NCIS: Sydney Season 3 Quietly Crowns the Franchise’s New Greatest Character

The international spinoff of Mark Harmon’s Navy procedural quietly confirmed that its best character is Bluebird Gleeson (Mavournee Hazel) in NCIS: Sydney Season 3, Episode 2. The Australia-based spinoff is a relatively new offering for the franchise, premiering in 2023. That said, it’s the franchise’s second-oldest current series, after the cancellations of NCIS: Hawai’i, NCIS: Los Angeles, and NCIS: New Orleans, with the flagship series currently airing NCIS Season 23.

In last week’s opening of NCIS: Sydney Season 3, Michelle Mackey’s (Olivia Swann) team was missing one of its most critical members. The premiere reveals that the team’s forensic scientist has quit the team in a video message, though Doc (William McInnes) believes that the circumstances surrounding Blue’s absence are mysterious. The NCIS: Sydney character had previously asked Rosie to investigate a personal matter, and the team stumbled upon it in “True Blue.”

Bluebird Gleeson’s Traumatic NCIS: Sydney Season 3 Story Explained

Blue gets the spotlight in “True Blue,” which sees the fan-favorite character return after her absence in the premiere. The development follows Blue’s cliffhanger in NCIS: Sydney Season 2’s finale, which saw a strange woman show up in Bluebird’s apartment, taking her by complete surprise. The development definitely came back into play when Gleeson was missing in Episode 1, prompting viewers to consider whether the mysterious woman’s appearance was tied to Blue’s resignation.

When audiences see Bluebird again, she is at a spacious compound in the Blue Mountains. The woman who showed up at her apartment, Aspira, indeed prompted Gleeson’s leave. Apparently, she told Blue she needed to return to the community because her brother needed her. Blue agrees to return to her former home to see Eli (Jacob Collins-Levy), but when they reunite, Eli assures his twin sister that everything is fine. That said, Blue soon uncovers the actual danger.

Talking to a young girl who believes that Blue is their queen, Gleeson learns that Aspira has brainwashed the small farming community into believing a prophecy that says they will all ascend to the stars together. Meanwhile, the team discovers that the remains in Blue’s apartment are those of her father and comes to the Bilpin Collective to conduct a wellness check on their teammate. Evie (Tuuli Narkle) and DeShawn (Sean Sagar) discover poison, and it clicks that Aspira is planning a mass suicide.

While Bluebird buys just enough time for her team to return to the commune and arrest Aspira, who wanted to kill everyone else and sell the land, she endures a traumatic incident, watching her brother nearly die. The story leads to Blue reconnecting with her grandmother and getting answers about what happened to her father, but it solidifies that the team’s forensic scientist has a haunting past. Furthermore, the focus on Blue speaks to the weight Hazel’s character carries in the spinoff.

Blue’s Rich Backstory Quietly Confirms That She’s The Best Character

Image via CBS

Bluebird’s backstory represents a positive development for the international spinoff. It’s the Aussie spinoff’s first deep dive into a character’s background, revealing some of Blue’s most formative life events to enrich the show’s narrative. While audiences have some background details about the characters in NCIS: Sydney, Blue’s story marks the show’s first time using flashbacks to explore an NCIS: Sydney character’s past, delving into their story beyond surface-level details and traits.

In NCIS and its other spinoff shows, flashbacks are utilized sparingly to build out the franchise’s most pivotal characters. The flagship show started this in NCIS Season 3’s two-part finale, which revealed Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ past trauma using flashbacks that he experienced while in a coma. Harmon’s NCIS character is one of the most important in the franchise. Blue is also beloved, and NCIS: Sydney’s decision to focus on its neurotic forensic scientist signals that they understand that she’s an up-and-coming NCIS fan-favorite.

Will Blue Return To Michelle Mackey’s Team In NCIS: Sydney Season 3?

Though Bluebird’s mystery about what happened to her father is solved, whether Gleeson will return to the AFP/NCIS: Sydney task force in Season 3 is still unresolved. Though she is now free from Aspira and reunited with her brother, Blue hasn’t made it clear whether she plans to return to the team. Furthermore, while investigating her disappearance, Mackey and JD (Todd Lasance) uncovered information about their teammate that made them reconsider whether they could let her back into the group.

Perhaps the most shocking development in the latest NCIS: Sydney episode is that seemingly innocent Blue, whose real name is Faith Mullins, is a convicted felon. While she was just trying to take a scanner from the university to test what she believed were her father’s remains, Gleeson’s record should have barred her from passing AFP background checks to join the agency. However, it appears that Blue forged all of her official identification and documents, establishing a series of crimes that Mackey and JD grapple with in the closing of “True Blue.”

Blue’s crime against the AFP is no minor offense, and Mackey’s discovery means that Gleeson never should have been cleared to work for the agency to begin with. However, as Michelle notes in the closing of Episode 2, she and JD are the only two officials who know about Blue’s fraud. Therefore, Mackey, who tends to work off the books, is probably considering whether she should report the incident. Mackey, formerly a Navy helicopter pilot, has had her fair share of missteps, and many of her superiors have offered her forgiveness when she slipped up.

All that said, it seems likely that Blue will return to her post at NCIS: Sydney. Bluebird actor Mavournee Hazel remains in the show’s opening credits, which feature shots of the character with different hairstyles from previous seasons and working in the lab. However, Blue has a replacement for now, and he’s still working with the team in the preview for NCIS: Sydney Season 3, Episode 3. Still, after her story in “True Blue,” it’s unlikely that the Sydney spinoff is saying goodbye to its best character.