A disheveled young woman is on a busy street, disoriented and talking to herself. As she weaves her way through the crowds, she looks behind and around her, apparently trying to escape from someone. Suddenly she darts from the sidewalk, is hit by a bus, and lies dead in the street.
The Recap
Ducky’s on scene preliminary discovers Navy Lieutenant Clea Thorson’s arms and torso are covered with chemical symbols and formulas. Background investigations identify her as a brilliant chemical engineer recently fired from a bio tech company.
In autopsy, Abby photographs Clea’s body markings and recognizes an orderly pattern rather than chaos, leaving her puzzled and curious. She becomes emotionally determined to solve the mystery surrounding Clea’s death, which Ducky has ruled a slow poisoning.
Gibbs interviews Clea’s mother who tells him of her daughter’s life-long struggles with mental illness and delusions. Clea had been doing well with the help of medication until recently, she says, and asks Gibbs if he has children. Visibly saddened, he replies,”Did.” Mrs. Thorson looks to Gibbs for answers.
Ziva and Tony question Clea’s ex-boss, Martin Stillwell, who explains a project involving a green fuel research plan. He portrays Clea as increasingly troubled and far from a team player, but a genius none-the-less. April Ferris, another engineer and co-worker who befriended Clea, declines to discuss their relationship, but later drops off Clea’s locker contents.
Abby embarks on a personal journey, obsessed with Clea’s codes and her written references to Mr. K. She locates Clea’s college mentor, Professor Redner. He does not know who Mr. K is, but sees Abby’s anxiety and gives her a book Clea had given him, Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.
A video plays in the NCIS squad room showing Clea in a diner, talking wildly to… no one. Gibbs shows it to Abby, in an attempt to verify their conclusion that Clea was delusional and there is no Mr. K. Abby watches quietly and responds to Gibbs. “I was wrong…about you.”
Ducky tells Gibbs he has found evidence indicating Stillwell as a viable suspect. The team pulls Stillwell over but when the car door opens he falls to the ground, dead from poison.
Gibbs asks Clea’s mother to talk to Abby, who has become increasingly reclusive and determined to understand Clea. Abby reveals her promise to finish what Clea started. “At what cost, Miss Sciuto?” Mrs. Thorson asks. She explains that after 29 years even she did not know what went on in her daughter’s head. She tells Abby to put emotion aside and let her go. The answers are in the science.
Abby returns to her lab where McGee finds her puzzled by one drawing of Clea’s. Enter Gibbs, who off-handedly tells her it looks like a plant. Abby says “Noooo, not a plant…but grass!” and picks up the book Professor Redner had given her. A computer chip falls out.
The team discovers that Mr. K was not a delusion after all, but Rupert Kritzer, a competing bio-tech player who hired Clea without Stillwell’s knowledge. Clea had discovered a bacteria conversion worth a potential 2 billion dollars. Kritzer’s interview confirms, however, that he would have no motive to kill her.
The team now questions the unexplained changes in Clea’s previously controlled behavior over her last two weeks. They return to her apartment to find a canister attached to water pipes. It was discovered that the ethanol in the canister released a deadly formaldehyde by-product, which explained how the “poison” was absorbed through Clea’s skin each time she showered. A trace of the attempted patent solved the murder.
Remember April Ferris, Clea’s fellow engineer and friend? Ms. Ferris, now Stillwell’s replacement, was sick of people fawning over Clea, as if she were the “second coming”. April’s jealousy of Clea’s brilliance and accomplishments drove her to murder.
“Cracked” gives us a glimpse of the Abbs we rarely see. She seems to have found a kindred spirit in Clea, drawing her away from the team in search of her own validation as a scientist. Through the obvious “Beautiful Mind” overtones, we are reminded that under the parasol, dog collar, and tattoos is a seriously driven forensic scientist with her own brilliant mind.
“NCIS” airs Tuesdays 8 pm ET
http://www.tv.com/ncis/cracked/episode/1360138/summary.html?tag=prev_episode;summary/ (episode cast and crew)
