‘NCIS’ Season 14 Recap: What Happened In Episode 5? Alex Quinn’s Past Revealed In ‘Philly’

CBS’ “NCIS” revealed a page of agent Alex Quinn’s past. Up until now, Jennifer Esposito’s character has been a mysterious one on TV’s most watched drama. However, Season 14, episode 5 saw Gibbs helping the new team member confront her past and move on.

Here’s a quick recap of “Philly”:

A Petty Officer And An MI6 Agent

“NCIS” kicked off with a not-so-interesting case of the murder of a Petty Officer named Gary Falco in an ally in Philadelphia. The team quickly learns that the disappearance of an MI6 Officer is also linked to the Petty Officer’s death in Philadelphia. The officer was tracking weapons smugglers at the time of his disappearance. Gibbs (Mark Harmon) orders Quinn and Bishop (Emily Wickersham) to head to the city of brotherly love.

Once there, the girls reunite with MI6 Officer Clayton Reeves (Duane Henry) since it is his partner Finely that went missing.

Ever since Quinn set food in Philadelphia, Bishop notices that she isn’t herself. Something definitely happened here with her in the past. However, despite her several attempts to make her open up about it, Quinn remains tight-lipped.

The NCIS agents interview Falco’s mother. During the interview, Quinn casually asks her if she knows the Shaw family that resides a few blocks from her house. She doesn’t know them. Later, Bishop asks Quinn why she asked Falco’s mother about Shaw but the mysterious agent simply doges her questions.

Torres And McGee

Back at the NCIS headquarters, Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) is bored and wants to kick doors rather than sit on a desk. Gibbs orders him and McGee (Sean Murray) to interrogate Ivan, a known smuggler, in order to find out anything that he knows about weapons smuggling.

They find Ivan in a strip club but he’s refusing to talk. Then “NCIS” Season 14, episode 5 gives viewers some comedy by having Torres dance on the card table while McGee pulls out two guns and points it towards Ivan’s bodyguards.

They interrogate Ivan and find out the names of some smugglers.

Reeves receives an SOS message from Finely and locates him. He’s all tied up, bruised, bloody and battered. Finely explains that he was kidnapped by the smugglers after he saw them murder Falco. They kept him for days and tortured him.

Gibbs To The Rescue

Bishop updates Gibbs about the situation and Quinn’s mood. In true Gibbs fashion, he heads to Philadelphia and locates Quinn at a bar. He morphs from her boss to a psychologist.

Meanwhile, back at headquarters, Torres examines the photos where Finley was held captive and makes a breakthrough. He goes to Abby (Pauley Perrette) with his finding. Abby works her magic and find footage of Finley having coffee with two known smugglers (the names were provided by Ivan). So it looks like Finely is a smuggler too! The team finally nabs Finely.

The Reason Alex Quit Field Work

Back to Quinn and Gibbs, “NCIS” Season 14, episode 5 showed us the reason Quinn working on the field. She was staking out a suspect in a robbery case with her partner Shaw. Then Quinn got a call from her fiancé and she started arguing with him. In order to give the couple some privacy, Shaw stepped out and was greeted with a barrage of bullets. She died instantly.

Gibbs tells Quinn it isn’t her fault. The episode ends with Quinn meeting Shaw’s husband and 13-year-old daughter. She has only now come to terms with her guilt.

“NCIS” Season 14 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EDT on CBS.