I am not sure what the issue has been with the writing so far this season. Its as though the departure of Gibbs has put the writers in a creative funk. They are reaching so badly and some of the dialogue is so corny and amateurish.
The crime and the investigation itself is clever and though I was fairly sure of the perp, the reasoning behind it and the backstory of that person and the victim was great. The hologram aspect was interesting but full of holes. Some questions she (the hologram victim) was asked were detailed, yet she couldn't answer them but then she could give specifics of a certain person when she was only asked about "he"- not their name,etc. When they went to the lab to talk to Kasey about the hologram, mind you a first on this show, she just HAPPENS to have a clandestine area in the back of the lab where she has been programming the very same technology, albeit on a smaller budget. So, of course, this foreshadows the eventual need for her expertise to set up and operate the program they had to retrieve from the maker since the original was stolen.
Then the "roll of the eyes" in the opening scene when a male Navy staffer and Jimmy both knew that the light blue satchel belonging to the female victim, not a purse as stated, was a Balenciaga. The females had no clue.
There are more but I'm already bored. I did like the in-story about mom's, that was touching and heartfelt.
Personally, I would have liked it if they had done a storyline around something related to or mentioning the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor tragedy.