NCIS

When a Marine is found dead next week on NCIS, Gibbs, McGee, Tony, Ziva, Ducky and company must hit the open road to break up an illegal trucking operation.

Recent episodes, including this week's "Masquerade," have been terrific. Will this one follow suit? The 20-second promo tells us next to nothing, but here goes ...

What do you think will transpire in this episode? Do you like the direction of the show lately? Click to enlarge the episode stills below and see what you think ...

Widespread panic over a dirty bomb. A defense contractor pulling strings. Gibbs locking horns with his least favorite legal adversary once again. Last night's NCIS had it all.

Check out our "Masquerade" review for our in-depth extrapolation on the episode. Below, we delve deeper into Tuesday's NCIS in our weekly Round Table discussion ...

1. What was your favorite scene from last night?

The Barnacle: When Gibbs calmly had Ramon sign the attorney waiver, then tore him a new one three seconds later. Nothing beats Gibbs in action. I would bring popcorn.

L.J. Gibbs: The scene at the end. Why was she inside Gibbs' house? He's gotta be into her, otherwise that alone would raise some red flags. I don't see this ending well.

M.L. House: Gibbs and Vance railroading the private intelligence coordinator into confessing, preceded by Vance's warning and Gibbs' reassurance that "I'm not wrong."

2. Did you figure out the mystery?

M.L. House: Considering it took half the episode before Ducky revealed the body's true identity, it was hard to. The show does a great job of pacing and keeping you guessing.

L.J. Gibbs: No. It was well-disguised. The upcoming Senate hearing explained Vance's involvement in the case, but I didn't expect it to be tied to the actual dirty bomb plot.

The Barnacle: Not entirely, though the intelligence guy seemed shady from the start, and Gibbs/Vance seemed to take his word for everything, so I had my suspicions.

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Last night's NCIS investigation had the agents barking up the wrong tree almost the whole time. A dirty bomb was indeed in play, as advertised, but not for the reasons we expected.

The episode title hinted at a multi-layered plot, something NCIS pulls off so well. Check out our episode recap for the basic plot details. Now, here's our review of "Masquerade" ...

There's so much going on in each episode that it's hard to believe it hardly ever feels forced, cliched or tied together too quickly. This show is extremely well-written. Period.

As the team investigates the death of Lance Corporal Ramon Vega after his car explodes in a police chase, they uncover traces of cobalt-60, a radioactive, dirty bomb component.

The backdrop, which involves Director Vance, is that the U.S. Senate is about to vote on a defense bill authorizing billions in contracts. Vance complains about the outsourcing.

Gibbs and McGee work to dismantle the bomb at the bus station.

With the bill up for a vote, Vance can't believe the timing of the dirty bomb fiasco, which has now been leaked to the press, until he and Gibbs realize the connection between the two.

There was a bomb out there, but it was amateur night. Gibbs and McGee were able to disable it, and figure out that the true goal of whomever orchestrated this is fear, not casualties.

A private intelligence firm hired by the government made up the existence of a Peruvian terrorist group, Libertad Nuevo, and used Roman as its pawn to send D.C. into mass hysteria.

It worked, until Gibbs and Vance bluffed their way to a confession from the intelligence firm's owner. Those two are fun to watch working in tandem ... we're scared sitting on the sofa.

There were plenty of intriguing character interactions last night as well.

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Tuesday on NCIS, the team must thwart what they believe is a coordinated attempt by a group of terrorists to detonate a dirty bomb in Washington, D.C., before it's too late.

This week's episode, "Jet Lag," was a bit unusual in that it involved two mysteries unfolding at once, with the team split in two locations. This one looks more conventional.

Here's CBS' promo for the February 2 NCIS installment:

As if that weren't complicated enough, Gibbs' legal adversary M. Allison Hart (Rena Sofer) is apparently back as well. Will she act as a thorn in his side yet again?

Click to enlarge some photos from the episode below ...

Among the many topics NCIS fans are buzzing about in the second half of the current Season Seven is the potential romance for Gibbs that producers have promised.

Asked about that possibility recently, executive producer Shane Brennan cryptically teased that “There’s a scene coming up that will stir up a lot of conversation.”

“Mark [Harmon] is at his finest in that episode," he continues. "The audience is going to love it, but they’re also going to go, ‘Oh my God - what’s happening?!’”

As for whether the story involves Rena Sofer’s character, he says only that they "started laying the bread crumbs" and it will be "one of the big moments on NCIS.”

DiNozzo, Gibbs and McGee are all the subject of fan speculation.

On an unrelated note, Brennan said that on the Tony and Ziva front, this week's episode, "Jet Lag," should answer a lot, and viewers should "read between the lines."

Safe to say that we already did! The only question is where Tiva goes from here, and the impression we were left with Tuesday is that even they don't know that yet.

Which is probably just how it's supposed to be with this complicated couple.

Finally, regarding rumors that Abby and McGee might be reuniting, all Brennan would divulge is, “Something begins to happen [with them] later in the season.”

We can't wait to see what. Any theories on Gibbs, Tiva and/or McGee?

Last night's NCIS featured a mystery unraveling both in Washington and on a commercial flight en route from Paris, with Gibbs and McGee trying to figure out who took out a contract on the life of the material witness Tony and Ziva were trying to protect.

As we said in our review of "Jet Lag," it made for a terrific episode. Now, let's delve even deeper into Tuesday's NCIS in our staff's weekly Round Table discussion ...

1. What was your favorite scene from last night?

The Barnacle: Any scenes with Gibbs and that hot madam. Sure, she was an accessory to murder, but she had a certain sexiness to her that stole the show. Yum.

L.J. Gibbs: Definitely the end, when we saw Tony's cute photo of Ziva. I loved how they kept us guessing as to what happened in Paris, then ended on that note.

M.L. House: Ducky filling in with a movie reference in Tony's absence, then Tony returning the favor via satellite in the bathroom. Both classic NCIS quotes.

2. Did any elements of the confined-on-a-plane scenario feel forced?

M.L. House: Maybe it's just because we saw something similar on Human Target, but it seemed far-fetched. As did the discovery of the dead Marine. If he's not found (very possible), is there no tie-in by which Gibbs is working his end of the case?

L.J. Gibbs: A little, but making the killer’s identity random was a great twist, as was the flight attendant's clever attempt to kill the accountant - and her unlikely rescuer.

The Barnacle: It might have been, but this is television, and I was too distracted trying to piece together a compelling mystery, and by the amazing duo that is Tiva.

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Tuesday night's NCIS involved an intriguing murder mystery at 35,000 feet, a second component of the investigation back on the ground in D.C., and a whole lot of Tony and Ziva.

Tiva was in Paris, briefly, to escort a key witness to the U.S. But that witness was a marked woman. Our episode recap has the plot details. Now, here's our review of "Jet Lag" ...

What makes NCIS so good is the writing and the lightning-quick plot development, to be sure, but it wouldn't work without the strong NCIS cast, all of whom shined Tuesday.

Tony and Ziva traveled to Paris to escort a witness, Nora Williams, to the U.S. to testify against Bolinger, a major government contractor (her employer) who is bilking the Navy.

The problem is that someone's out to get her. A dead Marine turns up in D.C. with all of Nora Williams' personal and flight info. A hit man killed by a hit man. And away we go ...

Ziva thought the Air Marshall might have been their man.

This resulted in simultaneous mysteries on the plane and at the office, with Tony and Ziva on high alert for suspicious passengers and Gibbs and McGee working on the Marine's death.

The Marine's phone records lead Gibbs to a D.C. madam who, rather than merely matching "buyers and sellers" for sex, was also doing the same for other "services" - contract killings.

She tries to finagle a plea deal and stonewalls Gibbs' attempts to get her bank records, leaving Tony and Ziva on their own for now. They suspect the federal air Marshall is their guy.

Until he turns up stabbed to death in the lavatory with his gun stolen, that is.

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We're barely into the second half of the season, but speculation over the finale of NCIS this May has already begun - in part thanks to previous season-ending shockers.

In the past two years, we've seen Director Jenny Shepard killed, Gibbs given a brand-new team, and Ziva left for dead (well, almost) in a far corner of the Middle East.

How can the current Season 7, perhaps the CBS show's best so far, live up to such drama? Executive producer Shane Brennan says we should already have some idea.

“The people who really watch the show, I can tell them right now that they have already seen the beginnings of the last episode,” he said in an interview with Fancast.

“We have already started the last episode. Let them puzzle over that.”

What do the NCIS writers have up their sleeves this year?

That Brennan planted the seeds of the season finale plot somewhere within the first 12 episodes should be no surprise, given his philosophy on mapping out story arcs.

“If you [as a producer] get nervous toward the end of the season, you’re not doing your job,” he says. “Really, you need to be planning it out earlier than that. Luckily, we’ve got a bunch of creative writers who sit around and dream this stuff up.”

Any thoughts on the NCIS finale? Does it have something to do with Gibbs' legal adversary, introduced in the January 5 episode and tied somehow to the Colonel he busted?

That would be our best guess for now, as those two seem like they're out to bring down Gibbs personally. We welcome your feedback on this and any alternate theories.

NCIS fans may soon learn more about their favorite man of mystery.

Veteran actress Gena Rowlands has landed a potentially recurring role on TV's top-rated show: she'll play Joann, the mother of Gibbs' first, late wife.

Executive producer Shane Brennan recently told Michael Ausiello that the character will reveal a lot about Gibbs and "unleash a wave of heartache, anger and blame in the process."

Rowlands has been nominated for two Academy Awards and was most recently seen on the small screen on an episode of Monk. She'll debut on NCIS in March.

We talked in our NCIS Round Table about how out of his element Tony DiNozzo was this week, thanks to his father's surprise visit. He'll be out of it in a different way January 26.

In "Jet Lag," Tony and Ziva end up in Paris, where, as luck would have it, a mix-up at the hotel requires that they share a room, executive producer Shane Brennan confirms.

"There is a scene where Tony and Ziva are outside having coffee in a French restaurant and they end up riding away on a little motor scooter," he reveals of Tiva's Paris trip.

"It is very romantic-looking, very French. Very Tony DiNozzo."

Fancast asked Cote de Pablo (Ziva) if she had a bone to throw Tiva fans regarding the next episode, and she replied, “It depends on what kind of a bone you’re talking about.”

Hot ... we think!

Cote noted that in this week's 150th episode, "Flesh and Blood," Tony’s father (Robert Wagner) “asks him a couple of questions regarding Ziva, and all he does is dodge them."

"And in many ways that is telling of what is going on with Tony. He can’t talk about us. He’s always hiding, dodging the reality of it all. It’s everything I think a relationship is."

"It’s filled with unresolved sexual tension, with genuine caring, filled with genuine ‘I can’t stand you at times.’ People relate to that. You have the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Speaking of things unresolved, the show is casting the mother of one of Gibbs’ ex-wives, a character Brennan says will shed new light on “what happened in his past.”

Casting is underway for the multi-episode role.

Finally, prominent guest stars Michael Nouri and/or David Dayan Fisher may be back on the show in the near future ... and/or turning up on NCIS: Los Angeles.

“There’s definitely room for both [Ziva's father and Trent Kort] to come back,” Brennan told TV Guide. In fact, you might spy one of them on the spin-off. Teases Shane, “Don’t be surprised if some of these characters end up on the West Coast.”