Life Before His Eyes (episode)

Life Before His Eyes is the fourteenth episode in NCIS Season 9 and the 200th episode of the entire NCIS series.
It also marks the final appearances of both Ari Haswari and Riley McCallister.
==Synopsis==
During his traditional morning routine which consists of him having coffee at his local diner before heading into work, Gibbs finds himself later locked in a stand-off with someone. As such, Gibbs finds himself trapped in a life-or-death situation which forces him to question all the choices he has made during his life while flashbacks show the NCIS team working on their recent case: a dead Navy officer and a civilian on board a decommissioned Navy ship as well as a man who may be guilty of treason.
==Prologue==
As Hank Williams's "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" plays in the background, the camera pans down under a bridge, revealing a diner underneath the bridge as a white truck pulls in.
As the truck's engine switches off, the driver gets out, revealing that it's none other than NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs who then greets Gladys and a Colonel as they leave the diner with Gibbs telling them to stay warm.
With the couple running off to quickly find some shelter due to the rain, Gibbs heads into the diner.
Inside the diner which resembles a diner from the 1950s, Gibbs and the waitress, Elaine exchange greetings.
Elaine tells him that he missed one Hell of an accident.
"A semi, huh?", Gibbs asks.
Elaine agrees, stating that the driver fell asleep and beat up his rig pretty bad.
Holding the cup, Gibbs nods, stating that at least the driver is alive.
Elaine laughs.
As Gibbs takes a sip, Elaine wonders if it's eggs easy.
Gibbs refuses, stating that it's just coffee.
Elaine tells him to finish that and that she'll brew him fresh one to go.
"You're too good to me, Elaine", Gibbs remarks.
Elaine remarks that she's just waiting on a proposal, that's all.
As she heads back to the kitchen, Gibbs just laughs, before taking a sip from his coffee.
Meanwhile, a masked individual rises from a seat and approaches Gibbs, his presence catching both Gibbs and Elaine's attention.
The individual then draws a gun.
Gibbs then draws his SIG, quickly identifying himself as a federal agent and that the person should put down the weapon, only for the individual to fire.
For a few seconds, there's a flash and everything goes completely white.
It then cuts to endless flashbacks of Gibbs's life consisting of him leaving Stillwater, joining the Marines, meeting Joan Matteson, meeting Shannon, his soon-to-be wife, the birth of their daughter, Kelly, Gibbs saying goodbye as he leaves for the Gulf, Kelly telling her father that she'll miss him, scenes of him fighting in Desert Storm, a Marine informing Gibbs that Shannon and Kelly are dead with Gibbs screaming "NO!", Gibbs meeting NIS agent Mike Franks who informs him that his wife and daughter died in the attack, Gibbs later exacting his revenge by shooting Pedro Hernandez in the head, Franks officially helping Gibbs become an NIS agent, the NCIS Headquarters, Gibbs and Vance meeting each other for the first time, NCIS Special Agent Caitlin Todd being shot dead as Gibbs and NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo look on, horrified, Ari Haswari, the man who killed Kate later being shot dead, Gibbs and Mossad Officer Ziva David confronting each other, Gibbs with NCIS Director Jennifer Shepard in the past as a couple and Gibbs as the agent and Jenny as the director, Tony helping bring Gibbs to the surface, Gibbs in a coma, Gibbs's colleague, Agent Christopher Pacci dead at the crime scene and then on a slab in the morgue, DiNozzo and McGee, Gibbs with Abby and then saying goodbye to her as he retires, Gibbs arriving at Franks' beach house in Mexico, Franks' coffin, Gibbs in the street holding Franks' body and the marine guard of honor at Franks' funeral.
It then shows several more clips of Gibbs either by himself or with the NCIS team from various episodes, eventually slowing down before it snaps back to show Gibbs is still standing there, holding his SIG-Sauer yet the bullet itself is hanging in mid-air, having seemingly frozen in time.
Caught off-guard, Gibbs lowers his SIG and then glances around.
He sees his father, Jackson Gibbs, sitting at a table with Jackson waving.
"Dad?", Gibbs asks, stunned.
In the next table are Abby, Tony and Ziva, all of whom look up at Gibbs with Abby even waving.
At the counter, Joan Matteson is sitting on a bar stool and calls Gibbs's name.
"Matts?", Gibbs says, puzzled.
Suddenly, Gibbs pauses upon seeing his younger self in a Marine uniform walk past him and he watches as his younger self and Matteson embrace.
As that happens, a figure walks up to Gibbs.
It's Franks, who then flicks the bullet away.
"Mike?", Gibbs says.
Franks wonders how he looks.
"Alive", Gibbs replies.
"Hell of a thing, isn't it?", Franks says, before he asks Gibbs, addressing him as Probie, what he's doing.
At Gibbs's puzzled glance, Franks reminds Gibbs hesitating like that and that Gibbs should have shot the man who held Gibbs at gunpoint.
"What?", Gibbs says. "I mean, that's it. It's over?".
Gibbs stammers that he wasn't done yet.
"That's the problem", Franks says. "Folks wanna help you see the things you've accomplished. Understand the choices you made".
He then tells Gibbs that this is Gibbs's life they're talking about.
It cuts to Gibbs who looks stunned.
==Act One==
==Act Two==
==Act Three==
==Act Four==
==Act Five==
Back in the diner, as a young girl approaches, Gibbs spots a bullet on the floor and picks it up.
==Trivia==
*The scene where Caitlin Todd survives being shot dead by Ari Haswari is the alternate ending for the Season 2 finale episode, Twilight (episode). Prior to "Twilight" airing in May 2005, it was revealed that two separate endings had been filmed with the scene of Kate dying after Ari shot her being added to the end of the episode that aired on May 24, 2005 while the scene of her surviving later appeared in this episode.
*The footage of Kate in the hospital and saying, "What?" was actually CGI and archive footage taken from the Season 2 episode, SWAK (episode).
*Like the Season 7 episode, Flesh and Blood (episode) which was the 150th episode of the series, celebrations were held in honor of the TV series reaching its 200th episode while at the end of the episode, a title card thanking the fans for making it 200 episodes was shown.
*This episode marks the first appearance of the diner which would become a regular location in later episodes.
==Cast==
===Series Regulars===
Name 	Portrayed by 	Role
Leroy Jethro Gibbs	Mark Harmon 	Special Agent in charge of the NCIS Major Case Response Team.
Anthony DiNozzo 	Michael Weatherly 	Senior Special Agent of the NCIS Major Response Team.
Ziva David 	Cote de Pablo 	Junior Special Agent of the NCIS Major Response Team.
Abigail Sciuto 	Pauley Perrette 	Chief Forensic Specialist of the NCIS Major Response Team.
Timothy McGee 	Sean Murray (actor)	Special Agent of the NCIS Major Response Team.
Leon Vance 	Rocky Carroll 	Director of NCIS.
Donald Mallard 	David McCallum 	Chief Medical Examiner of the NCIS Major Response Team.
===Recurring Cast===
Name 	Portrayed by 	Role
James Palmer 	Brian Dietzen 	Assistant Medical Examiner.
Tobias Fornell 	Joe Spano 	Senior Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Jackson Gibbs 	Ralph Waite 	Gibbs's father.
Michael Franks 	Muse Watson 	Gibbs's mentor who trained Gibbs to become an NIS/NCIS Special Agent. Died in the Season 8 episode, Swan Song (episode) after being stabbed by Lt. Jonas Cobb, the Port to Port Killer.
Shannon Gibbs 	Darby Stanchfield 	Gibbs's deceased first wife.
Kelly Gibbs 	Sam Schuder 	Gibbs's deceased young daughter.
Christopher Pacci	Tim Kelleher 	An NCIS Special Agent and colleague of Gibbs. Died in the Season 1 episode, Dead Man Talking (episode) after being shot dead by Amanda Reed.
Joan Matteson 	Jeananne Goossen 	A young woman who was a Private in the United States Marine Corps and who Gibbs knew during his days of training to become a Marine.
Ari Haswari 	Rudolf Martin 	Ziva David's half-brother and a terrorist responsible for the death of NCIS Special Agent Caitlin Todd. Killed by Ziva in the Season 3 episode, Kill Ari Part 2 (episode).
Riley McCallister	Michael O’Neill 	A former NCIS Special Agent responsible for the death of NCIS Director Jenny Shepard and who died after Vance stabbed him.
Caitlin Todd 	Sasha Alexander 	A Secret-Service-agent-turned-NCIS-Special-Agent who died after being shot in the head by Ari Haswari in the last few seconds of the Season 2 finale episode, "Twilight".
Jennifer Shepard 	Lauren Holly 	Former NCIS Director who was also Gibbs's girlfriend. Died in the Season 5 finale episode, Judgment Day Part 1 (episode).
Pedro Hernandez 	Thomas Rosales, Jr.	The drug dealer responsible for the crash that killed Shannon and Kelly Gibbs in order to prevent Shannon Gibbs from testifying in a drug case pending against one of his associates.
===Guest Cast===
Name 	Portrayed by 	Role
Ann Gibbs 	Clare Carey 	Gibbs's mother.
Stephen Rose	Jordan Garrett 	The seventeen year old son of Michael Rose who shot and wounded Gibbs in the shoulder.
Michael Rose	Mackenzie Astin	He was the prime suspect of a MCRT investigation of a double homicide. Rose confessed to the killing but argued that it was done to prevent an attempt espionage from going forward.
Elaine 	Connie Jackson 	A waitress at Gibbs' favorite diner, she is waiting for a marriage proposal from him.
Doctor 	Jeff Williams 	In one alternate reality, he was the obstetrician who delivered the son/daughter of Special Agents Tony DiNozzo and Kate Todd.
  v - [ e] - dNCIS Season 9
♦ Nature of the Beast (episode) ♦ Restless (episode) ♦ The Penelope Papers (episode) ♦ Enemy on the Hill (episode) ♦ Safe Harbor (episode) ♦ Thirst (episode) ♦ Devil's Triangle (episode) ♦ Engaged (Part 1) (episode) ♦ Engaged (Part 2) (episode) ♦ Sins of the Father (episode) ♦ Newborn King (episode) ♦ Housekeeping (episode) ♦ A Desperate Man (episode) ♦ Life Before His Eyes (episode) ♦ Secrets (episode) ♦ Psych Out (episode) ♦ Need to Know (episode) ♦ The Tell (episode) ♦ The Good Son (episode) ♦ The Missionary Position (episode) ♦ Rekindled (episode) ♦ Playing with Fire (episode) ♦ Up in Smoke (episode) ♦ Till Death Do Us Part (episode)
Category:NCIS Episodes
Category:NCIS Season 9 Episodes
Category:NCIS Episodes written by Gary Glasberg
Category:NCIS Episodes directed by Tony Wharmby
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring James Palmer
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Tobias Fornell
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Jackson Gibbs
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Shannon Gibbs
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Kelly Gibbs
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Michael Franks
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Christopher Pacci
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Joan Matteson
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Ari Haswari
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Riley McCallister
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Caitlin Todd
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Jennifer Shepard