NCIS Season 18, Episode 14: How does Phineas return?

NCIS Season 18, Episode 14 saw the return of a familiar face. Fans may remember young Phineas, whose mother was Gibbs’s neighbor and a terrorist after Ziva. He makes his return in this episode when his uncle is out to find him. Plus, Jimmy also uses this episode to figure out what is going on with Nick and Ellie.

After Navy Captain Strauss Tubman is murdered, the team is on the lookout for his missing laptop. Since it contains nuclear codes for his work at the Pentagon, they are worried it could be what the killer was looking for. But as it turns out, it was a coincidence and the killer wanted access to the NCIS database.

When the team discovers the hired killer was looking for Phineas’s foster parents, they contact Gibbs to inform him. As it turns out, someone ran them off the road and Phineas is missing. But Phineas had run away at his foster mom’s urging and made his way to Gibbs’s home.

The team is busy looking for Phineas’s uncle, Hassan Sayegh, before he can locate the boy’s whereabouts. When they figure out where he is staying, they discover his son is severely ill and needs a bone marrow transplant from a living relative. This is why he wants Phineas, but he definitely isn’t going about things the right way.

NCIS Season 18, Episode 14 brings Phineas back in Gibbs’s life

Phineas spends the day with Gibbs, bonding with Lucy the dog and asking Gibbs questions about his life. He is awfully curious and even admits at one point that he felt as though he had been abandoned. Gibbs assures him he did nothing wrong and later admits that even though he chooses to live alone, he can get lonely. Perhaps this is foreshadowing Gibbs returning to work eventually?

Of course, Hassan does figure out where Gibbs lives and the latter has just enough time to hide Phineas before the intruders arrive. Before Hassan can say too much to Gibbs, Phineas knocks him out. He had overheard Hassan mention his son and once he finds out he is sick, Phineas decides to donate his marrow.

This is certainly an incredible decision for a young boy to make, especially considering what his uncle had tried to do. But he understands that his cousin is innocent in all of this. The bond between Gibbs and Phineas is fun to watch, even though there is the lingering knowledge of what Gibbs did before.

As for the side arc involving Nick and Ellie, it’s clear they know they need to have a discussion. But obviously, not because their co-workers are gossiping about them. Of course, because it is NCIS, they don’t make things easy by revealing the answer. We’ll just have to continue playing the guessing game with them.

Do you think Gibbs’s revelation about being lonely will play into his decision about work? Let us know in the comments below your thoughts on NCIS Season 18, Episode 14.

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