Programma Televisivo: NCIS - 22x5
...four, seventeen, nine, six.
Perfect.
Patient appears in good health.
Pleasant and alert.
So, this about par for the course?
I don't know if I'd describe my father as "pleasant."
I think it's against Navy regs.
Watch it, son.
Yes, sir.
Yeah.
This is...
this is normal.
And what about his memory?
Last time, you said he was starting to forget things.
Sometimes he has trouble recognizing people he knows.
And last week, he got lost driving home from the store.
I didn't get lost.
They were doing construction on Crescent.
Dad, you know Crescent's been closed for years now.
I'm fine.
Indication of potential early MCI.
Okay, Captain Butler.
Let's see how the body's holding up.
One more time, those numbers, what were they?
Dad?
Dad, what's-what's going on?
Dad?
Captain Butler, can you tell me where you are?
What language is that?
I don't know.
He only speaks English.
Dad!
Morning.
Yo.
What are you looking at?
Nothing.
You know they monitor our online activity, right?
And what are you trying to say?
Never mind.
None of my business.
Thank you.
Hey, Tim.
When you applied for that Deputy Director job, you had to sell yourself, right?
Yeah, I kind of had to, you know, talk myself up as part of the process.
Why, are you applying for a new job?
Not exactly.
This is much more embarrassing.
McGEE: You're on MateQuest?
It was Jimmy's idea.
He thought that I should turn my wingman account into a full-on dating profile.
But I think it's broken because...
I've had no matches.
Yeah, no wonder.
You got all pictures on your profile, no words.
You think this needs words?
It does if you don't want people to think you're a bot.
Torres need help clearing his browser history again?
Oh, my God, one time.
I was doing research.
Sure.
What's the excuse now?
Nick's on the Quest.
MateQuest?
McGEE: Mm-hmm.
Plasma, please.
Oh, come on.
We are at work.
Whose dog is that?
People love dogs.
Did you get those professionally taken?
No, I did...
Morning, everyone.
Morning.
Good to see you're putting yourself out there, Torres.
Hey, check it out.
I found this Scottish ex-pat who makes the best "scahns" this side of the Atlantic.
Oh, you mean "scones"?
The correct Scottish pronunciation is "scoons."
"Developing hostage situation at Liberty Naval Hospital."
And then he grabbed me.
Thank God the nurses were able to talk him down.
Must have been a little unnerving.
Well, memory patients can get pretty agitated.
Stuff like this happens more than you'd expect.
Can you have Dr.
Carr cover my 10:30?
Thank you.
Captain Butler, can you tell us what you were saying?
The doctor said it wasn't English.
But I don't speak any other languages.
Do I?
Dad, what the hell is going on?
Has that ever happened before?
What, the losing memories or taking hostages and speaking in tongues?
No, this is a first.
They said I attacked someone.
Is everyone okay?
You scared some people.
Luckily, nobody got hurt.
Good.
I'm not surprised he can't remember.
Dementia patients sometimes time-shift back into old memories.
Coming out of them can be like, uh, waking up from a dream.
What about speaking other languages?
Does that surprise you?
I've heard of cases where patients spontaneously develop a...
a foreign accent, but never a new language.
According to the translator on my phone, it's Finnish.
Bunch of numbers, but not the ones from the memory test.
I have no idea what they mean.
My best guess is that the cognitive test triggered something from his past.
Anything in our captain's service records that would tell us where he learned to speak Finnish?
Uh, checking now.
I'm not seeing any deployments to Finland.
What about the numbers?
Um...
Hmm.
That's odd.
Can I use that?
Oh, sure.
What was that?
I don't know, but I get the feeling that someone doesn't want us looking into Captain Butler.
That's got to be the first time in history a Google search knocked out power to an entire city block.
We got an explanation yet?
Kasie is still working on it.
Yeah, and whoever took out the power is still blocking Captain Butler's service record.
So, we don't know what makes this guy so important.
Torres and I are pulling everything that we can find on the captain from public sources.
Oh, okay.
I'm not sure that's what we're looking for.
Yes.
No, no, no.
I was...
Sorry, I was just, uh...
Okay.
Captain Thomas Butler.
He served in both Vietnam and Desert Storm.
He won a pair of bronze stars, and was advanced every time he was up for promotion.
This guy's a straight-out rock star.
He would have made admiral if he hadn't retired.
According to that, he spent a year in the SECNAV's office at the Pentagon.
That's what landed him back in D.C.
It would also give him access to classified information.
If he's now suffering from dementia...
He's a possible security risk.
He could be leaking sensitive intel.
You know, like maybe those numbers that shut down the hospital, whatever they mean.
Let's find out.
Maybe the captain is lucid enough to answer a few more questions.
Torres and I will head back to the hospital and ask him.
Okay, try it now.
Half of these ports are still burnt out from when Torres and Parker blew out the power.
There.
Did that make it work?
Ooh.
Those would make some pretty cool Christmas decorations.
If it didn't put off enough heat to melt the North Pole.
Hmm, very cool.
Kubernetes.
Kuber-what-ees?
Turns out your search at the hospital set off a digital trip wire that knocked their system offline.
That's what took out the power.
Well, a Kubernetes cluster is fault tolerant, so that wouldn't happen here.
Mmm.
I still don't know what that means.
It means that I'm gonna use these little babies to set off the trip wire again, and when the bad guys try to shut us down, the whole cluster will just bounce their evilness right back at 'em.
Nice.
You start it up yet, or...
Already working.
McGEE: You mind if I borrow these?
Later on, I want to download a bunch of dating profiles, do an analysis of the most popular matches.
Is that for Torres?
Well, I'm not at liberty to say.
Oh, I get it.
Took me a while to finally get the whole world of online dating, too.
Yeah.
Think he's used to something a little more analog, you know?
Hang on.
Something's happening.
Ooh.
Set off the trip wire, or...
Looks like it.
Okay, the cluster has the incoming attack.
Bouncing it back.
And kaboom.
Who did we hit?
You launched a cyberattack against the CIA.
Are you trying to start an interagency war?
Officer Conrad, my people were completely justified in their actions.
Your digital trip wire was obstructing an NCIS investigation.
We were looking for Captain Butler's service records.
You took out power to an entire military hospital.
It was an unintended side effect.
Intended or not, it's a crime.
You're not even supposed to be operating on U.S.
soil.
Know what?
How about we just drop it.
We'll let the attack on our servers go, you can drop your investigation into Butler.
Not gonna happen.
Butler's declining mental state has the potential to expose classified information.
NCIS will not close the case until we decide what kind of threat he poses to national security.
Come on, he's obviously important.
Not only do you set up some kind of cyber trap to stop anyone from digging into his background, but then you show up here, in person, telling us not to look at him?
Admit it.
He's one of your spies.
Well, that is not something I can discuss in an unsecure location.
Not a problem.
You were saying?
Um...
Yes, Thomas Butler was a intelligence operative.
See?
How hard was that?
But not for us.
During the Cold War, Butler was an asset of the Soviet Union.
He was a spy for the other side?
He was recruited by a Finnish trade attaché.
CIA caught on to the arrangement in the early 1970s.
Then how the hell was he assigned to the Pentagon in the '80s?
You have to understand the value of letting the Soviets believe they had a high-level mole.
We had our eyes on him the entire time.
Still do.
You're telling me that Butler still doesn't know that the CIA's onto him?
That's correct.
Once the USSR was gone, he was a man without a country.
He started living his American cover, retired from the Navy.
At that point, he was no longer an active risk, so we just kept him under surveillance.
Never know when a guy like that's gonna come in handy.
I think we're done here.
You can unlock the door.
You let a Russian spy enter the E-Ring at the Pentagon and then...
you let him retire?
Intelligence is a long game, Agent Parker.
You capture an enemy pawn, you don't advertise it.
You let 'em know as little as possible and manipulate the leak to control the flow of information.
CIA has this under control.
Captain Butler's not a threat.
Yeah, Knight.
Go ahead.
We've got a problem.
Butler's gone and the orderly who was assigned to his room is dead.
Dead?
As in...
Looks like Butler killed him, stole his keys and then escaped.
Well, Officer Conrad, seems like your pawn is still very much a threat.
Poor guy.
One minute, he's passing out pudding and changing bedpans, the next minute, he's here.
Are we sure Butler's the killer?
I mean, an old man in his seventies?
Well, if you believe the CIA, he's a Russian agent in his seventies.
Mm.
Question is, did he know what he was doing?
Oh, he knew what he was doing.
I mean, clean break of the hyoid here.
This kill was both precise and efficient.
I was thinking more about his state of mind.
Right.
Uh, Butler's medical file did indicate a neurodegenerative disease.
It's possible he wasn't in his right state of mind.
So, on one hand, Butler may be a sleeper agent who accidentally outed himself this morning and is on the run.
And on the other hand, he could be a scared and confused old man, with his dementia blurring the lines between past and present.
Unfortunately, this victim can't tell us one way or the other.
Well, in any case, Butler's dangerous.
We need to find him fast.
So, do we put out a BOLO or a Silver Alert?
If you had warned us that Butler was a foreign agent, we could've put him in isolation in the hospital.
Instead, we got a dead orderly and Butler's in the wind.
It's only because you spooked him.
My agents were doing their jobs.
You guys were the ones that made all the noise at the hospital when your booby trap knocked out the power.
We were simply monitoring the Web for any searches related to an old code Butler used to use.
If you already knew where Captain Butler was, why shut down the power?
Unless, uh, you didn't...
actually know that Butler was your spy.
Officer Conrad?
CIA has long been aware they had a deep-cover Russian spy in their midst.
Since the '70s.
But they didn't know his identity.
Until McGee's search.
It was the numbers that tipped you off, right?
Best we can tell now, Butler is that agent.
And you felt the need to lie to us because...?
We had to be absolutely sure it was him.
And you didn't want to admit that you had a foreign agent right under your nose and...
you missed it.
You know anybody who likes to admit their shortcomings?
Well, in this case, it sounds like your shortcomings are lethal.
Your CIA buddies have any idea where he's headed?
Likely trying to flee the country.
Look, if Butler gets away, we lose any chance we have to find out if his Russian spy network is still intact.
Then maybe we shouldn't be standing around.
Correct.
My father is a spy for the Russians?
How is that possible?
Apparently it happened before you were born.
So, first he spends my entire childhood on deployment.
And now you're telling me he's a traitor?
That's just...
that's just great.
Danny, we need to figure out where your father's headed.
Did he have any friends?
Anyone from his past who might have spoken another language?
What, like Finnish?
Don't you think I would have told you guys that?
I'm sorry.
It's just a lot to take in.
Seems like everything I knew about my father is a lie.
You don't have to apologize.
I've been there.
Is there a place that he would have gone?
Anybody that he trusts?
Maybe somebody from his Navy days.
You know, I really don't know about my dad's time in the Navy.
Did he keep anything that might help fill in the blanks?
Souvenirs?
Photos?
All the stuff is in boxes.
When Mom died, I moved in to take care of him.
So I put most of his stuff in the garage.
Do you mind if we take a look?
Sure.
Yeah.
Whatever.
Just don't tell me what you find.
Yeah.
This reminds me of my dad's office growing up.
Nothing but Navy stuff in there.
Not a single family photo.
It feels like, uh, Captain Butler was in a club with both of our dads.
At least our, uh, fathers worked for the good guys, huh?
I don't know, man.
Sometimes I wish my dad had been a criminal.
That way, I would just hate him and not feel like he chose another life over my sister and me.
Wow.
Oh, I'm trying this new, uh, sensitive guy thing for my online dating.
Or you could just be the sensitive guy that we all know that you are.
Oh, hey, what do I know?
I'm just the superstar who cracked a code the CIA didn't even know existed.
I found these fortunes and a copy of War and Peace in Captain Butler's boxes. "
A closed mouth gathers no feet."
Shouldn't these be called platitude cookies?
I mean, aren't fortunes supposed to tell the future?
That's because it's not about the fortunes.
It's about the lucky numbers.
They're a book code.
The numbers refer to a page in the book and then a word on the page.
Each fortune cookie is a coded message. "
Meet under east bridge."
"Weapon plans Tuesday."
That's how the Russians sent Butler his instructions.
Unfortunately, everything here is decades old.
And there's no indication that Captain Butler opened any of these boxes for years.
So nothing to, uh, tell us where he's headed.
What about the numbers at the hospital?
That another code or...
If they are, War and Peace isn't the cipher.
All I got was gibberish.
We need to find the right book.
Unless we find Butler first.
His ID was just used at the Navy Archives.
That's five minutes from here.
Wow.
For somebody on the run, he's not gone very far.
I'll keep you posted.
All right, thanks.
Butler's gone.
According to the guard, he swiped his access card at an unmanned gate and then used the machine room to get into the building.
He disabled the security inside and accessed a secure vault full of classified documents.
What'd he take?
Still trying to figure that out.
Well, I guess we can rule out "scared and confused."
He'd have to be at the top of his game to pull this off.
He's not running.
He's on a mission.
One more time for Mother Russia.
Butler timed the break-in to coincide with the guards' shift change?
He was in and out in 71 seconds.
How efficient.
Yeah.
How Soviet.
Yes.
Thank you.
I'll let you know.
That was Archive security.
Turns out Captain Butler stole a classified file called Project Laurel.
Oh.
Damn it.
Would you care to enlighten us?
Like you said, it's classified.
It's like pulling teeth with you.
Officer Conrad, your director assured me that we would have your complete cooperation.
Look, I'm not authorized to tell you what's in that file.
All I can say is that if it gets out, it will get people killed.
We need that file.
It's a matter of national security.
And if Butler gets in the way, he needs to be stopped.
Using any means necessary.
What are we, a CIA cleaning crew?
Yeah.
If they expect us to kill him, they could at least tell us what's in the file.
Look, we need to focus on things we can control.
Like finding Butler.
This guy's not so easy to follow.
We tried using traffic cams, but he doubled back several times and then disappeared into a crowd.
Butler does undercover by the book.
He used cash to pay for the Metro and then a pay phone instead of a cell to call a cab.
It's all stuff that we can't track.
He even sent the cab in the wrong direction just to throw us off.
It's vintage tradecraft, executed to a T.
Just goes to show, even with high-tech surveillance, old-school still works.
Maybe not.
McGee, you remember that case last year-- there were only eight pay phones left in D.C.?
That's right.
If that's how Butler's communicating, narrows down our search area considerably.
Actually, we're down to six pay phones, all within range of surveillance for traffic cams.
I pulled footage from the last two days, but it's a lot.
All right, you take the, uh, three in northwest.
I'll take the others.
Whoa.
What is it?
Why would someone do that to a public appliance?
Oh, yeah.
Nobody wants to see that.
Hey, wait, is that your guy?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's Butler.
Okay, that's right across from the ATM.
Wonder who he's calling.
Pull up phone records?
How charmingly 2010.
Uh, no need.
These cameras are all high-def.
Hey, pal.
Sorry I couldn't stick around for the party.
I-I had some stuff I had to get done for work.
How about we meet, get something special?
You're telling me he left that on my home phone?
Right after he stole files from the Navy Archives.
But maybe you already knew that.
Why would I?
Well, you tell us.
The CIA thinks the Russians have a spy network.
Your dad calls and leaves what sounds like a coded message.
Wait, wait.
You think I'm helping him?
We're open to other explanations.
Here's one.
Maybe he's trying to apologize.
'Cause that's the same damn message he left every time he missed one of my baseball games as a kid 'cause he was too busy working.
This is not a missed baseball game.
I know.
It's treason.
It's gonna take way more than ice cream to make up for.
Ice cream?
Yeah.
He said "something special."
He means dessert.
Maybe he wanted a double fudge sundae before he went back to Russia.
Danny, if your dad did want to meet, where would it be?
It was always the same ice cream shop in LeDroit Park.
It's a long shot.
But right now it's the only shot we got.
If Butler shows, we have people on every corner.
You really think a sleeper agent's gonna stick his neck out just to say goodbye to his son?
I don't know.
He's still a father, after all.
By the way, I made a few more edits to your MateQuest profile.
Yeah, I noticed.
The, uh, AI painting of me as a centaur-- nice touch.
Well, is it working?
'Cause it sounds like it's working.
Yeah, it's working.
Maybe too well.
Oh, this one is spicy.
Just your type.
Let me see.
McGEE: Okay, target spotted.
Butler approaching from the west.
What do you know?
Danny was right.
We got eyes on.
McGEE: Hold on.
Butler's up to something.
How do you want to handle this one?
I think we can take a 70-year-old.
Owie.
You know, you should really let Jimmy take a look at that.
Yeah, I think you should really mind your own business.
The guy just sucker punched me, man.
What am I supposed to do-- beat up a senior citizen?
Who were you signaling?
Why would you grab him before you confirmed he had the file on him?
How are we supposed to confirm the file if we don't grab him first?
You people are getting played by an old man.
One.
Seven.
Sixty-one.
11.
Fourteen.
Three.
Would it help if I said it in Finnish?
It's a code, right?
Is Laurel the cipher?
Laurel is my insurance.
Everyone wants me dead.
That file is the only thing keeping me alive.
Who is everyone?
Look, I'll talk.
But only to Sparrow.
You got to be kidding me.
Why?
Who's Sparrow?
Sparrow was the code name of a dirty CIA agent from back in the day.
Sounds like they worked together.
How do we find this...
Sparrow?
No idea.
But until you do, I'm not saying another word.
That's gonna be a problem.
You don't know where Sparrow is?
No, I do.
That's the problem.
Sparrow's been in the ground since the Carter administration.
There's no way Butler wouldn't know that.
Maybe he doesn't remember.
You know what, it's not just that.
Think about it.
The old-school spy tactics.
That weird phone call to his son.
What if that message wasn't meant for grown-up Danny?
What if it was meant for Danny as a kid?
Hold on.
You're saying that Butler thinks it's the '70S?
And the only guy he'll talk to has been dead for almost 40 years.
He really thinks it's 1979?
Are you sure Butler isn't playing you?
What he's experiencing is called time shifting.
It's not all that uncommon in dementia patients.
As their short-term memory fades, the brain uses their older, long-term memories to fill the void.
Russian spy or not, it's got to be scary to be in his shoes right now.
Scary for us, too, because we're not getting that file back unless Butler talks to his contact.
Brian Banaszak, code name Sparrow.
Confirmed K.I.A.
in West Berlin on January 6, 1980.
Wow.
He looks like you but with bushy sideburns.
Unless we bring Butler back to the future, we're never gonna get our hands on that file.
You have to be careful, though.
Butler's in a very fragile mental state right now.
If you fracture his artificial reality, he could forget everything that happened while he was in it.
I hear you, Jimmy, but we really don't have a choice.
Remember, stick to the facts.
You're trying to replace the old memories he's living in with something concrete from the present.
With my Aunt Nora, we use a ton of repetition.
And I'm just gently waking him from a dream.
Yeah.
Hopefully this helps.
So, how often do you have to do this with your aunt?
Uh, thankfully, not a lot.
I just hope Parker doesn't get punched in the face.
Aunt Nora tended to wake up swinging.
Still no Sparrow?
No.
But that's because Sparrow is dead, Captain Butler.
In fact, you went to his funeral over 40 years ago.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
And about ten years after that, the Soviet Union collapsed.
The government that you worked for is gone.
Any of this ring a bell?
No, but please continue.
It's very interesting.
You didn't notice many pay phones in D.C., did you?
Well, you can never find a pay phone when you need one.
That's because of this.
This is a mobile phone.
We all carry one.
Now, they didn't, uh...
they didn't have these in 1979, right?
Actually, the mobile phone was introduced in 1973.
Yeah, but, uh, could it do this?
Now, that is a pretty cool trick.
The propellerheads in tech make that up for you?
It's not a trick.
Look, I respect the attempt, but I have done Futureman a dozen times.
I know the bit.
Futureman?
Spies do this routine so often it has a name?
Yeah.
Sometimes I think I picked the wrong profession.
This one time, there was this poor ensign I had believing it was 1986.
We had flying cars, and the Red Sox had won the World Series.
It's not a bit, Captain Butler.
1979 is ancient history.
Since then, the Berlin Wall came down.
The U.S.
and Russia launched a space station...
together.
The Sox have won four World Series.
And the DoD has created something they call the Internet, which is rapidly destroying our society as we know it.
And yet, all you are showing me is pictures of some kid.
This kid is your son.
And that's how old he was when each of those things happened.
He's also the one that's been taking care of you the last ten years.
Come on.
That's his son.
This has got to work.
Captain Butler, do you recognize Danny?
What the hell happened?
Didn't work.
Butler thinks the pictures of Danny are some actor we hired.
He's not giving us the file.
The longer that file's out there, the more likely it falls into the wrong hands.
Yeah.
We should send Butler to Gitmo, let the professionals get him to tell us where it is.
We're not gonna torture an old man in his seventies.
McGEE: Though, apparently, we have no problem torturing me with the '70s.
You really think Butler's gonna buy me as Sparrow?
You read Butler's medical file.
He hasn't recognized anyone that he's known for years.
So, all you got to do is look close enough to the part.
You guys at NCIS are as wacky as they say you are.
If you've got a better idea besides Gitmo, I'm all ears.
We tried breaking through Butler's delusion.
It didn't work.
Now we just got to lean into it.
If he wants the '70s, we'll give him the '70s.
Sit still or this is gonna look absurd.
Barbara, don't you think we're a little late for that?
I get paid to be an accountant.
I only do makeup for community theater in my spare time, Agent McGee.
So you get what you get and you don't get upset.
And we appreciate it so much.
Thank you for coming down and helping us.
I owe you one.
No, you owe me two.
Specifically, two hours of spreadsheet validation up in Accounting.
That was our agreement.
You have a gift.
It should be put to work.
Y-Yes, ma'am.
And remember to mark this spirit gum as discounted.
I got it on sale.
It was 20 cents less than my usual, and it works just as well.
Coming through.
Oh.
Aah!
Oh, sorry.
Sorry.
It's friggin' amateur hour around here.
Hey, hey, at least we're having fun.
Okay, this is everything that I could find at the thrift store.
Don't forget to itemize when you submit your receipts.
What do you think?
Do I have a choice?
No.
No.
And, uh...
Torres?
Not in this lifetime.
All right, let's go over this again.
We tell Butler that we've arranged a meet with Sparrow in one hour.
McGee, I want you in place before he arrives.
You're gonna be waiting out in the open.
Feel like a sitting duck out here.
A duck with sideburns.
Knight, you're on the bridge, monitoring who's coming in and out.
You've got two fitness enthusiasts inbound.
Copy.
We have eyes on 'em.
Moving away from McGee.
All right, Torres will play spotter from the shaggin' wagon.
You see anything strange, Nick, let us know.
This entire thing is strange, starting with, uh, Disco McGee.
McGEE: Ah, you're a funny guy, Nick.
Here we go.
Butler's on site.
Okay, everybody, look alive.
Relax.
Have some faith.
I'm not really a faith guy.
Excuse me, do you have the time?
Don't.
Don't.
That's a test.
Tell him your watch broke.
I'm sorry.
Seems my watch has stopped.
Told me you were dead.
Wishful thinking, probably.
He bought it.
See what'd I tell you?
Have faith.
They're watching us.
And they may know about my Russian friends.
You sure?
How?
Must have a leak.
Tried to take me out at the hospital.
Clearly, you got away.
I did.
They killed one of the orderlies who was trying to protect me.
Butler didn't kill the orderly.
You think it could be the Russians trying to take him out now that he's a loose cannon?
Not good.
We're in a world of hurt if they're involved.
Stick to Laurel.
That's the priority.
Did you bring the package?
Am I an idiot?
Put it in the same drop as last time.
Any idea where that is?
No clue.
McGee, you're gonna have to get him to tell us where "last time" is.
Everything all right?
Yeah.
Just, um...
...open to ideas.
About what?
Try telling him the drop has been compromised.
Drop may have been compromised.
We need to retrieve the package ourselves.
Compromised?
By who?
He's getting fidgety, McGee.
Back off.
Start talking about your Pet Rock or something.
No, do not back off.
We need that file.
Can't go into detail.
Time is of the essence.
We need to get that file someplace safe.
No, no, no, no.
The whole thing is falling apart.
I told you gaslighting this guy wasn't gonna work.
No, no, no, no.
No, no.
Something's not right.
You're not Sparrow.
Captain.
Wait.
Captain, Captain, wait.
McGee!
Go!
Get Butler!
That's far enough.
You know, for an old man, you really are a pain in the ass.
I know you.
Yeah, I'm sure you do.
You killed that man at the hospital.
Yeah, well, he got in the way.
Tough break.
But now it's just you and me.
And nobody to save you this time.
I'm not telling you where those files are.
It's my insurance.
I don't care about the file.
You're the last one who knows how to read it.
Once you're dead, Laurel means nothing.
Looks like someone swapped your gun out.
When did you sw...
It wasn't him.
It was me.
When you bumped into me in the garage.
Still think it's amateur hour?
He said that?
Yeah, still the same condescending jerk you were almost 40 years ago.
You know what year it is.
Damn right I do.
I got the memo back at NCIS from Agent Parker.
Try and keep up.
You know what I love?
Only now does Mr.
Secret Agent Man realize he was the one being gaslit.
Oh, I wish I'd been there to see the look on Conrad's face.
But when did Captain Butler realize that it wasn't 1979?
In interrogation.
Kasie was right.
It just, uh, took a little repetition and he handed over Laurel and told his side of the story.
That Conrad was dirty.
Dirty as it gets.
It turns out that the Laurel file was a laundry list of CIA crimes.
Conrad's name was all over it.
And when Conrad learned that Captain Butler was having memory issues in the hospital, he got spooked, tried to take Butler out.
But he ended up killing that orderly instead.
Right in front of Butler.
But since no court was ever gonna take the testimony of a Russian spy, we, uh, had a little costume party to try to get Conrad to incriminate himself.
McGee's still wearing the outfit if, uh, you want to come down and see for yourself.
Oh, no, that's all right.
I had enough of the '70s the first time around.
But about Captain Butler being a Russian spy.
You might want to take a look at this.
Hey, go easy on your old man.
He's been through a lot.
Come on, man.
He lied to me.
About everything.
Look, anger...
is gonna hurt you more than it hurts him.
Trust me.
I know.
The man wasn't just an absentee father, okay?
He was also a traitor.
Actually...
he wasn't.
CIA was telling the truth when they said that your father was selling secrets to the Russians.
But they left out...
that he was working for us the entire time.
I don't understand.
Those secrets that your father passed to the Russians were disinformation, designed to send them on wild goose chases.
You're telling me my father was a double agent?
According to the awards in his classified file, he was a highly-decorated double agent.
They say what he did was instrumental in helping end the Cold War.
That's cool as hell.
I know that doesn't make up for the time that you missed.
Your father is a hero.
Thank you guys for one last op.
Made me feel young again, just like the good old days.
Although Sparrow never had sideburns like that.
Hey, so I figured out why Barbara's spirit gum, uh, was such a bargain.
Rebranded superglue.
These guys are not coming off.
Well, lean into it, because it looks good on you.
At ease.
Dad, I'm sorry.
I'm the one that needs to apologize for...
all the games I missed, just, uh, all the times I wasn't there for you.
I don't know what happened at that hospital.
Uh, one minute, I was there, and then I was...
I was lost, you know, in the past.
I couldn't get out.
And then they showed me pictures...
of you.
The one thing I had in the world I could hang on to.
You brought me back.
Want to go get some ice cream?
That'd be nice.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
I'll walk you guys out.
Yeah.
He's gonna look like Starsky and Hutch for days.
Look who's talking, boogie nights.
I am keeping this.
And by the way, I think that some of these clothes will look really great on your MateQuest profile.
Yeah, I deleted it.
Just felt fake.
Felt like I was being undercover in...
in my dating life.
So, I'll just...
I'll just meet people the old-fashioned way.
Like, going out in the world?
Hmm.
Well, you ever need a wingwoman, you just let me know.
'Cause I have the perfect outfit.
Ooh, not a chance.
You bring the crazy.
Captioning sponsored by and TOYOTA.
Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org
Perfect.
Patient appears in good health.
Pleasant and alert.
So, this about par for the course?
I don't know if I'd describe my father as "pleasant."
I think it's against Navy regs.
Watch it, son.
Yes, sir.
Yeah.
This is...
this is normal.
And what about his memory?
Last time, you said he was starting to forget things.
Sometimes he has trouble recognizing people he knows.
And last week, he got lost driving home from the store.
I didn't get lost.
They were doing construction on Crescent.
Dad, you know Crescent's been closed for years now.
I'm fine.
Indication of potential early MCI.
Okay, Captain Butler.
Let's see how the body's holding up.
One more time, those numbers, what were they?
Dad?
Dad, what's-what's going on?
Dad?
Captain Butler, can you tell me where you are?
What language is that?
I don't know.
He only speaks English.
Dad!
Morning.
Yo.
What are you looking at?
Nothing.
You know they monitor our online activity, right?
And what are you trying to say?
Never mind.
None of my business.
Thank you.
Hey, Tim.
When you applied for that Deputy Director job, you had to sell yourself, right?
Yeah, I kind of had to, you know, talk myself up as part of the process.
Why, are you applying for a new job?
Not exactly.
This is much more embarrassing.
McGEE: You're on MateQuest?
It was Jimmy's idea.
He thought that I should turn my wingman account into a full-on dating profile.
But I think it's broken because...
I've had no matches.
Yeah, no wonder.
You got all pictures on your profile, no words.
You think this needs words?
It does if you don't want people to think you're a bot.
Torres need help clearing his browser history again?
Oh, my God, one time.
I was doing research.
Sure.
What's the excuse now?
Nick's on the Quest.
MateQuest?
McGEE: Mm-hmm.
Plasma, please.
Oh, come on.
We are at work.
Whose dog is that?
People love dogs.
Did you get those professionally taken?
No, I did...
Morning, everyone.
Morning.
Good to see you're putting yourself out there, Torres.
Hey, check it out.
I found this Scottish ex-pat who makes the best "scahns" this side of the Atlantic.
Oh, you mean "scones"?
The correct Scottish pronunciation is "scoons."
"Developing hostage situation at Liberty Naval Hospital."
And then he grabbed me.
Thank God the nurses were able to talk him down.
Must have been a little unnerving.
Well, memory patients can get pretty agitated.
Stuff like this happens more than you'd expect.
Can you have Dr.
Carr cover my 10:30?
Thank you.
Captain Butler, can you tell us what you were saying?
The doctor said it wasn't English.
But I don't speak any other languages.
Do I?
Dad, what the hell is going on?
Has that ever happened before?
What, the losing memories or taking hostages and speaking in tongues?
No, this is a first.
They said I attacked someone.
Is everyone okay?
You scared some people.
Luckily, nobody got hurt.
Good.
I'm not surprised he can't remember.
Dementia patients sometimes time-shift back into old memories.
Coming out of them can be like, uh, waking up from a dream.
What about speaking other languages?
Does that surprise you?
I've heard of cases where patients spontaneously develop a...
a foreign accent, but never a new language.
According to the translator on my phone, it's Finnish.
Bunch of numbers, but not the ones from the memory test.
I have no idea what they mean.
My best guess is that the cognitive test triggered something from his past.
Anything in our captain's service records that would tell us where he learned to speak Finnish?
Uh, checking now.
I'm not seeing any deployments to Finland.
What about the numbers?
Um...
Hmm.
That's odd.
Can I use that?
Oh, sure.
What was that?
I don't know, but I get the feeling that someone doesn't want us looking into Captain Butler.
That's got to be the first time in history a Google search knocked out power to an entire city block.
We got an explanation yet?
Kasie is still working on it.
Yeah, and whoever took out the power is still blocking Captain Butler's service record.
So, we don't know what makes this guy so important.
Torres and I are pulling everything that we can find on the captain from public sources.
Oh, okay.
I'm not sure that's what we're looking for.
Yes.
No, no, no.
I was...
Sorry, I was just, uh...
Okay.
Captain Thomas Butler.
He served in both Vietnam and Desert Storm.
He won a pair of bronze stars, and was advanced every time he was up for promotion.
This guy's a straight-out rock star.
He would have made admiral if he hadn't retired.
According to that, he spent a year in the SECNAV's office at the Pentagon.
That's what landed him back in D.C.
It would also give him access to classified information.
If he's now suffering from dementia...
He's a possible security risk.
He could be leaking sensitive intel.
You know, like maybe those numbers that shut down the hospital, whatever they mean.
Let's find out.
Maybe the captain is lucid enough to answer a few more questions.
Torres and I will head back to the hospital and ask him.
Okay, try it now.
Half of these ports are still burnt out from when Torres and Parker blew out the power.
There.
Did that make it work?
Ooh.
Those would make some pretty cool Christmas decorations.
If it didn't put off enough heat to melt the North Pole.
Hmm, very cool.
Kubernetes.
Kuber-what-ees?
Turns out your search at the hospital set off a digital trip wire that knocked their system offline.
That's what took out the power.
Well, a Kubernetes cluster is fault tolerant, so that wouldn't happen here.
Mmm.
I still don't know what that means.
It means that I'm gonna use these little babies to set off the trip wire again, and when the bad guys try to shut us down, the whole cluster will just bounce their evilness right back at 'em.
Nice.
You start it up yet, or...
Already working.
McGEE: You mind if I borrow these?
Later on, I want to download a bunch of dating profiles, do an analysis of the most popular matches.
Is that for Torres?
Well, I'm not at liberty to say.
Oh, I get it.
Took me a while to finally get the whole world of online dating, too.
Yeah.
Think he's used to something a little more analog, you know?
Hang on.
Something's happening.
Ooh.
Set off the trip wire, or...
Looks like it.
Okay, the cluster has the incoming attack.
Bouncing it back.
And kaboom.
Who did we hit?
You launched a cyberattack against the CIA.
Are you trying to start an interagency war?
Officer Conrad, my people were completely justified in their actions.
Your digital trip wire was obstructing an NCIS investigation.
We were looking for Captain Butler's service records.
You took out power to an entire military hospital.
It was an unintended side effect.
Intended or not, it's a crime.
You're not even supposed to be operating on U.S.
soil.
Know what?
How about we just drop it.
We'll let the attack on our servers go, you can drop your investigation into Butler.
Not gonna happen.
Butler's declining mental state has the potential to expose classified information.
NCIS will not close the case until we decide what kind of threat he poses to national security.
Come on, he's obviously important.
Not only do you set up some kind of cyber trap to stop anyone from digging into his background, but then you show up here, in person, telling us not to look at him?
Admit it.
He's one of your spies.
Well, that is not something I can discuss in an unsecure location.
Not a problem.
You were saying?
Um...
Yes, Thomas Butler was a intelligence operative.
See?
How hard was that?
But not for us.
During the Cold War, Butler was an asset of the Soviet Union.
He was a spy for the other side?
He was recruited by a Finnish trade attaché.
CIA caught on to the arrangement in the early 1970s.
Then how the hell was he assigned to the Pentagon in the '80s?
You have to understand the value of letting the Soviets believe they had a high-level mole.
We had our eyes on him the entire time.
Still do.
You're telling me that Butler still doesn't know that the CIA's onto him?
That's correct.
Once the USSR was gone, he was a man without a country.
He started living his American cover, retired from the Navy.
At that point, he was no longer an active risk, so we just kept him under surveillance.
Never know when a guy like that's gonna come in handy.
I think we're done here.
You can unlock the door.
You let a Russian spy enter the E-Ring at the Pentagon and then...
you let him retire?
Intelligence is a long game, Agent Parker.
You capture an enemy pawn, you don't advertise it.
You let 'em know as little as possible and manipulate the leak to control the flow of information.
CIA has this under control.
Captain Butler's not a threat.
Yeah, Knight.
Go ahead.
We've got a problem.
Butler's gone and the orderly who was assigned to his room is dead.
Dead?
As in...
Looks like Butler killed him, stole his keys and then escaped.
Well, Officer Conrad, seems like your pawn is still very much a threat.
Poor guy.
One minute, he's passing out pudding and changing bedpans, the next minute, he's here.
Are we sure Butler's the killer?
I mean, an old man in his seventies?
Well, if you believe the CIA, he's a Russian agent in his seventies.
Mm.
Question is, did he know what he was doing?
Oh, he knew what he was doing.
I mean, clean break of the hyoid here.
This kill was both precise and efficient.
I was thinking more about his state of mind.
Right.
Uh, Butler's medical file did indicate a neurodegenerative disease.
It's possible he wasn't in his right state of mind.
So, on one hand, Butler may be a sleeper agent who accidentally outed himself this morning and is on the run.
And on the other hand, he could be a scared and confused old man, with his dementia blurring the lines between past and present.
Unfortunately, this victim can't tell us one way or the other.
Well, in any case, Butler's dangerous.
We need to find him fast.
So, do we put out a BOLO or a Silver Alert?
If you had warned us that Butler was a foreign agent, we could've put him in isolation in the hospital.
Instead, we got a dead orderly and Butler's in the wind.
It's only because you spooked him.
My agents were doing their jobs.
You guys were the ones that made all the noise at the hospital when your booby trap knocked out the power.
We were simply monitoring the Web for any searches related to an old code Butler used to use.
If you already knew where Captain Butler was, why shut down the power?
Unless, uh, you didn't...
actually know that Butler was your spy.
Officer Conrad?
CIA has long been aware they had a deep-cover Russian spy in their midst.
Since the '70s.
But they didn't know his identity.
Until McGee's search.
It was the numbers that tipped you off, right?
Best we can tell now, Butler is that agent.
And you felt the need to lie to us because...?
We had to be absolutely sure it was him.
And you didn't want to admit that you had a foreign agent right under your nose and...
you missed it.
You know anybody who likes to admit their shortcomings?
Well, in this case, it sounds like your shortcomings are lethal.
Your CIA buddies have any idea where he's headed?
Likely trying to flee the country.
Look, if Butler gets away, we lose any chance we have to find out if his Russian spy network is still intact.
Then maybe we shouldn't be standing around.
Correct.
My father is a spy for the Russians?
How is that possible?
Apparently it happened before you were born.
So, first he spends my entire childhood on deployment.
And now you're telling me he's a traitor?
That's just...
that's just great.
Danny, we need to figure out where your father's headed.
Did he have any friends?
Anyone from his past who might have spoken another language?
What, like Finnish?
Don't you think I would have told you guys that?
I'm sorry.
It's just a lot to take in.
Seems like everything I knew about my father is a lie.
You don't have to apologize.
I've been there.
Is there a place that he would have gone?
Anybody that he trusts?
Maybe somebody from his Navy days.
You know, I really don't know about my dad's time in the Navy.
Did he keep anything that might help fill in the blanks?
Souvenirs?
Photos?
All the stuff is in boxes.
When Mom died, I moved in to take care of him.
So I put most of his stuff in the garage.
Do you mind if we take a look?
Sure.
Yeah.
Whatever.
Just don't tell me what you find.
Yeah.
This reminds me of my dad's office growing up.
Nothing but Navy stuff in there.
Not a single family photo.
It feels like, uh, Captain Butler was in a club with both of our dads.
At least our, uh, fathers worked for the good guys, huh?
I don't know, man.
Sometimes I wish my dad had been a criminal.
That way, I would just hate him and not feel like he chose another life over my sister and me.
Wow.
Oh, I'm trying this new, uh, sensitive guy thing for my online dating.
Or you could just be the sensitive guy that we all know that you are.
Oh, hey, what do I know?
I'm just the superstar who cracked a code the CIA didn't even know existed.
I found these fortunes and a copy of War and Peace in Captain Butler's boxes. "
A closed mouth gathers no feet."
Shouldn't these be called platitude cookies?
I mean, aren't fortunes supposed to tell the future?
That's because it's not about the fortunes.
It's about the lucky numbers.
They're a book code.
The numbers refer to a page in the book and then a word on the page.
Each fortune cookie is a coded message. "
Meet under east bridge."
"Weapon plans Tuesday."
That's how the Russians sent Butler his instructions.
Unfortunately, everything here is decades old.
And there's no indication that Captain Butler opened any of these boxes for years.
So nothing to, uh, tell us where he's headed.
What about the numbers at the hospital?
That another code or...
If they are, War and Peace isn't the cipher.
All I got was gibberish.
We need to find the right book.
Unless we find Butler first.
His ID was just used at the Navy Archives.
That's five minutes from here.
Wow.
For somebody on the run, he's not gone very far.
I'll keep you posted.
All right, thanks.
Butler's gone.
According to the guard, he swiped his access card at an unmanned gate and then used the machine room to get into the building.
He disabled the security inside and accessed a secure vault full of classified documents.
What'd he take?
Still trying to figure that out.
Well, I guess we can rule out "scared and confused."
He'd have to be at the top of his game to pull this off.
He's not running.
He's on a mission.
One more time for Mother Russia.
Butler timed the break-in to coincide with the guards' shift change?
He was in and out in 71 seconds.
How efficient.
Yeah.
How Soviet.
Yes.
Thank you.
I'll let you know.
That was Archive security.
Turns out Captain Butler stole a classified file called Project Laurel.
Oh.
Damn it.
Would you care to enlighten us?
Like you said, it's classified.
It's like pulling teeth with you.
Officer Conrad, your director assured me that we would have your complete cooperation.
Look, I'm not authorized to tell you what's in that file.
All I can say is that if it gets out, it will get people killed.
We need that file.
It's a matter of national security.
And if Butler gets in the way, he needs to be stopped.
Using any means necessary.
What are we, a CIA cleaning crew?
Yeah.
If they expect us to kill him, they could at least tell us what's in the file.
Look, we need to focus on things we can control.
Like finding Butler.
This guy's not so easy to follow.
We tried using traffic cams, but he doubled back several times and then disappeared into a crowd.
Butler does undercover by the book.
He used cash to pay for the Metro and then a pay phone instead of a cell to call a cab.
It's all stuff that we can't track.
He even sent the cab in the wrong direction just to throw us off.
It's vintage tradecraft, executed to a T.
Just goes to show, even with high-tech surveillance, old-school still works.
Maybe not.
McGee, you remember that case last year-- there were only eight pay phones left in D.C.?
That's right.
If that's how Butler's communicating, narrows down our search area considerably.
Actually, we're down to six pay phones, all within range of surveillance for traffic cams.
I pulled footage from the last two days, but it's a lot.
All right, you take the, uh, three in northwest.
I'll take the others.
Whoa.
What is it?
Why would someone do that to a public appliance?
Oh, yeah.
Nobody wants to see that.
Hey, wait, is that your guy?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's Butler.
Okay, that's right across from the ATM.
Wonder who he's calling.
Pull up phone records?
How charmingly 2010.
Uh, no need.
These cameras are all high-def.
Hey, pal.
Sorry I couldn't stick around for the party.
I-I had some stuff I had to get done for work.
How about we meet, get something special?
You're telling me he left that on my home phone?
Right after he stole files from the Navy Archives.
But maybe you already knew that.
Why would I?
Well, you tell us.
The CIA thinks the Russians have a spy network.
Your dad calls and leaves what sounds like a coded message.
Wait, wait.
You think I'm helping him?
We're open to other explanations.
Here's one.
Maybe he's trying to apologize.
'Cause that's the same damn message he left every time he missed one of my baseball games as a kid 'cause he was too busy working.
This is not a missed baseball game.
I know.
It's treason.
It's gonna take way more than ice cream to make up for.
Ice cream?
Yeah.
He said "something special."
He means dessert.
Maybe he wanted a double fudge sundae before he went back to Russia.
Danny, if your dad did want to meet, where would it be?
It was always the same ice cream shop in LeDroit Park.
It's a long shot.
But right now it's the only shot we got.
If Butler shows, we have people on every corner.
You really think a sleeper agent's gonna stick his neck out just to say goodbye to his son?
I don't know.
He's still a father, after all.
By the way, I made a few more edits to your MateQuest profile.
Yeah, I noticed.
The, uh, AI painting of me as a centaur-- nice touch.
Well, is it working?
'Cause it sounds like it's working.
Yeah, it's working.
Maybe too well.
Oh, this one is spicy.
Just your type.
Let me see.
McGEE: Okay, target spotted.
Butler approaching from the west.
What do you know?
Danny was right.
We got eyes on.
McGEE: Hold on.
Butler's up to something.
How do you want to handle this one?
I think we can take a 70-year-old.
Owie.
You know, you should really let Jimmy take a look at that.
Yeah, I think you should really mind your own business.
The guy just sucker punched me, man.
What am I supposed to do-- beat up a senior citizen?
Who were you signaling?
Why would you grab him before you confirmed he had the file on him?
How are we supposed to confirm the file if we don't grab him first?
You people are getting played by an old man.
One.
Seven.
Sixty-one.
11.
Fourteen.
Three.
Would it help if I said it in Finnish?
It's a code, right?
Is Laurel the cipher?
Laurel is my insurance.
Everyone wants me dead.
That file is the only thing keeping me alive.
Who is everyone?
Look, I'll talk.
But only to Sparrow.
You got to be kidding me.
Why?
Who's Sparrow?
Sparrow was the code name of a dirty CIA agent from back in the day.
Sounds like they worked together.
How do we find this...
Sparrow?
No idea.
But until you do, I'm not saying another word.
That's gonna be a problem.
You don't know where Sparrow is?
No, I do.
That's the problem.
Sparrow's been in the ground since the Carter administration.
There's no way Butler wouldn't know that.
Maybe he doesn't remember.
You know what, it's not just that.
Think about it.
The old-school spy tactics.
That weird phone call to his son.
What if that message wasn't meant for grown-up Danny?
What if it was meant for Danny as a kid?
Hold on.
You're saying that Butler thinks it's the '70S?
And the only guy he'll talk to has been dead for almost 40 years.
He really thinks it's 1979?
Are you sure Butler isn't playing you?
What he's experiencing is called time shifting.
It's not all that uncommon in dementia patients.
As their short-term memory fades, the brain uses their older, long-term memories to fill the void.
Russian spy or not, it's got to be scary to be in his shoes right now.
Scary for us, too, because we're not getting that file back unless Butler talks to his contact.
Brian Banaszak, code name Sparrow.
Confirmed K.I.A.
in West Berlin on January 6, 1980.
Wow.
He looks like you but with bushy sideburns.
Unless we bring Butler back to the future, we're never gonna get our hands on that file.
You have to be careful, though.
Butler's in a very fragile mental state right now.
If you fracture his artificial reality, he could forget everything that happened while he was in it.
I hear you, Jimmy, but we really don't have a choice.
Remember, stick to the facts.
You're trying to replace the old memories he's living in with something concrete from the present.
With my Aunt Nora, we use a ton of repetition.
And I'm just gently waking him from a dream.
Yeah.
Hopefully this helps.
So, how often do you have to do this with your aunt?
Uh, thankfully, not a lot.
I just hope Parker doesn't get punched in the face.
Aunt Nora tended to wake up swinging.
Still no Sparrow?
No.
But that's because Sparrow is dead, Captain Butler.
In fact, you went to his funeral over 40 years ago.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
And about ten years after that, the Soviet Union collapsed.
The government that you worked for is gone.
Any of this ring a bell?
No, but please continue.
It's very interesting.
You didn't notice many pay phones in D.C., did you?
Well, you can never find a pay phone when you need one.
That's because of this.
This is a mobile phone.
We all carry one.
Now, they didn't, uh...
they didn't have these in 1979, right?
Actually, the mobile phone was introduced in 1973.
Yeah, but, uh, could it do this?
Now, that is a pretty cool trick.
The propellerheads in tech make that up for you?
It's not a trick.
Look, I respect the attempt, but I have done Futureman a dozen times.
I know the bit.
Futureman?
Spies do this routine so often it has a name?
Yeah.
Sometimes I think I picked the wrong profession.
This one time, there was this poor ensign I had believing it was 1986.
We had flying cars, and the Red Sox had won the World Series.
It's not a bit, Captain Butler.
1979 is ancient history.
Since then, the Berlin Wall came down.
The U.S.
and Russia launched a space station...
together.
The Sox have won four World Series.
And the DoD has created something they call the Internet, which is rapidly destroying our society as we know it.
And yet, all you are showing me is pictures of some kid.
This kid is your son.
And that's how old he was when each of those things happened.
He's also the one that's been taking care of you the last ten years.
Come on.
That's his son.
This has got to work.
Captain Butler, do you recognize Danny?
What the hell happened?
Didn't work.
Butler thinks the pictures of Danny are some actor we hired.
He's not giving us the file.
The longer that file's out there, the more likely it falls into the wrong hands.
Yeah.
We should send Butler to Gitmo, let the professionals get him to tell us where it is.
We're not gonna torture an old man in his seventies.
McGEE: Though, apparently, we have no problem torturing me with the '70s.
You really think Butler's gonna buy me as Sparrow?
You read Butler's medical file.
He hasn't recognized anyone that he's known for years.
So, all you got to do is look close enough to the part.
You guys at NCIS are as wacky as they say you are.
If you've got a better idea besides Gitmo, I'm all ears.
We tried breaking through Butler's delusion.
It didn't work.
Now we just got to lean into it.
If he wants the '70s, we'll give him the '70s.
Sit still or this is gonna look absurd.
Barbara, don't you think we're a little late for that?
I get paid to be an accountant.
I only do makeup for community theater in my spare time, Agent McGee.
So you get what you get and you don't get upset.
And we appreciate it so much.
Thank you for coming down and helping us.
I owe you one.
No, you owe me two.
Specifically, two hours of spreadsheet validation up in Accounting.
That was our agreement.
You have a gift.
It should be put to work.
Y-Yes, ma'am.
And remember to mark this spirit gum as discounted.
I got it on sale.
It was 20 cents less than my usual, and it works just as well.
Coming through.
Oh.
Aah!
Oh, sorry.
Sorry.
It's friggin' amateur hour around here.
Hey, hey, at least we're having fun.
Okay, this is everything that I could find at the thrift store.
Don't forget to itemize when you submit your receipts.
What do you think?
Do I have a choice?
No.
No.
And, uh...
Torres?
Not in this lifetime.
All right, let's go over this again.
We tell Butler that we've arranged a meet with Sparrow in one hour.
McGee, I want you in place before he arrives.
You're gonna be waiting out in the open.
Feel like a sitting duck out here.
A duck with sideburns.
Knight, you're on the bridge, monitoring who's coming in and out.
You've got two fitness enthusiasts inbound.
Copy.
We have eyes on 'em.
Moving away from McGee.
All right, Torres will play spotter from the shaggin' wagon.
You see anything strange, Nick, let us know.
This entire thing is strange, starting with, uh, Disco McGee.
McGEE: Ah, you're a funny guy, Nick.
Here we go.
Butler's on site.
Okay, everybody, look alive.
Relax.
Have some faith.
I'm not really a faith guy.
Excuse me, do you have the time?
Don't.
Don't.
That's a test.
Tell him your watch broke.
I'm sorry.
Seems my watch has stopped.
Told me you were dead.
Wishful thinking, probably.
He bought it.
See what'd I tell you?
Have faith.
They're watching us.
And they may know about my Russian friends.
You sure?
How?
Must have a leak.
Tried to take me out at the hospital.
Clearly, you got away.
I did.
They killed one of the orderlies who was trying to protect me.
Butler didn't kill the orderly.
You think it could be the Russians trying to take him out now that he's a loose cannon?
Not good.
We're in a world of hurt if they're involved.
Stick to Laurel.
That's the priority.
Did you bring the package?
Am I an idiot?
Put it in the same drop as last time.
Any idea where that is?
No clue.
McGee, you're gonna have to get him to tell us where "last time" is.
Everything all right?
Yeah.
Just, um...
...open to ideas.
About what?
Try telling him the drop has been compromised.
Drop may have been compromised.
We need to retrieve the package ourselves.
Compromised?
By who?
He's getting fidgety, McGee.
Back off.
Start talking about your Pet Rock or something.
No, do not back off.
We need that file.
Can't go into detail.
Time is of the essence.
We need to get that file someplace safe.
No, no, no, no.
The whole thing is falling apart.
I told you gaslighting this guy wasn't gonna work.
No, no, no, no.
No, no.
Something's not right.
You're not Sparrow.
Captain.
Wait.
Captain, Captain, wait.
McGee!
Go!
Get Butler!
That's far enough.
You know, for an old man, you really are a pain in the ass.
I know you.
Yeah, I'm sure you do.
You killed that man at the hospital.
Yeah, well, he got in the way.
Tough break.
But now it's just you and me.
And nobody to save you this time.
I'm not telling you where those files are.
It's my insurance.
I don't care about the file.
You're the last one who knows how to read it.
Once you're dead, Laurel means nothing.
Looks like someone swapped your gun out.
When did you sw...
It wasn't him.
It was me.
When you bumped into me in the garage.
Still think it's amateur hour?
He said that?
Yeah, still the same condescending jerk you were almost 40 years ago.
You know what year it is.
Damn right I do.
I got the memo back at NCIS from Agent Parker.
Try and keep up.
You know what I love?
Only now does Mr.
Secret Agent Man realize he was the one being gaslit.
Oh, I wish I'd been there to see the look on Conrad's face.
But when did Captain Butler realize that it wasn't 1979?
In interrogation.
Kasie was right.
It just, uh, took a little repetition and he handed over Laurel and told his side of the story.
That Conrad was dirty.
Dirty as it gets.
It turns out that the Laurel file was a laundry list of CIA crimes.
Conrad's name was all over it.
And when Conrad learned that Captain Butler was having memory issues in the hospital, he got spooked, tried to take Butler out.
But he ended up killing that orderly instead.
Right in front of Butler.
But since no court was ever gonna take the testimony of a Russian spy, we, uh, had a little costume party to try to get Conrad to incriminate himself.
McGee's still wearing the outfit if, uh, you want to come down and see for yourself.
Oh, no, that's all right.
I had enough of the '70s the first time around.
But about Captain Butler being a Russian spy.
You might want to take a look at this.
Hey, go easy on your old man.
He's been through a lot.
Come on, man.
He lied to me.
About everything.
Look, anger...
is gonna hurt you more than it hurts him.
Trust me.
I know.
The man wasn't just an absentee father, okay?
He was also a traitor.
Actually...
he wasn't.
CIA was telling the truth when they said that your father was selling secrets to the Russians.
But they left out...
that he was working for us the entire time.
I don't understand.
Those secrets that your father passed to the Russians were disinformation, designed to send them on wild goose chases.
You're telling me my father was a double agent?
According to the awards in his classified file, he was a highly-decorated double agent.
They say what he did was instrumental in helping end the Cold War.
That's cool as hell.
I know that doesn't make up for the time that you missed.
Your father is a hero.
Thank you guys for one last op.
Made me feel young again, just like the good old days.
Although Sparrow never had sideburns like that.
Hey, so I figured out why Barbara's spirit gum, uh, was such a bargain.
Rebranded superglue.
These guys are not coming off.
Well, lean into it, because it looks good on you.
At ease.
Dad, I'm sorry.
I'm the one that needs to apologize for...
all the games I missed, just, uh, all the times I wasn't there for you.
I don't know what happened at that hospital.
Uh, one minute, I was there, and then I was...
I was lost, you know, in the past.
I couldn't get out.
And then they showed me pictures...
of you.
The one thing I had in the world I could hang on to.
You brought me back.
Want to go get some ice cream?
That'd be nice.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
I'll walk you guys out.
Yeah.
He's gonna look like Starsky and Hutch for days.
Look who's talking, boogie nights.
I am keeping this.
And by the way, I think that some of these clothes will look really great on your MateQuest profile.
Yeah, I deleted it.
Just felt fake.
Felt like I was being undercover in...
in my dating life.
So, I'll just...
I'll just meet people the old-fashioned way.
Like, going out in the world?
Hmm.
Well, you ever need a wingwoman, you just let me know.
'Cause I have the perfect outfit.
Ooh, not a chance.
You bring the crazy.
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Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org