Stakeout is the twelfth episode of NCIS Season 5 and also the 106th episode of NCIS.
Synopsis
The team go on a stakeout in hopes of catching the thief responsible for stealing a high-tech naval radar but when a man is murdered nearby, the team join forces with the local Metro Detective to find out who is truly responsible while Ducky has Abby do some mysterious blood work and it appears to be connected to a well-known figure associated with NCIS.
Prologue
On a street in downtown Washington D.C., numerous people are going back and forth while on the street, various men are asking to wash the cars of people who stop at traffic lights.
As this happens, NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee arrives around a corner, carrying a bag and sees a man approaching a BMW.
McGee remarks that the pusher's back.
Up in an apartment, McGee's partner, fellow NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo Junior gets up off a seat while complaining that he's starving like Lee Marvin before asking what's taking McGee so long.
Through the Earwig, McGee remarks that the guy's making another deal.
Tony produces some binoculars and glances out the window, remarking that they're here to find out who stole Navy radar and stashed it across the street and that the dealer is not their problem.
In the range, it shows the dealer handing the man in the BMW some money as Tony remarks that it's not unless he's pushing steak-and-cheese hoagies.
On the street, McGee remarks that he's a sworn federal agent and that he's not gonna stand by and watch a felony go down.
Up in the apartment, Tony remarks that's a good idea and that McGee should blow their stakeout on a $50 crack sale. He then states that if Gibbs doesn't slap McGee silly, then Tony himself will.
"Oh, you're gonna slap me?", McGee taunts just as Goldilocks, a prostitute emerges from a doorway.
Thinking he's talking to her, Goldricks leans over the railings and remarks, "If that's what you want, honey" which has McGee staring while Tony tells McGee or "McFreaky" to go for it and that Goldricks is just McGee's type.
"Bite me", McGee snaps.
Goldricks then stands beside McGee, remarking that that'll be extra.
McGee just smiles and gives her the dodge but manages to avoid getting hit a car.
Up in the apartment, Tony still looking through the binoculars laughs.
With that, McGee heads off.
In the apartment, Tony puts the binoculars down and examines the room before seeing that there's something wrong with one of the monitors that the team is using. He attempts to get the problem sorted but instead settles for slapping the monitor which gets the camera back into focus.
As McGee arrives in, Tony tells McGee that monitor number two there was flickering and that Tony himself fixed it.
Tony then sits back down.
McGee then dumps the bag onto the table a few inches away from Tony and grabs the binoculars, remarking that he thinks he's seen that Beemer before.
Via the binoculars, it's shown that the man in the BMW is handing his dealer some money.
Tony remarks that they've all seen that Beemer before and as Tony digs into the bag, he remarks that it feels like they've been struck here for months, doing nothing.
Tony then produces a tray but finds that the eggs are still the same.
He then complains to McGee that he said "scrambled" and tells McGee that he hasn't gotten a single order right in four days.
McGee lowers the binoculars, telling Tony that they're eggs and that Tony should eat them.
Tony remarks that he doesn't like sunny side-up and that the sunny side-up oozes, that they look like eyes that are looking at you.
McGee just lowers the binoculars again.
Tony then waves McGee's burrito around, stating that he'll bet it's just the way McGee likes it.
McGee simply closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
He then walks over to the table, grabbing the box while asking Tony if he wants his eggs scrambled.
McGee then shakes the box before dropping it, saying that the eggs are now scrambled. He then heads back to the window and picks up the binoculars, glancing out at the street again.
Tony, pissed off, settles for throwing McGee's burrito at McGee.
This has McGee glancing around at Tony.
Tony silently raises his eyebrow as if he's issuing a challenge.
It then cuts to a freeze-frame shot of both Tony and McGee slamming into each other.
Act One
Act Two
Act Three
The empty storage locker is now a crime scene and as Tony and Ziva take photographs, McGee removes the camera, stating to Gibbs that it was working and that he doesn't know why before changing his tune and stating that he doesn't know why he would start a sentence with "I don't know why".
Gibbs, pissed off furiously shakes the ladder and tells McGee to figure out and fast just as his cell-phone rings.
Act Four
Gibbs after his team with help from Metro Police Department Detective Andrea Sparr have arrested Dennis Moran.
Act Five
Trivia
- In the opening stake out scene DiNozzo says "It feels like we've been stuck here for months doing nothing." This is the first NCIS episode following the US writers strike which halted production of new episodes of shows for several months.
- Geographic error: after arriving late for the stakeout, McGee tells Gibbs he was backed up on the "Mason Bridge"; in reality, the George Mason Bridge is the southbound span of the 14th Street Bridge, which would mean that McGee was actually leaving Washington.
- The song playing in the bar when NCIS and Metro goes to arrest Crow is Paramore—"Crush Crush Crush."
- In the season five episode Designated Target Tony claims that he worked in the transit department in Baltimore for two years. However, in this episode he reveals he worked in narcotics in Baltimore PD.
Cast
Series Regulars
| Name | Portrayed by | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Leroy Jethro Gibbs | Mark Harmon | NCIS Special Agent in charge of the NCIS Major Case Response Team. |
| Anthony DiNozzo Junior | Michael Weatherly | Senior Special Agent and second-in-command of the NCIS Major Case Response Team. |
| Ziva David | Cote de Pablo | Mossad Liaison to NCIS and also a member of the NCIS Major Case Response Team. |
| Timothy McGee | Sean Murray (actor) | NCIS Junior Special Agent and a member of the NCIS Major Case Response Team. |
| Abigail Sciuto | Pauley Perrette | Forensic Specialist, NCIS. |
| Jennifer Shepard | Lauren Holly | Director of NCIS. Despite being credited, Holly does not appear in this episode. |
| Donald Mallard | David McCallum | Chief Medical Examiner, NCIS. |
Recurring Cast
| Name | Portrayed by | Role |
|---|---|---|
| James Palmer | Brian Dietzen | Ducky's assistant. |
| Nikki Jardine | Susan Kelechi Watson | NCIS Intelligence Analyst. |
Other Cast
| Name | Portrayed by | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Andrea Sparr | Gretchen Egolf | A Metro Police Department Homicide Detective. |
| Jonathan Chow | Reggie Lee | A defense contractor and also the killer. |
| Dean Pullman | Ned Vaughn | A Naval Officer. |
| Dennis Moran | Kevin Rankin | A junkie and a witness. |
| Joanne Wright | Cyd Strittmatter | Jordyn Wright's mother. |
| Jordyn Wright | Abigail Mavity | Joanne Wright's daughter. |
| Sandra Frasier | Adria Dawn | A Tech stationed in MTAC. |
| Goldilocks | Amy Lyndon | A prostitute. |
| Squeegee Man | Philip Lenkowsky | A man who appears in the episode. |
| Scott Matthew Rowe | Jerry Kernion | A businessman and also the main murder victim. |