Singled Out (NCIS)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Singled Out
Colour =
Series = NCIS
Season = 4
Episode = 3


Airdate = October 3, 2006
Production = 4x03
Writer = David J. North
Director = Terrence O'Hara
Guests = Avery Clyde as Lt. Anne Sullivan Misha Collins as Justin Farris
Episode list = Episode chronology
Prev = Escaped
Next = Faking It

"Singled Out" is the 73rd episode of the drama television series "NCIS".

Plot

The episode begins with two young women driving alongside an SUV and the driver flirting with one of them. When she is about to give him her number, they see a woman in his trunk, blood on her face, screaming for help. Back at NCIS Director Shepard offers Tony a position as leader of his own team. He is reluctant to accept and asks for time to think about it. Leaving the director's office, he gets a call which he redirects to Gibbs (because he is not team leader anymore). Gibbs takes the call and they leave for the SUV, which has been left on a parking lot. While Tony and Ziva are off to inspect the missing woman's apartment, Gibbs and McGee find traces that she has been dragged to another car. Meanwhile Tony and Ziva find the missing woman's flat searched and find out that she has been profiling targets. Back at NCIS the team identifies the missing woman as Lt. Anne Sullivan, a computer geek working for the Navy. They also identify the driver as Justin Farris, a notorious car thief. Abby finds two prints, one of the victim and one of the "bad guy" and the victim's PC. Meanwhile Farris turns himself in because he claims to be innocent. He says he stole the SUV but did not know of the woman in the back. He tells Gibbs that he was tailed by a silver Honda. Without a body to talk to, Ducky uses his newly acquired skills as a profiler to do a profile of the victim. Abby calls and tells Gibbs that the other print is not Ferris' and there was another man there. Meanwhile McGee and Abby are trying to crack the victim's data to find the reason for her profiles. Ducky suggests some passwords based on the victim's personal life, one of which proves to be correct. The team is amazed to find out that she used her military knowledge to find a husband. Abby also finds out that the victim was attending a "speed dating" event and probably met the kidnapper there. They figure that the kidnapper will show up again to avoid detection and Ziva is chosen to dress up like a geek to attract him. Unfortunately none of the fingerprints she takes match the one in the SUV but they find someone whose silver Honda has been stolen. The team finds out the address of a warehouse via a payphone which the possible kidnapper called. They discover that a heist on a coin convention is planned and that one of the thieves is among those who dated her as well as working for the hotel. He kidnapped her because she profiled him and he panicked. The team manages to thwart their scheme and is able to stop him from killing the Lieutenant at the last minute. The episode ends in the director's office where DiNozzo tells her that he does not want the promotion, which she has already figured out.

Cultural references

* Rosetta Stone:In referring to the missing profile Tony says that it could be "our Rosetta Stone". The Rosetta Stone was a tablet inscribed in two Egyptian languages and in Greek that was found in Egypt and help decypher previously incomprehensible hyroglyphics.

* Spanish Rose:Lt. Sullivan's password, Spanish Rose, is the lead female character in the musical Bye Bye Birdie.

* 4242 Adams Street:May be a reference to Douglas Adams and the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, 42.

* Episode Title: "Singled Out":The episode title is a reference to a popular MTV game show Singled Out that ran from 1995-1998; 50 men and 50 women competed for a date with the opposite sex. "Singled Out" is also a song performed by Diecast from 2001; and by Diesel from 1996.