'NCIS' Season 12: Episode 21 Recap 'Lost in Translation'
This week on "NCIS," Gibbs and Bishop travel to Afghanistan after the murder of a Marine in D.C. is linked to a terror group holding another Marine hostage overseas. Also, DiNozzo is upset that McGee was chosen to be the new face of NCIS for all recruitment brochures.
The episode starts off with Sargent Joseph Wilks knocking at the door of a friend's house. He looks in a window, and he sees Captain David Landis on the floor and tied to a chair. Wilks tries to get into the house, and as he's about to help Landis, a masked man attacks him with a bat. Wilks is stabbed and he collapses.
At NCIS, McGee reminds Tony about the time he went undercover as a model, and it turns out that he was chosen to be the new face of NCIS. Tony can't believe it, but then Bishop shows him a brochure with McGee's face on it. Tony isn't happy that he's been passed over for the job, and Bishop tells him that he can't be passed over if he was never considered. Gibbs arrives, and they all head out.
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At the crime scene, Ducky says that whoever stabbed Landis wanted him to suffer. Wilks tells Gibbs that he and Landis have been friends for years and were training for a marathon. They also served in Afghanistan. Later, they learn that the fingerprints they got from a chair at Landis' house belong to Kaseem Naasir, an Afghan with links to the Taliban who managed to enter the U.S. They also learn that Landis returned 8 months ago from Iraq and that Naasir has an older brother named Rasheed, who is responsible for more than a hundred terrorism attacks in Afghanistan.
Tony and McGee head to Wilks' house to talk to him, and they see Kaseem lurking outside his house. They chase him, and when they catch and arrest him, they find a knife in his pocket.
At NCIS, Bishop tells Gibbs that there must be a mistake. Kaseem and Rasheed's parents were killed by the Taliban, and they took the boys and brainwashed him. Abby learns that the Kaseem's knife is not the murder weapon that killed Landis. Wilks arrives and tells Gibbs that Kaseem is one of them and that he and Landis smuggled him into the country.
Bishop gets a text from an informant named Martinez, and apparently, Rasheed has put a bounty on his own brother's head. Kaseem tells the team that Rasheed was turned by the Taliban when they were kids and that he killed their parents. He says he's nothing like his brother.
The team gets a video showing Rasheed holding a U.S. soldier hostage. He says that the U.S. has 48 hours to deliver his brother or kills the soldier.
Gibbs and Bishop board a helicopter with Kaseem to Afghanistan. At headquarters, McGee investigates Landis' neighbor, Ashborne, and it turns out that Ashborne has been working for Rasheed and that he's the one who killed Landis.
In Afghanistan, Kasim goes missing. Gibbs realizes that he snuck off to surrender himself to his brother in hopes of saving the soldier. Gibbs and Bishop locate the base, and Bishop pretends to be a doctor to get in. Shots ring out as they're discovered, and Gibbs shoots Rasheed while the soldiers rescue Kaseem and the soldier.
At NCIS, McGee lets Tony know that he's really not the face of NCIS—it's all an April Fool's joke.
"NCIS" airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.
