‘NCIS’ Season 18 Recap Ahead of the Season 19 Premiere
NCIS is back for season 19, with two new cast members and a new Monday night time slot. Before fans see what happens next to Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and his team in the season premiere titled “Blood in the Water,” let’s take a look back at the pandemic-shortened season 18 and see where the story left off.
Gibbs shot McGee twice in the cold open of the ‘NCIS’ season 18 premiere
Season 18 of NCIS began with an intense cold open that had a timestamp of March 2020. The brief scene featured Gibbs shooting McGee (Sean Murray) twice while he was trying to stop a plane from taking off. Then, the story jumped back in time to November 2019 to explore what happened when Gibbs went off the grid during Season 17, Episode 8 titled “Musical Chairs.”
Before season 18 started, all fans knew was that Gibbs had mysteriously left the squad room at the beginning of the episode and later returned with a black eye. The first five episodes of the season went on to explore this storyline that featured FBI special agent Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano).
“Gibbs and Fornell attempt to track down the leader of a drug ring who supplied drugs to Fornell’s daughter,” revealed the official season 18 premiere synopsis. “Also, the team deals with the case of a missing cadaver from the NCIS autopsy room.”
The special 400th episode revealed how Gibbs met Ducky
The second episode of season 18 was a special one for NCIS. It was the series’ 400th episode overall, and they celebrated this rare milestone by revealing how Gibbs met Dr. Ducky Mallard (David McCallum).
The discovery of a dead body in the basement at NCIS headquarters was linked to a group that Gibbs had investigated decades earlier. In flashbacks, the episode showed how Gibbs met Ducky and was introduced to the NIS, the agency that would eventually become NCIS.
At the end of the episode, Gibbs actually accepted an invitation to go out drinking with the team he calls his “family” to celebrate McGee’s 20th anniversary. Which would end up having an effect on episode three “Blood and Treasure.”
The ‘NCIS’ team goes on a treasure hunt
While Gibbs is still away with Fornell secretly investigating the drug ring responsible for supplying drugs to Emily Fornell — which resulted in her heroin overdose — the team is recovering from their night of drinking. But they soon get involved in a murder investigation linked to a years-long treasure hunt.
Fornell goes undercover as a fast-food restaurant employee, which Gibbs is sure will end badly. He’s right, as Fornell suddenly disappears after finding drugs in the restaurant freezer.
Meanwhile, Gibbs’ team solves the treasure hunt case, and then McGee and Delilah go on vacation to the Bahamas. But they end up getting involved with a new NCIS case during their vacay when a petty officer is murdered while running an escape room.
The season 18 cold open is explained in episode five ‘Head of the Snake’
Fornell’s drug case finally comes to a climax in episode five, which explains why Gibbs was shooting McGee in the season’s cold open. The NCIS team is brought in to bring down “the head of the snake,” a man named Merriweather. Who is not only a drug dealer, but a terrorist who is planning an attack on a military base.
Everything about the season opener becomes clear when Vance (Rocky Carroll) and Jack Sloane (Maria Bello) discover a bomb on the plane from MTAC. With McGee’s comms out, Gibbs shot him to save him.
Jimmy Palmer loses Breena to COVID-19 in season 18 of ‘NCIS’
The NCIS team is now in the present day after the jump back in time during the first few episodes. McGee is recovering from his injuries after getting shot, and the case of the week features an arms smuggling ring.
The will they/won’t they tension of Bishop (Emily Wickersham) and Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) continues as they engage in a shootout at the home of a former sheriff which has been turned into a historic site. The duo gets locked in abandoned jail cells, but manages to make it out alive.
Meanwhile, beloved medical examiner Jimmy loses his wife Breena to COVID-19. And Sloane tells Gibbs that she’s ready for a change and thinking about leaving NCIS.
Jack Sloane stays in Afghanistan
In the episode titled “True Believer,” Sloane tells Gibbs she’s made an offer on a house in Costa Rica. But that conversation immediately comes to a halt when they get the news that the Taliban has hijacked a school bus carrying four young girls in Afghanistan. On the window, someone had scrawled the message: “SLOANE NCIS.”
Sloane — who had previously been held captive in Afghanistan — knew the message was from Darya, a “chaperone” and fellow captive who had taken care of her when she was held hostage.
Sloane and Gibbs immediately headed to the Middle East while the rest of the team stayed behind to work the case at headquarters. With the help of the NCIS team back home, they were eventually able to find the missing girls.
But at that point, Gibbs realized that Sloane was never going to Costa Rica. Instead, she decided to stay in Afghanistan to continue Darya’s work.
Emily Fornell dies from a drug overdose before Gibbs gets suspended from ‘NCIS’
The middle of season 18 got seriously dark. After Breena’s death and Sloane’s departure, fans found out that Emily Fornell had died from a drug overdose when she relapsed. In the episode titled “Winter Chill,” the NCIS team works without Gibbs as he leaves to comfort Fornell who is struggling with his grief.
When he returns, Gibbs’ involvement in a dog abuse case gets him into some serious trouble. When he discovers the abuse, Gibbs uses excessive force against a suspect that leads to his “indefinite suspension” from NCIS.
His team tries to cover up for him, which results in their punishment. They are assigned to be COVID officers for an event the Secretary of Defense is hosting with the Yemeni Government.
Gibbs teams up with investigative journalist Marcie Warren
While on suspension, Gibbs gets caught up on his housework and works on the boat in his basement. While enjoying his breakfast one morning at the show’s famous diner, he meets investigative journalist Marcie Warren, played by Harmon’s real-life wife Pam Dawber.
At first, she’s there to find out the truth behind Gibbs’ suspension. But the two eventually team up to hunt down a serial killer that Marcie says killed her best friend from childhood. During this time, Gibbs is also set to testify against Parker James, the man who used a Ponzi scheme to steal millions from sailors.
However, the prosecutor doesn’t want to put him on the stand because his suspension from NCIS has hurt his credibility.
‘NCIS’ fans met REACT Agent Jessica Knight in the penultimate episode
Season 18, Episode 15 “Blown Away” was the penultimate episode of the season, and it introduced fans to agent Jessica Knight, played by Katrina Law. She successfully takes down a hostage situation before an explosion kills her entire team.
Agent Knight works with Gibbs’ NCIS team during their investigation on the case. She helps take down her former boss, which makes it clear her time as a REACT agent is over. The episode also sets Agent Knight up to be the newest member of the NCIS team. Which will happen in the season 19 premiere. Meanwhile, Gibbs and Marcie are still working on their cold case off the books.
Gibbs reveals a new rule in the season 18 finale
The season 18 finale featured Gibbs explaining to Bishop that “Rule 91” wasn’t just the name of the boat he had finished building in his basement. He explained to her that the rule is, “when you decide to walk away, don’t look back.”
All of this takes place after Bishop is accused of leaking NSA files, which she later admits is true. Then, Bishop shocks her co-workers and fans when she quits NCIS. And yes, this really is the end to the slow burn relationship of Bishop and Torres.
She tells him that she is going undercover and the NSA leak is just part of her “disgraced agent” cover story. Wickersham really did leave NCIS after the season 18 finale, so Bishop will not be returning. However, fans did finally get to see a kiss between Bishop and Torres before she walked away.
“If we worked regular 9-5 jobs, things could be different,” she tells Torres. “I didn’t mean for us to happen. Goodbye, Nick.”
‘NCIS’ season 18 ended on a shocking cliffhanger
After Gibbs and Marcie find a pattern in their serial killer case — a victim is killed every 100 days — it’s discovered that someone’s following Gibbs. He finds a bug in his basement and another in Marcie’s office.
The killer’s pattern has Gibbs and Marcie looking into a fourth victim, which should have been found last month. But he wants her to leave the case alone, and he stops her from tagging along.
The season suddenly ends with a shocking cliffhanger. Gibbs is on the water — in his boat, smiling and enjoying himself — when the boat explodes. He appears to be floating lifeless in the water. But in the season’s final seconds, Gibbs starts swimming away.
Season 19 of NCIS premieres Monday, Sept. 20 at 9 PM (Eastern) on CBS.
