Enemy on the Hill

"Enemy on the Hill" is the fourth episode in the ninth season of the police procedural drama, NCIS, and the 190th episode overall. It originally aired on CBS in the United States on October 11, 2011. The episode is written by George Schenck and Frank Cardea, directed by Dennis Smith and registered 18.98 million viewers following airing.^[1]

Plot

An assassin who has evaded arrest over a lengthy period of time flees a news camera crew, but lapses into a coma when struck by a passing van, eventually dying from his injuries. Gibbs and his team subsequently discover the assassin was contracted to kill Geoffrey Brett, a Navy Lieutenant Commander. Sifting through Brett's finances, the NCIS team find millions of dollars that have been stolen from the Navy in an account established under the name "George Kaplan", who was allegedly responsible for the payment to kill Brett.

It is revealed that Kaplan's money manager, Drew Turner, is paying off her gambling debts by embezzling from Kaplan, and was also responsible for funding the assassin. When Brett hears Kaplan's name, known only to Drew, he eludes Ziva in order to find Kaplan's money manager, who is later found hanged in an apparent suicide. Ducky suspects the apparent suicide is murder as Tony, an aficionado of older movies, remembers that "George Kaplan" is a phony identity in the 1950s film, North by Northwest. In a final interrogation scene, Brett confesses to accumulating money for his daughter's medical care, and asks for a lawyer.

In a subplot, after being chosen to donate a kidney, Abby discovers that she and another donor are a DNA match, and that the other donor is her biological brother. This revelation leaves Abby stunned and so distracted by the thought of her parents giving a child up for adoption that she can't focus on the case, even forgetting to do the simple things like running evidence. After being told by the hospital that they can't release her brother's name, and failing to discover it on her own, Gibbs and McGee find out his name, Kyle Davis, and give his address to her. She meets him, but doesn't tell him who she is. After deciding that her parents were too loving to give a child up for adoption, but that they would adopt a child, she runs a strand of her own hair against a strand from a lock of her mother's hair that she keeps in locket around her neck and discovers that the two aren't a DNA match, confirming that Abby was indeed adopted, which leaves her distraught and turning to Gibbs for comfort as she begins to wonder why her birth parents gave her up.

Production

It was the seventh episode Schenck, Cardea, and Smith have worked on together. The writers had a discussion with Pauley Perrette, the actress who portrays Abby Sciuto, regarding the story about her adoption, being a donor, and her brother. "Once we decided it was going to lead to the fact Abby was adopted," Schenck and Cardea wrote, "we decided, along with Gary Glasberg, to call Pauley Perrette and discuss the story with her. When she commented that she was going to become "Little Orphan Abby" we loved it so much, we unabashedly "stole" the line and put it in the script. That night we got an email from Pauley who had thought about it and was totally on board. So much so that she suggested the casting of Daniel Louis Rivas for her brother".^[2]

The episode marks the return of Metro Police Detective Danny Sportelli whose debut appearance was in the Season 7 episode "The Inside Man".

Reception

"Enemy on the Hill" was seen by 18.98 million live viewers following its broadcast on October 11, 2011, with an 11.7/18 share among all households, and 4.0/11 share among adults aged 18 to 49.^[1][3] A rating point represents one percent of the total number of television sets in American households, a share means the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the program. In total viewers, "Enemy on the Hill" easily won NCIS and CBS the night, while the spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles drew third and was seen by 15.4 million viewers. Compared to last week's episode "The Penelope Papers", "Enemy on the Hill" was down a bit in both viewers and adults 18-49.^[4]

Steve Marsi from TV Fanatic gave the episode 5 (out of 5) and stated that "comparing NCIS episodes can be a difficult task, since almost all of them range from very good to excellent, but this one definitely falls into the latter category. "Enemy on the Hill" had it all. Most significantly, Abby made a discovery that rocked her world, but warmed our hearts".^[5]

References