Well, there was certainly a lot to chew on here, especially if you might need a kick in the pants going into the holiday season.
If you’re feeling sorry for yourself, NCIS is showing you the way to snap out of it.
There was a lot to digest with a case that was plucked by God to appeal directly to Parker.
Because Jimmy finally shared his thoughts about Parker’s mom. I didn’t expect Parker to react as he did, but I get it. And from the get-go, I knew he’d reconsider. He had to.
His memories of his mom aren’t great. He still has visions of Lily dancing in his head. After his dad’s death, he wanted to close the book on the whole ugly mess. But finding the death certificate exposed details that Jimmy would have been daft to ignore.
Still, it hurt when he took it out on Jimmy, which was no better than Parker’s memories of his mother. McGee and Kasie had Jimmy’s back, but Jimmy realized he took that walk all by himself.
Jimmy put what he discovered on the table and asked Parker for permission to exhume Parker’s mom to continue the investigation. Parker was angry, but he didn’t see the case coming. His “no” was only a momentary drift.
The case began when a kid didn’t want to learn how to drive because he… hangs out on Discord. What? Noooo! What a terrible thing to hear. Real life for the win, kid. Choose it every time.
Can someone please tell me the purpose of jumping in the car with a stranger, pointing a gun at them, and demanding they drive instead of telling them to get out and stealing the car?
I’ve never understood that.
Charlene, the ’73 Mustang, WAS a thing of beauty. But good lord. Someone might have thought the man was more worried about the car than his son, Jacob. And I wasn’t sure if he was happier to see Jacob or Charlene when the kid returned, once again, showing his driving prowess.
Lt. Max Winger, who fell out of the sky and ruined (or enhanced) Jimmy’s driving lesson, was a Leapfrog and a Kingfisher. They do performances from the sky.
I had to laugh when, after Torres said it seemed like someone had watched too many Tom Cruise movies, the body found in Winger’s house was David Cruz. Not because I wanted the man dead or wished for Winger to be at fault, but come on! That was rich.
At first, it seems like Winger could have stopped a break-in or walked in on an affair. After all, Winger was struggling after being captured and tortured by the Taliban. But despite moving out of the family home to address his troubles, his wife had nothing but good things to say about her husband.
And Cruz? He was knocking on heaven’s door due to a brain tumor. His life was cut short, but only by about 12 months. Would that play into why Winger had to kill him?
The story got crazier as it continued. Winger gave a confession just before disappearing into the wind again. Whatever he did, he needed to get it off his chest with God.
At that point, it seemed clear where the NCIS Season 23 Episode 7 title, “Only God Knows,” came from. Charlie the Chaplin was standing behind his vow to God about the seal of confession.
But that’s one of those pesky details that annoy the hell out of me about Catholicism. As long as you confess, you’re good to go. Open the pearly gates! Just because you believe that God will forgive you?
Hey, why not use now to admit my struggles with religion began there?
And there was no doubt that Parker was pushing so hard based on what he discovered about his mother. He claimed it was because the last time he believed a priest, the guy was an international drug lord, but it went deeper. His own issues with God were surfacing.
It was also an opportunity for whatever the hell is going on between Parker and Vance to come to the forefront again.
Parker could barely contain his disdain for the “tread lightly” narrative Vance was pushing, but Vance still wouldn’t give up why, even after he asked the rhetorical, “Did you ever think that maybe I have a reason for it?”
Dangling that carrot and snatching it back was really uncool. And if I’m sick of being in the dark, then imagine how Parker must feel walking on eggshells all the time.
Then the team discovered one of Winger’s fellow Leapfrogs, Liam O’Brien, had fallen to his death after a parachute malfunction. Winger, suffering from well-disguised PTSD, lost one of his best friends in one of the most horrific ways possible. That could have been enough to set him off.
O’Brien was really screwed. Leapfrogs prepare well for the possibilities that could bring them down, but even the backup failed. And Winger’s DNA (albeit touch) was on the pin.
Whatever Winger had been hiding, it’s been a lot.
The chaplain later visited Parker with some advice. Help yourself so that you can help others. He had helped Parker with his dad’s funeral. He sensed Parker was overwhelmed. Unfortunately, he was a little too late. If he’d come the day before, it might have been of some comfort.
But at this point, Parker is dealing with the deaths of two parents, so it’s far too large for him to handle on his own. And I keep hoping that Vance’s issues somehow play into the help he knows Parker needs.
The religious connection was woven like a prayer rug throughout the hour.
When it was revealed that the chaplain lost his ID, I began to suspect him as being somehow complicit. Yes, it was my own bias pushing that narrative, but then Torres discovered a hidden Quran and prayer rug in Winger’s floorboards.
When video emerged of Winger potentially carrying chemicals for a bomb, retrieved with the chaplain’s ID card, it made the whole scenario even more urgent.
I loved that Parker turned a quote the chaplain delivered the night before around on him. “If I’m not for myself, who will be for me?” Which continues, “If I am only for myself, what am I?” And that’s the key to my confession conundrum.
Is listening enough? Is bestowing forgiveness on God’s behalf enough if a terrorist, especially one who may be masquerading as as a Christian after embracing Islam during his capture, enough for God? Is there a duty to save life?
I have no idea. But Morris, the chaplain’s assistant, felt that there was. He overheard Winger say there would be a high body count, and he couldn’t keep it to himself. This would come into play later in an unexpected way.
Winger mentioned the OK Corral, a top-secret base in Northern Afghanistan. They launched missions from there to capture high-level Taliban officials. All three men — Winger, O’Brien, and Cruz — were stationed there. And it’s where Winger got captured.
Could the Taliban be using Winger to target the people who went after them? Just in time, Kasie pulled a frantic message from his encrypted system. It was his wife. Or was it? Bring on the AI connection.
Winger was being manipulated into thinking his wife was being held. The voice sounded like Cruz’s, too. Was he set up? If the Taliban was manipulating Cruz, was it through religion or perhaps by making it seem like his family and friends were in danger?
When Winger agreed to meet with Parker, we met a man who was confused by the manipulation he had suffered. In captivity, he lost God. He was so desperate that he even tried the prayer rug. But none of it worked.
Winger ran in true thriller movie fashion — to prove his innocence because he knew no one else would believe him if he didn’t.
In the briefcase? Dirt. That’s what’s killing everyone from the OK Corral, and he is affected, too. The dirt on the base was a cocktail of everything from jet fuel to uranium, and it was killing the men he served with, whether they knew it or not.
Cruz didn’t know. O’Brien did and killed himself. Winger thought Cruz’s attempt to bring attention to the matter got him killed. It’s a massive health crisis, but even that was not the reason Cruz was killed.
Cruz was being blackmailed over his sleeping with a subordinate. When he stopped payments, he was killed. And that’s where we swing back around to the chaplain. That weasly bastard gave me pause from the outset.
But I was still wrong!!
All of the chaplain’s rigamarole about the privacy of confession? He wasn’t kidding around. His assistant Morris, however, was. The guy grabbed guns from everyone at the door and ensured he was the only one packing. He recorded every confession and used them against the confessors.
The chaplain got the last word. “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish.” Another Ezekiel misquote? Not here. The chaplain got it right. It was a Tarantino quote from a line spoken by Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction.
So, all’s well that ends well. The OK Corral case isn’t in the dark anymore. And Winger has his family back, even if he may not have much more time to spend with them.
That’s what Parker needed to see. We are all blessed in different ways. We all suffer. And we can all pick ourselves up and get back to the business of living. But it was still of little or no comfort to Parker.
Parker viewed what Winger is suffering as some punishment by God. When he asked the chaplain how Winger could still feel blessed, the chaplain had no answers. Only God can provide them.
Parker has been asking, but he doesn’t believe God is answering. The chaplain reminded Parker that the answers don’t come in the form of a proverbial burning bush, but often from those close to you, and even then, they may not always be the answers you want to hear.
Nobody ever said God would do that, only that he listens and will show you the way, no matter what that means.
Parker realized that the answers are coming. Those nearest to him have been and will continue to be there for him — Jimmy’s request to exhume Parker’s mother as all part of God’s plan.
The papers are signed. Will we soon have answers about Parker’s mom? About Lily? I don’t think so. But I do think we will start exploring the possibilities.
Was this back to form for those of you who have been less than happy with some recent NCIS episodes?
And for everyone upset about CBS programming not returning until February, please remember that we still have two more episodes of NCIS Season 23 coming our way this month.
It may seem like an interminable wait after that, but at least it won’t be brought back in January just to be yanked off the air again for the Olympics.
We’ve got NCIS almost until Christmas (and we’re getting a Christmas episode!), and I’m thankful for that.
Otherwise, December would be an utter bore.
So, what did you think about “God Only Knows”? Share your thoughts in the comments below. And don’t forget to check out our NCIS: Origins coverage, too!
