NCIS season 23, episode 4 is the best episode of the season so far, with a strong guest appearance from a Bosch: Legacy star and direction by Rocky Carroll.
After an underwhelming Halloween detour, NCIS returns to fine form with Season 23, Episode 4. “Gone Girls,” directed by star Rocky Carroll and penned by multi-hyphenate Amy Rutberg, is a very serious story that tugs at the heartstrings. It also gets a serious boost from its guest stars Denise G. Sanchez and Nazneen Contractor.
Sanchez, who recently wrapped her starring role as Reina Vasquez in Bosch: Legacy, is just as tough playing Marine Sergeant Molly Delgado. She has a fantastic introduction, easily defending herself against a man who seems like he’s about to assault her—only for the audience to learn he was trying to warn her about the real threat in the back seat of her car. Even when Molly is giving NCIS the silent treatment, Sanchez creates a character with strength and poise. It’s a shame that because Molly has to be so tight-lipped, Sanchez doesn’t get to completely show off her range, but the end result is someone that the viewer wants to see return someday… which is a pretty big accomplishment on a procedural, where “case of the week” characters usually have finite development. NCIS would be wise to bring her back, if someone else hasn’t scooped Sanchez up to be a series regular again.
Contractor (best known for her work on 24 and in the Chicago PD episode that served as the backdoor pilot for Chicago Justice) is stuck initially with a stereotypical FBI agent character. It’s also a habit in the procedural genre that most characters working for any outside agency are antagonistic, and Contractor’s Agent Beth Rollins is no exception. (The later scene where Jessica Knight and Alden Parker try to distract Rollins and her team with baked goods is groan-worthy in how it utilizes that cliche.) But as “Gone Girls” goes on and the plot unspools, Rollins becomes more three-dimensional.
Ultimately, this is a messy case of the week that boils down to a standard “abusive high-powered husband” story. The Deputy Attorney General is using an ex-FBI agent to hunt down his wife. Yet while the real plot may not be novel, Rutberg efficiently wraps up every one of her twists so that the episode makes sense in the end. All of the misdirections are neatly explained and viewers understand how the show got there (and just as importantly, how the NCIS team didn’t). The performances of Sanchez and Contractor keep the audience interested through the back and forth. Carroll once again is an excellent director; it’s sometimes easy to forget that he’s been behind the camera for a whole decade.
The final act, when everything gets revealed, is when “Gone Girls” becomes heartwarming. It turns out that Molly’s book club full of quirky ladies is a secret group helping women escape abusive relationships. It takes these supporting players who could’ve just been easy comedic relief (especially when one of them tells McGee she’s never read any of his books) and gives them depth. It’s also nice to be reminded that the NCIS agents aren’t the only heroes in their universe. The benefit of the show having gone on for 23 seasons is that there is this sense that the rest of the world is just as interesting as what fans get to see.
The biggest misstep in “Gone Girls” is the subplot, which involves Barbara from accounting’s musical theatre gala. It’s very sweet that the episode ends with the whole NCIS team creating a special stage for Barbara, but the opening scene of almost all of them wanting to get out of attending the gala in the first place makes the end feel somewhat hollow. They wouldn’t have had to go that far if they’d just kept to their original word (save Jimmy, as Victoria is said to have fallen ill, which is a valid excuse). The Hamilton jokes fall very flat, too, though to an extent that was likely the point.
But in the main storyline, the plot is satisfying both dramatically and emotionally. Sanchez and Contractor help boost the plot twists with how they shift gears in each of their roles, and Katrina Law holds the entire episode together like glue. With the Carla Marino story and the Halloween holiday behind it, NCIS Season 23 is building up momentum for the future.
