NCIS Season 23 Episode 2 Review: Prodigal Son Concludes with an Unexpected Mystery

Critic’s Rating: 3.7 / 5.0

3.7

Some of the greatest arguments you’ll have in your life will be with family, but it doesn’t mean they don’t love you.

For reasons I still don’t fully understand, Alden is the prodigal son of his family. But on NCIS Season 23 Episode 2, he and Harriet were able to put the past behind them and find common ground.

Thank God for that.

At the end of NCIS Season 23 Episode 1, the team thought Harriet had made the call to blow her own brother to bits. Now, I’ve seen family feuds before, but that was hard to believe.

Ironically, she DID make the call, but it wasn’t carried out before the vessel imploded, leaving everyone believing that everyone on the ship, including Carla and Parker, had been killed.

As if. Those moments are always great for dramatic purposes, but they hold so little weight that it’s hard to get too invested. Gary Cole isn’t going anywhere. His story is just (finally) getting started.

So it was no surprise when a rather disheveled Parker revealed himself, carrying the news that he didn’t believe Carla was any worse for the wear, either. In fact, she had taken her granddaughter to Cuba with her, where she found a safe haven in exchange for what she knew.

Thus, the hunt was on for Carla once again, and the inevitable relationship repair between the Parker siblings was back on the table.

But not before she arrested him for willfully conveying false information and unauthorized actions, and for interference… the classic sibling rivalry between the troubled kid and his rule-following sister.

That’s been the story of their life since childhood. Parker feels everything deeply and acts on it, while his sister wraps up her feelings in the rules. Their conversation through bars was very revealing about how they view each other.

I’d rather deal with Parker any day. Harriet prefers to think that rules keep you safe, when the truth is they can make it impossible to deal with unexpected situations like the death of your parent.

“I don’t need another lesson. I need a sister. Instead, I got you,” Parker spat at his sister. And instead of seeing his pain, she turned on her heel and walked away, confident that she could accomplish what Parker couldn’t — her way vs his way.

So sue me that I was thrilled when she failed.

She was taken aback to discover Carla had made a deal with Cuba and the US wouldn’t get involved. She was told to stand down, torching her plans to save the day and show up her brother.

It was a little heavy-handed for my taste — the officer screaming through the screen about orders. But it did give Harriet what she needed to see things through her brother’s eyes.

She didn’t do everything she could to get Carla, save her granddaughter, and get justice for her father. She did everything she was told. And she finally understood the difference.

We knew NCIS would pick up where she left off, and they did. They asked her to release Parker and turn the other way while they went to Cuba to free Carla’s granddaughter.

Parker was willing to let Carla go. She might have lived if she had the wherewithal to ignore his taunts. He used her sore spot — her son Jason — to reach Carla’s heart.

He had a prop made that caught her off guard, and when she pointed the gun at her own granddaughter’s chest, she reconsidered her actions and let her go.

I almost felt sorry for her when she tried piecing the two halves of the locket back together. Almost. You can’t use your pain to cause it for others. That’s cowardly and never works how you think it will.

The way Parker, McGee, and Torres were standing outside waiting for her to discover the fake said everything.

They had no plans to leave her alive. There were so many people who had her on their hitlist and wanted the credit, NCIS was an afterthought. She was shot dead. It’s too bad she might have taken a secret with her to the grave.

The lipstick on the glass beside his father’s dead body didn’t belong to Carla. At first, I thought, OMG, please tell me it wasn’t her granddaughter! But there was no familial DNA connected to Carla at all.

While this will be a shock for Parker, it’s good for us and NCIS Season 23.

There is still so much we don’t know about Parker and his childhood. And even if Harriet’s arrival was a little tense, as a huge Nancy Travis fan and sibling antics, we needed a reason for her to be around beyond the two-episode premiere.

The mystery of Parker’s family is far from solved, and I can’t be the only one expecting that lipstick to belong to Lily or even Parker’s mother, right? This mystery is still very hot.

Oh, don’t worry. I’m not letting a moment go by when I can talk about John Denver and Take Me Home, Country Roads. Roman Parker was getting a burial at sea, and after a little light sibling banter (are too!), they began singing the classic song to honor their father, and everyone in the vicinity joined in.

Those are the moments that send chills up my spine.

It’s rarely a case that will get the blood flowing. It’s almost always the camaradarie amongs the team and how deeply they care for each other that does the trick.

We saw it when Jessica pleaded with Harriet to let Parker get a win. We saw it when Jimmy and Kasie decided to hold back on the lipstick reveal until they had something solid for Parker. And we felt it when the notes of Country Roads met the sweet sea air.

This rounded out a nice premiere. I hope it sets the stage for the whole season, but you never know.

What did you think of the “Prodigal Son” conclusion?

Drop a comment down below, and don’t forget to check in on our NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney coverage, too!