Much was made by Wilmer Valderrama, Special Agent Torres, this past week about the death that happens on tonight’s NCIS episode. And while he was wrong in implying that it was one of the series' regulars, he was right in saying, “it’s going to be very earth-shattering and really heartbreaking." At least, for one member of the team.
McGee (Sean Murray) and the rest of the NCIS team find out that Deputy Director LaRoche (Seamus Dever) was only playing at being a bad guy. In truth, he had been given the job at NCIS to go undercover with Nexus. So, it was he who betrayed Torres and almost got him killed, but he was doing it for the greater good. At least that's the story.
Since NCIS has blown LaRoche’s cover, the DOD assigns them the op: Bring down Nexus. And they are offered the help of none other than Kansas City mob queen Carla Marino (Rebecca De Mornay), Alden Parker's (Gary Cole) nemesis. But Parker refuses, explaining she’s a killer, she’s a psychopath, and she can’t be trusted.
Rebecca De Mornay
Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS
Carla tries to persuade him that she's turned over a new leaf. She wants out of her mob lifestyle. She wants to retire in peace with none of her crimes hanging over her, so she wants to cooperate, but only if she's given complete immunity.
Parker believes it’s a con and leaves. He tells the team, “We have the information from the hard drive from LaRoche, and we’re expert investigators. We can take down Nexus on our own."
But they can’t. And when Torres and Knight (Katrina Law) find a dead body that has been injected with radioactive material, they know that Nexus has the nuclear material. So Parker finally agrees to that uneasy alliance with Carla.
Later that night, Parker and his dad Roman (Francis X. McCarthy) are planning to watch the Cubs’ game and devour some steaks when Carla stops by his house with a list of potential buyers for the uranium. Roman invites her to stay for dinner, and we learn she had a son, Jason, who died.
Gary Cole
Photo: Michael Yarish/CBS
The next day, Carla claims "The Butcher," allegedly the head of Nexus, has reached out to her for a meeting in Kansas City. She pretends to be afraid so Parker will volunteer to be her protection. She sells it, and he says he will go as her consigliere.
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In addition to Parker, they are accompanied by NCIS Agent Ramos and FBI agent Ford. But on the way to the airport, Ford kills Ramos and Carla, and Ford kidnaps Parker. Carla tells Parker that she blames him for her son’s death. Jason left home after Parker told him who she really was. She takes Parker to the spot where her son had his lethal motorcycle accident, and she knocks him out.
Meanwhile, back at the office, Torres and Knight interrogate a white-power advocate who bought guns from Nexus, who tells them that Nexus is planning to use the dirty bomb themselves, not sell it. But it's too late, as Kasie (Diona Reasonover) finds out that the photo and audio of "The Butcher" were created by AI and aren’t a real person.
It turns out that Carla is the head of Nexus, and the team figures out that Carla plans to use the bomb to take out her competitors who are meeting in her hotel room. The team gets there just in time to clear the hotel and defuse the bomb.
But the most shocking event of the night is when it is revealed why Carla kidnapped Parker and knocked him out instead of killing him. It was so she could go to Parker’s home and kill his father – a life for a life. How much more painful is it for him to live knowing that he is responsible for his father's murder?
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Parker comes home and finds his dad sitting in his favorite chair with a bullet in his chest. He spies two wine glasses, and one of them has her color of lipstick on it.
This sets up NCIS Season 23 as one of vengeance. Parker not only wants to take down Carla because she’s the head of Nexus, but it’s more personal than that. He wants revenge for his father’s murder. Not to mention all the other reasons he’s been trying to take her down for years. It turns out that being forced into the uneasy alliance with Carla has completely changed Parker’s future.
Meanwhile, in the B-story, Palmer (Brian Dietzen), with the help of a friend, found the gravesite in Milwaukee where Parker’s mom had been moved. But when he looked at the death certificate, there was something wrong with it. That surely is something else that will be dealt with in Season 23 when the series returns in the fall.
NCIS airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Streams next day on Paramount+.
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