Broken Bird (6.13)

Professor DiNozzo’s film class
Tony makes a reference to The Simpsons.

Story time with Grandpa Ducky
“According to superstition, when a bird flies into a house it means that someone who lives there is about to die.”

You gave me a pet name
Tony calls McGee “McGarnagle” and “McEggHead.”

Love in the Navy
  • Doctor Jordan Hampton shows up to help Jimmy on an autopsy while Ducky is in the hospital. When he tells her Ducky was attacked, Jordan looks very worried about him. And not worried like you’d be worried about a co-worker, but worried like you’d be worried about someone you once had fuzzy feelings for and still have great affection for. The exact nature of their relationship isn’t explained. It’s so vague that they could still be seeing each other.
  • It appears that Jordan is spending a few days living with Ducky when he returns from the hospital. 

Vice squad
Ducky goes a little loopy on morphine.
Ducky’s suspected of war crimes in Afghanistan from almost 30 years ago. But the Afghan embassy doesn’t pursue the charges.

Age is just a number
McGee says he got a Mac SE for his 11th birthday. They came out in 1987 (thanks, Wikipedia!) so I’m going to say he was born in 1976. That also fits with the timeline he gave in season three’s Hiatus, Pt 2 about being in high school in 1991.

Curriculum Vitae
  • Abby says she was a telemarketer for knives in her sophomore year. 
  • Ducky was in the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) in Afghanistan 30 years ago. While there he was seconded to an American tank regiment. He worked on a lot of soldiers with artillery injuries and considered making hand surgery his specialty. 
  • When Ducky was in the RAMC he saw a notice for volunteers to work in refugee camps on the Pakistan border. He says he went because he thought it was where his skills would be of most use. He was there in the summer of 1980. 
  • Ducky’s NCIS personnel file is dated December 1992 to present. So he may have started working at NCIS (or NIS back then) at that time. 

Family ties
Ducky says his mother has Alzheimer’s.

You look so fine (or maybe not)
GAH! Ziva’s rainbow sweater is back! Kill it! Kill it with fire!

Is there a doctor in the house?
Ducky is stabbed through the palm of his right hand.

Personnel file
  • McGee got a Mac SE for his 11th birthday. His parents have shipped it to him at NCIS. Heh. My dad had one of those. He used to carry it to and from work every day in a massive carry bag. 
  • Ducky and Jimmy are squabbling over directions. Like, really squabbling. Ducky’s yelling and Jimmy’s almost yelling back. But mostly it’s because Ducky’s irritated with Jimmy for failing one of his medical school classes. 
  • Jimmy says he’s never really liked baseball. 
  • Ducky’s corgis make an appearance!
  • Trent Kort brings Gibbs the CIA file on Ducky, and throws in a bonus file on Vance. Gibbs reads Ducky’s. He leaves Vance’s untouched in his basement. For now. 
  • Gibbs brings an old film projector to Ducky’s house. It’s not clear where he got it, but I would totally buy that he just has that lying around his house. 
  • Ducky takes himself to the Afghan embassy and surrenders himself to be arrested for war crimes. Eventually they let him off.