NCIS: Gibbs Goes Undercover, Just Like the Old Days

The old dog's still got it!

On Tuesday's episode of NCIS, Gibbs (Mark Harmon) made a spontaneous decision to go undercover after spotting the brother of Ramsay Whitman, one of NCIS' Most Wanted, casually having coffee in a diner. Gibbs resurrects his old alter ego, Leland Robert Spears, Southern accent and all, in order to gain access to the anti-government militia of which his target, Bodie "Bubba" Whitman (Tobias Jelinek), is a member.

After Gibbs inexplicably goes dark, the rest of the team spends the first half of the episode trying to locate him -- or, in Abby's (Pauley Perrette) case, building positive energy pyramid structures in order to summon him back to the office. Hey, whatever works.

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The team manages to track down Gibbs Leland in order to give him the supplemental materials he needs to sell his story and gather evidence from the suspect. Unfortunately, once Bodie makes contact with his brother, Ramsay tips him off that "Leland" is a federal agent, and Gibbs is forced to shoot Bodie in order to save his own life.

As luck would have it, both brothers suffer from the same rare disease, so medical records lead the team to Ramsay, who surrenders without a fight and cooperates with Gibbs' interrogation about murdered Marines and stolen nuclear rods.

At the same time, Vance (Rocky Carroll) deduces that there's a leak within the government -- and it's the same person who tipped Ramsay off 15 years ago and caused him to go underground in the first place. The Deputy Director of Energy, an anti-government activist who took the job in order to infiltrate the Establishment, is to blame, and this may not have been the only time he tried to sabotage the country.

Meanwhile, Bishop (Emily Wickersham) -- who really can't catch a break in the romance department -- returns to work after burying Qasim (Rafi Silver). RIP that short-lived relationship. Against Quinn's (Jennifer Esposito) advice, Bishop is still consumed by the thought of getting revenge against Chen for Qasim's death, and is working covertly with Reeves (Duane Henry) to make that happen. Fingers crossed she too doesn't become a casualty of that operation.

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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