[1][2] Gibbs continues to work with Captain Westcott while he retraces his steps in order to help the NCIS team track down a terrorist.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, Abby's enthusiasm for the NCIS family dinner is building and Tony's curiosity is peaking when he learns Ziva is making special plans for the opera.

As Gibbs tries to help Westcott deal with his PTSD, DiNozzo and Ziva stake out the store to see if the blue haired girl comes back.

Putting together the collected evidence, the team discovers that Kersey's girlfriend is planning to bomb a local senator's Thanksgiving party which would take out a huge number of the United States Congress in the process.

[3] The two-part episode "Shell Shock" is an example of this, with Marine Captain Joe Westcott suffering from PTSD after his squad was ambushed back in Iraq.

[5] According to Brad Beyer (who portrays Joe Westcott), "The one thing that stood out in my head is a lot of these guys that come back, you don't necessarily know what's wrong with them.

"[4] "Shell Shock (Part II)" was seen by 16.47 million live viewers following its broadcast on November 20, 2012, with a 3.0/9 share among adults aged 18 to 49.

In total viewers, "Shell Shock (Part II)" easily won NCIS and CBS the night.

[6] Mary Powers from TV Fanatic gave the episode 4.8 (out of 5) and stated that "While NCIS has been a primarily character-driven show, "Shell Shock Part I" was an exception, with the focus on the case.

"Shell Shock, Part II," meanwhile, was unique in that the case was still fantastic, but we also enjoyed a good deal of the episode focusing on the characters as well, primarily Gibbs.