ncis Season 15 Premiere Recap: Did Gibbs/McGee Escape? Where's Alex? 

It took almost the entire Season 15 premiere, but — not a spoiler alert by any means —

‘ Gibbs and McGee are home safe, though maybe not

Fall TV: Your Handy Calendar of 100+ Season and Series Premieres

After a brief encore of the finale’s final moments, the CBS drama picked up two months later, with Gibbs and McGee being held captive by the R.A.C. soldiers that had surrounded them. Back home, Torres and Vance were among the agents testifying before Congress about NCIS’ violation of seven DoD rules of conduct, though Vance contended they were in Paraguay on a humanitarian mission.

While McGee and Gibbs continued with “the world’s slowest-moving escape plan,” NCIS caught the case of a “reformed” drug smuggler who got shot down in the street in broad daylight. Upon examination, Ducky noted that the deceased had been smuggling uranium in his… nether regions. And not just any uranium, but the exact kind that links back to the R.A.C.

Researching the murder vic led NCIS to the man for whom he was smuggling — whom they unwittingly chatted with at the crime scene. Abby then used that guy’s dating app’s location services to track him down.

NCIS got a hot lead even faster than they expected, though, when a strange call put Bishop on the phone with… McGee! The “WSMEP” had paid dividends when McGee’s “betrayal” of Gibbs and an ensuing fist fight broken up by guards left a big knife in Boss’ hands. A few scenes later, as McGee bonded some with a guy whose printer driver he fixed, Gibbs arrived with a gutted guard tumbling into the room before him. Free, they used Jefe’s sat phone to call Bishop, who then relayed the news to Vance, who then apprised Congress. With the TV cameras off, the committee urged Vance to take the lead and get his men home, via the Paraguayan military. And get them home they did.

Returning Stateside, McGee reunited with Abby, Torres and then his pregnant (and not terribly emotional?) wife Delilah. Gibbs meanwhile surfaced at NCIS, where he expressed his pride in Bishop’s hard work during his absence. (Alex Quinn, we learned, took a leave of absence to take care of her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother — with Jennifer Esposito not returning for Season 15.)

NCIS: Jennifer Esposito Exits Ahead of Season 15

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