NCIS - A Bowl of Cherries - Review: “Test Subjects”
14.20 - “A Bowl of Cherries”
Directed by Edward Ornelas
Written by Brendan Fehily
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount
“A Bowl of Cherries” opens with an Admiral getting hacked. I have a great feeling Abby and McGee are going to ROCK this episode! How about you?
The crew is at the shooting range. Gibbs looks good firing his gun. That man does not age.
Navy Lieutenant Downey meets the team at the shooting range and asks McGee to come with him right away. He needs McGee to help Vice Admiral Chase.
Interesting, Quinn isn’t at the range and Torres asks Gibbs about her absence. Gibbs tells Torres to worry about himself.
Ah, there’s Quinn! She’s rushes to see Maria, a relative, because she texts her, “911.” When Quinn gets there, Maria is fine and tells her not to worry about it. She’s getting her backyard in tip top shape. Marie reminds Quinn that tomorrow is Quinn’s father’s birthday. She is expected for dinner. Quinn does not look thrilled.
McGee is looking at the Vice Admiral’s computer. He has “ransomware” on his computer and he’s refusing to pay the $500 for the ransom.
The Vice Admiral thinks McGee can fix his computer. McGee tells him to just pay the ransom. He gives McGee the computer and tells him to figure it out. The Vice Admiral hasn’t surrendered yet and he’s not about to start today.
Back at HQ, Reeves is complimenting Bishop on her shooting. Quinn shows up and Torres wants to know what’s up. Quinn tells him to mind his own business. Gibbs checks in on Quinn too. I wonder what the backstory is here?
Gibbs tells McGee he did the right thing by not taking the Vice Admiral’s computer. McGee gets an email and thinks that Vice Admiral Chase has finally come to his senses. NOT! McGee just opened up the ransomware virus and his phone is infected! Uh oh! It’s not just McGee’s phone, they are all on the same wireless network and everyone’s devices have been infected.
Uh oh! The Vice Admiral sent McGee the email on purpose! YIKES! Chase admits that he sent the email because he has pictures on his computer of his wife, who has passed away. That is really sad!
The hackers have been deemed terrorists, because they infected Gibbs’ team’s phones.
Vance wants McGee and the team to figure out where the hackers are located and he wants them shut down immediately! The only problem? They could be anywhere in the world!
Ha ha! Gibbs has his flip phone, so he doesn’t have to wait for a replacement phone.
Per Reeves friend, “75% of ransomware originates from Russia.” He thinks that the people behind the ransom page is in America, due to a lack of spelling errors and a Russian accent on the voiceover on the software.
Uh oh! Torres brings Marie to Quinn’s desk. She said she tried to call Quinn but couldn’t get through, darn hackers! OH! Marie is Quinn’s mother! She said she remembered what the 911 text was about, Quinn has had her crockpot for four weeks and hasn’t returned it yet.
Torres almost invites himself over for twelve hour ribs. Quinn tells her mom that they can leave and get the crockpot right now. She is enamored with Torres. He quips, “Moms love me.” I wonder what’s happening with Quinn’s mom? Does she have a health issue?
Bishop and Reeves visit Clint Asher, a cyber-crime expert at Langley. He is acting really funny about the virus. He almost flinches when he hears the name and sees the screen of the infected computer.
Bishop and Reeves know something is up. They decide to bring him in and interrogate him. Uh oh! By the time they turn around and get back to his office, Asher has disappeared!
The team is struggling with their flip phones. Ha ha!
Bishop and Reeves report to Gibbs that Asher hasn’t been seen for fifteen hours. He turned off his phone and the GPS in his car. Abby and McGee are trying to track his car through traffic light cameras. His record is clean, except for one thing, he was kicked out his senior year of school for poor conduct.
Quinn and Torres are in the elevator together. He wants to know why Quinn calls her mom “Marie.” Quinn tells Torres that her mom asked her to do it and that her mother is, “nuts.” She’s holding back more info, Torres presses her. He asks her if she’s holding back a family secret. Quinn isn’t giving up any information.
Bishop has Mrs. Asher in a conference room. She’s angry with Quinn and NCIS. She agrees to let them look at Asher’s home computer.
McGee and Bishop have tracked Asher via his satellite radio. It seems like a cyber-crime expert would know these things… McGee has to use a map to find the place because they don’t have their replacement smart phones yet. Clearly, the struggle is real.
McGee and Bishop have driven to the location where Asher’s car should be located. Uh oh! It’s by a lake… Bishop spots Asher’s car. It’s in the lake.
Gibbs and Torres are at the storage unit that Asher stopped by the previous night. He had someone in his car, but they can’t see who it is from the security footage. Gibbs and Torres go to open the storage unit, guess what? It’s empty.
Gibbs and Torres join McGee and Bishop at the lake. Asher’s car has just been pulled out of the lake. Uh oh! The trunk appears to be smoking. They open it up and find Asher’s body frozen solid.
Asher’s body is in the morgue. Ducky and Jimmy have to drill into his body to take his temperature, which is 62 degrees below zero. Ducky says that they can’t perform an autopsy until the body has thawed out, which could take days. Gibbs is not happy.
Abby reports that Asher was frozen with liquid nitrogen, and a lot of it! Abby has a demonstration for Gibbs. McGee and Abby aren’t sure how he was frozen yet. They would need a large quantity of liquid nitrogen and a big container to freeze him in.
There’s a nearby spa that orders large quantities of liquid nitrogen. They need to check that place out stat!
Ah! Asher got kicked out of school his senior year for creating a ransomware virus… named ELLIOT! That’s the same virus that infected the team’s computers and phones at NCIS! Who would use this virus and why would they kill Asher over it? Is it college revenge?
Quinn gets a call from her mom. Gibbs tells her, “Do what you gotta do.” I think her mom might have dementia. Gibbs and Torres head out while Quinn stays in HQ on the phone.
Bishop and McGee head to the spa. They are ordering way more liquid nitrogen then they are using. Turns out the manager has been selling the extra liquid nitrogen at a big mark up to David Yates, the same person who rented the storage locker and possibly Asher’s killer. The only problem? David Yates is an alias.
Gibbs and Torres head back to the storage unit rental facility. Buzz, the manager/owner, is not happy they are back. Gibbs presses Buzz hard. Buzz admits to Gibbs that he has a second storage unit that he pays for in cash, off the books.
Uh oh! He has an entire system set up for freezing bodies! YIKES! There are at least two bodies in there and they are frozen solid!
Quinn heads to her mother’s house. The smoke detector is going off. Marie has the table set for three people. She says the places are for her, Quinn, and Quinn’s father. It appears that Quinn’s mother has forgotten that her father passed away. Quinn’s mother is forgetting a lot. Aw, this is really sad.
Ducky and Palmer are drinking coffee as they wait for Asher and the other two bodies to thaw. Eek! The bodies were frozen alive! Yikes! They are looking for a terrible murderer!
Vice Admiral Chase agrees to pay the ransom for his own computer and everyone infected. He also apologizes to McGee. McGee thanks him but tells him to hold off on paying, they still have 90 minutes.
The team has an update! Both Asher and Carlo Hackett, his roommate in college, were kicked out senior year. They named the Elliot virus after the dorm they lived in. Turns out Hackett has been busy! He wrote his senior thesis on cryogenics a.k.a. freezing bodies with liquid nitrogen. He’s been buying the spa’s extra liquid nitrogen and using it to freeze a.k.a. murder homeless people. When Asher found out that Hackett was using the Elliot virus, he went to visit him. Hackett ended up murdering Asher, most likely because Asher freaked out when he found out that Hackett was practicing cryogenics on real life people.
The team heads back to the storage unit. They know Hackett, who is going by the name Yates, will show up. As soon as he does, McGee and the team force Hackett to shut down the virus, saving everyone’s computers. Phew! Looks like he had infected a lot of people’s computers across the United States.
Hackett is in an interrogation room and freaking out about his “test subjects.” He thinks he can bring them back. Yikes!
Quinn is still at home with her mother. They are looking through pictures. Marie admits that her grandmother “went senile.” Her mother admits that she has known for a while that she’s been forgetting things. This is so sad! Quinn says, “I’m here for you,” and she tells her that she isn’t putting her mother in a nursing home. This is really sad.
The episode ends with Gibbs and Quinn at the firing range. She admits to Gibbs what’s going on. He tells her, “It’s okay if you’re scared.” Quinn is grateful for Gibbs. She admits that she’s moving back in with her mom and says, “How’s that for scary.”
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My Thoughts:
This was an emotional episode with lots of great twists and turns!
We learned a lot about Quinn’s background and it’s devastating.
What did you think? Leave a comment below with your thoughts!
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