Hail & Farewell is the 20th episode of NCIS Season 16 and the 374th episode of the entire NCIS series.
Synopsis
NCIS investigates the death of a Marine Major who was thought to have died in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon when human remains are discovered at a construction site with Gibbs vowing to solve the case due to his own personal history with the victim.
Prologue
Act One
Act Two
Act Three
McGee after telling Gibbs he's off the case.
Act Four
Act Five
Major Events
- Gibbs is revealed to have been engaged to Major Wallace at some point before her death, an engagement he ultimately broke off due to feeling it was better off for her if she didn't marry him in the long run.
- Gibbs is also revealed to have felt guilty since he did not answer the phone in what was ultimately her last call to him.
- McGee invokes Rule 10 and removes Gibbs from the case briefly when his relationship becomes a focus of the case.
Trivia
- This episode shares its title with two episodes of JAG, Hail and Farewell Part 1 which was the JAG Season 8 finale episode and Hail and Farewell Part 2 which was the JAG Season 9 premiere episode.
- The episode appears to take major aspects from two cases:
- The disappearance of Sneha Anne Philip, a doctor who went missing on 9/11 and was presumed to have been a victim of the World Trade Center collapse. Despite numerous investigations, she or her remains have never been found, and an exact explanation of her disappearance and possible death have never been confirmed.
- The murder of Chandra Levy, a US government intern who went missing for two years and was later found reduced to a skeleton in a park forest in 2003. Her murder has never been officially solved, despite her revealed affair with a Democratic politician and the conviction of a now deported suspect.
Cast
Series Regulars
| Name | Portrayed by | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Leroy Jethro Gibbs | Mark Harmon | Special Agent in charge of the NCIS Major Case Response Team. |
| Timothy McGee | Sean Murray | Senior Special Agent and second-in-command of the NCIS Major Case Response Team. |
| Nicholas Torres | Wilmer Valderrama | Special Agent for the NCIS Major Case Response Team. |
| Eleanor Bishop | Emily Wickersham | Special Agent for the NCIS Major Case Response Team. |
| Jacqueline Sloane | Maria Bello | NCIS Forensic Psychologist. |
| James Palmer | Brian Dietzen | Medical Examiner for the Major Case Response Team. |
| Kasie Hines | Diona Reasonover | NCIS Forensic Specialist; Abby's replacement. |
| Leon Vance | Rocky Carroll | Director of NCIS. Despite being credited, Carroll doesn't appear in this episode. |
| Donald Mallard | David McCallum | NCIS Historian. Despite being credited, McCallum doesn't appear in this episode. |
Other Cast
| Name | Portrayed by | Role |
|---|---|---|
| James Wallace | Garrett M. Brown | Retired Marine General and victim's father. |
| Daniel Kent | Doug Savant | Marine Brigadier General. |
| Ellen Wallace | Erin Cummings | Marine Major and murder victim, supposedly killed in 9/11 and Gibbs's ex-fiancée. |
| Amy Tano | Cassandra Creech | |
| Franklin Morrison | Andrew Bilgore | |
| Omar Lewis | J. Teddy Garces | |
| Taylor Southard | JJ Hawkins | DOD Cyber Engineer. |
| Unnamed ZNN Newscaster | Danielle Demski | ZNN Newscaster. |
| Construction Worker | Alexander Aleynikov | Uncredited role. |