Directed by James Whitmore Jr.
Written by Frank Cardea & Geroge Schenck
When a Marine who had information concerning a case is found dead, the NCIS team investigates, prompting McGee and Bishop to go undercover as a military couple.
Tropes in this episode:
- Big Secret: Played for Laughs. One of the suspects, who's both a Marine Drill Sergeant Nasty and a Scary Black Man, asks if he can reveal his alibi out of earshot of the recruits: Tony and McGee oblige him, and he confesses he was rehearsing in his local theater troupe's upcoming production of La Cage aux folles.
- Cassandra Truth: Lauren really should’ve listened to her father about Dean. It would have likely saved her from suffering such a brutal death.
- Dead Person Impersonation: The "Lauren Hudson" living at Quantico is actually a barmaid Dean met who greatly resembles her.
- Disappointing Heritage Reveal: The B-plot has DiNozzo finding out that he is descended from someone who is supposedly of royal blood and trying to find out more about them. It turns out that said ancestor was actually a thief and a con man who died in prison and was suspected of having been Jack the Ripper. DiNozzo is less than enthused upon learning about it.
- Disposing of a Body: After killing Lauren, Dean chopped up her body, preserved it and hid it in vacuum-sealed bags in a box. Apparently, he had plans to dump her somewhere in the Caribbean after his plan to obtain her money succeeded.
- Embarrassing Alibi: A buff, intimidating Master Sergeant is suspected of a recent murder, and protests that he has an alibi, but is reluctant to share it with the agents. It turns out that he was at a rehearsal for a community play, specifically La Cage aux folles (which centers on a drag show nightclub).Tony: Please tell me you're playing the part of the drag queen Zaza.
- Gold Digger: What Lauren's father suspected Dean of being. His suspicions turned out to be correct.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: Abby confirms that the "Lauren" living with Captain Hudson is an imposter by superimposing her most recent driver's license photo on an older one; their facial features are nearly identical, but a beauty mark on her chin has moved a quarter-inch, which is biologically impossible.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Bishop runs into the house leaving her phone and Dean returning home.
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Despite inheriting millions, Lauren cared more about love than money. Unfortunately, she chose to marry someone as slimy as Dean, who killed her, literally chopped her into pieces and replaced her with an impostor.
- Remember the New Guy?: The victim of the week, Major Sussex Newton, helped Gibbs and company on a previous case and had applied to become an NCIS agent, with Gibbs recommended the agency accept him. Despite Bishop being the only one on the team who didn't know Major Newton (meaning the case happened sometime after McGee joined the team in mid season 1), this is the first we've ever heard of him.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: In the opening teaser, McGee remarks of the couple he and Bishop are surveilling, "they sure don't look like murderers." At first glance, Dean and his wife appear to be an old-fashioned all-American working-class couple; they wave hello to their neighbors, hold backyard barbecues, and are embarrassingly affectionate with each other while washing the car. They just happen to have the dismembered corpse of Dean's first wife in a box in their attic.
- Undercover as Lovers: McGee and Bishop go undercover as a military couple.
- Would Hit a Girl: Dean had no problem trying to kill Bishop when she entered the house.
