NCIS joined the conversation surrounding AI and its potential usefulness in an ever-changing world at our fingertips. A robot assistant was being developed, and Vance was tasked with finding an agent to use it during a case. The only person interested was Jimmy Palmer. What were the results of his findings?
The case of the week involved the death of Ben Grant, who Secret Service agents thought was going after the Vice President. However, since the VP was actually out of the country, NCIS had to determine what he was actually doing on Naval grounds.
He was on a date with Samantha Linden, who had matched with him on a dating app and took him to the Naval Observatory for a first date. However, even though she only gave him a card to access the room they were in, he somehow managed to change the permissions so he could have full access to the facility.
In reality, his real name was Daryl Folkman, a conman who apparently wanted to mess with the clock that controlled every aspect of human life, from flight times to the stock market. If it was off by even a fraction of a second, it could cause accidents due to the slight difference in the minutes.
The team had varying reactions to the AI as Jimmy dealt with personal feelings about loneliness
The real Ben Grant was eventually found, but he was dead by the time Jessica Knight and Nick Torres arrived at his home. Now they had to determine who killed him, since he died after the fake Grant.
Samantha was questioned, but things were overwhelming for her and for Parker, he began to believe she really was not involved. When her friend Rachel came to pick her up, she lamented on knowing she wasn’t ready for the dating world after all.
There is evidence that appears to be leading toward Samantha, but more than likely, she is being used as a patsy. When Samantha goes back to work, Rachel finds a bag with money and a passport, leading the audience to question which one is telling the truth.
In the end, Jimmy tells his robot assistant, named DAWN, that the agents were able to take Rachel into custody. Samantha’s alibi was stronger, since she was only out of NCIS custody for six hours whereas Grant was killed eight hours earlier.
There was a lot for Jimmy to learn with the AI assistant, especially when it came to efficiency and how to get data in a quicker response time. However, for Jimmy, it was the human element of working with others that was more important to him. The episode showed how despite Jimmy loving his job, there was still loneliness since he didn’t have an assistant like Ducky had in him for decades.
We also got some insight into the end of Jimmy and Jessica’s relationship, which seemed to align more with the timing not being right. It was clear Jimmy still held feelings for her, telling Nick that he knew three of her different snores. Nick could tell Jimmy cared about her, still.
In the end, Jimmy was ready to talk to her about his feelings, but when he saw her and Nick leaving the office together, he paused. It did seem like he felt like he still couldn’t tell her about how he felt. However, we don’t know how Jessica feels either when it comes to her and Jimmy. Has she truly moved on or is Jimmy holding back when it comes to communicating?
The NCIS fall finale episode will air on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 8/7c on CBS.