The NCIS pilot episode "Yankee White" is turning 21 years old, and there are some harsh realities when watching it today. While the official NCIS pilot happened in season 8 of JAG, the 1990s legal procedural, NCIS season 1, episode 1, "Yankee White" was the proper opening to the Navy-focused police show. While some parts of it didn't age well, the NCIS pilot is still one of the best episodes of NCIS. It encapsulates Mark Harmon's brand of justice as Leroy Jethro Gibbs while introducing the Major Case Response Team (MCRT) and how they operate.
Still, much about American culture has changed in the two decades since the NCIS pilot aired. Social norms and customs have shifted, calling into question some of the characters' workplace behavior and comments to one another. Moreover, the episode established a story that the show later contradicted throughout the 21 seasons of NCIS. That said, the NCIS pilot is a fascinating time capsule, looking back to the year 2003 and the stories that CBS was crafting for its audience at that time, and it holds up as a fantastic TV episode.
10 Kate & Gibbs Have Untapped Chemistry
Alexander And Harmon's Characters Worked
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One harsh element of the NCIS pilot episode in retrospect is the fact that the chemistry between Sasha Alexander’s Kate and Mark Harmon’s Gibbs was so good that it looked like they might have a fling. That said, after Kate officially joined the team, NCIS only put her in flirty situations with Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo. The harsh reality is that Kate and Gibbs had fireworks as a TV couple. A will they/won’t they dynamic between Kate and the Agent-in-Charge could have been more compelling than what happened between Kate and Tony.
Kate and Tony’s will they/won’t they romance looked more like a sibling relationship than any love story. Still, Gibbs had a vision in the episode “Life Before His Eyes,” where the show revealed Kate and Tony would have gotten married and had a baby if NCIS antagonist Ari Haswari hadn’t killed Kate Todd in season 2. It would have been a completely different series if Gibbs and Kate hit it off, and the “Yankee White” pilot proves they had the chemistry to pull it off.
9 The Agencies Suspect Al-Qaeda With No Evidence
The "Yankee White" Villain Was An Unconnected Terrorist
In “Yankee White,” the only speculation about the man who tried to assassinate the president on Air Force One was that he may be part of an Al-Qeada sleeper cell. Gibbs discussed this possibility in MTAC and repeated it to Kate Todd in the Air Force One bathroom. Despite repeating it throughout the episode, the team had no evidence for the claim. On the contrary, NCIS reversed the claim back in season 21.
In the era of Bush-era politics of the series’ 2003 pilot, the assumption wasn’t out of place. However, it was entirely unfounded. The pilot never uncovered who the man was or what his motivation was, which would otherwise be standard for the procedural series. Instead, the episode ended on the baseless assumption that Al-Qeada was behind the attack. The unfounded assumption didn’t positively contribute to rising tensions worldwide.
8 NCIS Doesn’t Have Its Own Jet
The NCIS Agents Don't Travel In Style
The NCIS pilot pointed out an aspect of NCIS that sets it apart from some other procedural series with more lavish options for its investigators. Unlike the team in Criminal Minds, who ride from job to job in a private jet and can recoup before and after investigations, NCIS doesn’t have a dedicated aircraft to travel in style. Tony made his disdain for the inconvenience evident when they traveled to Kansas to investigate the crime.
The lack of a private jet set the tone for the series, and gave the titular organization a unique perspective compared to other agencies. NCIS highlights its namesake agency as an underrated, underappreciated champion that doesn't get the funds or credit it deserves. The episode showed this in more ways than one, with the lack of more comfortable accommodations underscoring NCIS' humble positioning.
7 Kate Is Gibbs’ Equal
"Yankee White" Uniquely Positioned Kate
A harsh reality of rewatching “Yankee White” 21 years later is that it was the only time Kate was Gibbs’ equal. While Kate earned more respect from Gibbs than most of her NCIS colleagues and many team members after that, she was on his level in the pilot. It's too bad she lost that sense of authority so quickly. Conversations between the NCIS, FBI, and Secret Service agency directors regarded Gibbs, Fornell, and Todd as equals
The most potent evidence that Kate was on another level was that when Gibbs wanted to come with her on Air Force One, he kindly asked her using the word “please” and a nice smile. The kindness was unusual for Gibbs, and Abby called it out to the rest of the group. So, while Kate's destiny was to join Gibbs’ NCIS team, watching the pilot back is a reminder that Kate was once Gibbs’ equal but became his subordinate after she reported her misconduct to her boss, which got her fired from the Secret Service.
6 Harrison Ford's Air Force One Drives Gibbs' Investigation
"Yankee White" Drew Inspiration From Air Force One
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While Gibbs has many original ideas throughout the episode, his most significant breakthroughs come from the plot of a book and movie. The “Yankee White” plot followed the narrative of the movie Air Force One, with the villain in the episode overtly having copied the crime in the story. While it was funny that Gibbs recognized this and it made for a great twist, it was unfortunate that the NCIS pilot relied so heavily on another story to originate the series versus crafting something original.
It’s disappointing because "Yankee White" was one of the best cases of the entire series. As a result, it’s too bad that NCIS can't claim the idea as wholly original. It did make for a good twist that the villain had adapted a movie plot, and it had excellent action sequences for Harmon. Still, the NCIS pilot promised a different investigation and storytelling style than the procedural series offered from then on.
5 There Is Inconsistency In Gibbs’ Rules
Gibbs Wasn't Consistent About His Code
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NCIS "Yankee White" Creatives |
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Donald P. Bellisario |
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Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill |
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Unfortunately, the NCIS pilot set up a lot of inconsistencies with Gibbs’ famous set of rules in future episodes. If a viewer ignores the NCIS pilot, Gibbs’ rules make sense, but when scrutinized, the NCIS pilot confuses the entire premise of the code the special agent lived by. Firstly, Gibbs appeared to share his first three rules with Kate Todd. However, when revisited later, the series offered a different principle for Rules #1 and #3.
Gibbs also covered two of his rules in the episode with Kate, which are later known as part of his robust code of ethics but not noted by Gibbs as such in “Yankee White.” When Kate told Gibbs that she had secretly been romantically involved with a colleague and asked him if he would scold her, he said no. Gibbs later reveals Rule #12: "Never date a coworker."Gibbs also told Kate never to say she was sorry in the pilot, but he failed to mention that it was Rule #6.
4 Kate Breaks Up With Someone She Has Great Chemistry With
Kate Was Dating Major Tim Kerry
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It was unfortunate in the series opener that Kate had to break up with someone she seemed to adore, especially since she struggled with dating throughout seasons 1 and 2. She subsequently dealt with loneliness throughout the series. While Kate had dates during her stint with the series, she never hit it off with anyone the way she did with Major Timothy Kerry. Kate was dating Tim in the pilot episode before she broke up with him since she felt bad about dating a coworker.
Kate ultimately reported the relationship to her boss and resigned. When accepted, Gibbs hired her to be a part of NCIS. It’s too bad Kate had to cut her romance short, especially since she lost her job over it. That said, Major Kerry suffered an unfortunate assassination, meaning he didn’t live past the end of his and Kate’s relationship for very long anyway.
3 Fornell Didn't Recognize Gibbs
Fornell And Gibbs Were Good Friends
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Oddly, NCIS' Special Agent Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano) didn't recognize Gibbs when he and Ducky pulled a trick on Air Force One, despite their rich history of working closely in Washington. The gimmick that Gibbs and Ducky pulled off relied entirely on no one knowing who Gibbs and Ducky were, which was unlikely for Tobias. NCIS later revealed he was so close to Gibbs that he married his ex-wife. While it was fun that the series developed Gibbs and Tobias as friends, it ruined the magic of the NCIS pilot, which relied on Gibbs flying below the radar.
Building on some of the oldest narratives in the series, like Tobias Fornell or Gibbs’ code of rules, made sense. However, NCIS betrayed its own stories by expanding on these narratives in a way that didn't correspond with the pilot. Tobias appeared in the 1000th episode of NCIS, which revisited the case. That would have been an excellent time to clear up the narrative. Tobias could have said he was mad at Gibbs over a different event and didn’t want to acknowledge his existence or that he hadn't initially seen him there.
2 Kate Is Great As A Secret Service Agent
Kate Was Good At Protecting The President
While it was Kate’s fate to join the NCIS Major Case Response Team (MCRT) when the show introduced her, it was evident that Kate was a skilled Secret Service agent who took pride in her job. In some ways, it’s too bad that Kate Todd couldn’t stay with the agency. She was trained to protect the president and had to learn a new skill set when she joined NCIS. While her existing skills helped her NCIS work, the story made Kate’s transition a step down for the character in some ways.
Kate more readily challenged Gibbs as a Secret Service agent, something that stopped when she joined his team. While it made sense Kate respected Gibbs as her boss, she was full of fight in the “Yankee White” pilot, uniquely challenging Gibbs and subverting his character by bringing out different sides of Harmon’s personality as Gibbs. Kate was good on Gibbs’ team but was great at protecting the president. He could even still be alive if she had continued that job.
1 The NCIS Pilot Is The Best Episode Of NCIS
The NCIS Pilot Set A High Bar
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Perhaps the most complex reality of rewatching the NCIS pilot 21 years after it aired is that it’s undoubtedly one of the best episodes of NCIS. It’s a tough pill to swallow because “Yankee White” set a high bar for the series. Understandably, the series drifted further and further away from the appeal of “Yankee White,” which perfectly encapsulated Gibbs’ ideals and how he operated. While the series is still a treasure today, it doesn't have the tight feel of the impressive pilot.
"Yankee White" contains the perfect thin slice of all the main characters — Gibbs, Ducky, Tony, Abby, and Kate — introducing them with robust presences. The NCIS pilot is a microcosm of the series, and it’s nearly as good as it gets. That makes it a shame that it happened so early on. That said, the pilot set up characters that would endear audiences for years to come and set stories into motion that are still playing out in the shared NCIS universe.
