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 finds 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 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

 File:Vlcsnap-2021-04-30-02h56m00s860.png

## 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.