NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 1 ‘Heart Starter’ brings us back to Sydney with a bang. The episode picks up on the cliffhanger left at the end of Season 1, what feels like 84 years ago, and delivers an episode that doesn’t just give us closure, but makes us get to know these characters better.
The NCIS franchise has delivered good shows consistently. NCIS: Origins, the new entry into the franchise, is doing a very good job of telling great stories while peeling back the layers of Gibbs’ past. NCIS: Sydney, however, doesn’t have that baggage. If anything, it has a different challenge: standing out even without any strong ties to the main show. If it does, it’s on the strength of good writing, compelling character, and really great actors who truly look like they’re having a blast. And what can we say? We want more.
MORE: It’s been a while! Need a reminder of how Season 1 ended? Here’s our review of the NCIS: Sydney Season 1 finale.
HOWDY, PARTNER
NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 1 ‘Heart Starter’ shows us not just the best version of Mackey and J.D., but the best version of their relationship. It’s an episode where Mackey calls him out on his worst impulses—just when she needs him too, and yet is also there to provide comfort, support, and most importantly, be the partner J.D. needs, in good times and bad.
The opposite also applies. In this episode, J.D. gets to see behind the walls Mackey usually puts up, and he realizes that now that he knows her more—he actually likes her more. And we think he already liked her a fair bit. ‘Heart Starter’ is, however, an episode about deepening that connection and about what you would do for your partner.
In Mackey’s case, the answer is to take the shot. Because it’s easier for her than it is for J.D. and as his partner, she realizes that. Sometimes the only way out of certain situations is by leaning on someone else, and in this episode, it was J.D. who needed someone to lean on and it was Mackey who was there, ready to be his port in the middle of the storm. And though neither of them says it, it’s clear from their interactions in this episode that if Mackey ever needs J.D. to do the same, he’ll be happy to do it.
These two might have started as reluctant partners, but at this point, they would choose each other. And more importantly, they would choose this team. And that’s a pretty good place to start Season 2.
MORE: Want more after the premiere? Check out our interview with Olivia Swann
SNITCHES END UP IN DITCHES (WITH STITCHES)
Not everything is a “loyalty test” in NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 1 ‘Heart Starter’, and yet the team pretty much takes it as if everything were. In one of the best moments of the show so far, we see the team going all “I am Spartacus” on the question of who was to blame for the prisoner escape at the end of Season 1, and it’s more than a little heartwarming. Mackey and J.D. certainly seem to think so.
This team started as six separate parts—and even within it, there were the Australians and the Americans. And just like I mentioned with Mackey and J.D., these people didn’t choose to work together. They didn’t get to pick who constituted the team. Instead, for a while, they made do with the lot they were given. At this point, though, it’s not about making do. It’s about wanting to be on this team.
Now just because DeShawn cares about Mackey, but also because he cares about Evie—who is his partner. Not just because Dr. Penrose cares about Blue, but because he also cares about J.D. It’s the best version of what a team can be, no should be, and we’re already here, in the first episode of Season 2. Imagine what else NCIS: Sydney can become if given the time, what other dynamics it can explore. I, for one, cannot wait to see what the show has in store next.
MORE: Will Kate Todd show up in NCIS: Origins?
Things I think I think:
- The “fakeout” at the beginning is transparent. No one was going to believe Mackey was dead.
- “It’s very hard to make your heart stop beating if it doesn’t want to.” Okay, Doc, you win this one.
- I’ll give it to J.D., he’s asking the right questions. Not always in the right way, but what would we do in his place?
- Rankin talking about his kids feels like something that’s going to come back later. Was he threatened too?
- We all did know the team was going to get in trouble for letting their prisoner escape, it’s just been so long that we’d forgotten.
- “Zero communication with your team until I’m done.” Yeaaah, right.
- “I resigned my JAG commission over the way Mackey was treated during our court martial.” DeShawn, I love you.
- Their reactions to the fact they’re being questioned are kinda hilarious.
- But yeah, Mackey was always going to take the fall here. And J.D. wasn’t going to be allowed to get out of it, either.
- “What’s the worst they can do?” I MEAN.
- DeShawn refusing to play ball with Big Boss is incredibly attractive.
- And the Evie and DeShawn banter is still on point.
- “Snitches end up in ditches.”/”With stitches”
- That Mackey and J.D. hug is going to live rent-free in my mind. Are people writing fanfic here?
- He closed HIS EYES.
- “You were only pretending you were gonna kill him so I’d hug you.” Banter is also on point.
- LOL at the whole “give me a heads up next time we get hitched.” Please, they need to go undercover as a couple. I have a mighty need.
- I’m glad they’re trusting each other, though.
- “Controversial. Deeply unethical. But impossible… I don’t think so.”
- Also, you’re living in someone’s garage J.D.? For real?
- I have another question: what do you mean things work themselves out? Aren’t you getting a divorce?
- LOL, Mackey knew DeShawn would answer.
- “Way to go, real boss.” Evie is killing me.
- Well, I didn’t have Mackey also having a son on my bingo card.
- “Best mistake I ever made.”
- THE TEAM SCENES. THE TEAM SCENES.
- “You told me to find Neiums or risk losing my team. If those are the stakes, I gotta do what I gotta do.”
- A part of me doesn’t even blame J.D. for telling her where Rankin is.
- Wild is a peacemaker you don’t need. But one with a mic? That’s the next level.
- “You okay?”/”Define okay.”
- And then the “you good” after the explosion. I’m just keeping track.
- DeShawn seeing right through J.D. is also kinda fun.
- A VANCE MENTION. Bring Vance in!
- So, we’re surely going back to Rankin at one point. Gotcha.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS: Sydney Season 2, Episode 1 ‘Heart Starter’? Share with us in the comments below!
NCIS: Sydney airs Fridays at 8/7c on CBS.
