[2] The premiere picks up four months later and follows Gibbs' efforts to adjust while still hoping that Tony, Ziva, and McGee will be allowed to return; it also initiates a new story arc surrounding a mole in the agency that was developed later in the season.
[3] Gibbs is struggling to adjust to a new team after Director Vance scattered his previous one four months earlier, sending McGee to the cyber crimes unit, Ziva to Israel, and deploying DiNozzo on an aircraft carrier.
While viewing ZNN news footage covering the aftermath of the bombing, Gibbs recognizes an injured Ziva being carried out on a stretcher from the ruins of the bar.
Tony, currently on the carrier USS Seahawk is then asked by McGee and Gibbs to hack information to find what the mole was after, and discovers Operation Domino: the US' plan in the event of an attack on the Middle East.
McGee begins investigating Gibbs' new team after it is discovered that Vargo had been calling Agent Lee, only for her to dispute it and say he was asking for legal advice.
[4] NCIS underwent casting changes, some brief and others permanent, to accommodate the plot; Rocky Carroll was promoted to a series regular to replace Lauren Holly's character as the agency's director.
A photo of Cote de Pablo's character, Ziva, appearing as a bar singer undercover became a subject of interest before the episode aired.
"[10] Cote de Pablo, who performed in the theatre prior to joining NCIS, supplied all of the vocals during the scene in which Ziva sings while undercover in a bar.
[1] As a result, it was up in viewers compared to the previous episode, the fifth-season finale, as well as the most watched CBS primetime show during the week of September 22–28, 2008.
[1] Shortly after the episode aired, it was reported, "NCIS has been a consistent ratings leader and is one of the few prime time dramas that continues to gain viewership as it ages.
Allison Waldman from AOL TV summarized the episode: "So, it turns out that Vance is smarter than we thought and the break up wasn't a punishment but a strategy cooked up by the director to get Jethro to flush out a spy in NCIS.
The fact that Lee appears to be the double agent, and that Gibbs and Vance seemingly believe that she killed the 'real' spy -- Langer -- is part of a larger story."