Leroy Jethro Gibbs
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Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fictional Chief investigator from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, portrayed by Mark Harmon.
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[edit] History
An experienced former US Marine recon sniper who served in Operation Just Cause and Operation Desert Storm and reached the rank of Gunnery Sergeant, Agent Gibbs is a highly skilled investigator and interrogator endowed with virtually infallible intuition. He uses these skills to his advantage while working on a case. He also tends to think out of the command structure if that helps him. In one third-season episode, when he couldn't make a solid case against a gang leader for murder, he allowed members of the gang to see the evidence that the leader had betrayed and murdered the former leader. After Gibbs released the gang leader, his own people killed him.
At one point, Gibbs also served in the Military Police.
Throughout the first three seasons, much of Gibbs' personal history had been kept a mystery — even from his NCIS colleagues. It was known that Gibbs had been married three times, that he once had a romantic relationship with the recently appointed director of NCIS, Jenny Shepard, and that he spent his spare time building boats (he has had to start over a few times) in his basement. In the first season, he was also occasionally seen in the company of a mysterious (and never-identified) redheaded woman, suggesting an active personal life away from NCIS, even though his colleagues were never able to identify the woman.
In the two-part third season finale, "Hiatus," numerous secrets about Gibbs' past were revealed. It was learned that he had a child with his first wife (meaning he has been married four times), and that both were killed by a Mexican drug dealer while Gibbs was serving in Desert Storm in 1991. Upon his return, the NCIS lead investigator at the time secretly provided Gibbs with information as to the Mexican's whereabouts; Gibbs subsequently tracked down the man and used his sniper skills to assassinate him. In 1992, he joined NCIS. The episode also revealed that Jenny Shepard was Gibbs' partner when she joined NCIS, before their romantic involvement.
During Desert Storm, Gibbs was caught in an explosion which left him in a coma for 19 days. In 2006, another explosion, caused by a terrorist's bomb, likewise left him in a coma, followed by a period of selective amnesia in which the trauma of his wife and child's death 15 years earlier caused Gibbs to forget much of his life after that point. With the aid of his former NCIS junior partner, Jenny, Donald "Ducky" Mallard, and finally Ziva David, Gibbs is able to regain his memories. When his NCIS superiors are unwilling to prevent a terrorist bombing from destroying a freighter and a navy vessel, Gibbs resigns from NCIS and as the third season ends he has taken up residence in Mexico with his former mentor. At the start of the fourth season, however, he returns to Washington in order to help Ziva clear her name after she is framed for the murder of three men; although he subsequently returns to Mexico the second episode of the season will see him once again returning to NCIS to assist on a case.
Before the end of the second episode, he has a conversation with Director Shepard, who states that she doesn't want Gibbs back because she's worried he won't be able to handle himself. She states that "you've already been in two comas. You might not come out of the next one." She also argues that Gibbs was "the best. When you're that good at something, you don't just quit."
At the end of the second episode, he is seen sitting at his own desk, after re-organising everyone else's, and the episode finishes with Gibbs saying "What?" and McGee smiles, realising Gibbs is now back to stay.
Since Gibbs' return, Shepard has been keeping certain NCIS operational details secret from him, at one point ordering that all the view screens in the control room "go dark" when Gibbs enters in order to prevent him from seeing details of an ongoing operation. When Gibbs asks Shepard about this, she replies that the operations are "need to know, and you don't need to know". Exactly why Gibbs is being excluded has yet to be revealed. (Season 4 is being promoted as "Season of Secrets".)
In the fourth season episode "Sandblast", Gibbs appears on the verge of becoming involved with Army Lt.Col. Hollis Mann (played by Susanna Thompson), who works for Criminal Investigation Division (CID), the U.S. Army's version of NCIS, leading several of his colleagues to speculate that she could end up being his fourth ex-wife.
[edit] Colleagues
Gibbs tends to be reticent, and reluctant to reveal his feelings. Only Ducky (Dr. Mallard) and Jenny gets to call him "Jethro" on a regular basis, which suggests they have worked/known each other for a considerable time and there is a heightened sense of trust on both sides, although this seems to have diminished somewhat after Gibbs' return to NCIS.
He is mostly called "Gibbs" by colleagues, "boss" by Tony and McGee. He is called "Gunny" by former USMC associates. He has been married four times to red-haired women — his later three marriages all ended badly. The first wife was murdered, one ex-wife attacked him with a golf club (seven iron) and now stalks him on the anniversary of their split, and the other attacked him with a baseball bat. The mysterious red-headed woman who appears briefly to drop him off or pick him up at the end of a case (mostly during season one) is never identified. Jenny Shepard, another former love interest, is also a redhead. A couple of very early episodes suggested an attraction existed between Gibbs and Caitlin Todd, but any possibility of this going beyond flirting and jokes evaporated when he indicated to her that it was a bad idea for NCIS operatives to have a relationship (a possible reference to Jenny Shepard).
During the first season, Gibbs develops a habit of smacking his subordinates on the head if they do or say something foolish. Tony is the most frequent target of this, though most of the others have all endured their share of smacking as well. Gibbs is not above giving himself the same treatment; in a third season episode he is seen smacking his own head (in private) when he chooses to tamper with evidence in order to protect a marine's career.
[edit] Personality
Gibbs can be extremely charming in an understated way and has a dry sense of humour. He is unforgiving of his or his colleagues mistakes and demands high standards of himself and his team.
Gibbs is fond of Abby and regularly bribes her with her favourite "Caf-Pow!" beverage. He is so fond of her, in fact, that when a former date of hers stalks her, Gibbs threatens him by saying "The only reason you're still able to walk is because I never heard about you until today!" Abby is the only person to whom Gibbs regularly shows any affection, usually in the form of a hug or a kiss on the cheek, and she reciprocates just as much.
He is building a boat in his basement by hand; with no power tools. According to the series he did so after each time he has been divorced. It is also stated that he destroyed each one after it was done.
He has a coffee addiction and even has a personal rule about it: "Rule 23, never mess with a Marine's coffee if you want to live". He also appears to be farsighted, as early episodes of the series reveal that he has difficulty reading fine print, though he refuses to wear reading glasses.
Gibbs is usually portrayed as a complex man of mystery and intrigue. He likes to use his marine training to give him an advantage over other people, such as when he silently appears behind people.
Whenever he needs to have a private talk with someone, he takes them to his "Conference Room," which is basically just the elevator with the emergency brake pulled.
Almost every beginning of the episode, or whenever he isn't there, when the three other operatives are talking casually in general or about the case, Gibbs pops in from the direction of the elevator, holding a coffee, and saying something related to their conversation, usually a question.
His taste in "pop culture" is rarely discussed; however, in the series pilot, he is revealed to love the movie Air Force One.
[edit] Technology
Gibbs has very little knowledge of technology and shows little patience when exposed to tech talk. He often can't or won't work a Palm Pilot, and regularly trashes his cell phone, which prompted his subordinates to keep a stock of replacement cell phones at NCIS HQ. He has trashed the computer on his desk six times, before the NCIS technicians realized that he was "smacking them to make them go faster." On occasion, however, it is suggested that this apparent lack of knowledge may, on occasion, be a ruse. For example, in the second season episode "Terminal Leave", he displays apparent lack of knowledge about the workings of a flash drive, only to later indicate that he knew how to manipulate it. During the previous episode, "The Bone Yard", he prevented an unknown remote computer from hacking Abby's computer by simply unplugging it from the electrical socket.
He needs corrective lenses for far-sightedness, but he is too stubborn to wear them. He has been known to communicate in American Sign Language with Abby Sciuto.
A recurring theme is how out of step Gibbs is with popular culture.
[edit] Trivia
- Has photo of a headstone on the cubicle wall behind his desk, presumeably his first wife's, or daughter's headstone.
- FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell, Gibbs' friend, married one of Gibbs's ex-wives (despite a warning from Gibbs that Fornell was making a BIG mistake); he is now divorced from her as well.
- Gibbs has a silver hip flask, a present from his first wife and daughter; the inscriptions on the flask indicate that he shares his birthday with that of the Marine Corps.
- His middle name, Jethro, is also the same "middle" name of Jag's admiral A.J. Chedweggen, another Donald Bellisario t.v. show
[edit] External links
| NCIS |
|---|
| Main Page | Episode List | Official website Naval Criminal Investigative Service |
| Current Characters |
| Leroy Gibbs | Tony DiNozzo | Ziva David | Timothy McGee | Abby Sciuto | Ducky Mallard | Jenny Shepard |
| Former Characters |
| Caitlin Todd | Ari Haswari | Chip Sterling |
