NCIS - Off the Grid - Review: “Bubba?”

NCIS - Off the Grid - Review: “Bubba?”

14.12 - “Off the Grid”
Directed by Rocky Carroll
Written by George Schenck & Frank Cardea
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount

We start this week’s episode with Gibbs eating breakfast in a diner. There’s a customer who is being a real pain in the butt and totally rude to the waitress.

Gibbs spots something or someone as he’s looking out the window. By the time the waitress comes back with his coffee in a to go cup and his check, Gibbs is out of the diner and across the street.

Gibbs is carefully following someone from a distance. He suddenly messes up his hair, starts walking with a limp, and approaches a man named Bodie. Interesting, Bodie thought whoever Gibbs is pretending to be, had been killed. Surprise, he’s still alive!

Back at HQ, Quinn as a huge arrangement of flowers on her desk. Torres, being Torres, starts to give her a hard time about it until he realizes that they are for Bishop. He wants to go half on them, but Quinn holds her own and tells him no.

Clayton Reeves has been called back to the Embassy for an MI-6 meeting. They are on a fact-finding mission. Bishop shops up just as he is about to leave. She wants to know if he has any more info on Chen or the flash drive. Reeves does not have any new info on Chen and he hasn’t found someone he trusts yet to review the info on the flash drive. Why wouldn’t Bishop or Reeves trust Abby?

Gibbs didn’t show up to a field training class. It’s not like Gibbs to be late or not call.

Bishop and Quinn show up to Gibbs’ house while Torres and McGee head to the diner. They find Gibbs’ truck near the diner and it has a speeding ticket on the windshield. Gibbs, per McGee, has never had a speeding ticket.

Meanwhile, back at Gibbs’ place, Bishop has found something interesting. Gibbs has a copy of The Sensitive Man’s Survival Guide on his nightstand.

Quinn somehow breaks one of Gibbs’ plates. It looks like it’s one Kelly, his daughter, made for him.

The waitress doesn’t have much info for the team. McGee calls Abby and asks her to ping Gibbs’ phone. Quick question, wouldn’t they have done that first? Abby tells McGee that Gibbs’ phone is across the street from the diner. He and Torres find it in the mailbox.

Back at HQ, McGee and Torres are in Gibbs’ office. Turns out Gibbs dumped more than his cell phone, he dumped his wallet too. He got rid of everything with his name on it. Why is he hiding his identity? Is he undercover?

Abby checks in with Bishop. She’s so sweet. She’s worried sick about Gibbs. She’s using a crystal to try and find Gibbs. Uh oh, Quinn comes down with the plate she busted. She brings it to Abby, hoping that she can fix it.

Bishop finds out that the man Gibbs is with is named Bodie Whitman.

Vance give McGee Bodie’s background. He’s been in and out of trouble for several years. He has also spent time with a home-grown militia. Eek! Turns out Gibbs went undercover in said militia as Leland Robert Spears. Vance wants to know, “What the hell was Gibbs thinking?” He says that Bodie and his brother are psychos.

Vance meets with the team and talks to everyone about Gibbs’ former undercover work. He had infiltrated the militia and learned about their master plan. They had hijacked a truck that was transporting spent nuclear fuel rods so they could make dirty bombs. Something happened, which spooked the militia members and they scattered, including Gibbs, which allowed his cover to remain intact. The fuel rods were never recovered.

Is Gibbs calling Bodie, Bubba?

While Bodie goes inside to pre-pay for gasoline, Gibbs asks a woman if he can use her phone. He says that he lost his phone and he needs to call his wife, she’s a worrier. She agrees. Gibbs calls McGee, but hangs up, as Bodie is coming out of the gas station.

Bodie wants to know what Gibbs was doing. Gibbs tells him that he was just helping the woman with her phone. Hope he isn’t suspicious!

McGee calls the number back. The driver describes the man who used her phone, who McGee identifies as Gibbs. McGee identifies himself and tells the woman to get away from them as quickly as possible. Due to their location, McGee figures out that Bodie and Gibbs are on their way to Boston.

Fred Pedis, a retired NCIS agent, comes to HQ to talk to the team. He and Vance appear to go way back. They hug, which is nice. Vance wants to know everything possible from Fred and the Department of Energy Deputy Director, Doyle Roden. Vance wants them to put their heads together and see if they can remember anything that isn’t showing up in the casefile.

McGee and Torres head to Baltimore. McGee is driving and Torres is mad that he isn’t going fast enough. First of all, it seems weird that McGee isn’t in a major hurry to get to Gibbs. But, it’s McGee and he does like to follow the rules. I’m a closet McGee, so I get it. Torres tells a story about riding a bull. I stopped listening because I think that is an inhumane sport.

Gibbs and Bodie a.k.a. “Bubba” get to Bodie’s apartment in Baltimore. Gibbs says he has a buyer for the fuel rods, which he thinks Ramsay, Bodie’s brother, has in his possession. Gibbs a.k.a. Leland demands that Bubba get a hold of Ramsay right away.

Ooh! Good one, Torres! As Gibbs and Bubba are walking down the street, Torres bumps into him. He places a tracker and a mic on Gibbs. McGee smiles as he walks past. Nice work, guys!

Bubba gives Gibbs a hard time about his Marine haircut. Ha ha!

Bodie gets a phone call from Ramsay. He passes the phone to Gibbs and guess what? Gibbs calls him Bubba too! Am I just hearing things? Is that legitimately what he’s calling them? He’s almost like he’s saying it in the same way that Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz lovingly call each other Bubba. Any VPR fans out there are probably groaning right now, hee hee hee! But for real, can someone please confirm if I’m just hearing things or if that’s what Gibbs’ is saying?

Anyways, Ramsay tells Gibbs that he’ll let them know about the fuel rods.

Back at NCIS HQ, Reeves has returned and Bishop wants to know what’s going on. They might have a lead, but it’s not solid. Reeves reminds Bishop that if Gibbs finds out that she’s still working the case, he’s going to be furious. Bishops says that it’s a risk worth taking.

Meanwhile, Abby has worked her magic and has completely fixed Gibbs’ plate. Quinn is relieved and a little bit surprised, as it looks as good as new.

Bodie gets a call from Ramsay later that night. Gibbs uses the word, “bitchin’,” and I’m done!

Uh oh, bad news! Ramsay tells Bodie that Gibbs is a federal agent. Bodie gets his gun and points it at Gibbs. Gibbs laughs it off. He tells Bodie that Ramsay is “insane” and “paranoid.” Gibbs does some fast talking and manages to distract Bodie. Gibbs draws his weapon and tells Bodie to drop his gun. Bodie does not cooperate and Gibbs shots him in the chest, killing him immediately.

Ducky has Bodie’s body on his autopsy table. Gibbs states that Bodie didn’t need to die. I think he feels guilty. The pills Bodie frequently popped were to combat the symptoms of Huntington’s disease. That’s sad. Once Ducky hears that Ramsay is Bodie’s brother, he has an idea. Because of Bodie’s diagnosis, Ramsay has a 50% chance of also having Huntington’s disease, which is tracked by health officials. If Ramsay does in fact have the disease, Ducky should be able to find out where he lives.

Vance brings Gibbs in to his office. He thinks they have a leak and that it’s either Fred Pedis, the retired NCIS agent, or Doyle Roden, the Director of the Department of Energy Deputy. There’s no other explainable way that Ramsay found out, Leland Robert Spears a.k.a. Gibbs, was a fed.

Quinn and Ducky have a lead. They found someone in the county Ramsay lived in with Huntington’s disease. The only thing is, his name doesn’t match Ramsay’s and his picture looks a lot different than the one they have on file.

Abby works her magic and proves that the man with Huntington’s disease, who by all means is an upstanding citizen in his community, with a wife and children, is indeed Ramsay Whitman.

Over at Ramsay’s house, he’s in a hurry to get his family out of town. He kisses his wife goodbye and tells her that he loves her.

The team approaches Ramsay’s house. He gets a gun out and loads it. Ramsay tells the team that he is unarmed and that he’s coming to the door. Uh oh, what a liar! He sees Gibbs, who he knows as Leland Spears a.k.a. Bubba. Why are they all Bubba?

Ramsay is in custody and Gibbs is on the other side of the table. I want to know where Ramsay’s gun went? Did he put it down before leaving the house? What about his medicine? I hope someone brings that for him.

Ramsay wants to make a deal, but Gibbs isn’t having it. Ramsay killed two Navy guards and Gibbs doesn’t want to make a deal with him.

Gibbs get a text on his flip phone. Roden, the Director of the Department of Energy Deputy, is the leak.

Ramsay tells Gibbs where he hid the fuel rods. Gibbs wants him to write down his full confession. He wants him to include the fact that Roden tipped him off, twice. Ramsay has a request; he wants to see his brother’s body. Looks like Gibbs has agreed, but no words were exchanged. Just that iconic Gibbs gaze.

Quinn stops by Gibbs’ house. She tells him that they picked up Roden. She also brings back Gibbs’ plate. When he tells her that she could have, “just snuck it back in,” Quinn says that doing something like that, “isn’t her style.” She feels terrible because she knows what it’s like to lose something from someone special. She tells Gibbs that she lost a bracelet from her Grandmother, that was given to her by her mother. Gibbs tells her to tell her mother. She says nah and that it’s a long story. Gibbs sits back and says, “I have time.”

*******
My Thoughts:

Another good episode! I liked Torres and McGee in this episode. Their relationship is growing on me. I like when it isn’t forced and hokey. I also like that Bishop has turned to Reeves in her time of need. I think they will have a strong friendship when all is said and done, what about you?

Just a little side note… I typed “Tony” three times tonight in place of McGee. Is my subconscious missing him as I write this review? Hmmm…

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