NCIS season 1

NCIS (Season 1)
Season 1
File:NCIS title.jpg NCIS title card
No. of episodes	23
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	September 23, 2003 (2003-09-23) – May 25, 2004
Season chronology

Main article: List of NCIS episodes

This is a list of episodes for the first season of the police procedural drama NCIS.

Overview

Originally broadcast between September 23, 2003 and May 25, 2004, the first season deals essentially with introducing the characters and their strengths, skills and weaknesses. It also introduces the main foe for the first two seasons, Ari Haswari, two recurring characters in the form of Timothy McGee and Jimmy Palmer after Gerald Jackson, Ducky's assistant, is shot, and Caitlin "Kate" Todd as Special Agent Vivian Blackadder's replacement.

Series #	Season #	Title	Original airdate
1	1x01	"Yankee White"	September 23, 2003
While on Air Force One, a Navy Commander dies, forcing an emergency landing in Wichita. The NCIS Major Case Response Team travels to Wichita to take jurisdiction over the investigation, but are eventually forced into a joint investigation with the FBI and Secret Service. Working with Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd of the Secret Service, the NCIS team is tasked with discovering what happened and why. Caitlin Todd resigns from the Secret Service once the investigation concludes, and is offered a job as an NCIS field agent.
2	1x02	"Hung Out to Dry"	September 30, 2003
A marine dies during a nighttime training run. The culprit seems to be a faulty parachute, but the standard investigation reveals that the death may not be an accident. As the case is upgraded to a murder investigation, Gibbs and Todd quickly find that the case isn't as straightforward as it first seemed. Meanwhile, Abby is swamped with forensic red herrings, and DiNozzo switches his reserve parachute in an attempt to trick a confession.
3	1x03	"Seadog"	October 7, 2003
When a Naval Commander is murdered, seemingly during a freelance drugs deal gone sour, the media is quick to link him to drug trafficking and the evidence stacks up. Gibbs refuses to believe that a good officer could be so corrupt, and in his efforts to clear the Commander's record, uncovers a turf war between two rival drug gangs, and a scheme to knock out the national power grid. The NCIS team is aided in its investigation by the DEA, and FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell.
4	1x04	"The Immortals"	October 14, 2003
The discovery of a drowned sailor in dress whites, with an officer's ceremonial sword and weights chained to his waist, sparks a suicide investigation. Kate refuses to believe the deceased committed suicide, as like her, he came from a Catholic family. Abby discovers a link between the crew of the USS Foster and an MMORPG known as 'The Immortals', and searches the game for clues and evidence in order to assist Gibbs in solving the case.
5	1x05	"The Curse"	October 28, 2003
Gibbs and the team are called in when a mummified lieutenant, believed to have absconded with one million dollars of stolen Navy funds, is found in a half-buried cargo pod. Two former shipmates of the deceased come under suspicion for both the murder and the theft. Gibbs and Tony work at investigating the murder, while Kate is charged with tracking down the missing funds. Abby uses a computer reconstruction to work a confession out of a suspect.
6	1x06	"High Seas"	November 4, 2003
One of Gibbs' former team members calls for assistance when a sailor suffers a meth overdose while on leave, despite having never taken the drug. When another sailor is admitted to sickbay under the same circumstances, Tony and Kate investigate the source of the drugs within the crew, while Gibbs believes a senior officer may be doping the crew with performance enhancing drugs.
7	1x07	"Sub Rosa"	November 18, 2003
NCIS Norfolk Case Agent Timothy McGee works on a case of a partially dissolved corpse found in a barrel of acid at the Norfolk Naval Base, and calls in the Major Case Response Team to help. As the investigation opens, it becomes apparent that the killer took steps to prevent the body from being identified. Gibbs quickly comes to believe that the motive was identity theft. Tony, Abby, and McGee are tasked with identifying the deceased, while Gibbs and Kate are sent underwater on a submarine to vet the crew and prevent a biological attack.
8	1x08	"Minimum Security"	November 25, 2003
The team heads for Cuba when a Guantanamo Bay translator is found dead with a stomach full of emeralds. NCIS Special Agent Paula Cassidy proves more than a match for Tony when he is ordered to investigate her involvement, while Gibbs and Kate try to discover where the emeralds came from, how they ended up in their translator's stomach, and prevent the assassination of an important prisoner.
9	1x09	"Marine Down"	December 16, 2003
When a dead marine calls his wife on the day of his funeral, Gibbs begins to investigate. The case quickly becomes complicated, as the marine's CO apparently has two physical forms, and Tony somehow manages to meet and interrogate the wife's sister in a park without leaving the office. As the investigation continues, the marine turns up embalmed, having been killed two days after his funeral. Gibbs suspects CIA involvement, and is soon tracking a rogue operative in an attempt to rescue the deceased marine's partner before another murder takes place.
10	1x10	"Left for Dead"	January 6, 2004
Kate bonds with a woman suffering from amnesia after she wakes up and crawls from her grave following a murder attempt, claiming to remember that a bomb is present on a Navy ship. Gibbs and DiNozzo identify the woman as an explosives fabricator who works for a civilian contractor, charged with manufacturing and testing bomb detection devices for the Navy. When one of the woman's coworkers turns up dead, the team investigates the second murder. Meanwhile Kate attempts to help her recover from her amnesia, only for the case to come to an unexpected deadly close.
11	1x11	"Eye Spy"	January 13, 2004
NCIS is called in to investigate the murder of a naval officer at Little Creek Naval Base following an anonymous tip-off. McGee manages to track the tip-off to Langley, suggesting that the CIA have been spying on the base. Gibbs and Kate follow the tip-off, coming across a witness who leads the team to several possible suspects. At first the murder seems to be tied in with work the officer was involved with, but the team soon begins to suspect a more domestic motive.
12	1x12	"My Other Left Foot"	February 3, 2004
When the leg of a marine is discovered in a dumpster, Gibbs and the team have a problem - identifying who the leg belongs to and finding the rest of him. Kate and Tony are ordered to find the marine's place of burial and exhume the body, only to discover that the marine to whom the leg belongs was apparently cremated years ago. With no solid leads, the team is stuck following red herrings, until it becomes apparent that the marine was in fact alive until recently, and another marine was killed and falsely identified in the past. This revelation prompts the NCIS team to investigate closer to home.
13	1x13	"One Shot, One Kill"	February 10, 2004
When a marine recruiter is killed, the NCIS team quickly discover that a highly intelligent and skilled sniper was behind the attack. Initially, the team believes the sniper had a grudge against the recruiter, but when a second attack occurs the investigation takes on a wider scope. When Gibbs notices that the sniper left a calling card at each scene, he realizes that the sniper was meeting the recruiters before shooting. Hoping to lure out the killer, Gibbs drafts himself back into the USMC and takes over in the recruitment office with Kate, his new "commanding officer", coordinating with DiNozzo and assisted by an FBI team.
14	1x14	"The Good Samaritan"	February 17, 2004
A local county sheriff calls in NCIS upon discovering a murdered lieutenant commander by the roadside, quickly followed by the murder of a civilian contractor two counties over. As the team struggle to find a motive or suspects for either case, another murder occurs; this time a naval aviator. Ducky points out that while the murders appear to follow the same modus operandi and seem to have been carried out by a serial killer, some elements are different, indicating that the murders were not carried out by the same individual. A DNA sample draws suspicion onto the widow of the third victim, but she has an iron-clad alibi, leaving Gibbs with a complex investigation and many loose ends to tie up.
15	1x15	"Enigma"	February 24, 2004
Fornell and Gibbs clash when it is discovered that a marine colonel absconded from Iraq with two million dollars, and returned to the states under an assumed name. Fornell thinks he stole the money, Gibbs thinks he's innocent. The Colonel contacts Gibbs, and explains that he has discovered a conspiracy to siphon funds out of Iraq for use on black ops. Gibbs is drafted in to aid in bringing down the conspiracy, and meets the Colonel's partner - a lieutenant who had died in Gibbs' arms years ago. After being arrested for "pissing off the FBI", Gibbs and Fornell set out to discover the truth behind the Colonel's claims in a tense standoff.
16	1x16	"Bête Noire"	March 2, 2004
Ducky responds to an emergency call when the Israeli Embassy sends a Royal Navy officer to NCIS for autopsy, only to find a nasty surprise inside the body bag. As Ducky, Gerald and eventually Kate are held hostage in the autopsy lab, the director coordinates with an FBI strike team to negotiate their release. Meanwhile, Kate hesitates when presented with an opportunity to kill her captor, while Gibbs and Tony take more pro-active measures to get their co-workers out safely, ending with a showdown during which shots are fired.
17	1x17	"The Truth is Out There"	March 16, 2004
During a rave party, the body of a Petty Officer falls through the ceiling. Preliminary investigation suggests that the Petty Officer was killed in the nearby parking lot, and was dressed after his death. Upon checking the victim's room, evidence surfaces that he may have been taking financial bribes. Gibbs suspects the victim's co-workers of involvement in the death when their separate versions of events are too consistent. Forensic evidence links them to the scene, and they eventually confess that the death was a prank gone wrong, but Gibbs still believes that there's more to the case than meets the eye.
18	1x18	"UnSEALed"	April 6, 2004
A Navy SEAL convicted of double homicide escapes from Leavenworth, resulting in Kate and McGee being assigned to protect the son and in-laws of the escaped. During the night, the SEAL breaks into the house to see his son before fleeing, leaving Kate tied to a chair and unarmed. Profiling his behavior, Kate theorizes that he may actually be innocent, and discovered the identity of the real killer while in jail. Gibbs brings in the presiding defense and prosecution attorneys to go over the evidence, to bring the killer to justice before their fugitive delivers his own brand of justice: revenge.
19	1x19	"Dead Man Talking"	April 27, 2004
Special Agent Chris Pacci is killed while investigating a cold case, prompting Gibbs to step in and take over, as well as finding Pacci's killer. The team follows the trail of millions of dollars, and is led to a woman with ties to the thief. The agents take shifts conducting a stake-out on the woman's house, until Tony is caught raiding the mailbox. Forced to improvise, he introduces himself as a resident of the neighbourhood and strikes up a conversation based on what he had heard via surveillance. This gives him a chance to get close to the suspect in order to find out more, as he goes on a successful date with her. Meanwhile, Abby makes a shocking discovery which leaves Tony horrified and vulnerable to an onslaught of merciless taunts and teasing from Kate.
20	1x20	"Missing"	May 4, 2004
The disappearance of a marine draws NCIS in to investigate, and it is discovered that several marines from the same unit have also vanished under similar circumstances. When skeletal remains of one of the missing men is found chained to a pipe in a small sewer room, Gibbs begins to suspect the unit CO (the only team member not dead or missing) as a serial killer. However, after Tony goes missing, the investigation takes on a more frantic pace as the team try to find him before it's too late.
21	1x21	"Split Decision"	May 11, 2004
As Ducky meets his new assistant, Gibbs takes the case of a marine found impaled on a tree stump. The investigation uncovers the sale of decommissioned military weapons on the black market. Tony goes undercover and meets the buyer, only to stumble into an ATF operation. Working with ATF Special Agent Stone, Gibbs poses as a weapons supplier to complete the deal, and must double cross everyone in order to find the corrupt person at the centre of the investigation, and the one responsible for the marine's death.
22	1x22	"A Weak Link"	May 18, 2004
Routine training results in the death of a lieutenant just days before he was due to deploy on a classified operation. The death is initially dismissed as an equipment malfunction, but Abby discovers that the link attaching the lieutenant to his rappelling rope was made of a weaker material than factory standard, suggesting sabotage and potentially murder. Pressure is applied by the CIA for the investigation to be wrapped up within 38 hours so the operation can continue. As the case goes on, Gibbs discovers that the lieutenant had a secret, and that his wife may hold vital information about his death.
23	1x23	"Reveille"	May 25, 2004
As Gibbs becomes more and more obsessed over tracking down the infiltrator who held Kate and Ducky hostage, the team grow more concerned about him. McGee works at identifying him with a modified FBI program, while Kate and Tony go for lunch with Ducky. As Tony leaves in pursuit of his "dream woman", Kate heads back to the office for a video conference with Paula Cassidy, only to be kidnapped and reunited with her captor, now revealed as a Hamas terrorist who is planning to shoot down Marine One - a transport helicopter carrying the American and Israeli presidents. As Gibbs grows increasingly agitated, to the point of ordering McGee to place Tony under house arrest upon his return, the search for the terrorist is narrowed down by McGee and Abby calculating his exact age, and Ducky concluding that he attended medical school in Scotland. As the terrorist tries to convince Kate to identify Marine One, McGee discovers his name - Ari Haswari.