But Hurricane Mollys not the only storm blowing into town.
She compliments his flip phone and retro chic decor, then guesses that hes a carpenter or a cowboy.
(I mean, shes not totally wrong, is she?)
Credit: Patrick Wymore/CBS
Now, to the case.
A devils costume seems a little on the nose, but you do you, stabber/kidnapper.
Instead, the whole teams is all, What?
I dont understand the words that youre saying, Abs!
which is patently ridiculous.
She also sneers about her daughter joining the military and choosing to marry the man she did.
Regardless, shes prepared to pay whatever ransom the kidnapper demands.
When the power glitches, Vance orders all nonessential personnel to evacuate the Navy Yard.
She tosses Gibbs his keys before greeting Vance with a big hug.
Yeah, thats not going to be a problem moving forward.
We also get hints about a past with Vance.
She says she owes him; he says that was a long time ago and the debts been paid.
He says Helen handles the finances for her ship, the U.S.S.
Ewing, and hes her bank liaison.
In fact, she was supposed to pick up checks that morning but never showed.
This limits the number of casualties should it sink, engineer Joe Smiddy tells them as they come aboard.
Neither of them find this comforting.
Things get worse when Bishop discovers that her old high school bully, Thomas Buckner, is the XO.
What are the odds?
Naturally, Torres is freaking delighted by this turn of events.
Buckner calls Bishop Scarecrow, but shes all business, asking about Helens time on the ship.
The only place they cant examine is the disbursing office because only Helen and her clerk have keys.
(His nickname was Thomas the Adonis, which is hardly equivalent.)
Unfortunately, the weathers grounded the chopper, leaving Bish with her bad high school memories.
Torres doesnt like how much this bothers her and says she and Buckner should talk it out.
Yeah, um, Im not sure thats a great idea.
Back on dry-ish land, Vance introduces Jack to McGee and Gibbs, the latter of whom is.
Looks like a fool me once kind of guy, Jack says as he stalks away.
Honestly, what did she expect?
That kind of deception is no way to introduce yourself to your new, legendarily prickly coworker.
When Jack joins Palmer in the morgue, we learn that Ducky has spoken of her in the past.
Jacks suspects the kidnapper panicked when Helen recognized them.
As usual, the husband is suspect No.
1, especially when the team learns that Helen had drawn up divorce papers.
With her dead, hed still inherit.
An emotional Ethan says they dated other people during a brief separation but had reconciled.
And who did she date during that time?
Ethan drops the name of one grown-up high-school bully.
Bishop confronts Buckner with the news that the woman he was dating is dead.
See, this is why confronting bullies doesnt seem like a good idea.
Sometimes people dont realize the magnitude of hurt they inflict on others.
Buckner says he was awful to her in high school because she intimidated him.
Still do, he adds.
Problem is, Gibbs doesnt like games and doesnt like being lied to.
Sorry, but this introduction isnt charming.
Its weird and invasive.
Abbys decade-too-late zombie survival kit included beepers, which should still work during a hurricane.
Having been duly beeped, Bishop and Torres catch Smiddy raiding the disbursing office.
Now, for some hijinks on the Elevator of Schemes and Secrets.
Gibbs steps on board to find Jack already in it.
She pushes the emergency stop button, which I always love.
Does any workplace employ the stop button more than the NCIS crew?
She prompts Gibbs to confess that he made her as a special agent within 30 seconds of their meeting.
He played along because he wanted to find out whoshewas.
Looks like itll take a few more episodes for any of us to figure her out.
