Directed by Michael Zinberg
Written by Steven D Binder & David J North
The apparent suicide of a Navy Captain forces the team to restart the investigation into Kai Chen, suspected terrorist. Ellie's off the books investigation of Chen is discovered, and she needs to make a choice regarding him.
Tropes:
- Call-Back: Rule 18, seek forgiveness rather than permission, gets mentioned more than once, and ends up being Bishop's justification for going after Chen. It is deconstructed by Gibbs, who tells her the consequences of going rogue, and seeking forgiveness after the job is done.
- Chekhov's Lecture: Torres teaches the other agents how to pickpocket, which Bishop uses to swipe Congresswoman Flemming's cell phone with Chen's contact information.
- Heel–Face Turn / Enemy Mine: Chen is revealed as working for the CIA in rooting out a Syrian warlord who is funding ISIS. Bishop knows the warlord and knows he isn't as strong as Chen is making out, so opts to let the Syrians know what he has done so that they can deal with Chen themselves.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: The coded message Qasim was meant to translate before he was killed turned out to be song lyrics, except they don't mean anything by themselves. However, by converting the conversation into binary, you get an executable virus that detonates diesel generators.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Bishop delivers an epic one to Chen, relating to the Morton's Fork below - kill himself using the virus he planned to use in his attack or be tortured by the Syrians he betrayed.
- Morton's Fork: The Captain in the cold open must either execute herself for failing to do her job for Chen, or he will kill her daughter. Chen later undergoes one himself: be discovered by the Syrians and be tortured for betraying them, or use the virus to detonate the diesel generator he is handcuffed to. He chooses the latter.
- The Reveal: Qasim wasn't just Ellie's boyfriend, but was about to be her fiance, before he was killed. Hence why she is so hell bent on getting Chen, and partially why neither Vance nor Gibbs don't just kick her off the team.
