Ex-File

Season 5, Episode 3, Aired

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Lt. Colonel Mann joins Gibbs in an investigation of the murder of a Marine Captain who had access to highly classified information. Things get very personal for Gibbs when one of the witnesses in the case turns out to be one of his ex-wives.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (27)

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  • deplorable constant sexual innuendo

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By chipee, Dec 01, 2011
    I'll probably get a lot of thumbs down with this review, but I can live with it. It was deplorable that every scene in the first half of the episode, and in most of the second half, was filled ENTIRELY with sexual innuendo between Gibbs and his current girlfriend, Colonel Mann. I got tired of the smirks, juvenile simpering and raised eyebrows, and the conversation of who was on top as they had to share the criminal investigation. Director Shepard, Gibb's old girlfriend, had to smirk and get jealous in EVERY scene she was in. Tony and Ziva were relatively civilized as they had to witness these antics. And then most of the Tim and Abby scenes reeked of simmering jealousy too as a security guy had to watch and flirt over Abby's handling of the evidence. Gibbs ex-wife was thrown in too. To keep the soap opera going, at the end of the episode Gibbs' ex-wife had to intrude on Gibbs and Mann, and then to end things Mann had to play Gibbs' tear jerker recording of his daughter as Gibbs sadly listened too. The writers and producers should be ashamed of themselves as they laid this on so heavily. Thank God most of the episodes are not like this. Let me add that I enjoy sexual content in stories, it's just that here it seemed so tiresome, juvenile, all involving and repetitious.

    Another thing that bothered me was the lengthy computer discussions that went too fast and over my head. I wish they could simplify the explanations. Idea: they could simply just say what the computer can do/show, and leave it at that without an explanation.moreless

  • An above-average episode.

    8.5
    "Great"
    By tvownsLEXIE, Sep 29, 2011
    This was a great episode for Gibbs fans, but it was also great for Abby fans.

    The guy in Abby's lab was extremely sketchy from the start, and I didn't like Abby's totally disregard for McGee's jealousy in the beginning of the episode. Thankfully, he got what was coming to him, and the threat McGee feared was destroyed. (Gibbs should have allowed Abby to hit him the first time she asked!) It was still great when she finally did hit him as McGee smiled and said, "Sweet."

    Still, I thought the ex-wife could have revealed more about Gibbs' character than she did, especially since she was taking screen time from Tony and Ziva, who didn't get much screen time in this episode. The tape at the end of the episode served as enough of a reveal though, so it wasn't as though all insight to his character was lost.moreless

  • An ex-wife is just what the doctor ordered!

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By amazing_race, Sep 29, 2011
    I absolutely salivated at the thought of having one of Gibbs' ex-wives appearing in this episode, and I really enjoyed seeing her and Colonel Mann in the same room together, but it didn't quite become as awkward as I expected it to be.

    It wasn't the most interesting case, however, but I did enjoy the opening scene to the episode, which was remarkably done, in my opinion.

    Abby and her assistant was an interesting concept, and seeing McGee very jealous was just terrific!

    I also, once again, loved the ending, when Colonel Mann listens to the tape. Very emotional!

    A terrific episode, but I felt it lacked that little something for me to give it a ten. However, I still highly recommend this one!moreless

  • Ex File

    7.5
    "Good"
    By thefanof, Sep 29, 2011
    A nice side storyline with Leroy Jethro Gibbs' ex wife, current girlfriend and work wife all being in the same place, at the same time on the same case. I am fine with things like this from time to time, it's refreshing to take a step away from the case at hand every now and again to get a few cheap laughs. But let's not forget this is a procedural, and tonight's episode ended with a twist that I doubt anyone saw coming. You should always expect the unexpected when watching NCIS, and without giving too much away, that is particularly true here.moreless

  • A great Gibbs episode !

    10
    "Perfect"
    By vicky24c, Aug 27, 2011
    This episode opens with a woman returning home with her friend and discovering her husband has been murdered. Abby buys everyone in the team an iPod player. The team are called into investigate the murder, and when they arrive at the army base, they learn that the person in charge of the crime scene is, the Coronal, who just happens to be Gibbs girlfriend. A man from the army office is sent in to keep an eye on Abby as she has to do work on the victim's laptop, who was working on top secret ops. We soon discover that the friend who was with the wife when she discovered her husband used to be married to Gibbs. The team learn that the victim was file-sharing "The Element Song" and the team think that it seems odd. The coronal goes to see Ducky and asks him about his relationship with his ex-wife. She learns about his first wife and Kelly. Ducky discovers that the Caption was crying when he died. The team's prime suspect is the Captions wife. When Tony & Ziva head back to the crime scene, it has already been realised and the wife is cleaning the evidence away. We learn that the wife was having an affair with one of her husband's colleagues. When they check CCTV footage from the night in question, they discover that her alibi checks out. She's clean, and innocent. The focus of the investigation turns to Gibbs's ex-wife Stefanie. When the team run prints they discover that it's the agent sent to keep an eye on Abby and what she did with the laptop. When they return to the lab, he wipes the laptop clean. He was the person who murdered the Caption. They discover a code on the laptop and McGee cracks it to be a code for a bank account which was cleaned out 2 hours after the Captions death. When Gibbs & the coronal return home from their date they are greeted by his ex-wife Stefanie who is in his boat in his basement. As he walks her out, the Coronal listens to one of his tapes, which is his daughter, Kelly playing the piano and saying that she loves him. We then see Gibbs sitting on the stairs listening.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (3)

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    • TRIVIA: A recurring theme is apparent in Bellisario-created programs, NCIS included. The tapes that Gibbs' wife and daughter sent to him while he was abroad serving in the Marine Corps, are similar to aspects of both JAG and Magnum P.I.. In these Bellisario-created programs the respective main characters Harmon Rabb and Thomas Magnum both received tapes from their fathers who were serving overseas and, like Gibbs, the main characters would listen to the tapes even after their loved ones had passed. The only difference in that NCIS' case is that it was Shannon and Kelly who sent tapes rather than Gibbs and this was simply done to reveal more about Gibbs' character.

    • GOOF: When Lt. Col. Mann is questioning Flynn and Flynn is shown through the glass we can hear Flynn saying "well that was then this is now" but her mouth is not moving.

    • TRIVIA: The Hebrew rap song Ziva listens to at the beginning of the episode is "Bela Belisima" by the Hadag Nachash. The song praises Bela Froind, an orthodox woman who stopped a public lynching of a terrorist on May 12th 1992. The Palestinian terrorist, Adnan Al-Afandi stabbed two Israeli teenagers in a market in Jerusalem, then the public attacked him. Froind laid on the body of the terrorist to prevent his murder until the police arrived.

  • QUOTES (38)

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    • Tony: Crash and burn - only a matter of time. Ziva: What? Tony: Not a what, a whom. Colonel Mann, Gibbs, Army-Navy joint operation. Ziva: It could last a lifetime. Tony: Behind the torture techniques and the contract killing Ziva, you're really just a... (hesitates) Ziva: A whom? Tony: What? Whom? Not a whom, it's a... more... it's a what. Ziva: A what then? Tony: What then... aah, what? What then? Ziva: I'm still just a what? Rinnert: A girl.

    • Gibbs: (referring to a picture of Maj Sweigart with a spear gun, the murder weapon) You look pretty handy with that spear gun. Col Mann: Well, picture's worth a thousand words to a jury. Gibbs: Yeah. Or just one: guilty.

    • Tony: (to Rinnert) My acting boss says you're not going anywhere!

    • Mann: We've shared a lot right? Gibbs: Yeah. Mann: Divorced three times. Gibbs: Yeah I told you that. Mann: Married four. You never told me about your first wife Shannon... or that you had a daughter, Kelly. Why Jethro? Gibbs: They're dead. End of story.

    • Mann: How long have we been together? Gibbs: (pauses) Weeks. Mann: Months! Gibbs: .. which means, many weeks!

    • Abby: I work like 16 hour days. Rinnert: Wow! That's like... two eight hour days stuck together!

    • Jenny: NCIS and Army CID will be working hand in hand; (looks at Gibbs and Mann) I mean, side by side... co-operatively.

    • Ducky: Only the dead know the true meaning of patience Timothy... no more places to go, people to see... except me of course!

    • Abby: I put this year's tax refund to good use. (holds up iPod) I got one for everyone on team Gibbs!

    • Jenny: You pick up that look from Gibbs? Stephanie: I picked up a lot of bad habits from Gibbs.

    • Jenny: Colonel, I was just re-assuring Gibbs'... your witness that Agent Gibbs could separate himself from the personal aspects of this investigation. Mann: Well, I'll monitor him, closely, Director. Jenny: I'm sure you will. (Gibbs gives them all a look.) Stephanie: Is that the look you were talking about? Jenny: Yeah, that's it. Mann: Hm...yeah, we've all seen that.

    • Abby: Now you're thinking what I'm thinking! Rinnert: Yeah, but I was enjoying thinking what I was thinking before you asked me what I was thinking. Abby: Would I have enjoyed what you were thinking? (Rinnert smiles.) Don't answer that.

    • Stephanie: Can we at least finish one conversation? Gibbs: You know, I'm starting to feel like I'm married again. Stephanie: Well that's funny; I don't feel like we were ever married.

    • Tony: Who do you think's prettier-- ex-wife #3 or future ex-wife #4? Ziva: Colonel Mann is at a disadvantage because of her uniform. Tony: Hmmm... Ziva: Tell me you're not trying to imagine her without her uniform, Tony.

    • Mann: We have a little issue. Jenny: We? Mann: You wanna tell her, Agent Gibbs? Gibbs: No, not particularly. Jenny: Is this issue going to involve lawyers? Mann: It already did. It's his ex-wife. She's a material witness. Jenny: And which ex would that be? Gibbs: Stephanie. Jenny: What number is she again? Second? Gibbs: Third. Jenny: Oh, right. You lived in Europe with her for a while. Frankfurt. Gibbs: Moscow. Jenny: Two years? Gibbs: One. Jenny: Well, it's hard to live in Moscow... with anyone.

    • Gibbs: Stephanie Broadman Flynn? Sweigart: Yeah. Mann: You know her? Gibbs: Uh-huh. I was married to her.

    • McGee: Close your eyes, open them and imagine him gone. Abby: (closes eyes, opens eyes, sees Rinnert) Didn't work. McGee: Try again. Abby: He's not there, he's not there. Still not working, McGee.

    • Mann: Tony, review the witnesses statements. Tony: Yes, Boss. Ma'am. (salutes) Colonel.

    • Mann: Dr. Mallard. You got anything? Ducky: You do realize I arrived about a minute ago. The dead speak to me, Colonel, but give the man time to catch his breath, so to speak.

    • Ducky: To whom do I report? Gibbs: Her. Mann: Me. Tony: Better get used to that. (Mann gives him a look.) Spearguns. Very cool. Thunderball. Very James Bond... Boss. Ma'am. Colonel.

    • McGee: Is she...? Ziva: Still on top? McGee: Seeing Gibbs? Tony: Same thing. But an excellent question nonetheless.

    • McGee: Dead marine. Ziva: Army base. Tony: Her rock smashes his scissors, which puts the Colonel on top.

    • Ducky: You know, a man's heart often tells us how he lived. Sometimes, it might even tell us how he died. But contrary to popular myth, it never tells us how he loved.

    • (After talking about Gibbs' ex-wife being a material witness) Jenny: Do you think he should divorce himself from this case, Col. Mann? Mann: No, no no... Jenny: Nor do I, I don't see a problem if you conduct the interview. Do you have a problem with Col. Mann interviewing your ex wife, agent Gibbs? Gibbs: Do I have a choice? Jenny and Mann (Together): No.

    • Tony: (to Ziva, after Gibbs and Mann disagree on bringing in a witness) This never turns out well for the kids.

    • (Abby hits Rinnert.) McGee: (Grins) Sweet.

    • Abby: Gibbs, can I hit him? Gibbs: No.

    • Abby: I'll be right back. Rinnert: (Checking out her ass) I hope so.

    • Rinnert: If I weren't so irrationally confident, I'd be afraid of you. Abby: Oh please.

    • Rinnert: Ever had one of these? McGee: I down six or seven of these bad boys a day. (Both start drinking their Caf-Pows down.)

    • Abby: Give it to me, baby, c'mon, don't make me beg! (McGee hears a groan)

    • (Rinnert is checking Abby out while she dances to the Elements song.) Abby: Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Rinnert: I hope so. Abby: Steganography. Rinnert: Not even close.

    • McGee: (trying to one-up Rinnert in front of Abby) You know, in sixth grade I made a complete periodic table out of licorice and Junior Mints. Rinnert: (unimpressed) Cool. Abby: (also very blasé about McGee's comment) Yeah, that's, uh, impressive, McGee. (McGee looks at Rinnert as if he's shown him up and leaves)

    • Mann: How long have you known Agent Gibbs--Major Sweigart? Stephanie Flynn: Eight months, longer with Gibbs.

    • Abby: It's the newest version, Gibbs. It's 160 GB. You could download like 40,000 songs. Gibbs: I only listen to 5, Abbs. Abby: 5,000? Gibbs: No! Five. Abby: Oh Gibbs, we really have to broaden your horizons.

    • Mann: They know we're still seeing each other? (Gibbs merely smirks.)

    • McGee: I'll tell you Colonel, the guys like Fred they're a dime a dozen at MIT. Charming, funny, successful, good-looking.. Mann: Women see right through that. McGee: Exactly!

    • Tony: Train wreck! I want to look away but I can't.

  • NOTES (3)

    ADD NOTES

    • Original International Air Dates: Denmark: November 13, 2007 on TV3 Germany: March 16, 2008 on SAT 1 The Netherlands: March 26, 2008 on Veronica Sweden: March 30, 2008 on TV3 Australia: April 8, 2008 on TEN United Kingdom: June 1, 2008 on FX UK Italy: September 21, 2008 on RAI2 Spain: October 17, 2008 on La Sexta The Middle East: October 29, 2008 on MBC Action Hungary: December 8, 2008 on TV2 Finland: April 14, 2009 on Nelonen Slovakia: July 16, 2009 on Markiza Czech Republic: January 18, 2010 on TV Nova

    • The Elements Song from this episode is performed by comedian-musician Tom Lehrer.

    • The song Kelly played on the piano is Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry.

  • ALLUSIONS (6)

    ADD ALLUSIONS

    • The title is a reference to the long running science fiction show, X-Files. Furthermore, Susanna Thompson (Lt. Col. Hollis Mann) was in the 1993 episode of the show, "Space," about the sabotage of NASA spacecraft by an alien entity.

    • Stephanie Flynn: We'll always have Moscow. This is an illusion to the famous line "We'll always have Paris" from the movie Casablanca.

    • Abby: ...Flesh-eating Foundation... Flesh-eating Foundation is an industrial goth band out of the UK that came together in the mid-90s. However, their debut album was just released in the summer of 2007.

    • Abby: Yes, because neither rain, nor sleet, nor any class of simple atomic substance will keep me from my appointed duties. Sir! Reference to the perceived motto of the U.S. Postal Service: Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds. However, the U.S.P.S. doesn't have a motto. The original saying was "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" and was said about 2500 years ago by the Greek historian, Herodotus. He said this adage during the war between the Greeks and Persians about 500 B.C. in reference to the Persian mounted postal couriers whom he observed and held in high esteem.

    • Tony: ...She's like that professional cleaner in Pulp Fiction... Pulp Fiction is a movie released in 1994 and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The movie had several plot lines that were interconnected in some way. This time though, Tony got his movie references wrong, because Pulp Fiction doesn't feature a professional cleaner. He is most likely thinking of Tarantinos later work Curdled.

    • Abby: ....Suicide Commando... Suicide Commando is a industrial goth music act that was created in 1986.

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