NCIS Hawai’i 3×07 Review: “The Next Thousand”

NCIS: Hawai’i 3×07 “The Next Thousand” isn’t really a continuation of NCIS 21×07 “A Thousand Yards,” though in many ways, it is. It’s the next step of the NCISverse. It’s proof of what has made this universe work for so many years, and what can continue working for so many others. One thousand episodes down, hopefully, many more to come.

And this is a fun episode of NCIS: Hawai’i too, one that does a great job at showcasing the characters and the dynamics of a show that are really at their strongest. Lucy isn’t around, but Kate gets character development thanks to a very apt pairing with Sam and some time with Tennant. Meanwhile, we also get to explore Tennant’s backstory a little, as Kai and Jesse get to showcase one of the dynamics that has grown the most in the course of three seasons.

This is what good procedurals do, they give you character development in little drops until there comes a moment, three seasons in when you go oh wait, I know this about this character. She’s going to act this way because that’s who she is. Or she wouldn’t do that, because that goes against everything she believes in. And yet, at the same time, there’s still so much to learn. So, how about that Season 4, CBS?

THE BEST MOMENT FOR THE TEAM

NCIS: Hawai’i 3×07 “The Next Thousand” is one of the best uses of Sam Hanna on this show. The dynamics with Kate Whistler work perfectly because they are total opposites, and yet sometimes you learn from people who are very different from you if you are willing to learn. And this Kate Whistler, the one who turned up at Jane Tennant’s house at the beginning of the episode, the one warning up soup at the end …that Kate is very much willing to learn because she’s part of this team. She’s part of this family.

But Kai and Jesse work really well too, in the quiet moments, when they’re bantering and when they have to pull out their guns and try to take out the bad guys. In fact, it’s almost impossible to remember at this point, but there was a time when it felt like these two would never get along. Now it’s like their differences complement each other. And the two of them complement Tennant really well. Lucy wasn’t around, and Kate was working with Sam, but the team in general just gels at this point.

And that’s why we need that Season 4. This show is just getting started. There’s so much more for these characters to do, to discover. And we need that new season on CBS, not a shortened season on a streaming service. This show was made for longer seasons. We still need to meet Lucy’s parents – and have them meet Kate. We need to figure out why Sam is really around, and get some closure on the end of NCIS: Los Angeles. We need to meet Jesse’s wife. And delve deep into Kai’s family drama. Not to mention Tennant’s backstory that this episode introduced. We’ve barely scratched the surface with these characters. You can’t take them away now.

AND FOR OUR SAC

Vanessa Lachey plays both the tough Jane Tennant and the hurt and confused Jane Tennant with such humanity that she feels both a larger-than-life character as she’s facing a Colonel that we all know is evil and like a character we just want to keep safe as she’s stuck in that cabin in the middle of the woods. That’s what makes Jane Tennant work, in so many ways – and what makes her the kind of character we want, no need, more of.

It’s really, really hard to do both and it’s especially hard to do it convincingly. But what Lachey does especially well is make sure both parts bleed into each other. There’s never a sense that a switch has been flipped. She’s never just one side of Jane Tennant. She’s both, because people – women, can be both things. They can be tough and vulnerable, they have to be both, especially in positions like the one she’s in. And they can succeed at being both things.

When Lachey was first announced as the first SAC in NCIS franchise history, a lot of misogynistic questions wondered how she would do it. This is how. And we hope she gets to continue doing it for many more years.

Things I think I think:

• Kate looks like she’s really bad at the “ruthless art of purging.”
• But I really like that she’s at Tennant’s house asking for advice.
• Do I mind that they sent Jesse and Kai into the jungle? Hell no.
• “You done?”
• So sexy.
• If there are two polar opposite people it’s Sam and Kate.
• “Did you just sense that? Because it was meant to be metaphorical.”
• “We’re not scientists, we’re problem solvers.”
• Jesse getting mad this dude left Tennant behind is a MOOD.
• I knew Sam and Kate would work well together.
• The final confrontation had me TENSE.
• I knew that guy was a problem ever since he gave Tennant attitude.
• Kate and Tennant, I HAVE FEELINGS.
• We forget (and by we, I mean other people I will never forget) what they went through together at the end of last season. There’s a bond there.
• Okay, that puts the hallucination into context.
• You can tell when there’s a woman directing a woman-centric story. You can tell. And also, when that woman is Daniela Ruah. Hats off. This was quite an episode.

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Hawai’i 3×07 “The Next Thousand”? Share with us in the comments below!

NCIS: Hawai’i airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.