A Man Walks into a Bar (episode)

A Man Walks into a Bar (or "A Man Walks into a Bar...") is the fourteenth episode in NCIS Season 8 and the 176th episode of the entire NCIS series.
==Synopsis==
As the NCIS team investigate the murder of a Naval Commander who was due to retire in eighteen months, they also find themselves going through a series of mandatory psychological evaluations with the sessions themselves also revealing personal issues as well as a connection to an incident in the past that ultimately changed the team forever.
==Prologue==
Navy Captain Thomas Lind is glancing at the screen when Navy Information Systems Technician Victor Davies arrives in with a notification from Fleet Command concerning a change of assignment.
"Carry on", Lind says.
Davies nods and leaves.
Looking at the sheet, Lind remarks that they're heading for the East Sea to monitor North Korea activity off the coast.
He looks at Ensign David Howard and tells him to wake up Commander Reynolds with Ensign Howard to tell the Commander that the Captain wants to meet him on the bridge.
"Aye, aye, sir", Howard says before leaving and closing the door after him.
Lind then turns back to glance at the radar.
Later, Lind and another man head down the stairs with Lind remarking that he's trying to get this ship underway and what the Hell is so important that the XO couldn't come to him?
Lind then opens a door and heads inside, asking Ensign Howard where the Commander is and is there a problem?
Howard remarks that he found the Commander.
He then steps back, revealing the Commander who's lying in his bunk, dead, blood emerging from his lips and chest.
Lind looks horrified.
It then cuts to show a huge blood pool underneath the Commander which has stained his right hand and fingers red.
==Act One==
==Act Two==
In his office, NCIS Director Leon Vance is busy talking to the SECNAV and tells the SECNAV that he understands before hanging up just as Gibbs arrives in.
As soon as he's hung up, Vance informs Gibbs that the Colonial is on lockdown.
==Act Three==
==Act Four==
==Act Five==
==Major Events==
*It's revealed that Tony's mother died when he was eight years old.
*The team meet Rachel Cranston who is later revealed to be the older sister of their deceased colleague, NCIS Special Agent Kate Todd.
==Trivia==
*This episode features clips from (in order of appearance) the episodes being Aliyah (episode), Silver War (episode), Legend Part 2 (episode), Kill Ari Part 1 (episode), See No Evil (episode), Singled Out (episode), Hometown Hero (episode), Reveille (episode), Cloak (episode), Enemies Domestic (episode), An Eye for an Eye (episode), SWAK (episode), Yankee White (episode), Twilight (episode), Recruited (episode), Rule Fifty-One (episode), Truth or Consequences (episode) and Kill Ari Part 2 (episode). Among the clips used is also a lost scene that never aired, where Kate and Tony are talking on the rooftop which is taken from the NCIS Season 2 episode, An Eye for an Eye (episode).
*This is the sixth anniversary of The Meat Puzzle where it coincidentally aired on February 8th.
*Guest star Scott Lawrence previously played the role of Commander Sturgis Turner on JAG, NCIS's parent series.
*In the background of the last scene where Kate is talking to her sister on the phone, McGee can be seen sitting down at a computer and Tony is looking out of a window. This is from the NCIS Season episode Dead Man Talking (episode), where the three of them are on a stakeout. In the same episode, she receives a call from a "Dwayne" and answers it in the same way, showing McGee and Tony in the background.
==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 Agent and second-in-command of the NCIS Major Case Response Team.
Ziva David 	Cote de Pablo 	NCIS Probationary Agent and also a member of the NCIS Major Case Response Team.
Timothy McGee 	Sean Murray (actor)	Junior Special Agent of the NCIS Major Case Response Team.
Abigail Sciuto 	Pauley Perrette 	Chief Forensic Specialist of the NCIS Major Case Response Team.
Leon Vance 	Rocky Carroll 	Director of NCIS.
Donald Mallard 	David McCallum 	Chief Medical Examiner of the NCIS Major Case Response Team.
===Recurring Cast===
Name 	Portrayed by 	Role
Caitlin Todd	Sasha Alexander	NCIS Special Agent and also Dr. Cranston's younger sister. Once part of the Secret Service Presidential Protection Detail, she later joined the NCIS team up and began her career which lasted up for a year and a half. However, it all ended in tragedy when in the last few seconds of the Season 2 finale, Twilight (episode), she died after being shot in the head by an old enemy of the team.
===Guest Cast===
Name 	Portrayed by 	Role
Rachel Cranston 	Wendy Makkena 	Psychologist conducting evaluations of the team, and Caitlin Todd's older sister as well as a Doctor.
Thomas Lind 	Scott Lawrence 	A Captain in the United States Navy.
Wayne Hargrove 	Robert Newman (actor)	Admiral in the United States Navy.
Nancy Hargrove 	Kim Johnston Ulrich 	Admiral Wayne Hargrove's wife.
David Howard 	Brian Skala 	Ensign in the United States Navy.
Rena Oliver 	Alexandra Barreto 	Petty Officer in the United States Navy.
Marcus Leonard 	Dustin Seavey 	Seaman in the United States Navy.
Victor Davies 	Andrew Pattison 	Information Systems Technician in the United States Navy.
Min Ho Kwon 	Matthew Yang King 	A man who appears in the episode.
Uniformed Cop (A Man Walks into a Bar)	David Di Brienza 	Credit only.
  v - [ e] - dNCIS Season 8
♦ Spider and the Fly (episode) ♦ Worst Nightmare (episode) ♦ Short Fuse (episode) ♦ Royals and Loyals (episode) ♦ Dead Air (episode) ♦ Cracked (episode) ♦ Broken Arrow (episode) ♦ Enemies Foreign (episode) ♦ Enemies Domestic (episode) ♦ False Witness (episode) ♦ Ships in the Night (episode) ♦ Recruited (episode) ♦ Freedom (episode) ♦ A Man Walks into a Bar (episode) ♦ Defiance (episode) ♦ Kill Screen (episode) ♦ One Last Score (episode) ♦ Out of the Frying Pan (episode) ♦ Tell-All (episode) ♦ Two-Faced (episode) ♦ Dead Reflection (episode) ♦ Baltimore (episode) ♦ Swan Song (episode) ♦ Pyramid (episode)
Category:NCIS Episodes
Category:NCIS Season 8 Episodes
Category:NCIS Episodes written by Gary Glasberg
Category:NCIS Episodes directed by James Whitmore, Jr.
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Rachel Cranston
Category:NCIS Episodes featuring Wayne Hargrove