We do have an underlying mystery this season, but if you were hoping to advance that plot, NCIS Season 23 Episode 4 wasn’t going to do it.
Instead, we had a crazy plot that landed with both humor and heart. And a little bit of malice, of course.
We had musicals, the dueling pistol Aaron Burr used to kill Alexander Hamilton, and much more. Let’s dig in!
Of course, everyone slammed Barbara from Accounting’s fundraiser, but Torres suddenly is spewing lines from Hamilton. OK, I loved Rent without appreciating other musicals, but even I would support Barbara from Accounting.
She poured it on really thick, and it makes me sad we know so little about the others in their workplace.
Vengeance comes in mysterious ways. As the crowd peeled away from the gala, only Torres remained, being the sole team rep left to attend the gala.
I’m not sure I appreciated how her story unfolded. She seems to have a wee bit of a crush on Torres, and pulling cake out of her purse gave her a wackadoo angle.
Yes, I have said many times how much I love it when NCIS goes goofy, but we see so little of the others that it would be nice to know they are competent.
Of course, the icing on the cake could have been Barbara singing off-key in her big moment during the surprise party. But she slayed. She got her happy ending, and I did, too.
In more good news, Barbara wasn’t the only one who might have seemed like the punching bag of the story. McGee took it on the chin, too.
The case of the week began with Marine Sergeant Molly Delgado’s abduction. It was a comical start, with Jess asking a grizzly-looking fellow to better describe a person they saw in the backseat of someone’s car.
Height, age, race, tattoos? Seriously, Jess. How could someone see any of that if the dude was crouching in the backseat of a car?
Why did I get the impression at first that there was a spinoff possibility with FBI Agent Beth Rollins? There’s even a Deputy Attorney, Brett Gaines, on tap to be a Vance kind of guy.
Lord knows that CIA is falling apart at the seams. Perhaps CBS is hedging its bets with another group on the horizon.
But no, they didn’t make much of an impression at all. They got involved to put a twist on the Sgt. Delgado story. Many twists, really.
The body in the backseat was actually Claire Gaines, who had been kidnapped by Sgt. Deglado. That was a pretty good twist, but it was only the beginning.
Even hearing about her kidnapping reminded me of the horrible case of Denise Amber Lee of Florida, who was kidnapped from her home, called 9-1-1, and was even spotted by a passerby (who pursued the car while she could) banging on the back window.
It’s somewhat remarkable how often something seemingly minor on a show, like a victim crouching in the backseat, can evoke true-life stories. If you’re a true crime fan, there was a relatively recent episode of 20/20 featuring that devastating story.
But, back to our story.
Delgado had been sending messages to a local book club, which Kasie thought was code. I mean, it had to be, right? Not so much. According to Prose before Bros (excellent name, by the way), Delgado was a combination of Jason Bourne and Grizzly Adams.
It was nice to see McGee again, especially since he’s an author, although not one Prose before Bros is interested in reading. That kind of pulp isn’t their thing. Ouch! And he’s so proud of his books.
That’s why it was so funny that they put Molly Delgado on a pedestal. She sounds like the kind of gal you’d find in a pulpy thriller, but she was the real deal.
But when she showed up and confessed, she was hard to read. She certainly had a chip on her shoulder. She was unimpressed with Jess’s interview tactics, calling out placing a hot beverage in front of a violent suspect, mimicking her behavior to get better results.
By the time Neil Oken showed up in Delgado’s trunk, the story was running in wild directions. Brett Gaines showed up with tears streaming down his face, pointing at Oken with a story that didn’t ring true.
Nothing about Delgado’s story was adding up. Jess felt the same. Why was Agent Rollins at Gaine’s house? And why did she burst in to pull Delgado out of an active interrogation? The look on Delgado’s face told me the scariest part of the interview was meeting up with Rollins.
Was Rollins really just a vegan FBI agent who could have her ear turned by Parker’s story about chasing the Phillie Phantom?
Dead man Oken was killed in self-defense, and Delgado was protecting Claire, not kidnapping her, which took me back to the FBI being in on it. Then the camera panned over Jess’s head to show the CCTV recording Jess and Delgado’s conversation.
Gaines, with his crocodile tears, was the man to fear. He’s a monster. Just the plain old “I abuse my wife while telling her I love her and will never leave her” kind of monster.
Rollins may not have been in on the darkness, but she sure missed the signs. And if I could suss out that his tears were questionable, then an FBI agent should have been able to, as well.
In another twist, the book club was more than a book club. It was an underground railroad for abused women
If that’s not the saddest statement on our society, I don’t know what is. Somehow, women need an entire underground network to survive abusive spouses. And I don’t mean to get political, but it’s my world, so why not?
Whenever you hear about a cashless society, think about what that could mean for women like Claire. If they can’t stash cash, they won’t stand a chance, and underground operations like Prose Over Bros will be the only way to escape.
The story had a happy ending. Prose Before Bros lives on, and Barbara had her moment to shine.
There are a couple of other things I want to touch on before we go.
And that’s all she wrote! Literally and figuratively. What did you think about “Gone Girls”?
