A Thousand Words remains one of the most iconic episodes of NCIS seven years after its release - Here’s why

One of the most beloved police procedural shows, NCIS, is created by Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill. NCIS spawned a successful media franchise and has been airing since 2003. The show is about a team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that solve a variety of cases, while also dealing with their personal lives.

NCIS is one of the longest-running scripted live-action shows on TV and has many iconic moments and dialogues that are a part of pop culture. Over the years, the show has had a huge ensemble cast and some of the actors on the show have been Mark Harmon, Pauley Perrette, Lauren Holly, and others.

The show has many memorable episodes and NCIS Season 16 Episode 7 is one of them.

Details about one of the most memorable NCIS episodes on TV

Titled, “A Thousand Words”, NCIS Season 16 Episode 7 is one of the most iconic episodes from the series. One of the reasons being that it revolves around street art and a larger conspiracy. The episode begins with a guard at the National Armed Forces Credit Union discovers a whole in the wall.

At first, no money is missing and while everyone is trying to find the motive, Kasie gets a chunk of wall tested and realizes that is covered in Kobra spray paint, which is used by famous street artists. She goes on website and finds a new painting that matches the wall’s dimensions and which is selling for $100,000 Bitcoin. Turns out, the missing wall was painted by the famous yet reclusive artist Ritz.

“Whale Steet” shows a whale leaking money and a fan shows them how to take a shot with a camera to reveal a hidden QR code that leads one to the save-the-whales website—and that is Ritz’s motive. Ritz’ identity is also solved and he is Jared Clarke, who also deals with African big-game hunts. When McGee and Torres arrive at his apartment, he is found shot at, with five rounds in his chest and ash in his mouth.

While Ritz targeted people or corporations that did ecological or wildlife-related harm, he was also not clear himself. Ritz or Clarke had also been profiting from the crowdfunding and charity pages that his fans donated to. Therefore, the team finds out that Ritz was being threatened by someone online and that person is Melanie Keller. When Gibbs and Bishop arrive at her place, Melanie tries to flee. However, her vehicle won’t start.

When questioned, she reveals that she is Ritz and Clarke was a pretender. To prove her point, she creates an impressive painting of Gibbs and Bishop and Melanie’s phone GPS shows that she was out of town during Clarke’s murder. Melanie also reveals that there is the Treble Integrated Defense Systems of the Navy, which is a sonar system that has killed many dolphins, whales, and other aquatic life.

Melanie believes that Treble killed the person they thought was Ritz to keep the public from finding about the fake safety reports. Interestingly, the CEO of Treble immediately agrees to the fraud and says they hired a private investigator to find Ritz. But they got to know that someone else was following Clarke and they sent a warning message to Ritz’s Twitter account.

Melanie therefore knew about Clarke being followed and she has not ditched her phone and is untraceable. Eventually, the team finds a blacklight message Melanie has left in the Gibbs and Bish painting and a license plate is found that takes them to a dead Senator Brady Spencer. Also, the ash on Clarke’s mouth are remains from someone born the same years as Spencer. Spencer does not have family but his chief of staff is Luke Green, who was at the gallery and had showed them the QR trick. Ultimately, Green accepts that he killed Clarke.

Why was NCIS Season 16 Episode 7 memorable?

There are a few reasons why the episode was iconic. It had a focus on the safety of marine wildlife and the dangers that are caused by technologies, which felt different and fresh for NCIS. Even Melanie confesses to Bishop that she wanted the team to investigate Treble so that they could look into the marine life deaths. Apart from that, the episode also featured a story about contemporary art and how it is evolving with technology, which was unique to see.

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NCIS is available on Amazon Prime Video.

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