NCIS: New Orleans Season 2 Episode 15 Review: No Man's Land
Kathleen Wiedel
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Corpsman Nolan Griffith, missing since being captured by terrorists in 2012, turned up not quite as missing or dead as previously suspected in NCIS: New Orleans Season 2 Episode 15. T
he question the team had to answer? Whether he was telling the truth about an impending terrorist attack or was playing them.
The question for me? Whether or not he would end up dead before the hour was out.
As far as I was concerned, there was no mystery as to whether Nolan was on the side of angels here; as Brody pointed out, it would make no sense for him to save a bunch of people on the train while planning a terrorist attack.
This part of the story reminded me greatly of a similar story from the series Numb3rs; in Numb3rs Season 4 Episode 1, "Trust Metric," the team of FBI agents must decide whether or not to trust a colleague who had been revealed as a traitorous double-agent when said colleague revealed that he was actually a triple-agent.
Here, obviously, the stakes were obviously less personal in nature for the team, but many of the broad strokes were close enough, down to the person's handler being murdered and thus unable to back up their claims of being undercover.
This episode also continued the tradition of portraying the CIA as a bunch of utter (insert uncomplimentary word here) who care nothing for other people except how they can be of use, and ignore the rules whenever it serves their purposes. Ouch.
Calloway: You think I asked to meet at the the local zoo, I must be a spy!
Pride: We think you're a spy because you have the Agency written all over you!
Calloway could have saved the team a whole lot of grief if he just told them right off the bat that Nolan was working with them to foil a terrorist plot; instead, he played his little games with them. Seriously, what was to be gained by keeping the NCIS team in the dark? They were just going to keep pushing.
His stupidity, of course, got him killed. And not a single tear was shed over his untimely demise.
The CIA, of course, couldn't openly admit to Calloway's operation because they're explicitly not supposed to be operating on American soil.
Pride: I talked to the CIA. They denied knowing anything about your 'op.'
Nolan Griffith: It's the CIA. They deny everything.
I will admit to being a sucker for a happy ending, though, so I was happily surprised that Nolan got his, reunited with his sister, his wife, and his new baby. Very sweet. Though the guy will almost certainly need some serious head shrinkage after all this; he did just kill at least three people in, what, two days? And this after being tortured by terrorists and nearly killed.
This guy is a probably a perfect candidate for PTSD.
Here's a thought for you, though: Aman Bashir and one of his men were waiting outside the elevator for their target, and he told his compatriot to kill anything that came out. This is the same elevator which would presumably contain Nolan and the other terrorist (who Nolan had already killed, unbeknownst to them). Maybe Bashir really didn't trust Nolan at all...
A few final thoughts before I turn the discussion over to you:
- Why did Nolan work so hard to lose the team when they were following him to his meet with Aman Bashir? Since was ultimately revealed as a good guy, was the implication supposed to be that he wanted to take them all down himself without risking anyone else?
- When the team found the phone with pictures of Nolan's sister, no one seemed to appreciate the fact that she herself pointed out later: the pictures were clearly surveillance photos. Either the terrorists were using them to blackmail Nolan, or Nolan himself took them to strengthen his resolve. The fact the phone was hidden points towards the latter.
- Why in the world did Nolan and his CIA handler Calloway actually smuggle Bashir into the U.S. to organize a coordinated series terorrist attacks instead of having the FBI arrest him at the border? That just seems hair-raisingly reckless.
- When Nolan made his initial escape from Pride and LaSalle, this thought crossed my mind: "The parkour is strong with this one."
- Sonja Percy did not appear in this episode, either, prompting a somewhat amusing exchange between LaSalle and Brody in which Brody says that LaSalle is Sonja's 'work husband.' Is it just me, or did Lucas Black's 'Bama accent get extra thick when he asked her what in the Sam Hill that meant?
So, what did you think of "No Man's Land"? Did you think Nolan was good guy the whole time, or was there always a question in your mind? What do you think is up with Sonja Percy? Let us know in the comments section below!
Did you miss this episode? No problem! You can watch NCIS: New Orleans online to catch up! NCIS New Orleans Season 2 Episode 16, "Second Chances," is slated to air on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at 9/8c on CBS.
Catch you then!
