HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"Shell Shock (Part I)" is the sixth episode of the tenth season of the American
police procedural The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...
drama ''
NCIS NCIS or N.C.I.S. may refer to: Law enforcement * National Criminal Intelligence Service, the predecessor to the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the United Kingdom * Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a United States law enforcement and intelli ...
'', and the 216th episode overall. It originally aired on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
in the United States on November 13, 2012. The episode is written by Nichole Mirante-Matthews and directed by Leslie Libman, and was seen by 17.05 million viewers. When a Marine Lieutenant who recently returned home from the Middle East is found dead from a brutal attack, the NCIS team questions the victim’s friend, Marine Captain Joe Wescott. Gibbs realizes the Captain is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but knows his experience overseas may also provide a key link to the crime. The plot continues in " Shell Shock (Part II)".


Plot

The episode begins with two men trying to run from a gang but they are eventually caught and beaten badly. The gang then drags one of the men into the darkness while the other flees. The next morning, the team is called over to investigate the body of the man who was dragged off, Lieutenant Michael Torres. They find out that Torres was with his commanding officer, Captain Joe Westcott, and track down Westcott at Torres' house. Westcott tells the team about the attack and how he feels guilty that he didn't try to save Torres. However, Gibbs is not convinced that Westcott is telling the whole truth. More inconsistencies surface when Ducky's autopsy reveals that Torres was not beaten by a gang of men, but by only a pair, which contradicts Westcott's account. Surveillance footage of the attack does not provide any conclusive evidence either since the tape it was recorded on is corrupted. Gibbs then has Westcott tell him about the story of how his squad was ambushed by insurgents in Iraq shortly before their tour of duty ended. Several of Westcott's men were killed and Westcott himself witnessed one of his men getting captured. However, rather than try to help him, Westcott fled in fear. Though the captured soldier was rescued by another squadmate, he died shortly after due to his wounds. Westcott can't forgive himself for succumbing to cowardice and it is revealed that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, as he is constantly reliving the ambush in his mind. The team manages to clean up the surveillance footage and sees that there were only three men involved in the fight: Westcott, Torres, and another man named Randall J. Kersey, who claims never to have seen Westcott nor has he been outside the country. They surmise that Westcott suffered another PTSD episode; he believed Kersey was one of the insurgents and began to assault him. Torres tried to intervene but was knocked down and struck his head on the pavement, dying instantly. After sending Westcott to therapy to have his PTSD treated, Gibbs has McGee obtain satellite photos of the insurgent base where Westcott had been ambushed. To the team's shock, they discover that Kersey was indeed present at the base as one of the insurgents. The team raids Kersey's house but are too late: Kersey has already fled but the team discovers evidence that he had already built two bombs and is planning an attack. Meanwhile, Tony finds an old camera with photos of his mother, who died when he was eight years old. Unfortunately, McGee gets hold of Tony's embarrassing old high school portrait and Ziva gives him a relentless amount of grief.


Production

"Shell Shock (Part I)" is written by Nichole Mirante-Matthews and directed by Leslie Libman. The episode is a tribute to "all of our brave men and women overseas, as well as our veterans here at home", Mirante-Matthews said. The theme of the episode is
posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...
(PTSD), and showrunner Gary Glasberg gave Mirante-Matthews (Part I) and Gina Lucita Monreal (Part II) the task of writing the two-part story arc in May 2012. The writers had to use "several weeks of research and conversation" to get enough information about PTSD and its effect on people in the military. On September 13, 2012, TV Guide announced that
Brad Beyer Brad Beyer (born ) is an American actor. He played Stanley Richmond in the CBS series ''Jericho''. Personal life Beyer graduated from Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Minnesota and moved to Lo ...
would guest star as Marine Captain Joe Westcott, who "shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder". Together with Beyer,
Glen Powell Glen Thomas Powell Jr. (born October 21, 1988) is an American actor and screenwriter. He began his career with small roles on television and in films such as '' Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over'' (2003) and '' Fast Food Nation'' (2006). Powell acted in t ...
was cast to portray Westcott's brother Luke and
Mark Rolston Mark Rolston (born December 7, 1956) is an American actor and voice actor. He made his film debut as PFC. Drake in '' Aliens'' (1986), and is known for his supporting roles in films like ''Lethal Weapon 2'' (1989), ''The Shawshank Redemption'' (1 ...
as their father George.


Reception

"Shell Shock (Part I)" was seen by 17.05 million live viewers following its broadcast on November 13, 2012, with a 3.1/9 share among adults aged 18 to 49. A rating point represents one percent of the total number of television sets in American households, and a share means the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the program. In total viewers, "Shell Shock (Part I)" easily won ''NCIS'' and CBS the night. The spin-off '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' drew second and was seen by 15.77 million viewers. Compared to the last episode "Namesake", "Shell Shock (Part I)" was down in both viewers and adults 18-49. Carla Day from ''TV Fanatic'' gave the episode 4.5 (out of 5) and stated that " he episodestarted out as a fairly routine NCIS case when a marine, Michael Torres, was found beaten to death in an alley. The investigation became more complicated when his fellow marine's story didn't check out and Gibbs figured out he was suffering from PTSD. That was a compelling story, but ''NCIS'' ended with a surprise that blew the top off the entire mystery."


References

{{NCIS episodes 2012 American television episodes NCIS season 10 episodes