The fourth episode of NCIS Sydney brought us an interesting case, and the writing is better this time around, not depending on snakes and sharks to twist the investigations. With a classical approach, the episode begins like an 18th-century murder mystery, but soon, the modern NCIS team arrives, and we are thrown amid the case. The episode becomes a story about love and loss, fathers and sons, duty and desertion, and so much more. The series does gain some pathos through NCIS Sydney Episode 4, as Mackey’s more human side comes out, reminiscing about her days in the military. The rest of the team works on the case in the usual manner, chipping in with their knowledge to untangle the mystery.
Spoilers Ahead
How was Frank connected to Eddie’s murder?
Eddie, a US Navy officer, fell from a tall building to his death, while Theo, a local guide, was giving a tour to the tourists. NCIS had to be called in as the case was related to the US Navy. Mackey and Jim had got another complicated case, and it seemed that this time they had a brutal killer on their hands. Eddie was shot, and the impact made him shatter the window glass and fall to his death. The tragedy took place in front of a live audience, and yet there was little they could do. Theo, the drunk tour guide, had seen something that would later become useful, but until then, NCIS’ only hope was to wait for the bullet casing’s scan for prints to return and perhaps offer some clue. Eddie having green feet became the peculiar matter of the case, and it seemed he used to walk barefoot in the grass, which had left that color. Bluebird helped in tracking the suspect through the fingerprints, and it turned out to be Petty Officer Frank Doherty, who had gone AWOL and was later accused of being a deserter in 1971. This was the first real mistake he had made in over fifty years of escaping justice. Being a deserter was a stain that didn’t ever wash away. Mackey, who had served in Afghanistan, started to hate the suspect even more after figuring out that he had abandoned his friends. Eddie’s place was searched, and the first impression was that Eddie was some of a ‘medal trader’ who happened to have Frank’s medal as well, which he(Frank) had received just sometime before he deserted the army in ‘71.
How was Frank found?
Evie and DeShawn were looking at Frank’s history, whatever was available until 1971. DeShawn was quite impressed by the guy’s ability to have stayed under the radar for over 50 years, and his life seemed quite an exciting one. There was a love letter available that was perhaps addressed to a lady named Mei Koo. Bluebird had the technology to age a person seen in a photo, even one from the past. When Frank’s photo with a lady popped up in research, Bluebird used the tech and aged both Frank and the lady’s photo. Frank seemed to be missing from any database, but as luck would have it, the lady matched the photo of Mei Koo from the database. She was living in Sydney, so Evie and DeShawn decided to give her a visit. Mei Koo did well up until the point she mentioned Eddie Baker’s death to them, and she was immediately caught. NCIS hasn’t released the name of the victim, yet Mei Koo knew the name, which implied Frank had told her about the murder. Evie and DeShawn barged into her house and caught Frank Doherty, the man no one had found for the last 50 years.
Why did Jim think Frank wasn’t the murderer?
Frank was an old man, someone on his way out. Why would such a man kill the young Eddie? Besides, he had arthritis. He couldn’t even hold his coffee mug properly in custody, let alone a heavy gun. But there was a motive for it, at least according to Mackey. Eddie seemed to have contacted Armen Standish, the curator of the heritage museum, and he was certain that he had seen Eddie trying to check the authenticity of Frank’s 1971 medal that Frank had received for his exceptional work in Vietnam. Mackey thought that Eddie had tracked the deserter down and was threatening to expose him and ruin his 50-year-old AWOL status. He would have to part ways with Mei Koo, and he couldn’t afford that, which is why he shot Eddie. Frank didn’t deny killing him and seemed too eager to sign the confession, but Jim knew that he was afraid of something else. Firstly, it didn’t make sense why Frank was making it out to be a random mugging gone wrong, and second, he wasn’t willing to explain how and why his medal was found in Eddie’s drawer.
How was the killer caught?
Eddie seemed to be a strange character. Mei’s bank accounts were showing regular transactions, hinting toward the angle of extortion. The angle from which Eddie was extorting Frank became stronger, but there was one thing that just stumped everyone. There were other people that had returned the medals too, and that too without taking a single cent. He seemed to be simply returning the medals and not extorting people for them. But what about Mei’s constant withdrawals? Someone was definitely bothering her, so Evie and DeShawn paid her a visit. It was confirmed that Eddie was a good man who had contacted Frank’s sister to get the medal for him. Theo, the drunk tour guide, said that he had seen Eddie and Frank together, having a drink like father and son. But he also added that there was a third man who went with Frank up to the building, from where Eddie had fallen.
Frank was asked to tell the truth, but he was thinking about Mei. His idea was to go to jail, which would leave the extorter with nothing to extort Mei for. Mackey tried to gain her trust by telling her Afghan War story, when she had taken three people with her to save three others without permission; it led to the deaths of two of them. She understood that Frank might have had reasons to desert the army. At the very last moment, he told her that Mei had bequeathed his medal to Armen Standish, implying that he was the extorter. Mackey and others did all they could to get to him before he could harm Mei, but Mei had reached him a few moments earlier, with the gun pointed right at Standish. Frank had pointed the same gun at Standish on the day Eddie died. He just couldn’t overcome the arthritis to pull the trigger. Eddie died while trying to stop Standish from killing Frank. Mei could only be stopped when she was told that there was a way to send Standish to jail and also avoid Frank’s extradition to the US for his trial. They simply had to get married, and this job was made easier by the local tour guide and pastor, Theo.
