DiNozzo is back on the team, as of the end of the previous episode, "Agent Afloat", and the witty banter and old movie references fly fast and furious.

When off-road cyclists find a woman's body woman floating in Rock Creek Park, the team is called in when the deceased is identified as a Lt. Commander from the Pentagon's Navy Office of Congressional Affairs.

Gibbs leaves the crime scene to take a covert meeting with an old war buddy, a U.S. Senator who just happens to have been having an affair with the victim. The Senator asks Gibbs to keep his indiscretion out of the media, at least until an energy bill comes up for a vote on the Senate floor. Gibbs says "I'll see what I can do." As the team finds evidence that the victim was having an affair with an unidentified man, Gibbs doesn't volunteer knowledge of the secret lover’s identity.

An anonymous phone call to Director Vance's voice mail reveals the location on the murder weapon. (Later, another such call taunts the team for taking too long to name a suspect.) When the murder weapon traces back to the Senator, Gibbs and the team ramp up the investigation using any means necessary. Ziva even lets her hair down to obtain fingerprints from a smarmy big oil lobbyist.

As the episode unfolds, the team chases the evidence down blind alleys and switchbacks, with red herrings, misdirection, complicated cover-ups, another dead body, and multiple betrayals of trust.

But in the end, it is a slip of the tongue by the Senator's wife -- and corroborating evidence found in cell phone logs -- that flushes out the truth, reveals the killer, and exposes the cover-up. The Senator's wife killed the mistress in a jealous rage, the Senator helped her cover it up, the Senator’s chief of staff helped them dispose of the body and clean up the crime season (which just happened to be his own apartment), and together the Senator and his wife murdered the Senator's chief of staff as part of the cover-up.

Meanwhile back at the lab, Abby is conducting her own investigation after her special cupcake goes missing -- and no one is above suspicion.

This intricately plotted episode probes the themes of trust and loyalty, both of which are stretched to their limits. Gibbs must examine his loyalty to his friend The Senator, and ultimately any trust Gibbs once hand in him is destroyed. The victim's boss is obviously hiding something, twirling his wedding ring nervously during his interview. Ziva questions whether she can trust Tony, who frequently disregards personal boundaries. McGee trusts DiNozzo to support him during a search for the murder weapon, only to had that trust dashed in a cold murky splash.
Abby's trust in her fellow team members is tested as she searches for the cupcake thief.

And while Gibbs has lost Director Vance's trust, McGee appears to have gained it using discretion and mad computer skillz.

This episode (and its predecessor, “Agent Afloat”) did nothing to advance the traitor-in-our-midst story arc that was started in this season’s premiere episode. However, this episode did build tension between characters which will no doubt be parlayed into something as the season progresses.

(Tony’s movie references in this episode include “A Few Good Men”, “An Officer And A Gentleman”, “Star Wars Episode 1”, and “The Maltese Falcon.” Did I miss any? Feel free to share in the comments. -- A.S.)