NCIS: Hawai’i 3×09 Review: “Spill the Tea”

NCIS: Hawai’i 3×09 “Spill the Tea” is an annoying kind of episode, considering the circumstances. As the first part of the Season 3 finale, it would be kind of anticlimactic, because all the roads have apparently been leading to an NCIS: Elite unit we don’t care about, and the Season 3 two-part finale is all about them, and Sam Hanna is indeed just leading a new team that has nothing to do with his previous NCIS: Los Angeles team, or his previous partner of over a decade, or even his missing boss, Henrietta Lange. Talk about a letdown.

But to add insult to injury, this episode is now the first part of the series finale, and it is mostly about …an NCIS: Elite team that I must stress, we do not care about. It isn’t even all that much about Sam, a character I, of all people (who reviewed like a decade of NCIS: Los Angeles), really appreciate, but that shouldn’t have been the focus of so much time on NCIS: Hawai’i — particularly not if it was all leading to this.

There are some moments of banter for the team, but that’s it. Moments. Jane Tennant gets to be Jane Tennant, because all she needs is to exist in any given room to be a badass, but the team is separated for most of the episode, and everyone has to navigate a bunch of new guys who are apparently not all that important since they seemingly get killed off at the end of the hour!

Oh, and did I mention that Kate isn’t even around and Ernie barely gets screen time? We’re saying goodbye to this show in one more episode and this penultimate episode of the show is just …what? The setup for something more that will now never get to materialize?

It’s, of course, infuriating. I’ve written about how the show and the fans deserved more. But it’s also proof this was not really the plan. You don’t set up the finale NCIS: Hawai’i has set up if you think there’s any chance this show doesn’t have one more season in it. In fact, you don’t set up this storyline if you don’t think the show doesn’t have multiple seasons in it. And sure, storylines are planned ahead of time, but episodes weren’t filmed so far ahead, particularly not in this writer-strike-delayed season of TV.

We can play the what changed game and the reasons will be numerous, but the reality seems to be things changed really fast. We were blindsided. So was the cast and crew.

It’s not the first time. It likely won’t be the last. And CBS is not the only culprit. Every network and streamer has made the very same decision. No one is safe from the people playing this game. And they’ll always say it’s about money, and perhaps in some ways it is. But the truth remains that while TPTB try to “save money” the first shows that get axed are always diverse shows.

The ones with a LGBTQ+ ship. With a WOC lead. The ones representing underrepresented communities. And the ones that get greenlit, well, those funnily enough are always the ones starring white men, telling white stories. Even if those white men have a problematic past.

Things I think I think:

• Lucy’s back! This wouldn’t be so exciting if we’d had any clue of where she was, or if she had been in more episodes.
• “Hanging in the back of the secret agent van,” lol.
• Kai and Lucy high-fiving was cute.
• NCIS: Elite is laaaame.
• “Can’t say”/”Because you don’t know either?” hahaha
• I mean, am I supposed to cry because this guy is dead or…?
• Old Jesse is hilarious too.
• A Heather mention! Heather who we’re never gonna meet. I’m going to CRY.
• Stupid Elite is right. This is the first part of the season finale, and it’s clearly all about the Elite unite and I just do not care. It’s a waste of our precious time. It’s even a waste of Sam as a character.
• You say Jesse, and now I’m like WHICH JESSE?
• “Lucy, don’t engage.”
• The Elite team is kinda annoying.
• Chase is the best. I am going to miss her.
• Oh no, the Jesses are bonding.
• No one likes Swift, it’s not just me!
• “Not officially.”
• Captain America?
• Yeah, something is going to happen to the Elite team. I guess better them than our team.
• “Okay, as long as we both agree,” says Jesse, as he goes along with what Tennant wants.
• The Tennant scene with this mafia dude is kinda badass, not gonna lie.
• I didn’t mean to KILL THE ENTIRE ELITE TEAM, THOUGH.
• Especially because this isn’t even a cliffhanger, considering I do NOT CARE.
• And I’m sure I could have probably cared about Elite, had I had time, which I didn’t. But perhaps the most annoying part is to dedicate this entire episode to a team that seemingly then dies! That and the fact that it goes against over a decade of Sam’s development that he’s here playing with Elite instead of helping Callen find Hetty in the first place.
• Unless Hetty is safe and fine in her house and NO ONE TOLD ME.

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Hawai’i 3×09 “Spill the Tea”? Share with us in the comments below!

NCIS: Hawai’i airs Mondays on CBS.