NCIS Season 23 Episode 16 Reminds Us of McGee’s Traumatic Past

Critic’s Rating: 4.2 / 5.0

4.2

Even without knowing that Rocky Carroll had returned to NCIS to direct the episode, it had all the feelings of episodes past.

After a rocky episode the previous week, NCIS Season 23 Episode 16 picked things back up again, reminding us of how far some of our favorite characters have come.

At the same time, it delivered an intriguing story that mostly followed the NCIS formula but added a message of hope at the end.

Victim or Perpetrator?

For once, NCIS doesn’t open with a dead body being found.

Instead, it begins with a radio message from someone seeking help. Navy Lieutenant Rebecca Lee shares her downed flight’s number, immediately bringing up questions.

This plane didn’t just go down recently. It’s been missing for six months, and suddenly, this Navy lieutenant is getting in touch.

Of course, there are plenty of questions about how she managed to survive out in the wilderness alone when the rest of her crew were killed in the impact.

As the plane wreckage proves that there was a sixth person on board, even more questions come up.

Is it possible that Lee had been in hiding because she had brought the plane down? Was there something she was keeping from the U.S. government?

McGee chooses to believe her, and in doing so, we get a harrowing reminder of a past he faced.

He doesn’t share harrowing stories often, but he tells Lee of the time that he was held hostage on a boat for months.

Sure, it wasn’t six months in the wilderness, but being held hostage meant that he needed to find something to fight for.

McGee held on to the fact that Delilah and the twins were there, waiting for him.

They became his life jacket while he was mentally drowning, and I just love how he’s healed healthily from that experience.

Just that message made it clear that there was something keeping Lee fighting to come back home, and there had to be a reason she decided that day to radio for help.

Eventually, McGee’s openness pays off. As the truth comes out that Lee is pregnant, there’s only one person she can turn to for advice.

How does she keep going when the man she loved didn’t make it through? How does she accept that he made a much-needed sacrifice to save his family?

While McGee did make it back and can’t speak from Lee’s side, he is that listening ear and guiding voice that she needs.

I hope the two keep in touch after this episode, and we get to see Lee come back in the future.

Some cases sit with you, and I have a feeling this one will for McGee.

The case and Parker also helped McGee figure out how to connect with his newly-found son, which I found quite touching, even if I’m not the biggest fan of that storyline.

Torres and Knight Get Cozy

To get to the bottom of the case, Torres and Knight need to head out to the shelter Lee had found.

That’s where she left the cell phone, which had recordings of the flight. With that, there’s a chance NCIS can get to the bottom of what caused the plane to crash.

Well, that certainly leads to some hilarious moments that keep putting Torres and Knight in questionable situations. There’s no denying there’s some chemistry there!

After finding a rather dead (and partially buried) body, Torres and Knight are shot at. They have no choice but to run for cover, which happens to be the shelter.

By this point, Knight is understandably annoyed at Torres’s good luck.

How is this man good at everything?

Well, he’s not all that good at just accepting that body heat is the best way to survive a freezing cold night in the woods — and I love the embarrassment they both felt knowing the comments that would be made back at the office!

It’s with this that everyone figures out how Lee managed to survive up there all alone.

She wasn’t alone!

That dead body belonged to the foot that was found on the plane, and he died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Once again, Lee is put in the hot seat, and the twists just keep on coming.

This guy was her lover, but he was also a man making a deal with the United States.

Of course, his enemies found out, and they were the ones to take down the plane. They went so far as to sabotage the equipment.

None of this would have been worked out had it not been for Kasie figuring out what the explosions were. She figured out that the plane wasn’t shot at, but taken down due to engine failure because of sabotage.

When the plane’s owner turns out to be CIA, everything slowly starts to fall into place.

It’s a great way to add a red herring.

Of course, we suspected the plane’s owner was involved in the sabotage, but wasn’t that too simple?

In the end, it was always going to be the man by Lee’s side as soon as she got to safety.

He was quick to jump in with answers as NCIS asked Lee questions, and he was way too interested in the conversation about the phone and the recording.

Considering someone knew to be out in the wilderness in gear that would protect him from the freezing cold cemented the idea that it was Lee’s “support.”

Sometimes, I do wish the red herrings weren’t as obvious, but for NCIS Season 23 Episode 16, it worked well having it be easy to guess.

The focus wasn’t on solving the case but on the themes of second chances, sacrifices, and hope in survival, and an overly complicated case would have overshadowed that.

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