NCIS Season 23, Episode 1 ‘Prodigal Son (Part I)‘ is pretty much the episode we expected it to be. Parker goes rogue, trying to catch Carla Marino, and the team has his back, even when ordered to stand down. And then, of course, Parker decides to go at it solo so he can keep the team out of trouble. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, with Parker and before, with Gibbs. In fact, it almost feels like the NCIS way.
The only things that are different in this scenario are the presence of Parker’s sister, Harriet, and the fact that the episode ends with the team seemingly out of ideas. But since this is just Part 1, we have to assume they’ll all figure something out by the time next week rolls around. In the meantime, though, “Prodigal Son (Part I) might be a rather predictable episode, but the good news is that the team dynamics are still capable of making even such an episode a pretty entertaining hour.
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YOU’RE GRIEVING, ALDEN
“Prodigal Son (Part I)” does a good job of giving us a glimpse of the kind of grief that manifests as rage. And to be honest, wouldn’t we feel the same if we were in Parker’s shoes? He warned everyone, multiple times, and yet no one really believed him. But he was the one who ended up paying the price. His family was the one that ended up paying the price.
So yes, he’s being a little irrational this episode, in his grief. He’s not thinking straight, and he’s nowhere near close to playing by the rules. But perhaps, the team had the better idea: keep an eye on him, help him out. Vance’s solution just pushed Parker into going rogue. Not that I don’t get what Vance was trying to do, or the reasons he was doing it. But grief is not a good counselor, and Parker was never going to stand down.
Often, grief is just rage, and until you get through the rage, you can’t feel anything else. So, this episode and the next one are about that revenge. But the question now is, once Parker gets through that, what’s left? And who helps him through the other stages of grief? He’s got a team, a family. Now we just have to hope he remembers that.
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DOES THE SHOW REMEMBER JESSICA & JIMMY?
This is the first episode in a while that feels like the show has a memory about Jessica and Jimmy. Their conversation about Parker, and about grief, hits heavy because it’s clear these two people know each other well, but also because it’s also clear there are unresolved issues there. When they hug, it is a hug of comfort, of friends. But somewhere in the middle of it, the feelings neither of them has been able to get over come back up. And then, it all becomes awkward and hard.
NCIS clearly broke up Jessica and Jimmy with very little plan of what to do next, or how to get them back together. For the one couple left in this procedural, that was very much a mistake. NCIS has been on for 23 years, and though the show has not actually been very good at delivering successful, happy couples, it has been decently good at setting them up. It’s the aftermath where they struggle. That’s where we are with these two.
Case in point, Tony and Ziva, who needed their own show a decade later to figure out their issues.
But so many of the other shows in this franchise, from NCIS: Los Angeles to NCIS: Hawai’i, have succeeded at the thing NCIS keeps finding hard to do: writing a couple that goes through highs and lows, but does so together. It’s Season 23. It’s about time the mothership cracks this puzzle, once and for all.
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THAT WAS GIBBS’ EXCUSE
“…didn’t work then, it’s pissing me off now.”
The parallels with Gibbs are very obvious in this episode, in everything Parker does and the decisions he makes. He articulates that he considers the team family, so it’s clearly not about him not caring. If anything, it’s probably about Parker caring more about his team than he cares about his sister and perhaps even more than he cared about his father when he was alive. And, of course, that comes with a level of guilt for Parker.
For the team, though, there’s an appreciation of the reasons Parker is doing what he’s doing, but the predominant feeling is just frustration. Because they’ve said and proven that they’ll have Parker’s back, just as they did with Gibbs before. Neither of these people wants to be protected from the mess. In fact, they jumped into it with eyes wide open. So, part of the job for Gibbs then, for Parker now, is treating the team like adults who can make their own decisions.
Sometimes, for the people you care about, you’ll do unadvisable things. And perhaps, their first intention might be to spare you. But McGee, Jessica, and Nick don’t want that. Jimmy and Kasie don’t want that. And just like Gibbs had to, this is a lesson Parker has to learn, not just to be a better leader, but to be a better friend.
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Things I think I think:
- The flashbacks are really effective for giving us the context of Parker’s relationship with his dad (and sister!).
- Jimmy telling Parker how sorry he is kinda got me.
- McGee packing Parker a bag did too.
- Give me Jessica and Jimmy back together yesterday.
- Oh, the team is going rogue and helping Parker. I’m sooo shocked (not).
- “Last time we all went rogue, there was no hand soap,” lol
- Am I supposed to like the sister? Because I do not.
- With Parker’s own gun? Carla!
- “I’m with family. One that doesn’t grade on a curve.” Parker, stop.
- Mad Vance is kinda funny to me, because he still kinda lets them get away with it.
- Nick Torres has some issues, and I think we all need to acknowledge that.
- McGee’s “We don’t want to lose you along the way” hits hard. He’s lost a lot of people.
- I hate episodes that end in “To Be Continued.”
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of NCIS Season 23, Episode 1 ‘Prodigal Son (Part I)’? Please share with us in the comments below! And if you have any thoughts about the show, leave a review/rating of your own in our NCIS hub!
NCIS airs Mondays at 8/7c on CBS.
What I’m feeling probably has to do with summer break finally being over, but I thought this was a pretty strong hour. At least it doesn’t have the ‘boring’ feel to it. (yet).
Plus, if you look at the opening credits real closely, there’s some nostalgic nods to the very first Season included!