NCIS - Pandora’s Box, Part I - Review: “Aristotle! Banana Split!”
14.15 - “Pandora’s Box, Part I”
Directed by Alrick Riley
Written by Christopher J. Waild
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount
“Pandora’s Box, Part I,” opens with someone walking down a hallway at a concert with balloons and flowers. They are wearing a black hoodie, kind of looks like Abby. They place the balloons in the vents, where there are timers. Not good! Oh my gosh! It IS Abby! The police catch her, to which she replies, “Aristotle! Banana split.”
We are back in Abby’s lab. Looks like we might have gone back in time. Earl, an agent from Homeland, is trying to convince Abby to join his think tank to help them plan a fake saran gas attack. Abby turns him down, but tells him that she’ll see him at church. Ha ha!
Bishop sees Earl talking to Abby. She desperately wants to be a part of the think tank to “save the world.”
Abby doesn’t want to tap into her dark side. Vance has other plans. He’s cleared her schedule and told her she will be helping Earl.
Back at the concert, Gibbs has showed up. Abby’s code word isn’t working. The police don’t know about the simulation. The police officer says that she tripped a motion sensor. Abby denies this accusation.
Uh oh! Looks like one of the fake bombs Abby placed in the vent was real!
McGee and Torres show up. Not only was one of the bombs real, the balloons contained saran inside. Yikes! Just a few drops are enough to kill hundreds of people. Abby is very upset! This is her worst nightmare come true.
Bishop and Quinn go back to the hotel with Abby. While on their way to meet the rest of the think tank, Abby has a flashback. We meet the other think tank members. A director, someone from Homeland, and one other member. It was Abby’s idea for the bombs and sending the saran through the vents.
Back to the present moment. Earl isn’t in his hotel room. Abby heads to the bar to meet the rest of the team. They think Earl set them up, Abby isn’t buying it. Earl is in a van and he has died due to saran exposure.
Knox, from Homeland Operations shows up to the scene. He says that there’s no way Earl would be behind the attack. He tells Gibbs and Vance that they should question the think tank team.
We cut over to Quinn, who is interviewing the logistics manager, from the think tank. He says that he stayed behind during the operation to clean up the hotel room. He says that he lives locally, so he didn’t need to stay at the hotel again. Earl recruited him. He shares that his parents were killed in Bosnia in 1993 and that his grandparents raised him. He said that Earl was like a father to him.
McGee interviews the film director. He’s eager to go, he has an interview with Johnny Depp the next day and he does not want to miss it. He admits that his think tank task was to get the bombs into the concert arena.
Torres speaks to the fourth member of the think tank, Greta. She has done a lot of research on contagious diseases. She blames Abby.
Abby is worried. She says, “Evil Abby was smart.”
Back in the morgue, Ducky has found fibers and other clues. He shares these clues with MI 6 Agent, Clayton Reeves.
The director is angry. He missed his interview with “Johnny.” They’ve rescheduled for the following day and he says that he is NOT going to miss it. He also wants Reeves to do a reading for him. LOVE IT!
Ah! Interesting! Reeves tells Gibbs that Knox from Homeland ordered a data wipe the night of the murder. They go to talk to Knox. He tells them that he was hacked because he was, “…using a personal computer at home to do work, because he wanted to spend time with my (his) wife.” He called for the wipe because his personal computer could have easily been hacked. Yikes!
Quinn tells Gibbs that she’s distracted with ‘family stuff.” Wonder what’s going on?
Ooh! LaSalle calls in via video conference. Love me some LaSalle! He wants the team to come down for a visit. Back to business, turns out that someone hacked Knox’s computer from New Orleans. Someone downloaded “simulated attack scenarios” and how Homeland would react and handle such attacks. Essentially, someone has a terrorist attack playbook. This. Is. Dangerous.
Uh oh! Someone is trying to sell the terrorist playbook. Vance, Gibbs, and Torres are meet in Vance’s office. Torres, who has an undercover alias with contacts who might have info on the playbook, wants to see if he can draw out any info on potential buyers. Vance tells him, “Phone calls only, Agent Torres. You are not going undercover.”
Abby found out that the real bomb was placed in the vents that sent air to suites at the concert arena. Quinn does some research and finds out that Jovan Dezic, a Bosnian Foreign Affairs Minister, was at the concert with his child. Per Quinn, “He (Dezic) was part of the Bosnian Serb army during the genocide.” He was also in power when Phil, one of the think tank member’s parents, who were Bosnian, were murdered. Gibbs and Quinn have Phil in the interrogation room and confront him with this info.
Eek! Looks like he’s guilty! He was so focused on revenging his country and his family for Dezic’s behavior, he didn’t care if Earl lost his life in the process.
There’s a big problem. Dezic is still in the States and has just come out of surgery. His son is with him in the hospital room. He receives a fruit/flower basket with bubble wrap inside. Unable to help himself (admit it, you couldn’t either), his son begins to pop the bubble wrap. Gibbs opens the door and commands him to stop. He and Abby grab the bubble wrap just in time! One of the air chambers contained a drop of saran. Eek! That could have been a huge disaster and killed a lot of people at the hospital!
Back in the lab, McGee gives Abby a gift, tickets to a band. Director Vance gave her tickets as well. She’s pumped because they can all go now. Aw, Abby is the best!
McGee also has good news for Abby. She did not trip the motion detector, which ultimately led to Earl’s death. Phew! She feels much better.
Gibbs, Torres, and Vance call Pride. The playbook is still missing and is in the hands of some very dangerous people. Vance and Gibbs send Torres undercover to New Orleans. He’s to check in with Pride the moment he gets there. Looks like Pride knows a little bit about Torres from his undercover days. He thinks he’s a bit reckless. They also send McGee there to watch him. Gibbs tells McGee not to let Torres out of his sight.
*******
My Thoughts:
Abby is simply the best, so when episodes focus on her, they tend to be extra amazing! I like that she didn’t want to join the think tank, whereas, Bishop wanted nothing more than to be a part of the team. I think I’d want to be part of the team too. I’m not as good as Abby. LOL! What about you?
I also liked the mini-crossover scenes. I already watched the follow up NCIS: New Orleans episode and it was INCREDIBLE! I would love to see more of the original NCIS crew hanging out with the NCIS: New Orleans crew! How about you?
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