Caitlin Todd
Encyclopedia
Special Agent
Special agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....

 Caitlin "Kate" Todd is a fictional character in the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 drama NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

, and was portrayed by actress Sasha Alexander
Sasha Alexander
Sasha Alexander is an American actress. She is best known for several roles, including Gretchen Witter, the sister of Pacey Witter on Dawson's Creek; NCIS Special Agent Kate Todd in the first two seasons of NCIS; as Lucy in Yes Man ; and as Catherine in He's Just Not That Into You .She currently...

.

The character was introduced in the show's first episode "Yankee White" replacing Robyn Lively
Robyn Lively
Robyn Elaine Lively is an American actress. Lively is best known for her role in the film Teen Witch, as well as for her roles in the TV shows Doogie Howser, M.D., Twin Peaks, and Saving Grace.-Early life:...

's character Vivian Blackadder which had appeared in the JAG
JAG (TV series)
JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...

 Season 8 episodes "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown". Blackadder was written out of the show after test audiences viewing the two episodes reacted very negatively to her, resulting in the character of Kate Todd being created when NCIS went into regular production.

First encountered by the team as a United States Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...

 special agent assigned to the Presidential Protection Detail on Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...

, she was promptly recruited by senior special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the CBS TV series NCIS. He is portrayed by Mark Harmon.-Background:...

 at the end of the first episode following her resignation from the USSS for breaking the rules about not dating a colleague or having a relationship with them. She quickly became a key member of the Gibbs-led Major Case Response Team (MCRT) based at the NCIS
Naval Criminal Investigative Service
The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service is the primary security, counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, and law enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Navy...

 headquarters in Washington, DC.

At the end of Season 2, in the finale "Twilight", she was killed in the line of duty by rogue Mossad member Ari Haswari following Sasha Alexander's decision to leave the show.

She was replaced by another female character, Ziva David
Ziva David
Ziva David is a fictional character from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, portrayed by Chilean actress Coté de Pablo....

 played by Chilean actress, Cote de Pablo
Cote de Pablo
María José de Pablo Fernández, better known as Coté de Pablo , is a Chilean-American actress and recording artist. De Pablo has won an ALMA Award for her role as NCIS Special Agent Ziva David in the television series NCIS...

.

Background

Not much was known about Todd's origins excepted that she originally came from Indiana, had three brothers whom she mentioned as being "practically psychotic" and an elder sister (the latter being introduced as Rachel Cranston in season 8 episode 14 "A Man Walks Into A Bar…") and was a Catholic. She also mentioned having a cousin named Maureen Ingalls. She was canonically in her late twenties.

Education and work history

She went to college in the 1990s, first studying law to become a lawyer but dropped out after a single year, having felt like she had spent "10 years in prison". During her years at college she won a wet T-shirt contest in 1994 during her Spring Break vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida
Panama City Beach, Florida
Panama City Beach is a city in Bay County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico coast. The city is often referred to under the umbrella term of "Panama City", despite being a distinct municipality from the older and larger inland Panama City to the east, making Panama City and Panama City...

 which her colleague, Tony DiNozzo used a source of amusement and possible blackmail material in "Conspiracy Theory".

Some time after college, she joined the United States Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...

, and was eventually assigned to the President's security detail aboard Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...

. Viewing her job as very demanding, she didn't have the time to meet someone out from work and started a romantic relationship with the presidential Nuclear Football
Nuclear Football
The nuclear football is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the President of the United States of America to authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room...

 Marine carrier, Timothy Kerry, thereby breaking the Secret Service's rules which prohibits relationships between colleagues.

At the end of the first episode "Yankee White", she resigned from the Secret Service before her superiors sacked, or fired, her for disobeying the rules; NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the CBS TV series NCIS. He is portrayed by Mark Harmon.-Background:...

 recruited Todd almost immediately after she quit and assigned her to his team where she became an NCIS Special Agent and the third member of Gibbs' team, pairing her with special agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo
Anthony DiNozzo
Anthony "Tony" D. DiNozzo Jr. is a fictional character from the CBS TV series NCIS. He is portrayed by Michael Weatherly.-Background:Tony comes from a wealthy family from Long Island, New York. He is an only child, but has been cut off from his family's fortune. His mother, maiden name Paddington,...

.

As a member on NCIS's MCRT, Todd became the team's dedicated profiler and created psychological profiles on the suspects being investigated, a role that Dr. Donald Mallard later took over, having gained a psychological degree. She enjoyed working on the NCIS team although as a new person to the group, she was first taken aback by their apparent disregard for the rules and protested at times, yet she came to find herself bending rules like Gibbs and DiNozzo to get the information they needed to trap some suspect or another.

For example, in the episode "A Weak Link", she suggested they hack into a system to get the information they needed for a particular case.. Other of Caitlin Todd's skills included counterfeit bill analysis and protection detail,which she acquired during her time as a USSS Special Agent.

Characterization

Todd was portrayed as professional and as a talented agent, with great profiling skills and artistic talents. At the beginning of Season 1, she was often shown to be surprised by the rule-breaking tendencies that her colleagues performed but eventually adhered to them. She also seemed to get emotionally attached to victims as seen in the episodes "The Immortals" and especially "Left For Dead", when she befriended a Jane Doe who had memory loss after being buried alive in a grave. It was later revealed, however, that the Jane Doe had actually been deceiving Todd all along and she later killed herself and her lover with the aftermath leaving Kate emotionally scarred for some time.

Her attitude contrasted vastly with DiNozzo's behavior, and they routinely argued over matters of privacy and personal boundaries : throughout the first two seasons, Todd was the prime target of DiNozzo's nosing, with the latter sneaking through her purse, cellphone, PDA and desktop computer on a regular basis which infuriated her to no end. DiNozzo even went through Kate's trash to discover where she'd eaten breakfast in "Doppelganger".

Whereas Todd considered this outrageous and unacceptable, DiNozzo seemingly merely did this for his personal entertainment. However, DiNozzo had also been the target of numerous taunts and regular teasing from Todd as well.

A talented sketch artist, she sketched an accurate likeness of a suspect in the episode "Marine Down". During the same episode, it was shown that she had drawn caricatures of the team, some of which showed DiNozzo lusting after a pretty girl and Abby Sciuto
Abby Sciuto
Abigail "Abby" Sciuto is a fictional character from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, and is portrayed by Pauley Perrette. Like Jethro Gibbs, Anthony DiNozzo and Donald Mallard, Abby was first introduced in the episodes "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" in the television show JAG, and has...

 as a bat. She also drew one of Gibbs as well, but managed to take her drawing pad back from DiNozzo before the latter revealed it. In season three, when Ziva David joined the team full time and moved into Todd's cubicle, she presented Gibbs with Todd's sketch pad. There were portraits of each cast member in it, including Gibbs.

Todd had an opportunity to kill Ari when he broke into the NCIS autopsy lab in "Bete Noire" and shot Gerald in the shoulder, but found she was unable to do so. Gibbs later chastized her for this. In "Kill Ari Part 1," during a discussion with Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard in the morgue, Todd, who had been shot dead in the previous episode, explained that she had not been able to kill Ari because she had looked into his eyes and that there had been something kind in them. She also expressed regret at not killing Ari when she had the chance because in her opinion, Todd knew that she did not deserve to die.

Death

Todd was killed in the final moments of the Season 2 finale "Twilight" (canonically on May 24, 2005), after being shot through the head in front of Gibbs and DiNozzo. The murderer was no other than the team's arch-enemy, Ari Haswari, who had targeted and killed her merely because he wanted to cause Gibbs pain (even using a sniper rifle nicknamed "Kate"); the remaining members of the team were left completely grief-stricken by her murder and embarked on a vengeful quest to find and kill Ari during the events of "Kill Ari" Parts 1 & 2. Ari was eventually shot by his own half-sister, Mossad officer Ziva David, who later filled the void left in the team by Todd's death. At the end of the episode "Kill Ari (Part 2)", the remaining members of the MCRT, along with Dr. Mallard and Abby Sciuto, bid a sad farewell to Todd while reminiscing happier times as she was laid to rest with civilian honors ; during Gibbs's vision of Todd in her coffin, it is revealed that she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...

.

After her death, Todd was occasionally referenced to in later episodes :
  • In "Mind Games", DiNozzo tells Special agent Timothy McGee
    Timothy McGee
    Timothy "Tim" McGee is a fictional character from the CBS television series NCIS. He is portrayed by Sean Murray. Timothy McGee is a special agent investigating crime in this police procedural show...

     to ask Todd whether they have knee pads or not before realizing she is dead. Kyle Boone uses Todd's death in an attempt to intimidate Gibbs in the same episode.
  • When Gibbs lost his memory from an explosion during the events of "Hiatus (Part 1)", Ziva used Todd's murder, her killing Ari and taking Gibbs' hand and slapping herself to bring his memory back. He accidentally called her "Kate" when he returned to NCIS in season 4.
  • In the episode "Bait", a teenage student held his classmates hostage inside a classroom by threatening them with a bomb strapped to his chest. Gibbs and his team arrived on scene but were unable to get audio and video of the situation inside the classroom, thus, Gibbs put himself in danger by offering himself as a hostage. While DiNozzo took charge of the team, the boy demanded that his mother be brought to the classroom by sunset, but the team discovered that she had been dead for a year. DiNozzo let Gibbs know by saying to the student that Special Agent Caitlin Todd is looking for his mother. A marine asked how would Gibbs know that the boy's mother is deceased. DiNozzo replies, "Special Agent Todd is dead."
  • Todd is briefly mentioned by McGee in the Season 3 episode "Probie" and by Dr. Mallard in the Season 6 finale "Aliyah".
  • Todd was a major subject of Season 8's "A Man Walks Into A Bar", in which her sister Dr Rachel Cranston was introduced, conducting mandatory psychological evaluation of the MCRT. Flashbacks of archive footage, alternate takes and deleted scenes including one from the Season 2 episode, "An Eye for an Eye" are used for illustrating the memories of Gibbs, DiNozzo, Sciuto, Dr. Mallard, McGee and Rachel as they remember their beloved, deceased friend and sister. A scene where Rachel sleeps behind Todd's former desk mirrors a similar scene with Todd in "Twilight". At the episode's conclusion, Rachel tearfully mentions that the team have been "better than [Rachel] at letting go", revealing her need for closure. Gibbs then takes her to his basement, showing Rachel where Ziva killed Ari, helping her to find closure.

Special Agent in Charge Leroy Jethro Gibbs

Although they conflicted heavily upon their first meeting in "Yankee White", Todd had a great relationship with Gibbs. Gibbs immediately saw her potential as a special agent and hired her right after she resigned from the Secret Service. Despite difficult beginnings during which Todd resented Gibbs' harshness and rude manners (such as hanging up on her), she had a lot of respect for Gibbs and worked well with him. He was her mentor and believed that she was a great agent ; in "Sub Rosa", Gibbs brought Todd with him aboard a US Navy Los Angeles-class
Los Angeles class submarine
The Los Angeles class, sometimes called the LA class or the 688 class, is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines that forms the backbone of the United States submarine fleet. With 43 submarines on active duty and 19 retired, the Los Angeles class is the most numerous nuclear powered...

 attack submarine even though women are considered "problematic" aboard submarines ; in order to bring Todd with him, Gibbs didn't hesitate to argue with Norfolk's sub squadron commander.

Keeping with his tendency to know "everything about everyone", Gibbs knew what represented the tattoo Todd had on her back and was apparently the first to identify Dr. Rachel Cranston as Todd's sister in "A Man Walks Into A Bar...".

Confronted with Todd's death, a shocked and vengeful Gibbs found himself overwhelmed with guilt and, like the rest of the protagonists, began having visions of her ; his first visions of Todd blamed him for her death and angrily demanded to know why she was killed instead of him, even suggesting that Gibbs should commit suicide. After he avenged her death by having Ari killed, however, he had another vision of her at her funeral which seemed to have forgiven him, smiling and jokingly telling him "You're late for my funeral, Gibbs".

Senior Field Special Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo

Todd's relationship with her fellow co-worker Tony DiNozzo could be referred to as a sibling relationship as they had arguments usually in various levels of maturity. The two constantly competed, both during training and investigations. Todd was often critical of DiNozzo's behaviour, especially concerning his attitude towards women and his disrespect for personal boundaries ; indeed, DiNozzo routinely went through Todd's purse, cellphone, PDA and desktop computer, uncovering personal informations such as her dates' identities. In one episode, DiNozzo sneaked unbeknownst to her into the bathroom while she was having a shower in order to brush his teeth, which infuriated her when she noticed him. However, it was not uncommon for DiNozzo to be teased and taunted by Todd, especially after DiNozzo kissed a seemingly female suspect who was, unbeknownst to him, a transsexual ; their bickering got so bad in the episode "Pop Life" that they sought counseling from Dr. Mallard.

However, on many occasions DiNozzo was shown being considerate, kind and even borderline romantic to Todd. He bought her flowers as a peace offering after annoying her in the episode "Vanished". He showed concern for her several times, including at the end of episodes "Left For Dead", when she realized she had been played by a victim, and "Bête Noire", when she was held hostage by Ari. In the episode "The Bone Yard", DiNozzo was almost possessive of Todd when McGee posed the idea of pretending to be Todd's lover to get into a paternity clinic to photograph evidence for Sciuto, saying he would do it instead of McGee; later in the same episode, he told Todd he thought they made a good couple, to which she replied "Maybe for the Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...

". In the episode "Black Water", he went close to jealousy when Todd accepted a date offered by the victim's brother. During the events of "My Other Left Foot", DiNozzo was obsessed by the idea of Todd having a tattoo and asked to know where during the whole episode. In extras seen on the Season 2 DVD Box Set, the producers stated it was intended for there to be a relationship between these two characters. When DiNozzo was posing as a criminal in "Chained", Todd showed much concern for his safety. In the episode "SWAK", after Todd was found uninfected, she continued to stay with DiNozzo, lying about her condition to him even though she knew that the risk of infection was still imminent. As he was apparently about to die, Todd was devastated and started crying; DiNozzo eventually survived, much to her relief.

Standing with Gibbs and Todd when she was killed, DiNozzo was especially shocked and her death would have a serious impact on him, which along other events made him "grow up" during the following seasons. As shown in the episodes "Kill Ari" 1 & 2, DiNozzo struggled with sorrow, culminating in a scene in which he and McGee mourn over Todd's dead body in Dr. Mallard's autopsy room. He finally came in terms with her death after her funeral.

After Todd's death, like the other characters, DiNozzo also had a vision of her postmortem. Typical to DiNozzo's chauvinistic personality, Todd appeared in the Catholic schoolgirl uniform that he had been asking about in the episode "Bikini Wax". After telling him that she always knew what he was thinking, she realized that she was wearing the uniform and quickly berated him, saying "Tony, I just died, and you're having a sexual fantasy?" to which he replied, "Can't help it. Sometimes I used to picture you naked" and she responded by screaming in shock seconds before Ziva David was introduced for the first time. This "sexual fantasy" was portrayed after DiNozzo offered to go back out in the pouring rain and find the bullet that killed Todd and became upset when McGee improved the answer he had told to Gibbs. In the Season 8 episode "A Man Walks Into A Bar…", Todd's sister Rachel reveals to DiNozzo that Todd held a high esteem of DiNozzo, perceiving him as a really good NCIS agent and was being "hard on [him] because she knew what [he] was really capable of".

Probationary Special Agent Timothy "Tim" McGee

When McGee was introduced in "Sub Rosa", Todd protested at DiNozzo's apparent abuse of authority when he ordered McGee to stay on a crime scene until someone else can come to relieve him. Todd and McGee were partnered for a very short time during the episode "UnSEALed", during which he came to her help when she was tied up by a former Navy SEAL.

Throughout Season 2, DiNozzo and Todd would sometimes gang up on McGee to tease him, but Todd generally disapproved DiNozzo's pranks and hazing of McGee. After the murder of a witness under McGee's watch, Todd was the first to try to comfort him.

After Todd's death, like the grief-stricken rest of the team McGee had to cope with the loss of a friend, and like DiNozzo would fantasize about her. Later, McGee is shown mourning with DiNozzo over Todd's dead body.

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard

In "Yankee White", Dr. Mallard was the first NCIS member who got along with Todd. The two liked each other very much and genuinely cared for each other, as seen in several episodes including "Reveille" and "The Meat Puzzle". In the latter, Gibbs assigned Todd as Dr. Mallard's protection detail when his life was threatened by a criminal. As he does with other team members, Dr. Mallard would usually call Todd by her full name, Caitlin.

Todd's death was a severe blow to Dr. Mallard, who wouldn't let anyone else perform the autopsy on her dead body. Before he started, however, he had a vision of the body speaking to him, declaring she felt she didn't deserve to die. As shown in the Season 8 episode "A Man Walks Into A Bar…", Dr. Mallard seems to regularly remember Todd, feeling melancholy.

Forensic Specialist Abigail "Abby" Sciuto

As with Dr. Mallard, Todd and Sciuto got along very well pretty fast, ultimately becoming close friends. They would often make plans together, such as spending the weekend together at a spa
Spa
The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...

. Naturally, she was one of the most deeply affected by Todd's death, but regained composure after being cheered up by a post-mortem, goth vision of Todd. She later played a jazz music record at Todd's funeral, as part of her own New Orleans heritage. Nevertheless, she remained affected long after the funeral, and was initially at odds with the newly recruited Ziva David, both because she took Todd's place and because of her affiliation with Todd's murderer Ari Haswari. Some time later, however, they mended fences.

In the episode "Marine Down", it was revealed that Todd had drawn several caricatures of her teammates, including one of Sciuto as a vampire bat. Todd started to apologize, saying that there was nothing mean in the drawing, only to be interrupted by an overjoyed Sciuto who asked if she could hang it up on her lab's wall. She would later stare at it while crying in the aftermath of Todd's death in "Kill Ari (Part 1)".

External links

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