Warning: SPOILERS for the NCIS episode “Baker’s Man” are forward!
There’s great things to look ahead to on NCIS regarding Alden Parker as Season 22 progresses on the 2025 TV schedule, together with seeing how the Lily thriller will have an effect on him and even perhaps some teases for the “flight plan” that’s been drafted for the Kansas Metropolis mob. However tonight, the curtain was pulled again on one of many core points of Gary Cole’s character: his love of pastries. “Baker’s Man” confirmed NCIS followers one of many bakeries the place Parker’s been getting his delectable treats, and Leon Vance actor Rocky Carroll informed CinemaBlend his favourite half about directing the midseason return.
Carroll has been an NCIS mainstay since Vance was launched within the Season 5 episode “Inside Affairs” and took over because the company’s director on the finish of that season. However since Season 12, he’s additionally been a frequent director on the present, and “Baker’s Man” marked his twenty fifth time on the helm. I had the pleasure of talking with Carroll forward of the episode’s premiere, and right here’s what he needed to say about his newest directorial expertise:
For me, the very best a part of this was really having to do scenes the place it was much less about police work and extra concerning the relationship and the way issues went south between Eleny and Parker, after which the way it all comes full circle once more. As a result of at one level, not solely does she lawyer up, she turns into very adversarial to Parker, and the whole lot that he thinks about this lady sort of goes up in smoke, actually. We come full circle to find that she was as a lot a sufferer as anyone else. After which we shoot a scene, there’s an excellent rescue scene within the warehouse the place there’s an explosion and the cocaine-laced cookies catch hearth. So taking pictures that was a particular factor, making an attempt to sort of make all that is smart and discover out, like, ‘Okay, how will we shoot this huge explosion scene?’ There are a variety of nice challenges on this.
“Baker’s Man” revolved round Alden Parker and his workforce investigating the homicide of an worker on the Kostakis Bakery, run by Melina Kanakaredes’ Eleny. Though Virgil wasn’t affiliated with the Navy, Parker felt it was necessary for him to deal with fixing the homicide for the reason that younger man was secretly being held hostage when Parker stopped by the bakery, and he tipped off Cole’s character that one thing was amiss earlier than he was killed. It additionally quickly turned clear when Eleny entered the image that there was a particular spark between her and Parker, though that turned strained because the investigation wore on.
As Rocky Carroll talked about, the occasions of the episode revealed that Eleny was being coerced by a drug cartel to smuggle cocaine combined in with the sugar used on the Kostakis Bakery. This culminated in her, Nick Torres and Jessica Knight being held captive on the drug lab the place Eleny was being pressured to make extra batches of her drug-laced goodies. Thankfully, Torres was capable of set off an explosion as a distraction, permitting for the three of them to interrupt free and get the drop on their captors simply as Parker and McGee confirmed as much as rescue them. Whereas Leon Vance was nowhere close to that scene, it was on Rocky Carroll to determine correctly body that sequence; a problem he was greater than prepared to deal with.
By the point “Baker’s Man” was over, Parker and Eleny have been again to being on a lot better phrases after he realized she wasn’t a co-conspirator within the drug plan. Moreover, he realized she’d taken out a mortgage with cartel and acquired caught up in that mess as a result of she wanted cash to guard her incarcerated nephew Manny, who was being threatened as a part of a safety racket run by his personal parole officer, who was additionally Virgil’s parole officer and the person who killed him. Since Eleny determined to return to Greece to rejoin the remainder of her household, together with Manny when he’s launched in a month, it’s onerous to say if she’ll return anytime quickly to develop an precise romantic reference to Parker. If she does, I’d be eager on seeing Rocky Carroll direct the episode the place we reunite together with her.
Catch new episodes of NCIS Mondays at 9 pm ET on CBS, and stream them afterwards, together with the remainder of the NCIS franchise catalog, with a Paramount+ subscription. Oh, and I’d be remiss if I wrap up with out saying that it was additionally confirmed in “Baker’s Man” that Torres is certainly relationship Robin, Knight’s sister.