Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode “Enjoyable and Video games” are forward!
Diona Reasonover has been taking part in Kasie Hines on NCIS since Season 15, with the character taking on because the company’s Forensic Specialist following the departure of Pauley Perrette’s Abby Sciuto. As such, Kasie’s gotten a good quantity of episodes revolving round her over time, together with final 12 months’s “Lifeline,” which made a very good case for her spending extra outing within the discipline (stream it along with your Paramount+ subscription. Now that point has come once more, as “Enjoyable and Video games” simply completed airing on the 2025 TV schedule. I’m right here to speak out what went down this episode, in addition to why it hilariously jogged my memory of a recurring joke from The Large Bang Principle.
What Occurred In The NCIS Episode “Enjoyable And Video games”
The occasions of “Enjoyable and Video games” started when Victor Chan, a member of Kasie’s group of recreation night time pals, choked to demise outdoors his automobile after he and the others left Kasie place. He was poisoned by hemlock that had been combined into fondue despatched to the group by one other buddy, Craig, who was unable to attend the sport. Since Victor was a infamous double dipper, not one of the others ate the fondue, therefore why they didn’t meet the identical deadly destiny. However making issues worse, Craig was discovered strangled to demise in his residence, leaving the NCIS group to infer another person poisoned the fondue and despatched it.
At first, it appeared like solely Victor himself was meant to be focused as a result of he was concerned with a counterfeiting operation for a buying and selling card recreation the group appreciated to play referred to as Ferrets & Phalanxes (extra on that quickly). That proved to not be correct although, and the actual cause was rooted in how virtually everybody within the group (Carol Wilson, who’s appeared in a handful of NCIS episodes stretching again to Season 7, being the exception) met on the similar forensic science introductory course in faculty, which was taught by Professor Annabelle Davis.
The true offender was Jesse Winston, a lately paroled convicted gang member whom Davis testified towards when he was being tried for robbing a comfort retailer. Jesse remained adamant he didn’t commit that crime, however whereas he was in jail, he misplaced his brother and nephew to the road. So upon getting out, he determined to hunt revenge towards Davis by making an attempt to kill the individuals who mattered most to her, i.e. Kasie’s buddy group.
Finally Jesse determined to instantly confront Professor Davis with a gun (he’d already been discreetly keeping track of her by pretending to be a pupil in one among her lectures). Parker and Torres arrived simply in time and gunned down Jesse earlier than he might kill Davis. Nonetheless, in a tragic twist, Kasie found out that her former professor had falsified proof in Jesse’s case to get him despatched to jail as a result of he’d already been arrested a dozen instances earlier than. Kasie was left with no selection however to show in Davis, which implies all of her different instances would have grounds for enchantment.
Why “Enjoyable And Video games” Reminded Me Of The Large Bang Principle
Let’s circle again to Ferrets and Phalanxes. It’s clearly meant to be a play on Magic: The Gathering, and the equally is even famous within the NCIS episode, and rightly so. Whereas I used to be watching although, I couldn’t assist considering of Mystic Warlords of Ka’a, one other Magic spoof that was from The Large Bang Principle. Launched within the sitcom’s third season, Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Raj have been continuously seen taking part in Mystic Warlords of Ka’a, and Stuart the comedian e book retailer proprietor and Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology’s Wil Wheaton additionally loved the sport.
However it wasn’t simply that each these card video games have been channeling that Magic: The Gathering vibe that stood out to me. When Torres and Parker went to an “underground” Ferrets and Phalanxes meet-up, the place they found that Victor’s boss was really behind the cardboard counterfeiting, they noticed a recreation being performed, and it mainly functioned identical to Mystic Warlords of Ka’a. In different phrases, going round in a circle, every participant performs one card throughout their flip that’s positioned within the middle of the desk that’s meant to overpower or neutralize the earlier card. Right here’s an instance of that with Mystic Warlords of Ka’a:
I don’t count on Ferrets and Phalanxes to ever be talked about on NCIS once more, however I did get a kick out of the way it jogged my memory of The Warlords of Ka’a. New episodes of the procedural air Mondays at 9 pm ET on CBS. In case you now end up within the temper to stream The Large Bang Principle after studying this, you’ll want a Max subscription.