NCIS: New Orleans - Inside Out - Review: "New Boss"
5.2 - "Inside Out"
Directed by Edward Ornelas
Written by Adam Targum
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount
“Inside Out” opens up with a small boat pulling up to the shore and a crate being unloaded. As the boat takes off, two men with guns shout, “This is a restricted area.” Unfortunately, the bad guys don’t seem to care. They shoot the men in the back and load the crate into the back of an SUV.
The crate is unloaded a short time later. There’s a terrified and bloody man in it wearing an oxygen mask. One of the bad guys says, “Welcome to the Big Easy, Mr. Desmond.”
Down at the scene, Loretta points out that the two victims were ambushed. Their killers appear to be professionals, due to the bullet placement. The crew is confused as to why the men were down there in the first place, as they are Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) clerks from DC.
Sebastian found blood and skin cell traces in the wooden box.
Gregorio wants to know the DIA are running operations on their turf without the NCIS team being informed. LaSalle, who is temporarily in charge, says he wants to get to the bottom of things.
Pride and Laurel are walking down the street. People are glad he’s back. He’s a local celebrity. They continue to have a sweet father-daughter relationship until Laurel forces Pride to check his monitor. His heart-rate is high. Laurel reminds him that it’s only been eight weeks since he was shot multiple times.
LaSalle is trying to figure out why the victims were down on the banks. He’s not having much luck with the DIA.
Pride shows up to HQ. Sebastian is the most excited to see him. He hugs Pride with everything he’s got.
After the mini reunion, they get back to the case. Sebastian has figured out the man in the crate was Terrance Desmond, a former IRA bomb-maker. The Navy was investigating him, but he disappeared about a month ago.
LaSalle and Gregorio think someone might have kidnapped him to build a bomb.
Pride and LaSalle call FBI Det. Sanchez. He has some news, Pride is the new SAC. He’s shocked. Sanchez asks him to think about it before automatically saying, “No.” In the meantime, a new boss has been appointed.
Downstairs, Special Agent Hannah Khoury (played by the talented Necar Zadegan) walks in and answers the phone. Sebastian walks in and is highly confused. She puts him to work right away. She tells him NOPD needs, “everything we’ve got on Terrance Desmond.” She forgets to introduce herself.
Gregorio comes in the room. She asks Sebastian, “Who is she?” When Sebastian says, “I don’t know.” She asks him why he’s following her orders if he doesn’t know who she is, to which he replies, “I don’t know.” Oh, Sebastian. You are so lovable.
Gregorio confronts Khoury, but Khoury is prepared. She tells Gregorio that the two men at the docks were not DIA clerks from DC, instead, they were highly trained security specialists, who were known for handling asset containment. Turns out, they were helping a private party, and the guests don’t, “Officially exist.” There’s a good chance they are CIA ghost prisoners.
Pride walks downstairs just as Gregorio asks, “Who the hell are you?” He responds, “She’s your new boss.”
Serious question, what about LaSalle? Was he considered? Are his IRS issues holding him back? Does he not have enough seniority or experience?
Back to the episode, Sebastian says, “I don’t want a new boss.” He adds, “I don’t like change.”
Pride and Khoury have a private conversation upstairs. She says the only reason she took the position is because she heard Pride was going to be the regional SAC. Khoury asks Pride why he came back today. She thinks he put everything else above his job. She continues talking and tells Pride that she’s tired of constantly moving. She wants to have a home, but she does not want to take Pride’s place unless he’s ready to be accept the SAC position. Khoury asks Pride if he might be willing to help, since he’s already there.
Laurel shows up at HQ. She’s mad. Pride leaves, but tells her that she doesn’t have to worry. He says that he missed his people and wanted to check in on them. Laurel isn’t buying it. She is terrified that she’s going to lose her father. She wants him to take a serious look at his priorities. He says, “The team needs me.” Laurel says, “I just wish you’d like someone else where the cape every once and a while.” Pride promises her that he won’t be wearing a cape any time soon.
Gregorio has news. There’s no official record of any CIA or DOD operation on the shore. Khoury tells her that with this information, they might have a way to track down Desmond. She praises Gregorio by saying, “Great job.”
They head out to an old wooden barn. They are met by gunmen and automatic weapons. They manage to shoot one of the bad guys as he is trying to escape on a helicopter. Khoury and Gregorio rush into the barn. Desmond is there, but he’s been shot in the head.
Back at HQ, something isn’t making sense. Sebastian points out that there wasn’t any DNA, hair, or fibers left at the scene and the materials left behind couldn’t be used to make a bomb.
Khoury decides that their best hope of finding out what is going on, is to interrogate the gunman they apprehended. She calls the gunman, “the weakest link” and “the runt.”
The man says that he didn’t kill anyone. He adds, “I was hired last minute to do this job.” He tells Khoury that the men he works are incredibly dangerous.
He gives her his boss’ name, Smith, and tells Khoury that all he knows about their mission, is that the helicopter was going to take them to a runway, where they were going to be met by a private jet.
Pride nor Khoury believe him, but they are going to check nearby airports, just to be safe.
Khoury wants to interrogate the man one more time.
Loretta comes down to HQ to check on Dwayne. She also has Desmond’s autopsy results. She is worried about Pride. She tells him that he’s going to have to figure out the meaning of the things he saw while he was in the “other side.” They weren’t shown to him by accident.
Loretta has more news. She reports that the Desmond’s had already been dead for 18 hours. Uh oh! The bad guys tricked the NCIS officers. Not only is everyone out investigating the nearby air strips, but all fingers point to the bad guys coming back to rescue the man they arrested.
An attack is imminent, and Pride’s heart is already racing. Things are not looking good.
The bad guys swarm HQ. They’ve cut the power and they are using a jammer, so Pride and the others can’t call for help. Pride, Khoury, and Patton are hiding inside the main building. Loretta is nearby.
One of the bad guys brings a police officer inside and points a gun at him. They want to trade him for Smith. Ah, the man they arrested said that Smith was the boss. Turns out, he’s Smith.
Pride, Khoury, and Patton come out with their hands up. Smith wants Pride’s key fob. Pride tells him that he’ll give him whatever he wants, but he needs to let everyone else go first. Smith proceeds to kick and beat Pride. Khoury intervenes and gives him her key fob.
Pride’s heart is racing. Smith has a gun pointed at him. Khoury gives Smith her challenge word.
Smith tells his men to lock up the police officer in the bathroom. Pride is struggling to breathe. Khoury is helping him through it. She is confident that he’s going to be okay. Khoury tells the bad guys that the challenge word she gave them, would set off a warning.
Khoury attacks the man and gets his gun. Loretta manages to turn on the power and temporarily blinds the bad guys, who are using night vision gear. A fight ensues and Smith sets off a bomb. He and several of the bad guys get away. Pride, Khoury, Patton, and Loretta are safe.
Everyone is back at HQ. They still don’t know Smith’s mission and headquarters has sustained major damage, but they do have several fingers of one of the bad guys.
Outside and away from the team, Pride calls Rita and leaves her a message.
LaSalle goes outside to talk to Pride. He’s worried about his mentor and friend. Pride tells him that he knew the gun that Smith pointed at him would misfire. LaSalle doesn’t question him, but the look on his face says it all.
They talk about the regional SAC position and Laurel. It might be a much safer position for Pride.
Good news, they have an ID off of the fingers. The prints belong to Roger Beeg. He was kicked out of the air force and then moved overseas to fly planes for private security outfits, where he was linked to mercenary, Avery Walker a.k.a. Smith. Smith has connections with dangerous people, including a Russian oligarch, with ties to several foreign terrorist organizations.
The NCIS crew has figured out the mission. Smith has used NCIS stolen intel to pinpoint a specific Navy ship. The ship is carrying a very dangerous terrorist.
Pride and Khoury break protocol and call the captain of the ship. He says they are fine. A few seconds later, he’s shot and Smith’s face comes across over the video com.
Smith and his crew have the terrorist. His tracking chip was cut out and several Navy officers are dead. Turns out Smith has more military intel that will allow him to fly out of the United States without anyone knowing about his flight plan.
Pride and the team figure it out just before the bad guys are about to take off. They have everyone except Smith. Pride races toward an airplane hangar, where he finds Smith. Smith points out that Pride’s hands are shaking and his heart is racing. He says that Pride is suffering from PTSD. Pride tells him, “There are plenty of ways to figure that out, but if you go for that weapon, I will shoot you.”
LaSalle and several additional officers flood the airplane hangar. They arrest Smith. LaSalle is worried about Pride, but Pride brushes him off and says that he’s, “Never been better.”
Khoury and the team celebrate by popping a champagne bottle. Gregorio says, “Welcome to the family.” Sebastian adds, “Welcome to the dysfunction.”
Pride walks into HQ and sees everyone celebrating together. He backs out before anyone sees him and heads home.
Staring at himself in the mirror, Pride undresses to get into the shower. He looks at his bullet hole scars. It’s obvious that he is incredibly shaken up by today’s incidents and he definitely isn’t over the attack that took place eight weeks ago.
Pride gets out of the shower and finds Laurel cooking in his kitchen. He apologizes for not listening to her. He knows something needs to change, but he’s not ready to step away completely. She tells him that there has to be some kind of halfway point. One where he isn’t constantly in danger. Pride goes into the dining room to set the table, where he hears an ambulance siren and has a flashback to the night he was shot. He’s brought out of it by a phone call from Sanchez. The episode ends with Pride saying, “So tell me about this new job.”
*******
My Thoughts:
This was a solid second episode. We were introduced to the new boss, Special Agent Hannah Khoury. She fit in nicely with the team; however, I didn’t think their immediate acceptance and the party at the end of the episode necessary fit. What did you think of that scene?
While I think Pride needs time to recover, I have a hard time believing that Pride is going to accept the new job. Do you think he’ll leave the team to become the new regional SAC?
What did you think about this episode of NCIS – New Orleans? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! Be sure to leave a comment below!
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