS - Willoughby - Review: “Emergency Contact”
14.11 - “Willoughby”
Directed by Tony Wharmby
Written by Gina Lucita Monreal
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount
This week’s episode opens with what appears to be a private airport. The pilot and perhaps a personal assistant are discussing Mr. Chen, who is going to arrive at the airport soon. The pilot lets the assistant know that there will be one slight change, the scheduled co-pilot is out ill and he his replacement is on board. Allegedly the replacement was personally vetted by Mr. Chen, which is interesting because the replacement is none other than MI6 Officer, Clayton Reeves.
Gibbs is shaving, (Question, is he still at Fornell’s house or is that his bathroom? I think it's his, but I'm not sure.), when he receives a phone call from Vance saying that Operation Willoughby is a go!
Bishop and Qasim are talking/flirting. Torres is acting weird about it. Quinn is all, “Young love!” Aw!
McGee is reading something that he is keeping hidden from everyone else. Luckily, Gibbs interrupts and tells McGee to brief everyone on Willoughby. Saved by the secret operation just in the nick of time!
McGee fills them in on Chen. He is a wealthy businessman who is allegedly committing acts of terrorism, which is in turn, manipulating the stock market.
Operation Willoughby is all about collecting evidence on Chen and stopping his dangerous illegal operations. Reeves is on board as the co-pilot.
Reeves is in major danger, as Chen will be able to tell as soon as they have hacked into his data.
What is going on? Chen’s assistant Jin Tao gets in his SUV and speeds away. Things aren’t looking good! Oh no! The plane just blew up! Did they just kill Reeves? Remember, that was my prediction from the last episode.
Wait, what? Reeves is in the hospital? It sounds like he survived. McGee is keeping the media in check. The story is that there was a mechanical failure. They cannot let info leak that an MI6 Officer was on the plane.
McGee and Bishop think Chen knew about Willoughby. They think the plane was blown up on purpose.
The news reporter decided to run the story anyway. Chen knows that Reeves is still alive and that the pilot is in the hospital.
Reeves said he heard Jin Tao talking to Chen. There’s another attack planned. Reeves wants out of the hospital. Gibbs tells him to wait until he’s released by the doctor and then it’s back to HQ.
Bishop visits Qasim in his office. She wants to reschedule dinner because she has to work late. He seems worried. There’s a lot of talk about emergency contacts. Reeves has himself listed as his own emergency contact. Bishop hypothesizes that Reeves doesn’t have any friends. Poor, MI6. I guess James Bond doesn’t have many friends either. Must run in the line of secret agent business. Qasim admits that he has listed Bishop as his emergency contact. Allof this talk makes me very worried for Qasim. The writers wouldn’t kill him, would they?
Chen is back in hiding. Jin Tao is also off the grid.
Abby has an update! There was a communication from Chen to the pilot right before Chen turned his car away from the airport. Abby asks, “How did Chen know that Willoughby was a set up?” Good question, Abbs! Good question! The better get to that pilot and they better get to him quick!
McGee heads to the hospital. He and Reeves visit the pilot in the hospital. The pilot is worried about his girls. He flat lines before giving up any info.
Ducky found the cause of death for the pilot, he was overdosed with morphine. He increased his own morphine and committed suicide.
McGee and Bishop are going over the details. Chen has a history of hurting family members of people he employees.
Quinn and Torres are staking out an auto parts store. They find a better vantage spot, too bad it’s in a bathroom. Ha ha!
Vance is meeting with the task force for Operation Willoughby. Everyone but Vance is suspicious of Reeves. They think he may have purposefully or even accidentally tipped off the pilot, who in turn let Chen know. Vance has Reeves back, which is nice to see. Chen’s alleged next target is the financial district in New York City.
Bishop is telling Gibbs about her “Reeves has no friends” theory. She thinks she’s his only friend. Aw, poor Bishop.
Gibbs are talking to the pilot’s wife. Their daughter is shattered. His wife doesn’t know anything about who her husband, Paul, the pilot, worked for; however, she admits that the money was too good to be true.
The pilot’s daughter lets a clue slip. She has a bracelet full of charms from her father. Every time he flew somewhere new, he would bring her back a bracelet. That’s sweet! The bracelet has charms from Paris, Amsterdam, and Cairo. This rings a bell for Bishop.
Qasim has been interpreting conversations from those exact same cities. Gibbs and Bishop think that Qasim’s interpretation records might hold the information they need to find Chen and nail him for terrorism.
The translations are in a super rare dialect of Pashtu. Per Bishop and Qasim, they have accents. The team thinks they are using a hard to translate language to pass secret messages.
Back at the stake out, someone in a black van stops and drops a letter off in a nearby mailbox.
Gibbs has Reeves over for steak and going through the translations. Reeves thinks Gibbs is going to scold him or “fix” him. Gibbs doesn’t, because Gibbs is the best. Reeves tells Gibbs that he was orphaned at age three, bounced around foster homes, and that he got into drugs. Gibbs already knows that, of course. Gibbs tells Reeves that Bishop is worried about him. Reeves reflects on their time in Scotland. Bishop referred to the team as family. Reeves left and signed up for Willoughby, because he didn’t want, “the kind of people who have people,” to sign up for such a dangerous mission.
Aw, Gibbs! I love him so much!
Reeves finds something in the translations! Chen found out about Reeves being an MI6 officer weeks ago. Chances are, he found out at Willoughby then as well. Eek!
Abby is being adorable, because, Abby! Ooh! Abby has found something major! She tells McGee that after every single task force meeting about bringing down Chen, the translators had a call. Does that mean someone on the task force is a mole? Looks like that’s the case! Abby found out who one of the two callers is via voice recognition.
Gibbs and Vance found out which task force member is the mole. Uh oh! She’s in big trouble!
Bishop finds Qasim in the library. They need his help with additional translations.
OH NO!!!! Qasim just got shot! They almost hit Bishop too! NOOOOOO!
Bishop is with Qasim as he is rushed to the hospital.
Gibbs is interrogating the mole. She says that she can’t talk. She says, “Chen has me.” Gibb responds with, “No, I have you!” Get her, Gibbs!
The mole says that she started feeding Chen intel years ago, before he was super dangerous.
Reeves asked why Chen let Willoughby play out to the point of blowing up his own plane. Chen wanted both Reeves and Paul the pilot killed.
The mole gave Chen the intel on Qasim translating the phone calls. He ordered the hit.
Gibbs demands to know Chen’s next target. She says that the only intel that she has is the same info the task force has, that his next target is the financial district in New York City.
Gibbs tells the mole that she needs to get a hold of Jin Tao and plan a meeting in the auto parts facility (same place that Quinn and Torres are watching).
Jin Tao just arrived at the auto parts place. Gibbs wants them to hold tight on arresting Jin Tao. McGee and Abbs have a moment. Abby tracks the GPS on Jin Tao’s SUV. He was in front of the library at the exact time Qasim was shot. Gibbs gives the go ahead to bring Jin Tao in.
Jin Tao tries to run away. Torres and Quinn are close on his tail and one of them shoots him. He doesn’t give up any info and takes his own life before they can bring him in.
Dr. Mallard is at the emergency room. He breaks the bad news to Gibbs and Reeves. This is so sad! Qasim’s body was without oxygen for too long. There are machines keeping him alive, but he doesn’t have any brain function. He tells Reeves that Bishop, who is in Qasim’s hospital room, wants to see him. Poor, Bishop!
Bishop gives Reeves the last recording Qasim was supposed to translate. She tells him that she knows he’s willing to do anything to get Chen and she is too.
Why doesn’t Reeves hug her? This is so sad!
He offers to stay with her, but she tells him no. She tells Reeves that she doesn’t know how to say goodbye. Reeves tells her what Gibbs told him, “Close your eyes and remember everything good.” Poor, Ellie! *insert tears*
The episode ends with Bishop taking Qasim’s hand closing her eyes.
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My Thoughts:
There we go! The old NCIS is BACK! This episode had everything we’ve been missing! A team that clicks, real conversations, emotional scenes, and Gibbs was definitely on his “A Game!”
This is a huge relief to me, as in my opinion, the past few episodes just haven’t had that “NCIS magic,” that we’ve all come to love!
The writers, producers, and directors really hit this one out of the park!
Great job! What did you think about the episode? What do you think will happen next week? Leave a comment below!
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