NCIS: New Orleans - Tick Tock - Review: "Death Awaits You"
5.10 - "Tick Tock"
Directed by Stacey K. Black
Written by Christopher Silber
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount
Recap – The episode opens with Pride going for a morning run. He takes a call from Laurel, which is interrupted when two bad guys shove a black hood over his head and load him into a van. There, they strip him of his hood and point a gun in his face. Pride is given instructions by an anonymous person over a speaker. He’s shown a screen, where five people wearing hoods are lined up. Pride is told to comply or everyone dies. Uh oh! The kidnapper has Loretta and Pride’s dad, Cassius. Before Pride can ask any questions, he’s given an ear piece and tossed out of the van. Pride is left scratched up and in the middle of the road. Pride’s spirit guide shows up and urges him to move. He narrowly misses getting hit by a trucker and continues to follow the anonymous bad guy’s instructions.
The bad guy instructs Pride to get changed and head to Belle Chasse. He has 30 minutes to get there, which is nerve-wracking. Paying attention to his spirit guide instead of the road, Pride gets pulled over. Unfortunately, the bad guy isn’t pleased and he kills the state trooper. Pride realizes how serious the situation is and books it to his office.
Once at his office, the anonymous bad guy directs Pride to his ASAC’s office. There, he instructs Pride to open up a safe, where Pride finds a CIA file titled, “Operation Copperhead.” He’s told to get back in his car and start driving, but before he can leave the office, Hannah shows up. She wants to know why he fled the scene of the murdered State Trooper. She knows something is up. Pride tricks her into staying in the office with the file and flees.
Hannah realizes she’s been ditched and calls the team, filling them in about the CIA file and Pride’s disappearance. They have bad news to share with her as well. Loretta and Cassius are missing. Too bad we already know where they are and it’s not looking good for either of them! The team realizes that they need to find out what is in the CIA’s “Operation Copperhead” file and they need to find Pride before it’s too late.
Pride heads to the safe house where he is told to pick up an unnamed asset. Oh no. Pride arrives and uses a special code word to gain access to… none other than Amelia Parsons! In case anyone doesn’t remember, Parsons tried to murder Pride at the end of last season. Pride and his crew assumed that Parsons had been locked up, but it turns out that she used intel to make a deal with the CIA. The CIA specifically wanted to know about a private intelligence firm named, Apollyon. Apollyon is comprised of former operatives. Parsons used to be part of Apollyon, but she left and turned the intel she’s gathered into a major bargaining chip with the CIA.
Pride helps Parsons escape the safe house. They are supposed to get into a van with two masked bad guys, but the NCIS officers show up and kill the two armed men. LaSalle and the others want Pride to hand over Parsons, but he explains that he can’t and asks them to trust him. They let him get away in the van, but the bad guy on the ear piece is pissed. Once they get far enough away, Pride pulls over. He holds a knife to Parsons, but before he can do anything, a masked man on the screen pulls the hoods off of four people. It turns out three of them are Parson’s family, her sister, brother-in-law, and their daughter. Loretta is the fourth person. The person in charge is pissed. He wants to prove a point, so the masked man shoots and kills Parson’s brother-in-law.
Pride demands to know what Parsons knows. She says that she has proof that Apollyon exists. Files with data that could bring them down. She tells Pride that she’ll direct him there, where they can recover the files together. They are going to have to work together in order to save those they love.
Patton to the rescue! He uses an ear piece Hannah recovered from one of the bad guys they shot to find Pride. He’s able to tap into the signal and hop on to the feed, communicating directly with Pride. The best part is that the bad guys can’t hear their communications. The team thinks someone on the inside is providing Apollyon with info. They need to figure out who this insider is and what kind of operations Apollyon is running.
Cassius and Loretta are being held in a separate room. Loretta is shaken up. She tells Cassius that she just witnessed someone get executed. He helps break her free from her restraints and offers her comfort.
Meanwhile, Parsons leads Pride to a cemetery, where she’s allegedly hidden the Apollyon files. They break through a wall and retrieve a briefcase. When the Apollyon henchmen show up, the briefcase explodes. The files were never in there, she had it as a backup in case anything like this ever happened. Before the last living bad guy dies, Parsons gets him to radio to his boss that they have recovered the data.
Pride is horrified as the man dies before he can tell them where the hostages are being held. Luckily, his NCIS family have his back and are able to tell him where the bad guys are hiding. He and Parsons enter the building. He frees her and gives her a weapon. Who else thinks this is going to come back to bite him in the behind? Within a matter of seconds, they find Loretta and Cassius. But, before Pride can turn around, Parsons disappears, most likely trying to find and save her family. Pride tells Cassius and Loretta how to escape the building.
Pride finds Parsons, but the bad guys have caught her. One of them has his gun pointed at her. Parsons wants Pride to kill the gunman, putting her own life on the line. Pride refuses and surrenders his gun. As this is happening, Parsons takes on the armed guard, but fails. The guard is free to kill an unarmed Pride, but Cassius shows up just in the nick of time and shoots the guard. Thank goodness he stayed behind to help his son!
Pride sends the hostages out as Parsons appears to be out cold on the floor. Patton has found a signal, which is likely to be where the head of Apollyon is hiding. Pride and his father head toward the room. Pride bursts through the door, but he’s confused. There are computers in the room, but no people. Moments later, his spirit guide shows up and says, “Time’s up Dwayne. I’m so sorry.” Before he can process what’s going on Parsons rounds the corner with a gun pointed at Pride. Cassius jumps in the way, taking multiple shots to the chest. Pride opens fire on Parsons, shooting and killing her.
The episode ends with Pride rushing to his Cassius’ side. He arrives just in time to see his father leave this earth with his spirit guide.
Review/Thoughts – Brilliant episode! The writing, directing, and acting were superb across the board! The Amelia Parsons arc played out with drama and heartache. Poor, Pride and Jimmy! It was nice having an episode focusing heavily on Pride. I’m wondering what kind of backlash he’s going to face at work after everything went down? Will this be the final push that sends him back to NCIS? What do you think?
I’m ready for Pride to come back, handle Apollyon with the team, pay tribute his father, possibly throw in a light-hearted episode or two, and then back at it with intense cases, more Sebastian, and hopefully an episode with Patton and Elvis? *fingers crossed*
I do have one question… If Pride was up early enough to see the sun rise and take a call from Laurel, why does he have an issue getting to the office by eight? Is it because he doesn’t like his new job or he’s not a morning person and this was a fluke? There’s a good chance my preggo brain is just forgetting a bunch of scenes where Pride is up early! Ha ha! If I’m forgetting something, can you please remind me?
What did you think of this episode? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! Be sure to leave a comment below!
Also, have you missed an episode or two? Need to catch up or just want to refresh your NCIS - New Orleans memory? You can access all of my SpoilerTV reviews and interviews by clicking on the following link: http://www.spoilertv.com/search/label/KA
