Tonight on CBS NCIS Hawaiʻi returns with an all-new Monday, October 18, 2021, season 1 episode 5 called, “Gaijin” and we have your weekly NCIS Hawaiʻi recap below. On tonight’s NCIS Hawaiʻi season 1 episode 5, “Gaijin,” as per the CBS synopsis, “When a Japanese sailor is killed on American soil, evidence links the case to the previous murder of the victim’s girlfriend back in Japan; Captain Milius makes a personal request to Tennant.”
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Tonight’s NCIS Hawaiʻi Recap begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
In tonight’s NCIS Hawai’i episode, a visiting Japanese soldier was murdered on the island. The victim’s name is ISSO (Petty Officer) Shogo Oda and he was visiting because a joint training exercise with American Naval Intelligence called “Operation Iron Cloud”. This wasn’t the first murder attached to Operation Iron Cloud. The victim’s girlfriend Yuki Sawa had been murdered a while ago in Japan and everyone believes the two deaths are connected. Shogo’s death was given to Special Agent in Charge Tennant to investigate.
She was made aware of the girlfriend Yuki’s death and her people looked into it. The chief suspect in Yuki’s death had been her American roommate. Abby Nelson was an American working with the Japanese and local police as well local media had all painted her as the villain. They tried to arrest her but somehow she was put on a flight back to the United States and she’s evaded all calls to return to Japan.
Nelson also happens to be on the island. She had heard about Shogo’s death on the news and she happily marched herself down to Tennant’s office to answer questions. Nelson still claims her innocence. She said she never killed Yuki. She also said she was sleeping during Shogo’s murder and the team couldn’t disprove it. Nelson lived alone. She had no reason to make sure she had an alibi. Nelson also agreed to do a lie detector test.
Her answers all sounded well-coached and Jesse doesn’t believe her. The team also found evidence that Nelson lied. She said she hadn’t seen Shogo in a year and they found evidence that she met with him the day he died. They confronted Nelson as she was doing the lie detector. Tennant realized that Nelson’s heart rate doesn’t change whether she’s telling the truth or telling a lie.
Nelson is superficially charming. She also believed Shogo was in love with her and she doesn’t care or empathize with anyone else. Tennant believes Nelson is a psychopath. She can get angry. She snaps at everyone and she doesn’t care who she hurts but she doesn’t care about anyone besides herself. Tennant tried to speak with Nelson after the polygraph and Nelson wasn’t having it. Nelson refuses to answer any questions.
She also got up and left the moment she confirmed she wasn’t under arrest. Nelson didn’t act anyone like innocent. Its why a Japanese detective was in town and he was looking into her. Inspector Kento Mori wanted to prove Nelson killed Yuki. He made a promise to Yuki’s family and he wanted to uphold it. He was looking for evidence without clearing it past the local police or NCIS.
Captain Milius didn’t want Mori anywhere near this case. He and his superiors were leaning on Tennant do everything by the book and they were trying to do so. Only they did ask Mori why he was so sure Nelson killed Yuki. Mori gave Jesse the diary they found. He and his team had withheld it from the media. It was Nelson’s diary and in it she wrote about Yuki. She only wrote about Yuki. She wrote what Yuki did, ate, wore, and what she even watched on tv. Mori believes this was evidence of Nelson being jealous of Yuki. Tennant’s team on the other hand found evidence that Nelson was studying Yuki because she was trying to figure out how to appear more normal and other than that the two women got along just fine. Nelson had no reason to kill Yuki. She was copying her in order to fit in and that would end with her dead.
The team therefore considered another possibility. What if Nelson is actually innocent? The Japanese police department had been quick to blame Nelson because she hadn’t reacted well to finding her roommate dead and she went on to have breakfast before calling the cops but what if she was innocent? This meant there was another suspect out there and so the team checked the evidence they found. They were told by Nelson that Yuki was seeing another man. One besides Shogo. No one had believed Nelson at first because they all thought she was the killer and so now they were seriously considering what she said. Tennant asked Mori to join the investigation. He and her team determined that Shogo was traveling with a medal that belonged to Nisa (Admiral) Tanaka.
Tanaka was in charge of the joint task force. The medal was found at Yuki’s apartment and her family had apparently returned it to Shogo because they thought it belonged to Shogo. It was only when Shogo saw the medal that he realized that Nelson was telling the truth. Yuki was seeing someone else. Shogo brought the medal with him when he spoke to Nelson and he told her that he didn’t believe she killed Yuki. Tennant turned to Nelson for help. They asked her to help them capture Tanaka and she agreed to do it because Yuki was the only friend she ever had. Nelson later wore a wire. She got Tanaka to confess to both Yuki and Shogo’s murders. And Tanaka was arrested for both murders.
Nelson’s name was cleared. The victims are getting justice. Also, Tennant was asked out on a date by Milius and she almost said yes. The only reason she turned him down is because she didn’t think the optics would look good. She’s the first female SAC on the island. She couldn’t risk her career or any future promotions by getting involved with a superior officer. It would make believe she can only get ahead by sleeping with someone in power.
THE END!